East Lancashire children to be taught languages from seven upwards (From Lancashire Telegraph)

For a start begin teaching them ENGLISH. Then after that, with the way the world is going.....CHINESE.

About time this was done, its been know for a long time that the younger they learn a language the better they arer at it. And my little boy is 6 and I have to say the improvement in his grammar, writing and spelling at his age is far more advanced than what was previously required. So in answer to the previous message they are doing.

Twicki1 wrote:
About time this was done, its been know for a long time that the younger they learn a language the better they arer at it. And my little boy is 6 and I have to say the improvement in his grammar, writing and spelling at his age is far more advanced than what was previously required. So in answer to the previous message they are doing.

I had understood the previous contributor's message to be that English already IS a foreign language in plenty of Blackburn schools (but I could be wrong).

Keith Myath wrote:

Twicki1 wrote:
About time this was done, its been know for a long time that the younger they learn a language the better they arer at it. And my little boy is 6 and I have to say the improvement in his grammar, writing and spelling at his age is far more advanced than what was previously required. So in answer to the previous message they are doing.

I had understood the previous contributor's message to be that English already IS a foreign language in plenty of Blackburn schools (but I could be wrong).

Agree with izanears.......... why teach foreign languages when most of those who already live here and attend school, STILL wont/cant speak ENGLISH, (even after 4 generations) This should also be a condition on being allowed to enter & stay in the UK Lets teach English 1st. A second European languge could be an option, later on...........

superyob wrote:

Keith Myath wrote:

Twicki1 wrote:
About time this was done, its been know for a long time that the younger they learn a language the better they arer at it. And my little boy is 6 and I have to say the improvement in his grammar, writing and spelling at his age is far more advanced than what was previously required. So in answer to the previous message they are doing.

I had understood the previous contributor's message to be that English already IS a foreign language in plenty of Blackburn schools (but I could be wrong).

Agree with izanears.......... why teach foreign languages when most of those who already live here and attend school, STILL wont/cant speak ENGLISH, (even after 4 generations) This should also be a condition on being allowed to enter & stay in the UK Lets teach English 1st. A second European languge could be an option, later on...........

* a second European language !!

Foreign languages to be compulsory from age seven. Why wait until 7 to teach kids English? A system in which all primary children learn a foreign language from age seven will give pupils a much stronger foundation, which they can build on in secondary school to become fluent. I am surprised Arabic and Urdu aren't on that list. I think it is excellent that pupils are to be taught English as a second language.

Children that can speak more than one languages do better overall in learning and it will help them excel in a job when they are older. Only an idiot would think that being bi/trilingual is a bad thing. I think its great to be surrounded by foreign languages. There are plenty of benefits to learning them, it increases memory and other brain functions, looks great on a job résumé, and most importantly allows you to connect with a different culture and make new friends. Now is the time to teach them all the different languages you want to because they will just soak up the information. As we get older it becomes harder and harder to retrain our brains to learn a new language.

The earlier kids start learning a Foreign language the better and certainly before they are old enough for prejudices to have set in. Five years old would be better really. The younger kids are the faster they pick up languages. It's uncanny how the very young take to picking up languages. I speak from personal experience with my own young.This is a good start and sure there could be plenty of young foreigners here who could put their foreign languages to use rather than rocking up at the "dole" office - provided they have no predatory tendencies. ehem! It's easier to learn a language when you are younger. Also learning a foreign language helps you understand your own. Although I would want them to be taught this from the first day in school, not putting it off for a few years.

Becoming fluent in secondary school. Dream on! This just goes to show how very little government and its advisors know about the acquisition of a foreign language. I expect the usual carcrash of a curriculum. Majority of children cannot even speak the Standard English to start with. laudable aim Mr G but where will you get the staff from? The workforce survey showed that secondary schools are short of over two thousand language teachers. Foreign languages should only be taught by native speakers.
IA
http://www.londonsch
oolofislamics.org.uk

@ parents of SOME Asian families . . .What chance when lazy mothers / grandmothers still speak to the youngsters in the language of the country they have left.

@ parents of native British stock . . . English skills are declining because of lazy speech habits. Writing / spelling / grammar . .all in retreat.

Also, slackness in the Education system. Anyone else on here remember ITA Phonics in the 70s ?

I'm bored of it all !!! NO I AM NOT . . I'm bored WITH it all . . being a prime example.

Twicki1 wrote:
About time this was done, its been know for a long time that the younger they learn a language the better they arer at it. And my little boy is 6 and I have to say the improvement in his grammar, writing and spelling at his age is far more advanced than what was previously required. So in answer to the previous message they are doing.

It always amazes me to see and hear people who believe the ability to speak more than one language bestows intelligence on the speaker. This has been shown to be wrong very near to where we live, actually. In North Wales, the desirability of children speaking both English and Welsh has reduced dramatically thanks to one obvious fact that too many people overlooked; vocabulary! A child of any given age will have a vocabulary of a certain number of words. This isn't dramatically changeable so when the child's vocabulary of, say, 1,000 words is slashed by 50% (half in English, half in Welsh) their ability to communicate effectively in either language is compromised leading to a reduction in exam passes. Once it was discovered that monolingual speakers did better in the predominant language than bi-lingual speakers, the demand dried up. No surprise there, then.

So what do you call a speaker of three languages? Multi-lingual.
What do you call a speaker of two languages? Bi-Lingual
What do you call a speaker of one language? English.

The idea of teaching a foreign language from the age of seven is a good one but first there is the problem that most primary teachers are not language specialists and teaching a foreign language requires special training as it is a specific skill. It also requires a working knowledge of the language to be taught and many primary teachers either didn't study a foreign language at school or did so only to GCSE level which could have been years ago. Then there is the problem of which language the child learns and whether that language will be available at his/her secondary school. In other European countries the choice is usually English, German or French which the children begin to learn at nine or ten and take through into their secondary years.

Iftikhar wrote:
Foreign languages to be compulsory from age seven. Why wait until 7 to teach kids English? A system in which all primary children learn a foreign language from age seven will give pupils a much stronger foundation, which they can build on in secondary school to become fluent. I am surprised Arabic and Urdu aren't on that list. I think it is excellent that pupils are to be taught English as a second language.

Children that can speak more than one languages do better overall in learning and it will help them excel in a job when they are older. Only an idiot would think that being bi/trilingual is a bad thing. I think its great to be surrounded by foreign languages. There are plenty of benefits to learning them, it increases memory and other brain functions, looks great on a job résumé, and most importantly allows you to connect with a different culture and make new friends. Now is the time to teach them all the different languages you want to because they will just soak up the information. As we get older it becomes harder and harder to retrain our brains to learn a new language.

The earlier kids start learning a Foreign language the better and certainly before they are old enough for prejudices to have set in. Five years old would be better really. The younger kids are the faster they pick up languages. It's uncanny how the very young take to picking up languages. I speak from personal experience with my own young.This is a good start and sure there could be plenty of young foreigners here who could put their foreign languages to use rather than rocking up at the "dole" office - provided they have no predatory tendencies. ehem! It's easier to learn a language when you are younger. Also learning a foreign language helps you understand your own. Although I would want them to be taught this from the first day in school, not putting it off for a few years.

Becoming fluent in secondary school. Dream on! This just goes to show how very little government and its advisors know about the acquisition of a foreign language. I expect the usual carcrash of a curriculum. Majority of children cannot even speak the Standard English to start with. laudable aim Mr G but where will you get the staff from? The workforce survey showed that secondary schools are short of over two thousand language teachers. Foreign languages should only be taught by native speakers.
IA
http://www.londonsch

oolofislamics.org.uk

WARNING crazy troll alert.

Everyone in the world should speak english period. Too many foreigners here anyway, its like babel. How dare anyone not speak the queens english. She's royalty y'know. If every country in the world was ruled over by our queen it would be total harmony. Ban all foreign languages. Go on queenie do it.

there english why learn another language they asked me to learn german in school i told the teacher why the hell should i learn german i aint german and i aint going there so whats the point