Do your children learn a second language in Primary School?

[SorryImKnew]

I'm Irish, so we obviously study Irish alongside English from Baby Infants (your Reception I think). It's an obligatory subject with some exemptions, much like English and Maths.
I'm just curious whether schools in England/Scotland/EU/US/Aus/NZ/Rest of world study a second core language and what it is? I think Welsh is probably a core subject in Wales?
Just idle curiosity!

it tends to be taught by the class teacher and the standards are hugely variable. I have been in primary classrooms where the French teaching is just awful

Yy to this. I only got into primary MFL teaching by accident because the (otherwise excellent) Head (and class teacher) of the tiny village primary my dc started at when we relocated just used to chuck them some vocab sheets occasionally and clearly didn't really have a clue. I offered to do it on a voluntary basis but the after a few months they made it permanent and paid. It's actually a treat teaching primary MFL - tons of enthusiasm, virtually no marking, plus I make my own syllabus!

@lazylinguist

Can I ask - those of you whose dc have MFL lessons in school, is it with a qualified MFL teacher?

Ours has a specialist MFL teacher.

DC1 allegedly learnt some German, but, if asked, couldn't tell me any German words. This is with the class teacher who, as far as I know, is not a MFL specialist (her degree was in Geography)

There's a definite methodology to teaching MFL. I'm not surprised many kids don't really learn much or manage to show any knowledge of the language if they haven't been taught properly tbh.

In Scotland mine all did Spanish at primary, but only because they had a teacher whose first degree was in Spanish before she did her PCGE in Primary teaching.

However, it's not really language learning. They were taught just a very few stock phrases like hello, how are you, my name is and then things like colours and numbers.

It was all a bit shit.

Where I live in Germany the kids start French in primary school and in some kindergartens. In secondary school they learn English alongside French. As I understand it in other parts of Germany they learn English in primary school and either French or Spanish in secondary school

I teach French in yr5 and 6. About 45 mins a week- both written and spoken language. I have an A Level in French and studied in a related field at university but I am not a specialist MFL teacher (actually my specialist area in English).

I teach in secondary, but I go into primaries once every two weeks and teach German and French. We do a termly switch. They are all going to secondary schools which do both French and German from year 7, so there would be little point in only offering one language. It works brilliantly and the kids love it...we do it from year 3. (Half an hour per class every two weeks.) The relationship between the primary and secondary schools in the area is amazing. I'm annoyed that we can't sing or chant at the moment, though, and it's pretty much 'sit in your chair and face the front,' but we are managing.

Yes my little one started French in reception. The teacher seek to have a half day I think to do admin ect and another teacher comes in to cover and she teaches ever year group french.

In India we learned to read and write three languages. English as the main language and the language of instruction. And two other languages. I learned Hindi plus my mother tongue. I can read and write both fluently.

My children have been in the US and U.K. primary schools (or elementary schools). In the US they learned Spanish. In the U.K. they learned French. Their knowledge of both is pretty minimal.

My DS is in a Welsh medium primary so Welsh is spoken for everything until year 3 when they start English lessons. I love that he has the opportunity to be truly bilingual.

Yes from y3 - one school they went to did Spanish when they moved their new school did French. The secondary school they go to does Spanish and French on rotation.

I'm English but live in Wales and DD attends a welsh medium school, so is taught welsh as the first language. Informally, she's learning french as DP is french. She has a really aptitude for language, probably due to the fact she's 4 so I say make the most of it! My DP speaks several languages fluently and a few of my friends are bilingual, I think as someone who has always been dreadful at languages, it's an excellent skill to have.

I'd like to add that half an hour every two weeks is not enough and if it were up to me it would be half an hour every day.

Berlin here: MFL learning usually starts in year 3 as an introduction to the local MFL (English, Dutch, French) - it properly starts in year 5 (around 10y) usually English (occasionally French) as 1st MFL, year 7 introduces the next and so on. For Abitur you need to have reached at least B2 level in two MFL. A variety of language combinations is possible but English is always one of them.
DD did English and Russian and DS English and Latin

Kids did French at primary school in England and really hated it - then quite enjoyed it when they were taught by French teachers at Secondary - one of them even decided to it to degree level.

My daughters preschool does spanish (I think) once a week (she doesn't got that day).

I was put in private French lessons from year 1 and then sailed through yr7-9 French but couldn't continue it. I remember friends younger siblings having to do French in primary school but we missed that.

I'd like to add that half an hour every two weeks is not enough and if it were up to me it would be half an hour every day.

Yes, little and often is best with languages. Unfortunately primaries usually only schedule it once a week. At one of my primaries I only see them for an hour every other week! Even having double MFL lessons in secondary school isn't great tbh, as it reduces the spread across the week.

My kids learn Zulu and Afrikaans from grade 0, age 5, they have specialist teachers for both. In grade 4, aged 10 they pick one of the two to specialise in. They will be fluent by the time they leave school at 18. My DS is 12 and is now at GCSE standard I would guess. Language teaching in the UK is woeful in comparison. However I do wish they could learn a foreign language rather than additional languages of their own country. It’s not going to help them at all when they go overseas.

Rainbow
I assume they speak English though?
DD is at uni here in Berlin and her courses are bilingual English and German.
And every new language gets easier to learn.

No we don’t in England. I think it’s a good idea to learn the children another language from young rather than trying to learn it in high school.

We're in Slovenia. They start teaching English (playfully) in the last year of kindergarten/1st grade of school (age 5/6). It's voluntary, but pretty much everyone does it. From 2nd grade (age 7) it's compulsory. In 4th grade (age 9) they have the option to start learning German, probably more languages on offer further up the school. Mostly they pick it up fairly easily, partly because they start when they're young enough not to be too self conscious about trying new things. But also because a lot of our TV channels here are in English, German and Croatian, with Slovene subtitles, but most 7 year old olds here can't read well enough to follow subtitles so they pick up the language instead.

The method for teaching a MFL in DD's school - she started two in year 1 (6y):
Teaching was not based on writing / reading but on speaking / listening via songs, games, naming things, doing things.
When proper language teaching started they had f. ex. a good grasp of the use of the Russian aspect with verbs of motion.
DH used his local German dialect at school (teachers and pupils). He started to learn Hochdeutsch like a MFL in year 5.

We paid an external provider for French in infant school, she came in at lunchtime once a week. I think junior school does French as part of the curriculum. They have a French club which I will force dd to go to as soon as it restarts. I don't care what the language is, I'm under no illusion that they'll be fluent aged 11, I just want them to have awareness of a language that isn't English. Bonus points if the person is a native speaker

Half an hour of French once a fortnight. But it’s often cancelled or postponed or replaced with other stuff, so clearly regarded by our school as a very low priority (although not quite as low as music).

So mine go to German club after school once a week, which they love.