Do you think it's important for your dc to learn another language?

[Earlybird]

Listening to a debate on radio about whether or not it is important/valuable for our dc to learn another language. One side says 'yes' because we must be well educated to compete with graduates from other countries. Opposing view says 'nice but not necessary' as English is universal language for International business.

Your thoughts? Are your dc learning a language atm, and if so, which one?

I'm hearing an awful lot about Mandarin Chinese - lots of leaflets for it around my part of London, but I don't know anyone whose child is doing it.

my ds(5) has just started doing french at school and seems to like it, so think it's a good idea.

madarin chinese though very difficult. my friend teaches it, it's very popular here!

I think it is fantastic that at long last languages will be compulsory at Primary Schools. My yr2 daughter goes to French Club (for which we have to pay) and she loves it. She loves learning new words and it has helped with her English literacy too. Personally, I think learning a language is of equal importance as learning about science and it is especially important at primary level when all the data shows that the earlier a language is started the better as they are far less self conscious. Children in France and Germany learn English at this age so why shouldn't our children study a foreign language too?

DD is taught French at school, and loves it. She'll be at a new school in Sept, and I'm not sure if they teach languages to children her age. Must look into it.

Yes - it helps children undersand the structure of language and the way in which grammar works. I think it also assists in them not having a totally anglo-centric view of the world.

lang is a great idea as it opens up other cultures.

Yes, I think it's important for lots of the reasons already mentioned.

Ds1 is 5 and does French.
Ds2 is 4 and does Spanish.

Excellent to start a child as young as possible as it's far more difficult to learn a language in later life, starting languages at Secondary is too late in my opinion.

Yes and apart from the other reasons mentioned, learning a language other than your mother tongue also helps the brain develop with regard to memory skills etc.

Dd has been learning French from reception, is now in Yr 5, and bagen learning Latin as well at the beginning of the school year.

I know Latin isn't a "live" language but it has really helped with the French and provides much knowledge of roots of English words too.

My partner is German, so Dd is being brought up bilingually. I myself speak Portuguese, Spanish and French, as well as basic German and would love to learn more if I had time. I am a HUGE fan of learning languages!! I work in a company with lots of other nationalities - most European nationalities and lots of others too, and can definitely say that whether or not English is the business language of the world, everyone here really appreciates if you try and speak their language.

I also used to work in recruitment and one of my candidates was up for a senior level post, reporting to a Japanese man, in a big European bank. She didn't speak any languages, and didn't need to for the role, but out of courtesy she learned how to say "hello, how are you" in Japanese - this got her the job, as the senior guy was so impressed she had made the effort. I strongly believe it gets you more respect and credibility, and besides, isn't it just polite?

Get in there early, and your child will learn far quicker than she/he will later on in life, and also retain more of what they learn. Mandarin Chinese would be a great one, as the Chinese market is really opening up, and when your child is older the job market will definitely be looking for Mandarin speakers.

sorry longer post than originally intended - hope it'd not too preachy!

Oh CAM don't get me started on Latin!! When I was at school (guinea-pig year in a new comprehensive)I was desperate to learn Latin as I knew it would help with other languages but our school refused to offer it until choosing O-level options when they promised I (and others) would be able to take it. They lied. They reneged on their promise on the basis that not enough of us wanted to study it and there had been mutterings that it was 'elitist'. (Strangely, they allowed 2 boys to take Russian!). If we had all been studying Latin from aged 11, it would have been alot easier to understand French and certainly easier to understand the 'dative' and 'ablative' in German.

DD will start learning Greek when she begins Nursery in September, as did the DSs. The school is Greek orthodox, which is why they teach it (and DCs are christened GO) but we sent them there primarily for the language. They should be bilingual by the time they go to secondary school, so I'm hoping that picking up a third (or even fourth) language will be easy for them too.

I think it would be great for children in this country to be taught languages properly in primary schools: but this is hardly happening anywhere at the moment. They should have:

• Qualified language specialists with good pronunciation
• Minimum of 30 mins 3x a week, ideally at least 20 mins daily; preferably more
• Communication between feeder primaries and secondaries to ensure continuity, rather than just repetition of ground already covered.

My boys (yr3 and 5) have done some French at school, but it's about 30 mins once a week on a hit and miss basis, and tbh they haven't learned a great deal.

In addition there is little communication between feeder primaries and secondary, so the secondary language teachers start from scratch anyway.

I would love my five year old son to learn a language. However it is hard to find someone in our area who would teach him. If anyone knows of someone near Hemel Hempstead who is good with small children who would teach another language I would be interested.

I agree Roisin.

Ds1 does La Jolie Ronde at school but it's only half an hour once a week (we pay for this btw, it's after school but at school iyswim)

Ds2 does Spanish twice a week for about 30mins at his nursery. The lady does private lessons and he will continue with these once he leaves nursery to go to school in Sept.

I feel quite strongly about it because I was rubbish at languages (a total scientist!) and I really wish I'd tried harder. I can 'get by' in France, Spain, Italy and probably Germany but I couldn't hold a proper conversation. I wish I could.

Absolutely - I think it is very important and wish it was tackled better in schools.

My BIL thinks it's pointless. SIL pointed out to him that ds1 and ds2 were learning Spanish/French and he shrugged and said he didn't see the point as everyone speaks English anyway. Tells you something about where they holiday doesn't it

My children are growing up bilingual, we are Italian but live in the uk. I hope they'll learn another language. mandarin chinese seems like a very good idea.
serenity, I studied ancient greek at school!

I hate these dismal utilitarian arguments about education. Actually all education now seems to be seen in this grim and joyless way. I think learning another language gives you access to the history and literature of another culture. It opens your mind. I wish I was fluent in another language. I would love to be able to read French, say, or German. Sadly I had terrible teachers, and have found it very hard to learn as an adult, despite evening classes etc. So I'm sending ds to French classes, which he really enjoys, and they watch stuff on TV and listen to CDs in French too.

I think it is a really good thing to be encouraging in schools. the younger they learn, the easier they pick it up generally. DD will start French at school next year, in PP2 (equivalent to Y1).

DD is actually right now sat watching the Usborne First Fun with French DVD, which she really enjoys and is starting to pick up words and phrases from. She chose that DVD from her selection about 5 minutes ago.

DD1 is 3 and is learning french at nursery (la jolie ronde) just 1/2 an hour a week and i am totally amazed by how much she knows and she loves it.
her accent is good too.
i think it is invaluable that she starts to learn it now whilst it is all fun, and before she becomes self conscious.

walked in yesterday to hear her playing with her happyland "le petit bebe, ou est la soeur, maman maman etc. etc." couldn't believe it.

Mais Oui, Pero por supuesto!

DD likes Spanish. We have a CD and book, and shout a lot with Diego and Dora. My mum is fluent - that helps a lot.

But where will all the language teachers for primary come from??

Some might come across from secondaries. There are a number of secondary school teachers who make the change to primary, much more so than the other way round. Guess they will have to ensure languages is one of the specialisms for future primary education degrees and PGCEs,

As I said previously the aim of the school's language programme is for the children to be bilingual by the time they leave. In order to do that the children have an hour of Greek every day from year 1 (Nursery and Reception have lessons, but it's less formal, more learning the alphabet and the phonics) Assemblies, school plays etc are done in both languages and children are encouraged to use both languages throughout the school day and in other lessons. Our Greek teachers are just that, most of them are Greek Nationals who come over here just to teach. From looking at our set up I not sure how they are going to fund and find the teachers for these lessons - surely it's going to take a fair amount of time to set up? Where are all these language teachers going to come from?

Franca - ancient greek, impressive, were you doing classics?