At what age do schools teach children a second language?

[firestorm]

following on from the thread about muzzy. i am interested to know at what point most state schools start to introduce a second language? as my children are very keen to learn one. i realise that private schools probably start a lot earlier than state schools but private isnt an option for us at the moment (or ever likely to be)
am i right in thinking that most state schools do not start to learn another language until year 6? i think that this is the case in my dd`s current primary. or do some schools offer classes earlier than that, or as lunchtime or after school clubs?

There is a national langugages strategy that 'at some point' all UK children will be taught a second language at primary school ... but it doesn't seem to be happening very fast. In particular to achieve this aim they need to have primary specialist language teachers, which is not something that fits in easily with the current structure of most primary schools, and there is no current training available for this role.

At the moment the provision is very patchy, depending on your area. Our school offers a very limited amount - taster sessions really - through after school clubs and similar for top juniors.

Dd2 has just started year 3 and had her first french lesson this week, in a state school/ Her infant school ran a french club, but it was taught after hours iirc, and not by one of the teachers, so there was a fee to pay.

I know that ds's (he's 6) school does lunchtime clubs for Spanish and French, that we have to pay for. I think that you don't start to learn languages until secondary school. Well at least I didn't!

I started in a state primary school. Both dd's have too.

The free () primary school DS2 has just left started very basic French for all ages at Easter, but in an extremely limited way. Each class was supposed to have one lesson a week but he says he only had about 4 (mind you Easter was late and between SATs, PGL holiday, school play and sports activities there wasn't a lot of spare time!)

It would be interesting to know how effective it will prove to be for the children currently in Reception but I don't suppose I'll ever find out . He has just started French and German in Y7, lessons in both are conducted entirely in the language, from what he tells me he just sits there looking stunned for an hour and hasn't learned anything yet!

Le Club Francais operates at his old school too but like Lou's it was after school and you had to pay. They are using a different teacher for the in-school classes.

I was educated in South Africa after P3. Afrikaans was compulsory from the outset, and if you didn't pass it you were held back

I then studied Latin to A level at high school, and that was considered to be another language, although not spoken.

There were pupils at my school that studied English, Afrikaans, Latin and French.

I have to say if I had my time over at school, I would propbably have taken the more "non" academic subjects of typing and Home Ec. I think they would have given me a better grounding for RL than LAtin, but when it came to choose I was deemed "too intelligent" for these.

I know that our school isn't quite a 'normal' state school (it's Greek Orthodox), but my Dss started learning Greek in Nursery, very informally to begin with and then with more structured lessons from Reception. They do an hour a day. DSs seem to enjoy it, and as far as I know there haven't been any problems with any of the non greek/cypriot children learning another language from such a young age.

The idea is that the children be bilingual (although some with will be trilingual!) by the time they leave school, still got a couple of years before we see if that happens!

And obviously I'm still having trouble with just the one language Must preview before posting.

I think at my dd's school they start teaching them another language in Primary 6, I'm in Scotland. I assumed that they taught French but my cousin told me that her friends dd, who was at the same school as my dd, was taught German. I am going to ask the school about this, probably this week if I remember, as I'd like to know which langauge they teach and when it starts. I've been teaching my dd French since she was about 3, Not very much but she knows some basic phrases and can name colours, foods etc.
My cousins son is in Primary 4 at a different school and he started learning French this year.
I learnt French but it didn't start until I started secondary school so I was 11, although I knew some basics as my neighbours children had been to the same school and learnt french and used to teach me when I was about 8.

thanks for the replies everyone. when i was at school i started to learn french in what is now year 4 & i really enjoyed it, but when i started at secondary school i found that as most other schools hadnt done french they started from scratch. hence i got bored, lost interest & got overtaken by everyone else. its a shame really. its only now that my two girls (5 & 3) are showing an interest in learning spanish after watching dora the explorer (im really into it too, its almost addictive) that i wondered if things had changed much since i was at school (i left in 89) obviously not much. i think that i will get one of those dvd`s recommended on the muzzy thread as it seems a shame not to feed the interest.

Firestorm, I'm a langs teacher in a secondary (currently on mat leave - yippee!) - there is such a difference in experience primary children have in terms of lang learning that secondaries have no choice than to start from scratch. There will always be some children who have learnt a little already. A good langs teacher will spot this and, although won't be able to change whole lesson content, should be able to differentiate enough to maintain interest. Not sure what langs are taught in your local secondary, but if you start their interst in Spanish and the school they go to in Year 7 teachers French and / or German, they shouldn't get too bored as it will be new all over again. Do you see what I mean?

By the way, as languages now seem to be fading out now that the government has made them non-compulsory at GCSE stage, it's good to hear that parents and children are still keen. Good luck with the learning and hope it's fun for you all.

hi Rowlers, from what i can gather our secondary schools seem to teach french from year 7, so i suppose you are right, & if i concerntrate on spanish now the french will be new & they wont get bored (hopefully) in lessons. thanks

It's a good idea, especially as there are similarities between French and Spanish. So while French will be new to them, they should find they pick it up quickly if they have some Spanish already. There are some good free internet sites aimed at schools really but no reason why you can't use them. I've not been at school for a while so it's all a bit hazy. Try this
I've not done a link before so hope it works!

my son's school start in reception!!

thanks for the link Rowlers, i will definitely check that out later.