Westministenders: Don't forget to stockpile. Again.

[RedToothBrush]

The government is telling pharmacists and drug manufactures to stockpile drugs ahead of the end of transition on 31st December.

In the middle of a pandemic.

What could go wrong?

I wasn't blaming the teachers either! I blame people like Gove.

But doncha know?

Proper education is rote learning, knowing what a fronted adverbial is and that you can aspire to all schools being "above average"

.....to go alongside the sun never set on the British Empire and don't they know who we are? and the Short Straits are surprisingly important for UK-Continental trade

I don't however think that the ability to speak a language correlates well with the ability to read. Or it does in this country because until relatively recently the emphasis was on grammar, reading and writing.

I agree and that’s why I emphasise the importance of oral learning. Think of all the first generation immigrants here who didn’t have high level of education from their home country but have mastered English nonetheless.

We had Portuguese cleaner who left school at 11 and was sent to work in the fields by her parents. Yet her English was very good.

Gove is one of the worst things to happen to education in this country.

As my mother says “you can see he’s a twit just by looking at him”.

I don't however think that the ability to speak a language correlates well with the ability to read.

I am much more comfortable reading a language that trying to speak it, or hear it ... it can take hours to get your ear in. By which time it's finished (looks at "Il Commissario Montalbano" ...)

@DGRossetti

I don't however think that the ability to speak a language correlates well with the ability to read.

I am much more comfortable reading a language that trying to speak it, or hear it ... it can take hours to get your ear in. By which time it's finished (looks at "Il Commissario Montalbano" ...)

It’s interesting - I think people learn differently - some more easily by visual means - plans, mind maps, some by ear and some by written means. Often a combination.

My father doesn’t feel comfortable speaking languages but his written French and Latin is good.

I learn fast aurally but I’m a bit slapdash when it comes to writing.

@Peregrina

I wasn't blaming the teachers either! I blame people like Gove.

Oh no, I know. Didn't mean to imply you did.

that’s why I emphasise the importance of oral learning

That should say aural in that context.

Having said that - I do think ease of speaking can be taught simply by encouraging kids to do so from a young age.

I encouraged (made) my kids to ask for things in shops and cafés etc to help them get over self consciousness, and also to learn rhymes and songs.

Ahhh,
My Sunday is complete .....
watered the garden, picked veg, had a roast beef sunday lunch under DDs tree
and the thread is slagging off Michael Gove
the planets have aligned

How can the government talk about distancing measures in schools, having decided that there won't be any social distancing - all pupils rammed into often very small classrooms (after the government decided to save money by cutting classroom sizes?

what on earth is going to happen in the winter when we will all have coughs and colds etc and its not practical to sit out in a pub beer garden ?

Spent my Sunday cutting the menfolks hair, Washing, Cleaning - exciting stuff
Then bandaging dhs toe (the nail of which is hanging off after he bashed it on a door...)
Sigh

One problem with learning languages in the UK is that they spend too little time on it. Other countries often spend much more time on English lessons. And UK teachers teach foreign languages in English, rather than spending most of the lesson speaking the foreign language. Plus everything around us is in English and everyone around us speaks it. Overseas children are exposed to English in lots of ways.

Loving the Gove bashing thread :)
So many kids lives blighted by his Eton centric view of the world.
Motherfucker.
On the plus side I can't see many of todays young folk voting tory...
Of course the damage they seek to wreak will be done by then

Gove didn't go to Eton, but I wouldn't mind betting that his private school aped the English public schools.

One problem for learning languages for us, is which one? French used to be the default, because it was the Diplomatic language or so I was told in primary school. But the world has changed since then.

I am taking notes on the Lebanese crisis. It's quite illustrative of what happens when a country is systematic milked at the top by the same group of people for thirty years.

Perish the thought that we might have a group of people milking the country for the same length of time.

Wasn't Beirut once considered something of a jewel in the Middle East?

Gove didn't go to Eton, but I wouldn't mind betting that his private school aped the English public schools.

Robert Gordon’s isn’t anything special - it had a captive market by being the only independent boys school in Aberdeen (but that’s no longer the case) and being favoured by oil companies paying for private schooling for employees dependents.

Re Beirut - I had a boyfriend in the 1980s whose parents had been big on the international scene in the late 1950s / early 1960s, back then Beirut was one of the places for the jet set.

Anecdotally I thought English in France were more likely to speak the local language than English in Spain.

There are basically two groups of Britons in France:

• People who live and work in larger towns and cities - often with French partners. Obviously this group has very good French.

• People who moved to France as a lifestyle choice (whether retired or not). These people usually live rurally, usually have connections to a local English-speaking community, rarely speak good French.

The problem in France is that it's very difficult to get regular work without good spoken and written French, but it's hard to really improve without either working in a French-speaking environment or living with a French speaker. It doesn't help that most Brits much younger than me didn't really learn foreign languages at school.

One problem for learning languages for us, is which one?

That depends on your view of education. If you think that it has to lead to something "monetisable" as one M. Thatcher, 10 Downing Street did, then you'd be tortured over the "best value" language.

If you believe education is it's own goal (given that 90% of what we learn at school will be wrong and updated as we grow older) then surely any language is better than none ?

Personally I think Latin still has a place as a cornerstone to a lot of European languages - and indeed English itself. As a toolkit to pick other languages apart it has repeatedly proved invaluable. So much so, that I can only admire the education system for sidelining it.

Incidentally, and apropos of education and languages, I can't fault Boris for speaking French in France, German in Germany, and Italian in Italy (although I think he needed a hand there). It's a shame we can't see that side of him to annoy the Brexiteers a bit.

@Peregrina

Gove didn't go to Eton, but I wouldn't mind betting that his private school aped the English public schools.

One problem for learning languages for us, is which one? French used to be the default, because it was the Diplomatic language or so I was told in primary school. But the world has changed since then.

Learning any language to a good level helps immensely with learning any other. So it doesn't really matter which language you choose in school, if you need to learn another, it will help.

Being brought up bilingual is even more useful. Obviously only a minority of people have a parent who speaks another language. But amongst those who do, I am constantly astonished that the parents didn't teach their children their language - they evidently don't realise what advantages that would bring. (I do know some who've regretted it, too late.)

DGR I think we could have a debate about Latin being a cornerstone of English. Following the work of David Crystal, who I admire very much, this is where we get silly ideas of split infinitives from - because to us the infinitive is two words and not one. English has the rhythm tum te tum te tum - to boldly go, is the example he gives. Not to go boldly or boldly to go, which can sound forced, or in some cases, can change the meaning of a sentence.

I personally do believe that education is a good thing in itself, but Gradrind Gove doesn't agree with me.