Can you request a language?

[Buttonface9]

Hi. Looking at applying for primary schools and the school we are interested in for DD teaches french. We are very keen for DD to only learn Spanish for afew reasons (myself and family are learning, parents live in Spain, we may relocate to Spain) I found languages difficult at school and feel it's because I was taught so many and had no chance to use them. If I school doesn't teach a language is there any other options? Thanks 😊

the French they teach at primary school is very very basic, there is no need to sit out because it wont affect your childs Spainish learning outside of school.

If she was to sit out on French, where should she go? Who would look after her?

Also, she isn’t you. Your issues with learning languages will not necessarily be hers and starting young makes a massive difference.

I don't think you need to worry about spanish conflicting with French. She can learn both. At my dd's secondary she has to learn two languages at least up to GCSE. She doesn't get the two confused.

Why would you not want her to learn a new language?

What about things like science?
They learn so many new/different words in science that it has been compared to learning a foreign language.

Let her learn the language her friends are, she’ll only learn a few basic words anyway.

Your kid will be fine.

You can't opt out and ask to bring in a tutor for another language, it will be the class teacher doing a small part per week. Honestly, it in no way is enough to actually teach a language, even if it was one you wanted.

If you want your child to actually learn a language properly, you need to find a tutor outside school

You know that whatever language they learn in primary school isn't suddenly going to make them all fluent, right, to the exclusion of all others??

I really don't get why schools are still flogging the whole learning French as a language in primary and aren't open to teaching something different - hardly a world superpower and not really widely spoken outside of one European Country - I looked it up 3.6% of the world speaks French, Spanish is more than twice that at 7.5%, Arabic is more than French

But France and Belgium the closest and cheapest-to-get-to non-Anglophone countries so the most feasible for schools to arrange a trip to - just requiring a coach trip plus ferry.

Learning languages grows structures in the brain that help with learning things like maths and computer programming. It doesn't matter if the child doesn't end up using the language in the long term, the process of putting in the effort to translate things from one language to another is beneficial for overall development. The more they do at primary the more advantageous this effect is.

My DCs have been using Duolingo to learn a language spoken in their country of birth (I speak tourist level) since they were about 7 or 8, before that we did some bits and pieces at home, so DS could count to 10 and knew his colours by about 5 or 6, plus a few animal words (that's what young children like!), now both of them are doing v well and DS (who is in a specialist school where they also use Duolingo) is way ahead of the class in Spanish and also picks up other vocabulary (the main class language is German and I think they let them play about on other languages for a bit of fun) very quickly.

Whether this is talent or my input I decline to comment.

We have also used Letts KS1 and KS2 workbooks for the language.

@thetrainatplatform4 and @HohiyiKozbevi - a school near us in a more deprived area teaches Mandarin, because they know none of the children could ever afford a trip to France so they thought "why not broaden their horizons completely".

@drspouse

That's fantastic! I wish more schools were open minded. I'd like my children to have opportunities to learn Arabic or Mandarin - languages a much higher percentage of the U.K. speak than French or Spanish!

French will help her learn Spanish, OP. They are very similar; and it's unusual for exposure to more languages to be a hindrance - it's usually a benefit. It'll almost certainly be a benefit if she starts at primary school age.

I really don't get why schools are still flogging the whole learning French as a language in primary and aren't open to teaching something different - hardly a world superpower and not really widely spoken outside of one European Country - I looked it up 3.6% of the world speaks French, Spanish is more than twice that at 7.5%, Arabic is more than French

Because the vast majority of Brits only ever use the languages they learned at school when they go on holiday (if at all) and France and Spain are near and popular holiday destinations. Languages with less in common linguistically with English, and especially languages with a different script / alphabet are harder to learn, especially when GCSE MFL isn't compulsory any more and so they only learn for a few years. Also, not enough people have been trained and qualified to teach other languages in schools. People don't generally choose what languages they want to learn based on whether they are spoken by superpowers.

The thing is that many teachers started teaching in primary before the expectation that a language was taught. Therefore they rely on either a bought in scheme or a bought in teacher.

French is the most common language that people learned when they were at school so it’s the easiest one to do.

I agree that teaching Mandarin or Arabic would be useful but I don’t know that I could do it, or that there would be a scheme to help.

Why would she sit out tho? I don't even think ours do like a full 30 minutes session so your daughter could be sent to the library. I think it's done much more and hoc. So would she just be told not to join in?