Language teaching

If you wish to put children right off the idea of learning a foreign language force them to learn a difficult one, but only after they've passed the age at which bi-lingualism comes easy.

That's the English way. Don't even start foreign languages till the pupils are 11 or 12 years old. Only offer other languages to those who have passed selective examinations to grammar schools.

Spanish is one of the easiest for non-native speakers to learn (I read somewhere). Millions of British people go to Spain for their annual holidays. Choice of foreign language in schools could seem obvious but no, French - academic, literary, complex French not tabloid or street French - is a common choice. German, with the added complexity of that strange script, was another popular choice by teachers.

Heaven forbid that children might gain a sense of achievement by picking up a realtively easy language in primary school. Never mind that multi-lingual children have been shown to learn every other subject more easily. That misses the point...

The English education system is designed to fail around 80 per cent of those who enter it. Is it any wonder that those who know the system - teachers - form around 70 percent of the parents choosing the legal option of home education?