Second Language Learning

According to a survey by Cilt – the National Centre for Languages, the number of state secondary school pupils in England learning a second language continues to decline. It shows the proportion of state schools where more than 50% of pupils study a language in Year 11 dropped from 43% in 2009/10 to 38% 2010/11.

Seasonal Talk – Language Article

Seasonal Talk

tulips

Here in the United Kingdom we are supposed to have four seasons, each of about three months long; winter, spring, summer and autumn (fall in America) – though sometimes we seem to get them all in one day:  There’s an English saying, “If you don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes and it will change”.

Italians say “no” to English

Italians are quite used to feeling “lo stress”, looking forward to “il weekend” or trying to look “cool”. But now an influential cultural institute has asked Italians to protect the language and reject “Anglitaliano”. The Dante Alighieri Society asked people for examples of over-used foreign words and “il weekend” emerged as the worst offender. The […]

Teach in a foreign language

The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) have recommended that pupils should learn subjects like history and geography in French to stem the decline of modern foreign languages. They said that students learned languages best in a bi-lingual environment, and schools that teach aspects of mainstream subjects in foreign languages had good results. Actually there’s […]