Figures have just been published of the sorry state of modern language teaching in UK.
Apparently languages are seen as hard subjects, so it could affect theirstatus in league tables.
Is that really the answer, or is this yet another symptom of the continuing isolationism being seen in parts of tge UK today?
It’s certainly indicative of the dumbing down of the curriculum.
Dumbing down is everywhere. It is no wonder that the UK is in the state it is.
Achievement is decried.
Sadly, it has been going on for years… stooping for the lower level instead of reaching for the sky…
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The conservatives started table with the 11 + but it was Tony Blair and New Labour’s obsession with tables that kicked things off, look and schools and the NHS all in league tables like its Football. So you cannot blame the schools, teachers or local authority’s for not wanting to be a the bottom of a League.
Part of my post seems to have gone astray.
I Pad user.
My mother used to say ‘Don’t measure yourself from the bottom’.
The Conservatives currently financially reward schools for being at the top of a table and then penalise a school for being at the bottom. So how are schools at the bottom ever going to improve? Also we are in the world of the internet and the ability to use Google Translate, people are becoming lazy, information is available at the click of a button rather then the need to seek out information by visiting the Library etc.
Interesting point about Google - it may be that technology will ultimately reduce the need for human language skills. However, there are studies showing that learning languages increases your ability in other subjects too.
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I sat the 11+… donkeys years ago… and the only tables… were the times tables we all chanted on our way to school every morning… worked well for us kids in those days…
Sadly, good things get changed, sometimes, just for the sake of change… 
I get the impression that to be considered clever these days, one has to be fluent in “text-speak”
I got threatened with the cane if I didn’t pass!
By the headmaster.
When I was a tiny at prep school we started Latin and French at 7 and they were compulsory, we all managed. Plenty of equally dim sisters ofTim-nice-but-dim as well.
Stroud Girls’ High is a highly rated selective school.
It is why we moved there.
At the time our elder daughter, who is a natural linguist, took French, German and Spanish at O Level.
She then won a full scholarship to one of the top independent girls schools in UK.
Apparently Gloucestershire is now one one of the counties where modern language learning is falling fastest.
Gloucestershire also has has an historic record of having one of the lowest capitation levels in England.
I wonder if it’s a case of relevance??!! English is very much the language of the world and it’s possible that people believe there is little point in learning a second language.
And what language should you chose to learn? French is obvious because it’s spoken by the UK’s closest neighbours but is it the most relevant? Maybe it should be German or Spanish or Mandarin?
It’s too easy for non-English speaking countries… they automatically teach English. My French step-son also learnt Spanish and Latin at Lycée.
It’s certainly an issue - sadly there is a bit of truth to “The World Speaks English”.
Except when it doesn’t, of course 
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I’m really happy I had some school French when I came to France. It helped when I first arrived and enrolled on a 3 month course. It was surprising how much came back to me after more than 20 years.
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I know people who work in the Netherlands and Switzerland, none of them speak the local language. I’m told the locals speak very good English. I suppose we are just lucky, it’s a bit lazy though on our part.
Some stats I used with my students last semester:
Most spoken languages in the World (native + non-native)
- Mandarin Chinese - 1.09 billion (897m + 193m)
- English - 983 million (372m + 611m)
- Hindustani - 544 million (329m + 215m)
- Spanish - 527 million (436m + 91m)
- Arabic - 422 million (290m + 132m)
- Malay - 281 million (77m + 204m)
- Russian - 267 million (153m + 114m)
- Bengali - 261 million (242m + 19m)
- Portuguese - 229 million (218m + 11m)
- French - 229 million (76m + 153m)
(source: Source : https://www.fluentin3months.com/most-spoken-languages)
Monoglots are a minority though aren’t they. Most people in the world speak more than one language. I can’t imagine speaking just one myself.
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VERY lazy but I worked in a Dutch-speaking environment for 2 years and they were amazed I learned Dutch and almost miffed, going on about how it is ultra difficult yadda yadda (no it isn’t, especially if you already speak German and English) anyway it meant no secret conversations in the office so all good.
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