The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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thelinguist.uberflip.com FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 The Linguist 17 FEATURES international perspective, and the school currently has a diverse student community in which 52 languages are spoken. Its aim is to foster global thinking through the development of intercultural understanding and respect. This, the school firmly believes, cannot be achieved without a strong commitment to languages. The study of MFL is thus compulsory at every stage of its education provision. Year 7 students study either French and German or Mandarin. Spanish is introduced in Year 8 as an alternative to German, and in Year 9 provision is extended to include Italian, Japanese and Russian. The vision for the next academic year is to expand the choice for Years 7 and 8 even further. In the sixth form, all students are required to study a language, whether they opt for the International Baccalaureate or A-level route. To support this model, a range of extracurricular activities are in place to develop students' language skills further. An extensive exchange programme is offered from Years 8 to 12, with visits to France, Germany, Spain, Italy and China, and in the sixth form, students also have the option to take on international work placements. Outreach success With a catchment area covering most of Essex, East London and, in effect, the rest of the world, any feeder-school support programme will only reach a proportion of the school's prospective students. Still, such initiatives are considered important instruments in preparing for MFL learning in Key Stage 3 (KS3). One area where this has worked well is in the teaching of Mandarin. The Anglo European School is one of only two sites to host the Essex-Jiangsu Centre for Chinese Studies and a Confucius Classroom – an initiative to promote the teaching of Mandarin in schools and increase interest in and understanding of Chinese culture. As such, it is supported by two Hanban teachers, seconded from China, who also work in the local feeder schools on a weekly basis. This initiative has been a success and was instrumental in the Department for Education selecting the school as one of the first to participate in its national Mandarin Excellence Programme. This intensive language scheme, which is being supported by the UCL Institute of Education in partnership with the British Council, aims to have at least 5,000 school students in England on track towards fluency in Mandarin by 2020. Sadly, current levels of funding do not allow for similar primary-school collaboration in other languages. Catherine Peeters, Head of Languages at the Anglo European, stresses that without a structured programme provided by qualified MFL teachers, primary language teaching will not produce a platform from which to significantly improve standards. The current provision is nowhere near consistent enough to be built on systematically in KS3, and starting from anything other than beginner level is not yet an option. Although most of the groundwork for language success still has to be laid in Year 7, there are benefits of starting to learn at an early age – even without structured outreach. Not only can being exposed to a new language help to foster a positive attitude to further learning later on, but it can also encourage personal development such as improved tolerance and understanding, cultural competence, practical intelligence, an enhanced ability to recognise social cues and a more confident approach to unfamiliar words and situations – all very important to ensure that our future generations have the appetite, as well as the ability, to explore the global opportunities available. Notes 1 Department for Education (2012) 'Making Foreign Languages Compulsory at Key Stage 2', London: DfE 2 British Council and Education Development Trust (2016) 'Language Trends 2015/16: The state of language learning in primary and secondary schools in England'; www.british council.org/sites/default/files/language_trends_ survey_2016_0.pdf. Checked 9/1/16 COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATION Students at the Anglo European School