The French Connection part 3 - Foreign Language

Aired Wednesday, March 1, 2006

By Liam Moriarty

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Anchor Lead: Less than 10 percent of Americans speak a second language. More than 60 percent of the French do. But when it comes to learning English -- the dominant language of international business -- France has lagged behind. In the final installment of our Learning Curve series The French Connection - KPLU's Liam Moriarty looks at how both countries are working to boost their ability to talk with the rest of the world.

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At the public primary school in the village of St. Marc le Blanc in Brittany, second-grade students return to their desks after recess. Teacher Sophie Quinlan comes in to give the youngsters a dose of English.

QUINLAN: Hello class. (class: Hello teacher) The lesson is basic and repetitive, using songs and pictures to illustrate the words.

QUINLAN: Red (class; red) Yellow (class: yellow) Quinlan -- who was born in Paris to a French mother and an English father -- says this simple approach is deliberate.

QUINLAN: All l want them to do is to be able to recognize more of the English so that as they grow, they're going to be able to then construct it into more conversational English. It's just to give them a little bit more confidence.

These 8 year-olds are getting their first formal exposure to a foreign language. It's only recently that instruction in English at this grade level has become standard.

GERALD DUFEU: Actually, the position of the Ministry of Education in France is to start even earlier.

That's Gerald Dufeu. He's the teacher in charge of the local early language program. He acknowledges that, in Europe, the French have a reputation for not being very interested in learning other languages. French schools have placed less emphasis on foreign languages -- especially English -- than in many western European countries. Less than a third of the French can speak English, compared to nearly half the Germans, and three quarters of the Dutch. Dufeu says that's changing, as the American form of English becomes more dominant on the world stage.

DUFEU: Even people from lower social classes, I would say, feel the necessity for their children to learn English. They think that speaking English will help their children to find a better job and a better social position.

English is now mandatory at age 11, with a third language required at 14 French parent Veronique Hill has two sons in primary school in the nearby town of Pontorson. She approves of the increased emphasis on teaching languages. And she's not bothered that relatively few Americans learn to speak a foreign language.

HILL: For you guys, you already speak English, everybody speaks English, so why would you bother with another language? Fair enough. (laughs)

But for Michele Aoki, that state of affairs in the US - and in Washington -- is no laughing matter.

AOKI: I think it's a tremendous problem that students aren't having the opportunity to learn languages in this state. Aoki is with the Washington State Coalition for International Education. The group advocates a broader global perspective in the schools, including comprehensive world language training. She says in America, language education hasn't been given its due.

AOKI: While there's some agreement nationally, or strong agreement even, that things like being able to read and write and do math and science are universally important, there's not universal agreement that learning languages is important.

But for the last decade or so, that's been changing. Some states -- such as New Jersey and Vermont -- have made world languages part of the core curriculum, starting in the elementary grades. Others -- including Texas and Maine -- have adopted language requirements for high school graduation ... This growing momentum is fueled largely by new research. Studies show learning another language at an early age improves students' understanding of their own language. Michele Aoki says it's also been found to develop the kind of creative thinking skills that are in demand in the business world.

AOKI: There's a certain flexibility, an ability to deal with ambiguity, to hold information and not and not rush to assumptions about it that happens in people who have the opportunity to be bilingual.

In Washington, the status of world language education is mixed. On the one hand, opportunities for early language training are increasing. Immersion programs are thriving, including the popular John Stanford International School in Seattle and Tacoma's Sheridan Elementary School. There are also a growing number of before and after-school language programs at elementary schools. But these efforts are funded by local school districts or even by parents' groups. The state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction offers support and guidance for local programs. But SPI's Caleb Perkins says, statewide language requirements -- and the necessary funding -- would have to come from the legislature.

PERKINS: There isn't a state mandate to develop standards nor are there resources attached to the development of standards related to world languages and as a result, it is a local decision.

That's the situation in a number of states, where whether or not to offer language courses is left entirely in local hands. If language advocates in Washington want the state to put up money, they'll have to compete with proponents of health care, transportation and dozens of other interests. But even if they succeed in getting the legislature to mandate foreign language instruction, it's not a sure thing that your neighborhood school would soon add courses in French or Japanese. Legislators in both Massachusetts and North Carolina have been praised for approving foreign language requirements for kindergarten through high school -- but they haven't allocated the money to pay for it.