In a classroom this summer at Azbuka, a London bilingual primary school of which I am a governor, the children switched easily between English and Russian as they designed colourful posters in the two languages to help learn about coronavirus, climate change and mental health.
Not all have a Russian parent, including my son, who attended its Saturday complementary school some years ago. But their ability to absorb languages and cultures in a creative and engaging way is impressive and provides a lesson for Britain’s global ambitions.
Immersive learning that draws on the strengths of different cultural backgrounds remains an exception in England. Education is focused on the overly-academic study of foreign languages and too few people are convinced of their broader value.
A high proportion of people in London speak English as their second language, says Maria Gavrilova, Azbuka’s founder, yet they live a life of monolingualism. “There is a tragic unwillingness to explore successful methodologies and programmes for teaching foreign languages or maintaining first ones,” she says.
A recent survey by the British Council found that more than half of English primary schools stopped even rudimentary language teaching in the first lockdown last year and a fifth had still frozen their activities in early 2021. State schools in deprived areas were among those most affected. Nearly two-thirds of primary schools and two-fifths of state secondary schools reported no international activities last year, such as trips abroad or hosting a foreign language assistant, due to Covid restrictions.
Since the compulsory requirement to take a foreign language until the age of 16 was scrapped by the government nearly two decades ago, GCSE and A-level language qualifications have been in decline and many university modern language departments have closed.
Brexit risks depressing European language study still further, as fresh costs, new visa requirements and the axing of the Erasmus student exchange programme restrict the flows of assistants and teachers from former EU partner countries, and of students travelling to the EU.
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