Education secretary Michael Gove has proposed teaching languages in schools from age five, in an interview with the Guardian ahead of this week’s Conservative Party conference.
"There is a slam-dunk case for extending foreign language teaching to children aged five," he said. He added that almost every other advanced country teaches children a foreign language from the age of five, so Britain "has to set itself the same ambitious, but not impossible target. One of the problems we have had in education, and as a country, is that we have been too insular for too long."
Mr. Gove suggested "pulling all the levers" to ensure success, including longer school days, changes to teacher training, and more help from training schools to support other schools. "Learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it, is one of the most useful things we can do to broaden the empathy and imaginative sympathy and cultural outlook of children."
"Understanding a modern foreign language helps you understand English better," he said. "The process of becoming fluent in a foreign language reinforces your fluency and understanding of grammar, syntax, sentence structure, verbal precision. There is no one who is fluent in a foreign language who isn’t a masterful user of their own language."
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