An Asian language in every school.

[Mrs O'M]

I grew up in a country where we had one day of English at school from the age of 6 and then from when we entered high school we added either French or German to the mix as well, so we ended up with 3 languages by the time we finished school. Not only did it open up a world of cultures and educational elements we would have otherwise missed, I think that having a couple of languages makes me a much more well-rounded person too. While I understand the strain on the educational system here in Australia having my mother work as a primary school teacher, I think the relaxed attitude on learning another language needs to be addressed. However freedom for the school to choose the language makes sense. I can converse in 6 languages and none of them Asian languages but this has not affected me working in that region of the world nor having friends from the area.

So for what its worth, I think a second language should be compulsory but not necessarily an Asian one

[LuluHB]

I agree that learning a language is very important, and there is far more to it than simply learning a way to communicate with your sibings that your parents don't understand!! My daughters' school teaches French, starting in pre-primary which for you eastern staters is the year they turn 5 prior to 30 June. Its awesome how quickly she's learning and I strongly believe that the earlier in life you try to learn anything the more proficient you are likely to become. I couldn't however be more disappointed that its French.

If there is only to be one language offered, my preference would far and away be either Mandarin or Indonesian. Spanish is an enormously useful language when travelling the world, but I think less so here than an Asian language. Depends on whether you're going to keep your feet at home or not. I would love to see a compulsory second language (and yes, Asian) as well as additional languages that can be taken as electives.

[Traveller]

I don't care which language schools choose, but I wish there was some sort of consistency between schools. The PS my kids go to teaches French, the high school teaches Italian and Indonesian. Other high schools teach Mandarin, Japanese or Spanish. So when kids move into high school they have to start a new language from scratch and soon forget their LOTE from primary school. The same thing happens if they move to a new area and a new school. A national curriculum for LOTE would be awesome to allow kids continuity of learning.