An Asian language in every school.

[Phteven]

I was going to post this in another thread but I didn't want to derail it so it gets its own thread.....

i believe that all schools have to learn an asian lanuage as part of the new national framework, so id be going with mandarin

This really bugs me. Every school should teach a language; what language they choose is irrelevant. If we turn out a generation of students with no European or Middle Eastern languages we are doing ourselves a huge disservice. Spanish is the most widely spoken language on earth so if a school wants to teach it then it should be able to do so. Lots of schools can't afford multiple languages so they will have to drop languages that they teach well to teach an Asian language and possibly teach it to a lower standard.

[MummyNaomi]

Agreed, I can't see why ALL schools need to teach an Asian language. As a multi-cultural society we'd be better off including European languages across curriculums as well

[glenny_c]

Have to say I haven't heard this. I know there was a recommendation in the recent "Australia in the Asian century" paper that all schools offer chinese within 5 years but nothing has been made law. I do think however that in business life, students are better off learning mandarin than french for example.

[*Efjay*]

I don't agree that they *must* teach a second language. I think it just adds pressure to kids who are already struggling. For me it would mean just one more class my kid sits out off because its causes too much stress/pressure. To me it should be an elective that people can opt in for.

For example, my older boys can not do music. They can not handle the noise of a music class & struggle with reading music due to their learning problems. So for that 40 minutes of the day, they sit out & do something else (usually not an alternative educational activity but supervised play on the computer) Add yet another subject like language & its just another area they will struggle with. Its like Religious Education. My kids don't do that either so there is another time slot of their day wasted because its seen as an unfair advantage if the kids who don't attend RE do other educational study so they have to sit & colour in or some other pointless activity.

I might be closed minded in a way but I think school is over complicated as it is. When it comes to kids with special needs, inclusive schooling will never work if they are expected to learn stuff that to many would seem pointless. I could just imagine the arguments my 10 yr old would come out with. Everything has a reason to him, how would I justify the importance of learning a 2nd language when we speak English here at home. He struggles with concepts of future use, so telling him that one day he might be faced with a situation where it would be handy to know just wouldn't cut it.

Plus I did Japanese in school, none of it stuck. A pointless waste of my time if you ask me. If I want to go to Japan or converse with someone in Japanese I will need to learn how too.

Im hesitant in posting this because I don't think I am putting into words how I feel/what I think very well..

[Tinks]

All schools have to teach a 2nd language, I wasn't aware that it had to be an Asian language though. The primary school DD goes to teach Japanese but they are part of a program where Japanese university students come over to teach in schools. Another school in this area teach Auslan as their 2nd language. The high school my DS and DD1 go to teach Japanese and German, the students choose 1 when they start year 7.

[little_O]

I think a second language is essential in schooling, whether its Asian or not. I agree we shouldn't limit ourselves to solely an Asian language. In the school the importance is to stimulate the brain by using the part that ism pretty much only there for a second language. It is a substantiated fact that having only one extra language will allow the brain to more easily learn a third.

Back to what onyx said though, there shouldn't be a bias of language.

[Rowellen]

I wasn't aware of any requirement for schools to teach a second language. One of the schools I was looking to send DS to didn't offer any. When I asked, they said that if the student wanted to, they could do one by distance ed but they didn't have enough students wanting to learn to justify hiring a teacher but that was for high school, not primary. The primary section didn't offer any at all. I'm in qld though, not sure if that makes a difference.
I did German, French & Japanese at different times at school. I loved learning Japanese & would love for my kids to be able to learn it too. I don't think it is a necessity though.

[little_O]

I wasn't aware of any requirement for schools to teach a second language. One of the schools I was looking to send DS to didn't offer any. When I asked, they said that if the student wanted to, they could do one by distance ed but they didn't have enough students wanting to learn to justify hiring a teacher but that was for high school, not primary. The primary section didn't offer any at all. I'm in qld though, not sure if that makes a difference.
I did German, French & Japanese at different times at school. I loved learning Japanese & would love for my kids to be able to learn it too. I don't think it is a necessity though.

I could be wrong but I was under the impression it was compulsory here in SA....(please correct me if I'm wrong )

[Phteven]

All schools have to teach a 2nd language, I wasn't aware that it had to be an Asian language though.

You are correct that at the this time it doesn't have to be Asian however it is part of the new national framework.

Re Mandarin being more useful for business - I wouldn't dispute this however not everyone wants to be involved in international business and other languages are more useful for other things. If you happen to want to sing Opera Italian is more useful and if classical French cuisine is what rocks your boat the obviously French would be your language of choice. And we do significant trade with non-Asian countries if we can't communicate with them then that sucks for business.

I couldn't disagree more that language shouldn't be compulsory. Language doesn't just teach us language it teaches cultural understanding and stimulates parts of the brain that are pretty much dormant unless engaged in language acquisition. Education is about opportunities. Just because I didn't take the opportunities offered by physics doesn't mean that I think it should be dropped from the curriculum. For all students to miss out on opportunities because it is too challenging for a minority would be terrible unfair. Australia lags behind many countries in languages, it would be nice to see us catch up just a little.

[Trillian]

Until they bring in the National curriculum then each state is going to be doing it's own thing. It is not compulsory in NSW to teach a second language, nor do I think it should ever be made compulsory. Certainly offer it as an elective and non compulsory subject, but teachers have bigger fish to fry in teaching kids how to read and write in their own language without adding a second on it to that! It's all well and good to say it should be done, but the majority of people simply have no idea how impractical it will be to implement it. Where for example would the school that my kids go to find someone that was not only fluent in Mandarin/any other language, but was also able to teach it? Where would the funding for this come from? Sounds like a bunch of shiney asses sitting in offices making decisions that only suit kids who live in metro areas if you ask me.

[Phteven]

Trillian, I can see your point about how difficult it might be to implement in rural areas but.....are there any people in your area who can speak indigenous languages? I would love to see more schools offering students a chance to learn indigenous languages and cultural traditions.

In some states it is already compulsory for all schools to teach a second language and they seem to be able to cope with it so on a practical level it is already demonstrated to be workable. However, it becomes much less workable when the language is restricted. Currently there are schools that change language when the teacher who teaches LOTE changes. If Asian language becomes compulsory then the pool of LOTE teachers is reduced overnight for those schools. In some schools the LOTE is Auslan. I would hate to see the number of Auslan 'speakers' in our community diminished.

[Trillian]

Not to my knowledge, but we don't have a large indigenous population here - I can count on one hand the number of families. there are Asian families and some PNG families that do speak a traditional language though.
I"m not saying that it shouldn't happen, I just don't think it should be compulsory in primary school. I really do not think that people realise the pressure this places on schools and teachers, especially primary schools. They are already under so much pressure to do just the basics because they don't have time to fit it in.

can someone actually link the policy documents concerning this? I use the National Curriculum as part of my studies and I've not found anything to support it being compulsory. If anyone is interested, you can download the National Curriculum from here http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Download

[wysiwyg]

A second language is important IMO but shouldn't be restricted to specifics.. French is actually a very widely spoken language in business due to its use in Africa and parts of Middle East. I remember hearing the former CEO of my old employer talk about it and was first time I had really realised that French was about more than just France.

I have no idea about the options offered here but in the past the UK was very stuck on French and German. I think a wide range is preferable but also believe that once you know one foreign language is far easier to learn more. (People from dual language countries often seem to speak 3 or 4 languages well)

[Phteven]

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_...sult?bId=r4945

Which needs to be read in the context of
http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/white-paper

[Jellyfish]

Interesting, thanks for the links. I do think a language is important, I don't think which matters so much especially as the first language you learn early on. At my school we were required to take both a European and an Asian language (both had a few choices) in the earlier years and then just one for the middle years and then in the final years it was an option to continue (11 and 12). I really liked that system because you got to sort of see the initial parts of a couple then decide which you wanted to further and then whether you wanted to continue to extend it or not.

I think it is very odd they would actually specify which language is required given how fast paced things are - only one stable fact in life is that things change! What language is good for business now might not be later so suddenly we have a generation of children speaking a language with very little diversity? Seems to be closing down our options rather than opening them up. And even if Asian languages are still very dominate that doesn't diminish the need for others regardless.

[little_O]

You are correct that at the this time it doesn't have to be Asian however it is part of the new national framework.

Re Mandarin being more useful for business - I wouldn't dispute this however not everyone wants to be involved in international business and other languages are more useful for other things. If you happen to want to sing Opera Italian is more useful and if classical French cuisine is what rocks your boat the obviously French would be your language of choice. And we do significant trade with non-Asian countries if we can't communicate with them then that sucks for business.

I couldn't disagree more that language shouldn't be compulsory. Language doesn't just teach us language it teaches cultural understanding and stimulates parts of the brain that are pretty much dormant unless engaged in language acquisition. Education is about opportunities. Just because I didn't take the opportunities offered by physics doesn't mean that I think it should be dropped from the curriculum. For all students to miss out on opportunities because it is too challenging for a minority would be terrible unfair. Australia lags behind many countries in languages, it would be nice to see us catch up just a little.

I'm on Team Onyx

We lag SO much behind the rest of the world as it is with our schooling. My SIL is European and she learnt 2 extra languages at school. To move here she learnt a third. She can’t believe how simple our schooling is. Somehow the rest of the world manages to learn the maths, sciences and languages without any issues.

I don’t doubt some students have learning issues, and everyone learns differently. I don’t have a problem with them getting help, or different subjects, but why make the rest of the country have reduced education possibilities. It’s like saying, my child doesn’t like outdoor activities so it shouldn’t be necessary for any children to be active??

Trillian, I do see what you mean though about funding and country areas. There is an inequality (my rampage is probably education in general lol). I couldn’t imagine being a teacher who has to cater to all the children. They do an amazing job. I just feel that language is such an important part of education that it should still be an essential.

[Phteven]

(People from dual language countries often seem to speak 3 or 4 languages well)

My DH is bi-lingual and the speed that he picks up languages is phenomenal. While I'm struggling with 'hello my name is Onyx" he's booking dinners and organising car hire. Does my head in.

[Mum2SweetCs]

When i was in high school many many years ago we got taught japanese, french and german in language classss for year 7 and 8 then could choose them as electives after that.

Dont think we learnt any languages in primary school though.