Two recent news articles have caught my eye and set me thinking. One is on the new plans by community secretary Eric Pickles to promote
effective learning of English as a second language by those settling in this
country. The other is on recommendations for schools to introduce a range of
new languages, and for language learning to take more priority than it presently
does.
Eric
Pickles has outlined a plan to help immigrants with their English. His idea is
quite innovative really as it involves special supermarket checkout staff
at Asda and the Co-op to be sympathetic listeners ready to help immigrant
shoppers with their English skills. Apparently, the new members of staff are to wear
badges to make them easily identifiable to people learning English as a second
language.
Mr
Pickles rightly points out that that those who don’t learn English will have
limited opportunities, and will not be able to engage in everyday conversation
with neighbours, nor engage with their children’s schools, hospitals or other
public services. Six million pounds will be spent on this project, which will
also involve setting up English lessons in places of worship such as mosques
and temples.
Meanwhile,
there is also a drive to encourage a lot more foreign language learning in our
schools, and to introduce languages other than the usual French and German
offerings. John Warne of the British Council warns that the UK will lose out
economically and culturally if young people are not encouraged to take up more
language learning. He recommends that languages such as Arabic,
Chinese and Japanese should be made available as well as European languages.
The
emphasis is not on fluency, which takes years to attain, but on functionalism, so that people can make themselves understood and be able to communicate with
those of other cultures. However, a recent YouGov poll found that
only a very small percentage of the UK population could hold a conversation in
a European language.
To
conclude: immigrants to this country need encouragement to learn English so as
to communicate well, and our young people need more encouragement to learn
languages other than English! The result should be an interesting one if the
plans are carried out and the recommendations followed.
