Au revoir for study of French, German?

French is not dying but it is in decline, and for many Americans, that's as good a reason as any to ditch it, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH—Jaclyn Davis, of Akron, Ohio, may be as American as apple pie, but when she answers the phone at La Gourmandine bakery in Lawrenceville, her accent is as rich, fruity and authentically French as the tarte aux fraises sold there.

And therein lies the problem: the 22-year old cashier at the new bakery is also a student at the University of Akron, working towards a teaching certificate in French, a culture she adores but a career choice she has to defend to her fellow Americans nearly every day.

"When I was working at Home Depot, I'd get wisecracks all the time," Ms. Davis said, mostly from people who couldn't understand why she'd want to learn French. "They'd say, 'Oh, the French are cowards, they didn't fight with us in the Iraq war, what do you want to do that for?' "

Ditto for Megan Leinbach, a German major at the University of Pittsburgh.

"My classes are full," said Ms. Leinbach, 21, who hails from Lancaster County. "But some of my friends say German's a dying language, and I have to remind them that Germany is an economic powerhouse, so I don't think it's dying, exactly."

Once upon a time, they were known as The Big Three: Spanish, French and German, and they are still the top three languages taught in colleges across America—although Spanish leads the other two by a mile.

Think about it: in what is widely referred to as "The Asian Century," nearly a billion people speak Mandarin Chinese. Nearly half a billion
Advertisement
speak Spanish. And now, a raft of studies are showing that higher percentages of American students are likely to tackle Pinyin—the alphabetized version of Chinese—than the intricacies of the French subjunctive or German punctuation.

Ach!! Is French passe? Is German kaput?

Not exactly, but signs of decline are there, locally and nationally: Some of Pennsylvania's state-owned universities are seriously debating whether to offer French and German majors after current students graduate. Enrollment in French classes is shrinking in Pittsburgh's public schools, and one high school is considering phasing out its longtime German program. Shady Side Academy, a private school with campuses in Fox Chapel and the East End of Pittsburgh, is eliminating French and German from its middle school curriculum to focus on Spanish, Mandarin and Latin.

A study released this year by the Center for Applied Linguistics found that elementary school students taking French decreased from 27 percent in 1997 to 11 percent in 2008.

At the college level, "The Big Three" still predominate in terms of numbers of students, with Spanish first at 822,985, French second at 206,426 and German third at 94,264, according to a 2006 study by the Modern Language Association.

But that same study found that percentages of enrollment growth for those two languages from 2002 to 2006 was in the single digits, compared to double-digit growth for Chinese and Spanish and triple-digit growth for Arabic.

Of course, fashions in language change. In the 19th century, all well-educated Americans studied German and French. Russian took off in American schools after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in the 1950s. In the 1980s, Japan's economic boom—and subsequent bust—set off a similar cycle in that language's popularity.

These days, neither French nor German is considered central to the modern American's life or sensibility, says John McWhorter, a linguist and contributing editor at The Manhattan Institute, a New York City think tank.

"The emphasis on French learning back in the day was based on a logical desire to teach people a language that most foreigners they were likely to meet could speak," he said. "Today knowing some French is one part a marker of middle-class propriety and one part a key to reading 'Madame Bovary.' "

Tight budgets are forcing the issue for many schools, notes Martha Abbott of the American Council for Teachers of Foreign Languages. As the effects of the economic recession hit school districts, "... when you have to choose between math and a foreign language, you're going to cut out a foreign language."

Budget concerns weren't directly to blame for some state-owned universities in Pennsylvania placing French and German majors "in moratorium"—which means they will not be accepting new students, although that could change.

In some cases, State System of Higher Education spokesman Kenn Marshall said, only a handful of students were enrolled in those classes.

"Given the resources we have available, we want to be sure we're offering students programs they want and need and that also meet the state's needs, since we're public universities," he said.

Some of the colleges in the system have been talking about combining resources to preserve French and German majors, he added.

Pennsylvania is one of the few states in the Northeast with no foreign language requirement for high school graduation, said Marsha Plotkin, who heads the Pittsburgh Public Schools' world language program. Citing the state's 500 school districts—one of the highest numbers of any state—"requiring a foreign language for every small school district would be a big expense."

Nonetheless, "the decline of French is puzzling to me because of all the emerging economies in Africa where many educated people speak French," said Ms. Plotkin, who notes that Pittsburgh once had two French and German magnet elementary schools and now has only one of each—while it has two Spanish magnet elementary schools and a third offering a special focus on Spanish.

Pittsburgh Allderdice High School and Pittsburgh Schenley offer French and German along with three other languages, although there have been discussions about phasing back the German program at Allderdice. Other city schools, faced with budget cuts, have responded in different ways: French language was cut to a half-day at Pittsburgh Westinghouse High School, although at Pittsburgh Oliver High School the principal cut Spanish rather than French. At Pittsburgh Milliones 6-12, the principal kept French, Ms. Plotkin said.

In Mt. Lebanon, French enrollment has declined slightly, while interest in German has been "fairly steady, with slight ups and downs," said Nancy Campbell, who supervises the district's language program. Shady Side Academy decided to end French and German in middle school in order to focus on Spanish, Mandarin and Latin—in part because it was more difficult to schedule five different language classes. When parents were notified, "we didn't hear a word in response. Not a peep," said Amy Nixon, head of Shady Side's middle school.

French holds its own in some quarters. Springdale Junior/Senior High School just added it at the request of parents, and French classes at Carnegie Mellon University are filled, with a 25-person waiting list for introductory French next fall. Bonnie Youngs, a teaching professor in CMU's modern language department said students use the language to read architecture and engineering texts and for drama and music.

"The death of French is greatly exaggerated," contends Richard Shryock, chairman of the foreign language and literature department at Virginia Tech.

French is spoken on all populated continents, he said, while Spanish is mostly confined to the Western Hemisphere. Twenty-seven of our trading partners are French-speaking countries, many of them in the emerging economies of Africa, he added.

Bob Kubiak, 54, of Park Place, is taking French classes from Christine Frechard, who offers them at her art gallery in Squirrel Hill. He is a huge fan of French cinema. And as a technology consultant and fine arts photographer with contacts in Paris, he's polishing his language skills.

"Spanish has a little more applicability, but I'm just more interested in French culture," he said.

These days, younger students—and parents—seem more attracted to the language of commerce rather than of diplomacy. "Children everywhere are learning Chinese!" shouts a headline on mandarinadvantage.com. Even English is touted as the new global language of business—one book recently called "Globish" the new lingua franca of commerce.

Still, "It takes three times as long to master Chinese, and a lot of people don't realize that," Mr. Shryock said.

Louis Schwartz, president of China Strategies LLC, a Squirrel Hill-based company that advises on trade and investment with China, said he took his first Mandarin course in the 1970s after graduating from Allderdice and before heading to the University of Michigan, where eventually he earned a bachelor of arts degree in Asian studies. A year spent in Taiwan helped him achieve proficiency in the language.

"My interests in China grew out of an interest in the culture and the language and the people," he said. "It was only later that I felt the need to turn a strong interest into a vocation."

So will the languages of Moliere and Goethe become a luxury and not a necessity for a well-rounded young person living in "The Asian Century"?

Perhaps, but China is hardly a cultural wasteland.

"I don't want to disparage France. It's a lovely country. And we have a lot of history with France," said Mr. Schwartz. "But I think there is probably no civilization with as deep and rich a cultural heritage as China."

By MACKENZIE CARPENTER

French is a 'useless' language, says former foreign minister

At last, someone finds the courage to tell the truth about the uselessness of French (which is proportional to the irrelevance of the places where it is in use):

A former Foreign Office minister has branded French a 'useless' modern language.

Chris Bryant, now a shadow Foreign Office minister, told the Commons other languages - such as Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic - were more important.

'Unless we have sufficient numbers of people who speak modern foreign languages - and not just the useless modern foreign languages like French ...,' the Labour MP said.

Amid Tory protests that this was 'insulting' to the French, Mr Bryant, who was minister for the EU before Labour lost power, said: 'I've said this to the French. I think they realise there are problems.'

He defended his remark, insisting that while French had been the 'most useful language to use because it was the diplomatic language', things had changed over the last 30 to 40 years and now 'it certainly isn't.'

He said the most significant languages to speak now, aside from English, were Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic.

Mr Bryant was advocating the importance of young people taking up languages to win business in the emerging economies.

French was once one of the most popular languages taught in British schools. But in recent years, the education system has shunned it - and Spanish and German - for more 'fashionable' languages.

Chinese classes supplanting French classes

Yet another piece of news spells doom for French teaching in North America, making the often-read statement that French is with English the only language spoken on all five continents all the more laughable.

Associated Press - June 19, 2010 5:55 PM ET

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Language instructors say the rapidly growing Chinese economy is causing French language classes to be phased out and replaced with Mandarin Chinese classes in private and public schools.

The wave of Chinese language offerings includes introductory classes in three Memphis city schools starting in the fall. The offerings are in Mandarin, the most widely spoken dialect.

Laurie Stanton is the assistant head for teaching and learning at the private Hutchison School. She says the decision to offer Chinese was based on a supply & demand philosophy that began with research on student interest in languages nationally.

Stanton says the Modern Language Association did a survey in 2006 showing enrollment in French between 1990 and 2006 was down by 43%. Chinese was up 106%.

Quebec’s self-defeating language fetish

The following opinion piece could be found at the national post here. It does a good job of showing the dilemmas afflicting the protection of French in Quebec.

Special to the National Post June 4, 2010 – 7:40 am

Last summer, after close to 20 years in The Netherlands running the Dutch campus of a top U.S. university, I returned home to Montreal to accept the post of Director General of Marianopolis College. Three of our children returned with me and my wife, the fourth remaining at university in Amsterdam. Bringing children ages 10 to 16 and a Dutch wife to Canada was a challenge, but I underestimated how difficult it would be to bring them to Quebec.

A year later, I am increasingly concerned about Quebec and its direction. I worry — as a father, as the leader of one of the province’s top higher-education institutions and as a global citizen — that Quebec is moving opposite to global trends.
For example, on Wednesday, the provincial government unveiled its response to the recent Supreme Court of Canada judgement declaring Bill 104 unconstitutional.

Bill 104 amended Bill 101 — Quebec’s French Language Charter — to prevent parents not educated in Canada in English from securing eligibility for their child to attend English schools after spending one year at an un-subsidized English private school. The high court gave Quebec a year to find another way to plug that loophole, while protecting Charter rights. The Quebec National Assembly’s response, Bill 103, further limits access to English schooling.

This has happened despite the fact that the English community has evolved significantly while I was abroad. There is an openness to learning French that didn’t exist when I left in 1991. Graduates of English schools are increasingly fluent in both French and English, and the bridges that have been built between different ethnic communities are remarkable.

Yet, when I speak with the university-bound students at Marianopolis, many of whom attended francophone high schools, and with the academic leaders of Quebec’s French and English colleges and universities, it is clear: The brain drain out of the province persists.

Worse still, this flight of talent and economic prowess is not being replaced by immigrants: Only 18 percent of all immigrants to Canada come to Quebec, too few for a province with almost a quarter of the nation’s population.

Quebec’s auditor-general was the latest to call attention to immigration-related shortcomings, in his May 12 report to the National Assembly. In response, no less an authority than Quebec Immigration Minister Yolande James warned that making it a priority to recruit immigrants who speak French — the current policy — limits Quebec’s options.

Meanwhile, globally minded francophone and allophone students are choosing to attend English-language Cegep (as Quebec’s unique college system is called) at English schools at the first moment they are legally allowed to, when the Bill 101 restrictions are lifted after high school. Many stay in the province due to Quebec’s unreasonably low tuition, funded by the highest taxes in North America, but eventually they pay their taxes elsewhere when their careers take them outside the province.
Despite our high taxes, which are equivalent to those in socialist Holland, the services in Quebec are far fewer and less robust than they are in Holland: Health insurance, social welfare and the general infrastructure of the province seem to be lower here. As a hockey dad, I see many parts of Montreal. Too often, I am shocked by the poverty and crumbling roads and buildings.
Quebec’s protectionism translates not just into ill-qualified immigrants, fleeing educated people, fewer services and crumbling infrastructure, but into a society that is out of synch with the rest of the world.

Keeping in mind the undeniable decline of the French language worldwide, let’s compare Quebec’s language policy with that of The Netherlands. The Dutch welcome English as the international language. U.S. and English TV shows are never dubbed, but subtitled; most music on the radio is in English; even more tellingly, universities have converted all masters programs to English-only in order to prepare the Dutch for the global economy.

Does that mean the Dutch culture or language is on the decline? On the contrary, both thrive and the Dutch enjoy a most “distinct society,” despite being surrounded by large countries.

Quebec, meanwhile, has decided that language preservation is more important than economic progress. This has many costs, and it limits the ability of young people to be global citizens.

A recent analysis by the Quebec Ministry of Finance shows the province has one of the industrialized world’s most heavily indebted economies: When considering Quebec as a nation — as some say it ought to be — it ranks a disconcerting fifth in terms of public debt as a percentage of GDP. First on the list? Greece at 102%. Canada’s debt is calculated at 69.7% of its GDP; Quebec’s is at 94%.

My sense is that we need to have the courage to admit that the world has changed since Bill 101 was introduced, as has Quebec. We need to take a fresh look at the situation, and my bet is that together we can continue to protect the French language while developing strategies to strengthen our economy and convince our young people to stay home.

Len Even
National Post

Len Even is director general of Marianopolis College in Montreal.

The Precarious Status of French in Senegal

The shift away from French in West-African education is, to say the least, a rather under-reported topic. The reason why this trend tends to escape the notice of observers is the slow pace at which it is happening, only Rwanda having enough determination to completely scrap French from primary education. In the introduction to her "Sounding Off: Rhythm, Music, and Identity in West African and Caribbean", Julie Huntington gives an aperçu of the situation of French in Senegal.

Although French is the official language of Senegal, many Senegalese citizens do not speak French, particularly in rural locations like Keur Momar Sarr. In rural areas, people tend to speak their maternal languages at home with their families. Some of these languages, including Mandingué, Bambara, and Balanta, are minority languages that are not represented by the Senegalese government as national languages. For those minority language speakers who do business outside of their villages, a vehicular language is often utilized for the purposes of communication and commerce.
Generally speaking, Wolof is the preferred vehicular language in northern Senegal (the part of Senegal north of the Gambia), and Dioula is the preferred vehicular language in southern Senegal (the part of Senegal south of the Gambia), although other languages like Serer, Pular, Malinké, and Soninké are preferred in specific subregions. Although French remains the official language of secondary and University education, in recent years, the Senegalese government has encouraged a shift away from French to Senegalese languages in elementary education, particularly in rural areas where residents are less likely to speak French. (...) 7. Whereas 80 percent of Senegalese citizens speak Wolof as a maternal or foreign language, about 15 to 20 percent of Senegalese speak French. Although this information is published in book form (see Leclerc 1992), the most up-to-date information is available on Leclerc’s Web site, Aménagement linguistique dans le monde, at http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl.

The following excerpt (pp. 69-70) from the same book describe the absurdity of the language situation in Senegal. French is an obstacle to the development of the country as most of its inhabitants don't understand it at all. It will not be possible to alphabetize West-Africa as long as primary education remains in French. La Francophonie is chiefly about pressuring third-world governments into ramming the French language down their populace's collective throat even at the cost of development.
Indeed, local language instruction is deemed by many to be a prerequisite to alphabetization and development in Africa. It is, therefore, a promising sign to see primary instruction gradually shifting away from French in countries such as Senegal.

French Verb Decaying

The below thesis work focuses on the decline of written accuracy in pupils' use of French verbs. As any linguist knows, the verb is the most difficult part of language, but also the one part that most clearly sets a language apart from the others. The verb, its constructions, its forms, are at the core of a language's identity. The rapid decay of the modern French verb is a clear sign of the rapidly changing nature of the French language.

The decline of written accuracy in pupils' use of French verbs
Authors: Peter Metcalfe a; Diana Laurillard a; Robin Mason a
Affiliation: a The Open University,
DOI: 10.1080/09571739585200431
source

This article presents a survey and analysis of Examiners' Reports on French written papers, looking specifically at difficulties in using verbs appropriately. It draws on evidence from second-language acquisition research to determine the nature of the problem and hypothesizes links between the decline in written accuracy and the rise in oral fluency. (25 references) (CK)
source

More and More Franco Enrolments in Quebec's English-Language Schools

In spite of strict language laws, English retains its attraction in Quebec and many a Francophone wishes his children to become Anglos. Those who can afford the costs of private education even send them in ever greater numbers to English-language schools:

French and English in Europe

Dr Svetlana Carsten, Deputy Director of the Center of Translation Studies and Director of Postgraduate programmes in Interpreting at the University of Leeds, has published a pdf document about main trends of language teaching in Europe. A few screenshots might be of interest before the presentation is taken offline. Click the thumbnails to enlarge:

I find it particularly interesting that French as a foreign language has all but disappeared from Eastern Europe except in Romania. Not really what Francophonie propaganda would have you believe.

Further Erosion of French Teaching in UK

The Joint Council for Qualifications reported a further decline of French entries in British examinations in August 2009. Of all foreign languages, French has experienced the steepest fall over the last few years:

Entries in modern foreign languages continue to decline with French down by 13,252 or 6.6 per cent (from 201,940 in 2008 to 188,688), German, down by 3,226 or 4.2 per cent (from 76,695 in 2008 to 73,469). However, entries in Spanish are stable, only down by 22 (from 67,092 in 2008 to 67,070).
Other modern languages continue their upward trend, by 1,429 or 4.5 per cent (from 31,682 in 2008 to 33,111).

Education Reform in Italy

There wasn't much on this blog yet about the decline of French teaching in Italy, even though this subject deserves this blog's full attention since we're talking about one of France's neighbors. Here is a story documenting an ongoing reform of foreign-language teaching in elementary school and secondary education in Italy. I had begun to translate it into English, but since it's taking me too long, I might as well publish it untranslated before it gets too old.

La récente réforme du système scolaire italien a fait couler beaucoup d’encre. Les projecteurs se sont cependant dirigés davantage vers l’école primaire que vers les nouveautés importantes introduites dans le secondaire, qui mettent en danger l’apprentissage d’une deuxième langue vivante

Pour les élèves italiens, l’heure des inscriptions a sonné. La date limite a été cette année repoussée au 28 février. Ce délai est particulièrement important pour l’inscription dans les collèges car la mise en place de la réforme Gelmini, initialement annoncée pour septembre 2010, aurait été anticipée à la rentrée 2009. Or, les nouveaux formulaires d’inscription ne sont disponibles que depuis le 16 janvier 2009…
Pour bien comprendre les tenants et les aboutissants de la réforme, il faut revenir en arrière au mois de mars 2003, quand Letizia Moratti, ministre du gouvernement Berlusconi, propose une réforme du système scolaire. Au nom de la "loi des trois i", anglais (inglese), informatique et entreprise (impresa), on assiste alors à l’introduction de l’anglais, seule langue autorisée, dans le primaire (alors qu’il était jusque-là théoriquement possible d’y enseigner le français ou une autre langue). En sixième en revanche l’étude d’une deuxième langue (français, allemand ou espagnol) devient obligatoire (et non plus optionnelle, comme elle était proposée dans certains établissements). La réforme respectait donc pleinement les directives européennes en matière d’enseignement des langues étrangères. Cependant, deux ans plus tard, l’article 25 du décret du 17 octobre 2005 relatif à l’enseignement secondaire prévoyait "la possibilité, au niveau du collège, pour les familles qui en feront la demande, d’utiliser, pour l’apprentissage de la langue mentionnée ci-dessus (c’est-à-dire l’anglais, n.d.a), le nombre d’heures consacré à l’apprentissage de la deuxième langue communautaire."

L’article 25 : une épée de Damoclès
Silvia Diegoli est professeur de français au lycée de Carignano, dans les environs de Turin. Elle est présidente de la section turinoise de l’ANILF (photo ANILF)

"C’est l’existence de cet article, suspendu sur nos têtes comme une épée de Damoclès, qui est à l’origine de la création, le 22 décembre 2005 à Cuneo, de l’Associazione Nazionale per l’Insegnamento della Lingua Francese", explique Silvia Diegoli. Au fil des réunions, grâce au travail d’information effectué sur Internet et au bouche à oreille entre collègues, ce petit groupe de professeurs s’est élargi. C’est ainsi qu’il devint nécessaire de créer, le 14 mars 2006, une section turinoise de l’ANILF. Aujourd’hui, l’ANILF compte une centaine de membres au sein de ses deux sections, Cuneo et Turin. C’est l’ANILF qui rencontre en juillet 2007 Giuseppe Fioroni, ministre de l’Education du gouvernement Prodi. Une rencontre rassurante : "Nous avons obtenu la promesse que l’article 25, "congelé" jusqu’en 2009, serait aboli à cette date-là", poursuit Silvia Diegoli. Seulement voilà : la chute du gouvernement Prodi en 2008 change les données du problème et Mariastella Gelmini, dans sa réforme, reprend et applique le texte de l’article 25. Concrètement donc, en septembre 2009, les élèves des collèges auront le choix entre deux possibilités : étudier une deuxième langue étrangère (rappelons que l’anglais première langue est obligatoire pour tous) ou opter pour une section d’"anglais renforcé".

Contre le modèle unique
Pour Silvia Diegoli, ce n’est certes pas l’apprentissage obligatoire de l’anglais en première langue qu’il faut remettre en question. "En revanche, nous considérons que le monolinguisme est une tentative d’imposition d’un modèle culturel unique qui va à l’encontre des besoins de notre temps. Face à cet indéniable appauvrissement culturel, il faut bien voir que ce qui est vraiment grave, c’est que nos élèves présents et futurs vont se trouver dans une position inférieure par rapport aux jeunes européens qui, pour la plupart, connaissent deux sinon trois langues européennes. Alors, pourquoi ne pas proposer cet anglais renforcé comme une option, tout en gardant la deuxième langue pour tous ?" Par ailleurs l’ANILF, qui ne doute pas du succès que risque de rencontrer la section d’anglais renforcé telle qu’elle est proposée aujourd’hui, se bat pour que le français bénéficie du statut de deuxième langue officielle du Piémont en raison de la proximité géographique de la région avec la France. Dans ce combat, l’ANILF devrait pouvoir compter sur un allié important : la Région Piémont, par l’intermédiaire de madame Pentenero, chargée des dossiers relatifs à l’éducation. L’Union européenne, qui a toujours prôné "la maîtrise de plusieurs langues par le plus grand nombre", pourrait également venir à la rescousse…

First Public Library To Be Built In Rwanda

After the Rwandan government announced at the end of last year that Rwanda's school system would be mandated to use English instead of French as a medium of instruction, some Western commentators sneered that this decree would likely change little on the ground. However, here is one project that could change a few things for the Rwandan population:

During my time in Rwanda, I have had the pleasure of connecting with the organization of my roommates Amir and Anna, called “Miracle Corners of the World” (MCW). This is an international network that empowers youth to become positive agents of change, to improve their lives and contribute to their communities. MCW serves youth through leadership training, community development, oral healthcare, and partner initiative programs.

In Rwanda, MCW has begun building a community center inspired by the ideas of youth throughout the Bugesera District, several kilometers south of the capital city of Kigali. This center will house an ICT center for learning computer skills, a classroom for language instruction, and a preschool, among other facilities.

This project will be particularly important in facilitating Rwanda’s switch from Francophone to Anglophone, which occurred officially only several weeks ago at the end of 2008. In fact, Miracle Corners Rwanda hopes to build the first public library in the entire country, focusing on making English-language books available to the community.

"Kubaka" in Kinyarwanda means "Construction." This film tells the story of the groundbreaking ceremony for the center, highlighting some of the ways MCW has been working with the community, and celebrating the opportunities for education, networking, and socialization that have been and will be "constructed."

click to watch two related videos

Tunisia To Step Up English Language Teaching

In Kongo Times, 27 Jan 2009. Here is the link to the original story. Another nail in the coffin for the French language in Africa.

The Tunisian Ministry of Education and Training signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the British Council in London Tuesday, to prepare for a huge project aimed at English language teaching reform in all state primary and secondary schools in Tunisia. The MoU signing ceremony was attended by Hatem Ben Salem, the Tunisian Minister of Education and Training; and Lord Kinnock, Chair of the British Council and former Leader of the Labour Party.

The project, known as 'English for the Future', seeks to design and introduce new English language materials and course books for primary and secondary education in order to produce output standards that are within the Common European Framework for Languages, and to equip learners of English with better vocational language abilities.

During the ceremony, Lord Kinnock stressed the Council's commitment to Tunisia.

"Our commitment to Tunisia, to education specifically, and within that to English language teaching and training is very very strong indeed and we would like to do much more of it," noted Lord Kinnock.

The English language is not only vital for employability, but "the fact is: an international language can be a medium of tolerance and comprehension," Lord Kinnock said.

The Tunisian Minister underscored his country's focus on improving education.

"Since its independence, Tunisia has decided not to invest in arms but to invest instead in education," said Ben Salem.

"The budget for the Ministry of Education is one fifth of the whole state budget," he added.

However, the Tunisian education system had mainly invested to enable people to have access to education, noted Ben Salem, adding that now is the time "to go further and work more on quality, not only in education but also in vocational training."

Tunisia, which boasts of around 2,200,000 students in primary and secondary schools, has the burden of 100, 000 high diploma holders who are unemployed, prompting more focus on vocational training, where mastering the English language is key.

"Now there is a target; to have students go to vocational training," said Ben Salem, adding that learners would not benefit by finding jobs in Tunisia only, but also by being employed in Arab Gulf States.

"Ministers in the Gulf are asking for experts from Tunisia who are skilled in English," noted Ben Salem.

The project also aims to focus on training Tunisian teachers of English to reach a certain level of expertise, especially since there has been an increase in the number of English language teachers and students.

"The Tunisian President Ben Ali had decided to impose teaching English for sixth year primary school children, which was revolutionary in Tunisia where people are accustomed to French. So the new teachers will need more training," explained Ben Salem.

The project initiative will begin by assessing the current situation of English language teaching in Tunisia before planning to set out a clear feasible strategy.

But the Tunisian Minister is optimistic that the project's success will make it a positive model for neighbouring countries.

Preparations for the project have already begun.

"Just over a year ago we had a three person scoping mission - distinguished consultants from the UK - who worked with a team from the Ministry and looked at the whole situation of English language teaching, root and branch," said Peter Skelton, British Council Director.

"The team produced a very weighty report," said Skelton, which will be the basis for work on the way forward, adding that the project could last as long as 8 years "as it is one of the biggest investments the British Council has made anywhere."

"It is being launched in Tunisia as a pilot not only for the Near East and North Africa region but for the rest of the world," explained Skelton, to see "what can be done using the British Council's new products and services."

"The absolute key in this is sustainability," stressed Skelton.

When asked about the significance of this project in comparison to previous British Council initiatives in Tunisia, Skelton said the Council "was involved with one off projects, good at the time but did not have a lasting impact. Now we're looking at long term impact and sustainability."

Is French program headed for guillotine at Manchester's Memorial Elementary School?

The Gloucester Times ran this story on January 27, 2009. Scrapping French-language programs in schools is a good idea since French as a subject is a waste of taxpayers' money, while languages such as Mandarin Chinese or Spanish are going to be more and more in demand.

Is French program headed for guillotine at Manchester's Memorial Elementary School?
By Robert Cann
Staff Writer

MANCHESTER — Proposed cuts to Memorial Elementary School's French language program will be among the items on the table tonight as part of a budget workshop hosted by the Manchester Essex Regional School Committee.

At an earlier School Committee meeting, Superintendent Marcia O'Neil proposed that the French program at the elementary school be cut as a part of a reallocation of funds.

Since that Jan. 6 meeting, however, committee members, parents and language teachers have demonstrated strong opposition to the proposal.

At last week's School Committee meeting, Manchester Essex Regional Middle School French and Spanish teacher Dorris-Ann Vosseler suggested introducing an "exploratory" language program in both elementary schools — Memorial in Manchester, and Essex Elementary.

The exploratory program would share one teacher between the Manchester and Essex elementary schools, with that instructor teaching Spanish for one semester and French the other, giving students at both schools the opportunity to try both languages. Essex Elementary does not now offer French.

According to School Committee Chairwoman Susan Beckmann, Vosseler's proposal will be given more consideration this evening.

Vosseler said the district's program has traditionally been very successful. Last June, four seniors received linguist awards for completing all four advanced placement language courses offered: French language and literature, and Spanish language and literature.

Vosseler referred to the district's language program as a "marble column that could be devastated by these cuts."

The meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the high school music room.

Robert Cann can be reached at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com

Hervé Bourges: Francophonie In Crisis

RTL info ran this story on June 4th, 2008:

France “is not protecting its language” and la Francophonie is in a crisis: a report submitted Wednesday to the government calls for a broad and “uninhibited” francophone campaign against English-language dominance, and especially for giving more importance to Southern countries.

“La Francophonie is little known. It gets little notice because in France we do not believe in la Francophonie, and the country does not protect its language”, explained Herve Bourges, author of the report submitted to Secretary of State for Co-operation and Francophonie Alain Joyandet.

“In France Francophonie appears dated, obsolete, out of touch with the young”, this one-time high ranking official for audio-visual affairs wrote, now a left-wing public figure and a Third-World activist.

According to him, France bears her share of the blame for this “unease” within the French-speaking community, one that claims more than 200 million from Haiti to Vietnam.

France is “too self-centered”, especially due to the “burden of its colonizing past” it “is perceived more and more as hostile by the French-speaking populations of the South”, he observed.

Herve Bourges advocates “ridding the Francophonie of its inhibitions”, making the work of the International Francophonie organization with its 68 States and governments more noticeable, and launching a “linguistic counter-attack, while emulating the US in pushing for commercial or diplomatic agreements to include as many French-language provisions as possible.

“We ought to regain the offensive and further the French tongue in an uninhibited way, the English way, because the linguistic battle is not only about culture or aesthetics: the real stakes are political influence and economic growth”, he wrote.

He stressed that the British Council had just launched a program aiming at increasing the number of English speakers from 2 to 3 billion with an investment of 150 million euros, whereas the OIF programs for the teaching and promotion of French amounted to about 6 million.

To protect the French language, Herve Bourges suggests among other things that Francophonie be taught at school and junior high and that a “French-speaking Academy” be created on the model of the French Academy, but where French writers would be in the minority, along with an “Erasmus program” that would foster exchanges between the universities of the North and those of the South.
(...)
We need to ask Southern countries for “a financial contribution and to allow them to be part of the decision-making process”, he explained.

All in all, the Francophonie must be less financially reliant on France “which today shoulders 50% of the Francophonie budget”, he said.

He proposes the creation of a “Francophone Foundation” which would report to the OIF but could raise private funding for language programs.

ULK Dumps French

Allafrica had this story on Jan 22nd, 2007:

Rwanda: ULK Adopts English as the Only Language of Instruction

Robert Mugabe
Kigali — The founder and Chancellor, Professor Rwigamba Balinda, of the Kigali Independent University (ULK) has announced the scrapping of French as a language of instruction at the university.

This was publicly announced, during the student's orientation briefing for this academic year by the Chancellor at the ULK stadium.

Professor Balinda said that no more use of French in all courses in both the Kigali and Gisenyi campuses.

The development follows last year's announcement by the government to promote the use of English as the medium of instruction in all public schools from primary to institutions of higher learning.

The decision was taken by the government to help build a competitive workforce that would compete favourably on the international market.

"ULK has taken that decision to enhance international standards and adapt to the cabinet decision (encouraging use of English); We have invested in everything needed in all areas to implement this...French is an expiring language," Balinda advised the students.

According to Dr. Rose Kasibirege, the Vice- Rector in charge of academics, ULK has hired other lecturers for five months to take over while their own undergo English training.

She revealed that, ULK had also hired some professionals who will teach listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills which will be offered free of charge to students.

According to the national curriculum, students in universities who underwent secondary education in the country are meant to be bilingual since both English and French had previously had the same hours in terms of lessons right from primary school.

Regarded as the country's biggest private university, ULK previously used both English and French as languages of instruction. It has so far awarded 5802 Bachelors degrees.

Germany and France Drifting Apart Linguistically

Eurotopics summarizes a recent Le Monde article as follows:

The two neighbors drifting apart linguistically

Le Monde daily newspaper addresses the decline of French and German as foreign languages in both Germany and France. “The bad news is that co-operation is going through difficult times. There is the recurring issue of French teaching in Germany and of German teaching in France being both in parallel decline for all the promises repeated with each summit. … Even deserving efforts in border areas often result in failure, as the students' parents tend to favor English when choosing a first foreign language [for their children]. … Don't count on cultural institutes to compensate for the school system's failures, since they, on both sides of the Rhine, have been hit by budget cuts ordered by overscrupulous accountants in foreign affairs ministries' budget departments. The network of French cultural institutes in Germany has shrunk to next to nothing in the last few years, while the Goethe Institutes in France have fallen prey to similar belt-tightening measures.”

A Devastating Blow

The Nouvel Obs ran a story two weeks ago on draconian budget cuts to affect the propaganda apparatus that France maintains at great cost to the taxpayer outside of its borders. Cultural centers are being closed throughout Europe while European and overseas lycées français will have to hike tuition fees for non-French students. This is nothing short of a devastating blow to the global status of French considering that la francophonie is French-funded to the tune of 80% according to the same article.

Rien de va plus au Quai-d'Orsay, dans l'organisation de son réseau culturel à l'étranger, incomparable maillage de centres culturels, d'Alliances françaises, d'instituts français et d'établissements scolaires à travers le monde dont l'action sur le terrain est peu connue tant elle est peu mise en valeur. Or voici qu'une réforme préparée à la va-vite se profile tandis que l'utilité des centres et des instituts était récemment contestée par un récent rapport sénatorial (du senateur UMP de la Haute-Loire Adrien Gouteyron). En 2009, les budgets seraient réduits de 13% à 35%, alors que l'Allemagne annonce une augmentation de l'ordre de 7,5% de son budget pour son action culturelle à l'étranger. Au lieu de réfléchir à une politique européenne, on ferme des centres au coup par coup en Europe, centres qui, avant la chute du mur de Berlin, furent de hauts lieux de repérage de jeunes talents, d'échange et de formation des élites - artistes, archéologues ou scientifiques. Quant au réseau des 269 lycées français à l étranger, son financement est ébranlé par la coûteuse promesse du président de la République d'instaurer la gratuité d'inscription pour les étudiants français. Et sans augmentation de subventions à la clé. Décision qui fait craindre une désaffection des étudiants étrangers.

click here to read the rest of the story

11/12/2008

French Down from Second to Fourth Place in Cyprus' Schools

In Cyprus education, French is in steep decline while Spanish is booming:

Three out of ten students choose Spanish

By Claudia Konyalian

But could Latin American soap operas really be behind the trend?

THE CURRENT school year has brought with it a new wave of interest in Spanish, with over a third of teenagers opting for the romantic language in the last two years of lyceum.

While English continues to be the most popular, and is considered the most important among the foreign languages to master, numbers this year show a drop in the popularity of both English and French, as trends are shifting. Assistant Director of the Education Programming Unit of the Ministry of Education, Charalambos Hadjithomas believes that there are several factors causing these shifts. “By the time students reach the second and third year of lyceum, they have already been studying French for four years. Those who feel they have gaps in their knowledge and don’t want to continue may drop French at this stage. “But these last two years also offer the opportunity to study a whole new language from scratch,” he said. Hadjithoma added, “It seems students view Spanish and Italian as ‘easier’ languages than French and German. But I also think that the popular Spanish language series on TV account for the increased interest we are seeing.”

This effect of the popular media is an opinion shared by other experts in the field. A private Spanish language tutor fromNico sia referred to the recent wave of Argentinean teen television soap operas ‘Rebelde Way’ and ‘Floricienta’. “Teenagers love these shows, which are on during the afternoon, just after they get home from school. They relate to the characters and they like to discuss who is the most attractive, and so they become interested in learning the language, and one day visiting Spanish-speaking countries,” she said.

Director of the Hispalingua Spanish language institute in Nicosia, Miguel Matayoshi referred to the prevalence of Spanish songs being played on popular radio stations. “Maybe Russian and Arabic would be more strategic languages to study, considering the economic links in Cyprus, but I think teenagers are attracted by the sound of the Spanish language, which has also become trendy somehow,” he said.

In fact Spanish is used by some 400 million people in the world and competes with English as the second most commonly spoken language by native speakers. The study of foreign languages has become increasingly important in the school curriculum with Cyprus’ accession to the EU, with French and German being added in 2001, Russian in 2002, and Turkish in 2003.

In accordance with the national curriculum, students have to study two foreign languages out of a choice of seven in the last two years of secondary school. The statistics of the Educational Programming Unit of the Ministry of Education reflect the recent changes in teenage tastes and trends.

For students in the second year of lyceum, French language used to be the most popular after English, but since last year now ranks fourth. 62.96 per cent chose English this year, down from last year’s 66.71 per cent, while only 12.65 per cent of students chose French, compared with 16.21 per cent last year.

Meanwhile the number of students choosing Turkish language is steadily increasing, with only one per cent in 2003, when it was first introduced into the curriculum, compared with today’s 7.76 per cent.

German and Russian remain the least popular at 2.81 per cent and 3.50 per cent respectively, while Italian remains extremely popular – consistently second only to English it is chosen by over one in two students.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

Dec 14th, 2008

http://www.homeboy.gr/?p=4142

http://www.velvetclassic.net/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=5690

Spanish Now Second-Most Studied Language

The French like to claim that French is the second-most taught language in the world, and this might have been true a while ago. However, some now contend that Spanish has taken up that position due to both the rise of Spanish and the decline of French:

According to Spain's 20 Minutos, there are now more than 14 million people studying Spanish in 90 countries in which Spanish is not an official language. According to the Director of the Instituto Cervantes -- the Spanish organization that looks to promote the language all over the world -- one of the main reasons that people are choosing to study Spanish is because they believe that it willprofessionally benefit them in today's global economy. He also pointed to Brazil's decision to make Spanish an mandatory subject in schools as an example of the growing importance of Spanish in the world. There are currently one million Spanish speakers in Brazil butMolina estimates that in 10 years there will be more than 30 million Spanish-speaking Brazilians, adding to the already 500 million Spanish speakers in America and Spain, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world, after Chinese, English and Hindi. Brazil's new Spanish initiative will call for 210,000 Spanish teachers to teach the language. Molina, speaking at a language school conference in Coruña, Spain, also said that the United States -- currently with (according to his estimate) 36 million Spanish speakers -- is the frontier that must be conquered, calling it "a decisive platform for Spanish to reaffirm its role as the second language of international communication."

2007/04/27

http://vivirlatino.com/2007/04/27/spanish-second-most-studied-language-worldwide.php

French Shrinking in the Netherlands

French used to be a very important foreign language in the Netherlands. Knowledge and use of French have perceptibly shrunk in the last few decades, and this trend is likely to hold:

"het Frans wel onder hevige concurrentie lijdt van het Engels, Duits en tegenwoordig ook Spaans in het beroepsonderwijs. (...) is er steeds meer passieve kennis: leerlingen kunnen de taal wel lezen, maar niet schrijven of spreken. Ook zijn er op de universiteit steeds minder studenten Frans (er zijn zelfs meer studenten Nederlands in Frankrijk dan andersom!)."

Translation: "French is under fierce competition from English, German and now even Spanish in vocational education. (...) Its knowledge is increasingly passive: students can read the language well, but cannot write or speak it. Universities also have seen French enrolment numbers decrease constantly (there are more students of Dutch in France than of French in the Netherlands!)."