From education to employment

A New Focus to Promote Language Learning

CILT, the National Centre for Languages, sought to further the cause of language learning by supporting family learning week (8-16 October), a campaign for learning initiative to create more opportunities for family members to learn together.

It is hoped that this initiative will help families across the country to learn to greet and communicate with each other in a variety of different languages, and comes at a time when language training is very much on the agenda for the Government with the 2012 Olympics in mind.

Parents See Languages as Important

A recent survey carried out on behalf of Asset Languages reported that 92 per cent of adults interviewed felt that language learning is an important part of a child’s education, with nine out of ten people saying they would like their own children to learn languages at primary school.

As part of the National Languages Strategy, primary school children will have the opportunity to study at least one language by the end of the decade. Many schools are already offering languages, drawing on the linguistic skills of the local community and encouraging parents to support their children’s learning. However, at the same time as this initiative, it is no longer mandatory to study at least one modern language up to the age of 16 in schools.

Seven out of ten respondents in the Asset survey had themselves learnt a language although 82 per cent of them wished their language skills were better. Parents are encouraged to learn alongside their children during the family learning week and CILT has put together some tips and activities to help make languages feature in homes across the country both during the week and beyond.

Aakriti Kaushik

Tell us what you did for family learning week in the FE Blog


Related Articles

Responses