The Herald Express – Kassi McClure
“For me, learning a language was never simply a ‘subject’. It was a means to an end. If I couldn’t speak German, I wouldn’t be able to survive in Germany. If I didn’t speak English, how could I go to school in Canada? And funnily enough, when I moved to London in 2006, the first job I got was as a media account manager, for an English company specialising in the German market. It surprises me, therefore, how numbers of students studying modern foreign languages is on the decline in the UK. A recent Russell Group study has drawn the conclusion that despite numbers of people studying the most popular languages — French, Spanish and German — falling dramatically since 2007.”…the study of modern foreign and ancient languages at AS and A-level is valuable in developing communication skills and critical thinking, in gaining insight into other societies and cultures that can only be achieved through the language and in enriching the lives of students.” I think that young people aren’t given the tools to connect the latter with the former.A young person needs to know what the art of the possible is when they consider which language to learn.”(more)