Thinking through languages: a multi-lingual approach to primary school languages

Abstract

Abstract The beginning of the 21st century in England has seen a rapid growth in interest in foreign languages for primary age learners. This article presents an alternative approach to primary school languages based on a Nuffield-funded pilot in Coventry LEA. A brief overview of recent developments in primary MFL is provided, followed by an account of the approach. The pilot project draws upon language awareness and develops it towards a multilingual approach to foreign languages for primary learners. The approach fosters links with the literacy hour and citizenship, and has the aim of raising pupils' awareness of the diversity of languages and the challenges and rewards of language learning. The article includes some practical examples of activities for primary age children and is interspersed with comments from MFL PGCE trainees who were involved in one aspect of the project (a language encounter) as well as primary teachers' views. A nation's fate will depend, in the end, on the quality of the education its children get in language'. Comenius, 1630