English is one of the world’s most common languages, spoken on every continent. Yet many countries close to home are falling behind those further afield in terms of the standard of English that students are taught. And now the President of France Nicholas Sarkozy has led an assault on the old fashioned and ineffective teaching methods in France. This battering of the way English is taught in French schools has led to bigger opportunities for teaching English as a foreign language in France’s schools and private teaching institutions.
The latter is how many people are choosing to study English once they have left school. At present, students in France are given six years of English language education however many feel that they are unable to speak the language effectively once they have left school. So they are hiring private tutors at expensive costs to teach them English which they can use in conversation.
Now the President wants this method to be used in state schools instead of the traditional way. France really needs to improve its standing in the Test of English as a Foreign language because it stands only 69th out of 109 countries even though it spends 5.9% of its GDP on education. As one of Britain’s most historical neighbours with a long term economic and political relationship, this is surprising.
It seems however that the resistance to learning any other language than French is coming from within the education system of the country. The Academie Francaise has been purging the French language of foreign words since 1635. And in terms of French culture, English imported words have been kept out of film and music for 25 years.
With this in mind some students will not speak English until they have mastered it on paper because they do not want to sacrifice their native French. but there are more and more people who want to pay for a better knowledge of English. They know that they will build themselves a better career CV if they can speak fluent English as this is the dominant language in business worldwide.
So with different teaching patterns coming into French study in the near future, the time has never been better to teach English as a foreign language in France. Ideal if you want to teach in a foreign country without living too far away from home.
Tags: france, languages, teachin english, teaching english as a foreign language, TEFL