{"id":37679,"date":"2022-01-27T11:19:21","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T11:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shefnews.co.uk\/?p=37679"},"modified":"2023-11-14T11:40:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T11:40:17","slug":"how-learning-languages-can-be-fun-and-change-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2022\/01\/27\/how-learning-languages-can-be-fun-and-change-your-life\/","title":{"rendered":"How Learning Languages Can Be Fun and Change Your Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nelson Walker has spoken to language teachers, students and academics to uncover the challenges of learning languages and reveal how people can enjoy the process much more and enrich their lives.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Learning foreign languages does not need to be reduced to cramming French verb conjugations, German articles and passing exams. They can be immense tools to enhance our lives. Yet, language learning is in a deeply precarious moment in the UK. <\/span>In 2019, the BBC reported that foreign language learning was at its lowest level in UK secondary schools since the turn of the millennium<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>In the same year, the British Academy reported:<\/span><\/a> \u201cThe UK is currently nowhere near to fulfilling its linguistic potential. The global nature of English does not make up for that underperformance, which is worsening each year.\u201d <\/span>The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages has also stated:<\/span><\/a> \u201cThe UK\u2019s language deficit is holding us back economically, socially and culturally. We need to reverse this. The UK is in a languages crisis.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the UK forges its future beyond the European Union following Brexit, it is unclear how much of an impact the UK\u2019s withdrawal from the European trade bloc has had on the perception of language learning in the country. However, what is clear is that the nation\u2019s overall track-record of learning languages has been declining for a long time. <\/span>In Northern Ireland, the numbers taking modern languages at GCSE fell by 40% between 2003 and 2019<\/span><\/a>. It begs the pivotal question: how can we reverse this debilitating trend and become better language learners?<\/span><\/p>\n

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BBC Infographic demonstrating the fall in take-up of some modern foreign languages at GCSE level between 2002 and 2018. Can be accessed here: https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/education-47334374<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The background: Why are some people more successful at learning languages than others?<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

Rebecca Archer is a French teacher at Garstang Community Academy in Lancashire and believes there are a myriad of reasons why some students are more successful than others in the language learning process, many of which linked to the current educational system. \u201cThe previous GCSE was 50% exams and 50% coursework. As well as the difficulty in the course and in the exams themselves (now 100% exams) we have also got less time on the timetable. We have a reduced number of hours to deliver the content to the students.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For her, it is also about work-rate and application. \u201cIt is definitely down to attitude, 100%. It shows dedication. Some students who have come from more privileged families are not used to pushing themselves as far as they could do. All of them want to do well but 30 or 40% think \u2018I want to do well but I know that I have to work hard to do well\u2019.\u201d In the <\/span>BBC report<\/span><\/a>, many schools cited the perception of languages as a difficult subject as the main reason behind a drop in the number of pupils studying languages for their exams. Research into the fall in modern foreign language take-up in the UK has also reinforced the idea that some students think it is more difficult to get good grades in languages than in other subjects such as science or history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Overcoming hurdles in the language learning journey:\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Photo of chapter from Olly Richards’ Spanish Intermediate Short Stories book.<\/p><\/div>\n

Obstacles and hurdles are inevitable in the language learning journey. Learning a foreign language is a marathon not a sprint and along the path there tend to be bumps in the road, of different shapes and sizes. According to Victor Gabriel Ferreira, a final year undergraduate flute and musicology student at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo in Brazil, and also a passionate language learner, obstacles can be best negotiated through changing your learning strategy. He discovered that the strategy of writing words down in a notebook did not work for him, but thinking to himself in his target language did. \u201cYou have to change. If you are encountering an obstacle that you cannot overcome, it is maybe because you do not have the most suitable method for you. There are things you do now but that you will not necessarily do one year from now. The language learning journey is not static. If you encounter a problem you cannot overcome, change your way of learning.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Miriam K\u00fcpper is an MA Journalism Studies student at the University of Sheffield who has taught both English and German as foreign languages. She believes going back and reflecting on the progress you have made as a language learner is to key to overcoming hurdles in the journey. \u201cI always say to my students, look back at what you already learned because they are often surprised, looking back, at what they already know instead of focusing on what they don\u2019t know. Just going back to the basics. For example, if they struggle with a new case, going back to the cases that they already know, going back to articles, and then going step-by-step and building it up. Often when they see the journey they have already gone through, they realise \u2018OK, I can actually do this; this is not that hard, I have done harder things already\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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