Teachers call for return of foreign trips to halt the decline of language skills

«Teachers call for return of foreign trips to halt the decline of language skills»

The article, taken from «The Guardian», dated the 1st of September 2013, is headlined «Teachers call for return of foreign trips to halt the decline of language skills». The purpose of the article is to give the reader some information on the problem of the drop in the number of pupils studying modern foreign languages.

The article can be divided into three logical parts. In the first part we get to know general information about the crisis in language learning in Great Britain. The second part focuses on the reasons why there is a dramatic decline in the numbers of pupils going abroad for home stays. The third part centers around the opinion of the school adviser Vicky Gough on the problem.

As for the first part, the article highlights that according to the statistics and the research, children seem to have lost their interest in studying foreign languages. For the past few decades Britishstudents studied French and German. However, nowadays there is a decrease in learning almost all modern languages, and only Spanish is hugely popular among British people. It’s small wonder as studying foreign languages reflects the situation in the world. It’s common knowledge that Spanish is really popular now and is spoked in various countries, such as the USA, Latin America, Spain and many others.

Then the article touches on the reasons why there is a dramatic decline in the numbers of pupils going on the foreign exchange trips. There is ample evidence that it is a consequence of the decrease in the numbers of pupils learning foreign languages. It comes as no surprise that there are various reasons for that. The first reason is quite obvious – British schoolchildren are reluctant to leave their comfort zone and stay in a stranger’s home.What’s more, living in the host families always means adjusting yourself to the conditions, family members and house rules. It goes without saying that whenever children go to the host family, they might not like them. For example, a host family might not show a lot of hospitality to them or might have some strict house rules which children are not accustomed to. The second reason is a risk-averse parents’ worry about the safety of the children. It is important to mention that one can see their point. It comes as no surprise that there are, indeed, various risks such as plane crashes, terrorist attacks, immigrants breaking into the houses, mentally ill people shooting, sexual assault and so on. All that represents a real danger.And no wonder, parents are mostly scared to send their children to other countries.

In addition to that, the article points out another problem explaining why children don’t want to travel abroad. That is the problem of teachers. The article sites Nick Mair, the chairman of the Independent Schools’ Modern Language Association, who claims that no one has any business being a teacher in languages if they aren’t prepared to get involved with exchange trips and the cultural immersion they provide. The point is that if a teacher does a trip well, nobody bats an eyelid. however, if a teacher does it badly, the rest of his career can be affected.

Then the article quotes the school adviser Vicky Gough, who comes to the conclusion that though, the statistics show that there is a decrease in the number of pupils learning foreign languages and going on the foreign exchange trips, it is not the end of the word as foreign language exchange is still popular in Great Britain. However, now it doesn’t include stays in the homes of host families. We should admit that the situation is quite serious, critical and excites public attention but it can be changed.

To sum it all up, it is important to mention that one cannot deny the problem of dramatic decline in the numbers of pupils going abroad for home stays. It is obvious that there are several risks,however, most of them can be prevented. And it goes without saying that we can’t foresee everything. But we can always find the solutions: learn foreign languages vie the Internet and various applications, send our kinds to summer schools or just simply book language courses only with the help of the trustful company.