Au revoir Francais!
French.
When I say this word, some of you may be thinking of sitting in class face in arms day dreaming and questioning the relevance of French to our lives. As a fourteen-year-old girl, learning a language is not a very high priority at this stage of my life. Alas today, as our class looked up from our arms and snapped out of our adolescent slumbers, we were greeted by a question from our teacher. “Why do we learn French?” This made us reconsider our position and placement within the language. When ever asked how good one is at a skill, for example French, one always exaggerates their skill. But when faced with such a philosophical question coming up to our GSCE courses, it led me to multiple epiphanies.
If we only learnt subjects that we enjoyed and were relevant to the stage of our lives that we are gliding through at a rapid pace, then where would it leave us four years down the line, taking our baby steps into the big wide world? The truth is, none of us shall ever know! Despite the utopia that would be the consequence, the government sets our subjects for a reason. To complete the English Baccalaureate one must have at least a ‘C’ in English, Mathematics, Humanity, the sciences and a language. This may not surprise many of you and the truth is a language is a good life skill. That does not mean that come as early as 2013 it will be! It is a strange thought to think we may be the last bi-lingual generation. Recently it has been decided that the ICT curriculum will be changed dramatically.
“The fundamental model of school education is still a teacher talking to a group of pupils,” said Gove. “A Victorian teacher in a 21st century classroom would feel completely at home. But that model won’t be the same in 20 years’ time. It may not even exist in 10.” (Read more: http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2136841/government-looks-scale-hardware-spend-ict-curriculum-axed#ixzz1jCMhTlG5) This quote is backing up the idea of change and what is stopping it hitting the language sector too? Perhaps even to the extent of French being cut! Will we be the last generation to have the chance to embark on a linguistic voyage? Time will tell all. Au revoir!
