What English can do to you....

Conclusion: LEARN FRENCH 
cqfd ( ce qu'il fallait démontrer..)

Y9 :Foreign languages and job opportunities in the digital world

It is again the time of the year when Y 9 secondary school students will be give a choice of options for their studies in Pathway meetings with parents, students and teachers.

Will they be given an option of more tuition in languages?

This article published in February 2013 on http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk , an online human resources magazine is stressing the wide range of jobs opportunities that at least one foreign language will give new job applicants in the digital world.

Have a read and be inspired.

Also let me know what you think.

Speaking a foreign language is crucial for UK graduates, says Telefonica Digital

Tom Newcombe , 12 Feb 2013

'Having the ability to speak a foreign language is crucial for UK graduates if they want to work for a digital employer, according to communications provider Telefonica Digital.

Telefonica has said that as a global digital business, headquartered in the UK, it "badly needs" more graduates who can speak second and even third languages to take advantage of huge opportunities in areas such as Latin America

"The ability to understand and create new technologies is very important, but as we involve our graduates in a whole range of business functions from HR to marketing, cloud technology, video and machine-to-machine, the ability to understand and learn is crucial."'

EC Study highlights weak UK foreign language skills

I've found this discussion in Linkedin:Interesting findings

EC study highlights weak UK foreign language skills

Findings from the first European Survey on Language Competences, and a linked Eurobarometer opinion poll on EU citizens’ attitudes towards multilingualism and foreign language learning

Nine per cent of 14-15 year-old school pupils in England can use their first foreign language independently, according to a new European Commission survey. The average for the 14 European countries covered is 42%. 39% of adults in the UK are able to have a conversation in a second language, compared to an EU average of 54%.

Seventy-two per cent of people in the UK and 84% EU-wide think everyone in the EU should be able to speak at least one other language as well as their mother tongue. 66% in the UK and 72% overall support the EU's policy that people should master two other languages.

However, only 39% in the UK - a quarter of whom are native speakers of other languages who can converse in English - can in practice have a conversation in a foreign language, according to those polled. This compares to an EU average of 54%.

http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/press/press_releases/2012/pr1229_en.htm

Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, said: "The results of the surveys show that the UK has some catching up to do in terms of foreign language learning and also that the UK public recognises that and wants to improve. So I am pleased that the UK authorities are giving this a high priority in their programme for school reform and in particular proposing an earlier start to language learning for primary pupils."

The Apprentice in Paris .... or Lost in translation II

NextWednesday, 21:00 on BBC One 23 June 11.

Ce n'est qu'hier soir que j'ai réussi à voir un épisode de la nouvelle série, et encore, j'ai raté le début. Pas le temps de faire des commentaires mais j'ai vu la bande-annonce (trailer) de l'émission de la semaine prochaine.Et surprise, ils vont à Paris. A voir leurs tentatives linguistiques, ils ont dû regretter de ne pas avoir fait leurs devoirs avec plus d'assiduité.....

Synopsis

The venue for the candidates' latest briefing is St Pancras International. With the next Eurostar about to leave, there is just time for Lord Sugar to brief and re-balance the personnel, and then it's off to Paris for half of each team. The others must stay back and choose some new British designs to sell to the French. It is a classic export task, with Lord Sugar on the lookout for proven ability to do business abroad.

While the candidates in Paris arrange sales appointments for tomorrow, the London-based groups are treated to quirky products by entrepeneurs wanting a slice of the French market. There's everything from toys to top-end bikes. It is immediately clear that some of Lord Sugar's budding business partners know very little about the French, and even less about what they will buy. To help, he sets them up with a major French retailer, but the teams must fix all the other pitches. Street-based research gets lost in translation. Candidates struggle to describe in stuttering franglais items they haven't seen, while one candidate proves fluent in French, yet hopeless at diplomacy.

When the teams regroup in Paris, the selected products look less attractive than they sounded. Squabbles ignite, but selling must begin. Paris retailers, baffled by the stumbling pitches, prove tough customers. Lord Sugar's top-end French chain store is characteristically stoney-faced.

Back in the boardroom the teams are subjected to more hard-faced stares, this time from Lord Sugar on hearing that someone decided to employ a playground game to decide who would pitch. And one team discovers it picked a winning product with some blockbusting sales figures. But the losers face an inquisition and then the verbal guillotine: "You're fired!".

Why children should start learning a foreign language at an early age:

• It will give your child a valuable educational, social and cultural experience. 
• It will improve listening skills and develop powers of concentration. 
• An early start gives the children the time to learn the sound and spelling of the vocabulary thoroughly. 
• It allows them to acquire a good pronunciation and gives them the opportunity to become bilingual. 
• Early foreign language learning helps children to consolidate many basic concepts in their mother tongue.

The method used should be fun, dynamic and interactive; the emphasis of the course based heavily on trying to get the children to feel confident and relaxed.

The sessions should include activities such as dancing, singing, games, crafts, story telling, drama and various other interactive activities that make the language learning easier and more understandable. The method should focus on participation by all the children

The English curse: how having such a mother tongue can hindrance your professional chances

  I knew it was going to happen, but I didn't know when "They" would see the light!

To be fair, people from England are at a disadvantage: unlike us on the mailand, nobody drums from the first day of secondary school ( probably in primary schools nowadays) that if they don't speak foreign languages, they will not get on in life. And I'm not talking about high flying jobs: even the most menial job in admin requires a certain level of competency in at least one foreign language if not two.

For the English-speaking population, knowing that you were going to be understood where ever you'd choose to go prevented most of  them to acquire a minimum of fluency in a foreign idiom.

I suspected that things were changing when my local paper started publishing articles about the importance of languages and yesterday it was the BBC complaining that the lack of linguistic knowledge prevent the Brits to get the top EU jobs. See below. However apart frow getting you the top EU jobs, learning languages at a young age will bring even more benefits.
But it's never too late for those who are determined.

9 May 2011 Last updated at 06:04

Poor language skills 'leave Britons out of EU jobs'

By Gillian Hargreaves Education correspondent, BBC News

 

The proportion of UK students studying foreign languages has dropped over the past decade

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Languages 'weak in secondaries'
• Language degree review announced
• Fewer schools hit language target

Poor foreign language skills among the British workforce are leaving the UK under-represented in European Union institutions, an official has said.

The head of the European Parliament's London information office has warned of a "serious problem".
Only 5% of the jobs in the European Parliament and Commission are taken by British workers - although the UK contains 12% of the EU's population.
The government is aiming to reverse a decline in language study in schools.
On Monday, for the first time, the European Parliament and European Union are holding an open day for UK school leavers and graduates encouraging them to think of a career in Brussels or Strasbourg.
Michael Shackleton, who runs the European Parliament's communications operation in the UK, said: "People like me are coming to retirement and its very clear there are not enough people to take our places.
"I think it matters at all levels of the institutions not just at the highest levels - having people from British backgrounds adds to the mix, it's really important if you want to influence what is going on."
"The balance of the use of language has been in favour of English, but to understand what people are thinking about you also have to get a sense of them and how they see the world," he added.
'Renaissance' Since the last government made learning foreign languages optional in England from the age of 14 there has been a decline in the numbers of students studying them to GCSE level.
The proportion of students taking language GCSEs has fallen from 61% in 2005 to 44% in 2010.
In 2001, about 347,000 pupils sat GCSE French, but this has fallen by nearly half to fewer than 178,000 in 2010.
There is a similar pattern for German language studies, with more than 135,000 sitting the exam in 2001, but only about 70,000 in 2010.
However, the coalition government has introduced the English Baccalaureate, which will be awarded to students gaining good GCSE passes in English, maths, two science qualifications, a foreign or ancient language, and history or geography.
The number of pupils gaining the EBacc will be included in schools' league tables data, and demand for language teachers has increased, as institutions have moved to boost baccalaureate subjects.
At Hendon School, in north London, a specialist language school which is also a mixed ability comprehensive drawing children from a wide range of different communities, every child has to study French, Spanish or German - and Japanese is offered at GCSE and A-level.
Deputy head teacher Rebecca Poole said she expected to see "a renaissance" in language learning and language teaching.
"In my opinion that can only be an excellent thing," she said. "I think there will be a lot of jobs advertised out there."
However, in January, the education watchdog Ofsted warned that language lessons were "weak" in too many secondary schools in England.
And concerns about the decline are also shared in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where foreign language learning to the age of 16 is also not compulsory - although all pupils in Wales must study Welsh to that age.

An American in France: one of my former students of French is putting her language lessons into practice

Beuvron en Auge -Resaurant Le Pavé d'Auge

Here is an extract from Elisabeth Kuyper' blog.This lady of many talents is writing a Very nice blog about her trip through France. I specially like the entry about the Michelin Star restaurant. I've copied the beginning so if you want to see what they  had for dessert go to her blog Day 7 .

Today we set off for a day trip towards the coast, starting with a lunch reservation at what the Michelin guide states as one of the finest restaurants around, and you MUST book a reservation in advance... which the front desk here did not do yesterday, after we had requested. Fortunately, as we left, the woman at the front desk did, and off we went. The Mighty Opel said it would take nearly two hours, but now that I've mastered the motorway and the toll booths, we arrived in under an hour and a half, well before our reservation.
The Pavé d'Augeis set in the middle of a square in the tiny little village of Beuvron-en-Auge, another charming place where if you've seen it at all, you cannot stop hearing the soundtrack to "Beauty and the Beast" in your head, particularly "Little Village" - I kept waiting for people to throw the windows open and yell "Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour!"
Initially there was hardly a person in site, and as we parked behind the restaurant, the back door of the kitchen opened, and two black labs came out with a couple of people (never in the US, n'est-ce pas?) and trotted down the street.
We walked around to the front, wondering if it was okay to go in so early... but thought we'd give it a go... and we were the only people there! THE WHOLE TIME.
Fortunately, they didn't hover or make us feel anything but catered to.
The maitre'd spoke perfect English, as did the chef, and both helped me (well, somewhat) with my pronunciation, and let me keep the menu at the end of the meal.
And, wow to the wow to the WOW.
Amuse Bouche was a spinach 'whip' with a portion of fish underneath it - it was like eating air with a touch of fresh spinach - they used one of those gas things like you would for whip cream or whatnot... and then came...
The asparagus soup.
Dude, I nearly cried. I know, ridiculous. You'll just have to go and see for yourself. Chunks of white and green asparagus, with a light whip of sour cream and chives is placed in front of you, then they come over with a hot pitcher of the soup and pour it on top, and swear to god I felt like I was in Heaven and no one told me.
As there were three choices for each course, we each tried one... undecided as to which was the best as they all truly were perfection - boeuf, coq a vin, to my dad's simply cooked plate of gorgeous vegetables.
So um, dessert.

Language Classes: your brain gym to fend off Alzheirmer's/ From the Guardian 18.2.11

Being bilingual may delay Alzheimer's and boost brain power

Research suggests that bilingual people can hold Alzheimer's disease at bay for longer, and that bilingual children are better at prioritising tasks and multitasking

• Alok Jha, science correspondent
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 February 2011 14.06 GMT
• Article history



 

The onset of Alzheimer's disease seems to be delayed by around four years in bilingual speakers. Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian 

Learning a second language and speaking it regularly can improve your cognitive skills and delay the onset of dementia, according to researchers who compared bilingual individuals with people who spoke only one language. Their study suggests that bilingual speakers hold Alzheimer's disease at bay for an extra four years on average compared with monoglots. School-level language skills that you use on holiday may even improve brain function to some extent. In addition, bilingual children who use their second language regularly are better at prioritising tasks and multitasking compared with monolingual children, said Ellen Bialystok, a psychologist at York University in Toronto. "Being bilingual has certain cognitive benefits and boosts the performance of the brain, especially one of the most important areas known as the executive control system," said Bialystok on Friday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC. "We know that this system deteriorates with age but we have found that at every stage of life it functions better in bilinguals. They perform at a higher level. It won't stop them getting Alzheimer's disease, but they can cope with the disease for longer." In her research, published recently in the journal Neurology, Bialystok looked at 211 people with probable Alzheimer's disease, 102 of whom were bilingual and 109 monolingual, and noted the age at which the patients' cognitive impairment had started. Her results showed that bilingual patients had been diagnosed 4.3 years later, on average, and had reported onset of symptoms 5.1 years later than monolingual patients. She said switching between different languages seems to stimulate the brain so that it builts up a cognitive reserve. "It is rather like a reserve tank in a car. When you run out of fuel, you can keep going for longer because there is a bit more in the safety tank." The effect was greatest for people who had to use the language every day and choose between two sets of words all the time. Nevertheless, learning a language at school and continuing to practise it was also useful, she said. "It works best for people who speak two languages every day, like immigrants moving to a new country who speak their own language at home. But every little bit helps." Bialystock said her team was now researching whether using two or more languages resulted in any physical changes to the brain, in addition to improving cognition. Early results suggest that it may change brain size. Another study of bilingual people carried out by Judith Kroll, a psychologist at Penn State University, supported the idea that speaking more than one language keeps the brain in shape and bolsters mental function. She found that bilingual speakers could outperform single-language speakers in mental tasks such as editing out irrelevant information and focusing on important details. Bilinguals were also better at prioritising and multi-tasking, she said. "We would probably refer to most of these cognitive advantages as multi-tasking," said Kroll. "Bilinguals seem to be better at this type of perspective-taking." Her findings conflict with the idea that speaking several languages confuses the brain and might even hinder cognitive development. "The received wisdom was that bilingualism created confusion, especially in children. The belief was that people who could speak two or more languages had difficulty using either. The bottom line is that bilingualism is good for you." When speaking to each other, bilingual people can quickly switch between two languages, usually choosing the word or phrase from the language that best expresses their thoughts. But bilinguals rarely slip into a second language when speaking to people who only speak one language. "The important thing that we have found is that both languages are open for bilinguals. In other words, there are alternatives available in both languages," said Kroll. "Even though language choices may be on the tip of their tongue, bilinguals rarely make a wrong choice." "The bilingual is somehow able to negotiate between the competition of the languages," Kroll said. "The speculation is that these cognitive skills come from this juggling of languages." 

Et le Flash de l'AFP ( Agence France Press) relayé par le Figaro

Le bilinguisme freinerait Alzheimer

AFP 09/11/2010 | Mise à jour : 21:31 Réactions (16)

Le bilinguisme pratiqué quotidiennement retarde de plusieurs années l'apparition de symptômes de la maladie d'Alzheimer chez les personnes âgées, selon une étude publiée aujourd'hui par un groupe de chercheurs canadiens. Ce délai de grâce peut aller jusqu'à cinq ans, un résultat qu'aucun médicament existant ne permet actuellement, selon cette étude réalisée par l'institut Rotman du centre de recherches gériatriques Baycrest de Toronto et publiée dans la revue Neurology. Ses auteurs ont examiné les dossiers médicaux de plus de 200 patients chez qui la maladie d'Alzheimer avait été diagnostiquée et ont constaté que ceux qui avaient parlé souvent deux ou plus de deux langues pendant plusieurs années bénéficiaient d'un délai allant jusqu'à cinq ans dans l'apparition de symptômes de perte de fonctions mentales. L'équipe de chercheurs comprend notamment un spécialiste connu de la cognition, le Dr Fergus Craik, de l'institut Rotman, un expert en bilinguisme, le Dr Ellen Bialystok, de l'université York, et un spécialiste de la maladie d'Alzheimer, le Dr Morris Freedman. "Nous ne disons pas que le bilinguisme peut prévenir la maladie d'Alzheimer ou d'autres désordres cérébraux, mais il peut contribuer à créer des réserves cognitives dans le cerveau qui semblent retarder l'apparition de symptômes d'Alzheimer pendant un bon bout de temps", a déclaré le Dr Craik, cité dans un communiqué de Baycrest. Ces symptômes sont la perte de mémoire, la confusion et les difficultés pour résoudre des problèmes et prévoir les événements à venir. Les découvertes de l'équipe du Dr Craik s'ajoutent à d'autres recherches scientifiques selon lesquelles des facteurs tels que l'exercice physique et une alimentation saine peuvent aider le cerveau face au déclin de ses capacités cognitives.

Local South West London Paper Prizes Brussels!!! and it's about languages!

Could not resist....
http://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/archive/2011/04/30/yournews_schools/9002063.Thank_you_Brussels/

 

Thank you Brussels

There has recently been a decline in the study of languages at school, especially French. English speakers are notoriously, rather embarrassingly, bad at learning languages – many argue that we have become lazy as English is spoken so commonly – which is unfortunate as it has been said that speaking another language can increase the average worker’s salary over their lifetime by a significant amount, and simply having a foreign language a-level generally makes someone more employable.
It’s lucky, therefore, that Streatham and Clapham High school has always prided itself on its passion for foreign languages.
This was demonstrated by the ravings with which seven A-level French students recently returned from a stimulating week in Belgium, where they had stayed to do work experience in order to benefit their French speaking skills for their AS examinations in May. Despite most being painfully nervous as they approached the Brussels, wondering why on earth they had agreed to something so beyond them, it turned out to be an incredibly rewarding experience. One girl said “I loved the intensity of being completely immersed in a different language – the disappointment when I couldn’t understand what was being said combined with the pride after having sustained a conversation in French.” They were also moved by the kindness and understanding that people they encountered showed.
Overall the trip’s powerful impression convinced these girls that English being a universal language should not prevent them from being able to share in the enriching experiences of learning and using a foreign language.