Will a second foreign language be compulsory in primary schools or not? The Ministry of Education has still not published an official answer to this question as part of the ongoing revision of the RVP. What if second language teachers will have to fight for candidates, aren't they already fighting for them? What is actually the goal of second language teaching? How to arouse in pupils the desire to learn another foreign language?
I would like to describe this topic based on my personal experience. I have been teaching German at a vocational secondary school for 8 years. Most of the pupils who enter the first year tell me at the first lesson that they didn't want German and that they don't really know any German, even though they have studied it for two, three or four years in primary school. Most of them start at me, why don't we offer Spanish, because it's easy and perfectly usable. Most of my friends who teach Spanish don't complain about the low number of applicants, quite the opposite. Spanish is a widely spoken language in the world, but after all, in our Czech context, German comes in handy, doesn't it? V posledních letech jsem se začal zamýšlet nad tím, proč je španělština tak oblíbená. Svým studentům učitelství němčiny na univerzitě doporučuji, aby navštívili v rámci praxí i nějakou hodinu španělštiny a následně pak porovnali, co bylo na těch hodinách tak odlišného. I often hear afterwards that the classes were action-oriented, communication-oriented, and worked a lot with music and other realia. Well, that's the way it goes in every foreign language... Let's share with colleagues from other foreign languages their methods, let's learn from each other and see that it's not just
At one school, I have encountered that before the actual choice of a second foreign language, the languages compete for candidates. Maybe tasting tapas and Spanish music, croissants and photos of Paris will be more interesting than Berlin and pretzels, but that's not the point. Elsewhere, I have witnessed students being selected for individual languages on the basis of merit. It doesn't mean that if I'm good at English, I have to be good at a second foreign language. Personally, I would welcome the opportunity for pupils to look a little more under the hood of what it is like to learn a particular foreign language, learn the basics of it then choose.
Every year I face the challenge of how to engage my first-year students, how to entice them to enjoy German. At the same time, how to cope with the fact that I almost always have complete beginners, false beginners and someone slightly advanced in my group. I point out that this almost never corresponds to how long they have been learning German. My satisfaction comes not from the fact that a few individuals end up graduating from German, but mainly from the fact that if I give the students some sort of test that tests their passive knowledge of German, they all reach my desired level. At the same time, when we rehearse conversations on everyday communication topics (I get lost somewhere, I need to buy a ticket, I need to check into a hotel), everyone always acts out the dialogues to solve the problem. Sometimes pupils come in and say that they have tried to use German in Germany or Austria, even though they didn't have to, and I consider that a success, not mine, but mainly theirs, that they were able to use the language practically. After all, teaching is not about being able to form certain tenses correctly, sometimes not hitting the right verb phrase, etc. It's about getting to know the basics of the language and being able to use it in practical situations, and at the same time building a positive attitude towards learning a foreign language. This should be the most important task for us as second language teachers. Because it is true that many times English may be enough for students to communicate, but that is not an argument for not learning another foreign language.
Of course, digital technologies are a great help to me, from quiz apps to digital testing tools to our multimedia language classroom SmartClass Robotel. When we have a lesson in this classroom, we can work with authentic materials (websites, booking portals, maps, listening to songs, videos, etc.). At the same time, I have the opportunity to practise more just conversation through pairing pupils and group conversations, which we can work with further (for example, record them, revisit them, monitor pupils' progress, etc.). I can also prepare different activities and exercises for the pupils to choose from, depending on what they need to practise (who is good at it, expanding their vocabulary, preparing for their GCSEs, and some people are revising basic vocabulary within a topic). As a teacher, I can easily observe what the students are good at and what they make mistakes in, or what we need to practice together. Last but not least, digital technology allows students to work at their own pace and we have also found that we often get more done than with a textbook. In addition, I think it is a great bonus when the pupil himself can see and hear what he has learned and how far he has come in the year. Of course, I also like lessons when we are not at the computers, we can sit in a circle and discuss, move around the classroom, taste some typical food, play an outdoor escape game or play a board or other game.
Every year I ask my pupils not only what they enjoy, but above all what activities they feel like they are learning something new. I try to evaluate what grammar and vocabulary is really key, what everyone really needs to know and what is already a kind of bonus, additional or extension learning.
In conclusion, I would like to stress that as second language teachers we should think about what our students really need and how much time we spend on often unnecessarily long practice of certain grammatical phenomena or vocabulary that students learn at a given moment but then forget or do not use. And we do it just because it was in the original syllabus or it is written by the authors of the textbook. Think of ourselves, how many times we've spent long hours on solving the graph of a function, calculating combinatorics, but that we're really only using maybe the trinomial. And those who continue to work with mathematics might benefit from not having to constantly repeat something that they already knew and we forgot anyway. The argument for abolishing a second foreign language should certainly not be that pupils are not good at it or that they are not reaching the required level. After all, we do not abolish or restrict mathematics and chemistry for similar reasons.
I use the opportunity to participate in international projects, to do an internship in a foreign country, to discuss with a native speaker, to invite guests, etc. as a great motivator for my students. There are many opportunities for collaboration and involvement of practitioners nowadays.
It may be the task of foreign language teachers in the near future to think more about how to attract students to learn a foreign language, what to focus on in the classroom and, in some cases, to change the ways in which they teach a foreign language. But hopefully this will not turn into a competitive struggle and pupils will not lose the opportunity to acquire at least the basics of a second foreign language.