A Critical Examination of the Beliefs about Learning a Foreign Language at Primary School

6.2.2 National Curriculum Assessment Results

In 1996 the school came near the bottom of the national league tables. In
English only 22% of the children achieved Level 4, in Mathematics 30% and in
Science 24%. In 1997, however, level 4 or above was gained in English by
56%, in Mathematics by 69% and in Science by 65% of the pupils at the end of
key stage 2 (Guardian Education, 27 January, 1998).

6.2.3 Languages Present

There are over 200 children from ethnic minorities and over 30 languages
spoken amongst the children in this school. Languages spoken include, for
example, Arabic, Farsi, French, Gujerati, Hindi, Kurdish, Peshawa, Polish,
Punjabi, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tamil and Urdu. According to the teachers
in School Two, there could be around 15 first languages present in any class at
any time.

6.2.4 Class Composition and the Teacher

In School Two five different year 6 classes aged 10 to 11 were observed over a
period of 2 years. Ac∞rding to the teachers, the reading ages in these classes
ranged from 7 to 14. National Curriculum levels in English were between 1 and
4, with most children around level 3. The teacher who took the French lessons
was male, with a French Diploma qualification. He was teaching French to all
year 6 children in the school on a rota basis.

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