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

Lots ofwhat sounds like Tshe m'appelle...'

The Kurdish boy asks if they can change the question

Teacheragrees, boy asks: ^,0u habites-tu?'

Pupil answers correctly: 'J'habite ð...'

Teacher asks: ^,Who can introduce someone?'

Kurdish boy turns to the girl next to him: 'Elle s'appelle...'

Teachermovesontoanimals. Childrenadoptananimalandactitout. Class
guesses. Not many remember the names of the animals and genders are
generally forgotten.

Group Two

Lesson One

This group seems generally better behaved and more able to listen attentively
than previous groups. Class teacher reckons it is the best group in terms of
social skills that he has taught for many years.

They are used to putting their hands up and do not shout out much

One pupil asks for permission to get out of chair to get pencil sharpened

Lesson in English on France and French speaking countries

Pupils locate France and French speaking countries on map

Identify French towns and rivers

We ask them to write down 5 things they know about France.

Some do not seem to know anything, the world cup comes up, 'Paris is the
capital', 'they have the Eiffel Tower, 'they have lots of wine and art', 'they speak
French' are the most common answers, one child reckons the Statue of Liberty
is in France

Lesson Two

Teacher introduces greetings in French, 'Bonjour, ga va?', 'Merci, ςa va bien∕
mal∕ comme ci, ∞mme ga', with thumbs support

Native speakers, Arabic Farsi, Portugues, Hindi, Spanish, Somali, Senegalese,
Tamil, French, Patois give models of how greetings are carried out in their

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