Brighton and Hove Education Authority is pioneering the reintroduction of foreign language teaching in primary schools in collaboration with Sussex University, which is offering a new course to train graduates to teach languages to pupils aged seven-14.

The aim is to harness children's enthusiasm to create an appetite for learning about other languages and cultures.

A recent change in the secondary curriculum by the Government is intended to get pupils interested in languages at an early age, while their brains are most receptive to language acquisition.

The knock-on effect should be that primary pupils will want to continue to learn languages beyond the age of 14.

Primary foreign language teaching declined nationally during the nineties, with only four local primary schools out of 56 and one special school offering French on the timetable.

Brighton and Hove is one of the 19 local education authorities selected for the two-year project and The Hove Park School Specialist Language College is taking a leading role in establishing links with the pathfinder primary schools.

These schools are keen to integrate foreign language learning into the curriculum in a flexible way, creating links between language work and existing school subject areas, often drip-feeding language through daily routine.

Language graduates from Sussex University who can teach French, Spanish and German are working to make language learning fun in the classroom, using drama, songs, story-telling and games in ways that will capture the interest of children and bring the languages to life.

The aim is that primary pupils will have similar language learning opportunities in all 56 local primary schools by 2010.

This will ensure that Brighton and Hove is a city with a European identity and a global perspective.

Margaret Jones

-PGCE Tutor for Modern Foreign Languages, University of Sussex