Implementing Learning Languages in the intermediate sector: How one school is meeting the challenge

Abstract

The introduction of a revised curriculum for New Zealand’s schools, and more particularly the new learning area Learning Languages, have done a great deal to place additional languages (L2) on the stage alongside other areas of the curriculum. From 2010 all schools must be working towards making an L2 available as an entitlement to all students in Years 7 to 10. Intermediate schools, and other schools with intermediate age students, now have no excuse for not at least beginning to explore options for the introduction of L2 programmes. This paper describes work being carried out in one intermediate school. This school has enthusiastically embraced the challenge of the new curriculum area and may in many ways be viewed as a model which other schools might emulate. This paper tells their story, seen through the eyes of two key individuals - the school principal and the lead teacher for languages. INTRODUCTION In recent times the study of additional languages (L2) in New Zealand’s schools has often been considered a somewhat peripheral activity and not necessarily to be viewed as part of the ‘mainstream’. On the basis of an historical precedent for L2 teaching at secondary level (see, for example, East, 2008, in this regard), most secondary schools have made provision for the study of at least one L2 from Year 9, and many secondary schools have well-established and vibrant languages departments. The situation in New Zealand’s primary and intermediate schools has often been bleaker, with little or no attention being given to language learning. This has been despite the perceived advantages of ‘starting younger’ (Peddie, Gunn, & Lewis, 1998) and the New Zealand Curriculum Framework which advocated that “[a]ll students benefit from learning another language from the earliest practicable age” (Ministry of Education, 1993, p. 10). However, the advent of a revised curriculum for New Zealand’s schools (Ministry of Education, 2007), planned for implementation by 2010, has done a great deal to move L2 teaching and learning out from the wings and to place languages, if not at centre-stage, at least on the stage alongside other areas of the curriculum. The new curriculum has achieved this through the introduction of a new learning area, appropriately called Learning Languages. This has created a situation where all schools with Year 7 to Year 10 students must be working towards making an L2 available as an entitlement. It is expected that intermediate schools, and other schools with intermediate age students, will now begin to explore options for the introduction of L2 programmes. In this light, this paper presents the story of one intermediate school which has enthusiastically embraced the challenge of the new curriculum area and which, in many ways, may be viewed as a model of ‘good practice’. This story is important in that it provides insight into one school’s initiatives from which other schools might take encouragement and which other schools might emulate. BACKGROUND The history