Taught By Song provide innovative and motivating French teaching material and
learning aids for children.

Both specialist and non-specialist teachers can design fabulous French language lessons around the music written by John and Monica Hyde for the software programme Zim Zam Zoum, which uses Macromedia Flash technology (animation) for the interactive whiteboard or home computer.

Each of the animated songs in the Zim Zam Zoum programme has vocabulary themes appropriate to level (e.g. for beginners: greetings, numbers, colours, calendar, introducing yourself, talking about your pets, family, birthday; for continuers: giving opinions, saying what activities you like and don’t like, using verbs and the alphabet and much, much more. )

There is much repetition of target vocabulary as well as structure, dependent clauses, etc. in patterned verses and refrains. This ensures that the children really are taught by song. The songs imprint the structure on the memory and it is a great jumping off point for the writing or saying of patterned or parallel sentences, with vocabulary substitution.

The songs cover a wide range of styles from upbeat to jazz, to rap, traditional and even folk. It is proven that young people who listen almost only to non-melodic music such as rap respond positively to melodic music as well and it is a wonderful opportunity to reinforce art and music in school. This makes teaching French fun and stimulating at all levels, but especially in primary schools, where the enthusiasm for using these materials has gone beyond all expectation !

Here is a summary of the benefits of using tuneful songs to teach the French language:

• Presenting the target language through melodic music expands yet further the learning
arena you are providing for your students (catering for the aural-musical intelligence).

• Probably, nothing imprints linguistic patterns better than words set to memorable music.
Because of the unique impact of melodic music, pupils will keep grammatical structures and vocabulary for the rest of their lives (Teachers have commented how just listening to and joining in with the title song, ZIM ZAM ZOUM, has taught their pupils effortlessly about gender agreement).

• Pupils’ inherently positive response to upbeat, melodic music makes them engaged in the activity and motivated to learn and assimilate.

• A correlation between music and improved academic performance has been shown to exist. The currently debated question about the so-called “Mozart effect” deals only with the passive listening to music while studying or taking exams, which has nothing to do with the active learning of language through the lyrics of melodious music. Music is mathematical by nature, whose “terrain” provides a fertile place for language learning to take hold and develop.

The multiple intelligences of Howard Gardner are addressed when teaching language through music with the correct accompanying exercises:

o Kinesthetic (dance, clapping, stomping, body movement, percussion)

o Musical (listening, singing, playing, distinguishing)

o Linguistic (interpreting lyrics while listening or through exercises)

o Logical/mathematical (music is maths)

o Social (choral, dance, co-operative learning with the exercises)

o Visual (illustrations, animations, dramatisations, )

The ZIM ZAM ZOUM animated songs, rich in visual imagery and lending themselves
to dance, invite kinesthetic movement and dramatic interpretation. The lyrics invite use of
logical and linguistic skills to interpret clues and work out meaning. Activities are done in
co-operative learning groups, thus promoting classroom cohesion.

Everybody loves music….
and ZIM ZAM ZOUM from Taught By Song has it in spades !

The creative team of teachers, composers, graphic artists and animators at Taught By Song have married together a winning combination of catchy and tuneful music, with instantly useable French dialogue and charming animations of colourful characters, with whom the children clearly engage. The resulting software is a practical mix of song, animation, interactive exercises and fun activity sheets which together render highly effective teaching materials for language lessons in the Primary classroom.

It makes sense to give pupils every possible memory aid and visual/aural hook for their
learning. So, musical arts are a rich resource when you are teaching French
(particularly in Primary schools) and Zim Zam Zoum from Taught By Song is at the forefront of this teaching methodology.

Music making means much more than playing music or listening to it. Music is an essential part of human life, biologically as much as aesthetically. There is compelling evidence to support the notion that involvement in musical arts positively and, significantly benefits learners for the rest of their lives. The diversity and quality of supporting research is overwhelming.

Music is part of our biological heritage and is present in our genes as a survival strategy.
It is likely that the use of music may have increased the chance of survival in the evolution of specie. Music is depicted on cave paintings going back 70,000 years. Flutes found in France date back as far as 30,000 years. Music, whether vocalized or played by an individual or sung as a social chorus ( viz birds, whales, apes etc) may have been used to attract a mate. It is possible animals are attracted to those producing louder, better or more pleasing sounds. In addition, music is often used for intra-group communication that preserves group safety and identification. It is also likely that robust vocalization improves warning of pending threat or environmental changes. It is worth noting here that, when native-Australians covered vast stretches of wilderness on foot, they used singing maps passed down from their ancestors to find their way. The songs described what land features to look for in a barren setting and helped soothe fears of the unknown.

Music is a socially cohesive force among those playing it or listening to it. Music may also
contribute to changes in the brain (that is verbal memory, counting and self-discipline),
which over the years may have improved survival. In addition, making music probably
strengthened listening skills, so essential when hunting game or escaping enemies. In fact, the human brain has specialized structures for music: for instance cells in the mammalian auditory cortex have been found that process specific harmonic relationships. The rhythmic, temporal qualities link to a specific group of neurons in the auditory cortex.

The experienced teachers in the team that has created Zim Zam Zoum have researched
findings that music heightens understanding. Music making contributes to developing
essential cognitive systems that include reasoning, creativity, thinking, decision-making
and problem solving. It does this by activating and synchronizing neural firing patterns
that orchestrate and connect multiple brain sites. The key cell of the brain is the neuron.
In essence, neurons are switches. Thinking and learning is like throwing a great number
of switches to one state or another. The number of neurons could be as high as 33 billion,
but no one knows for sure. The main point is the number of neurons we are dealing with
is staggeringly large. The possible pathways between these networking neurons could
soar up into the trillions. In many people, the left hemisphere of the cerebrum is concerned with language and the right hemisphere concerns itself with recognising visual and rhythmical patterns. Nevertheless, this does not mean the division is complete. The main connection between the halves is a bridge called the "corpus callosum," which consists of 200 million or more nerve fibres. They carry information both ways. Therefore, the brain acts as an elaborate system of interconnected parts and works by simultaneously going down many paths.

The neural synchrony ensembles increase both the brain's efficiency and effectiveness.
These key systems are well connected and found in the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes as well as the cerebellum. The strongest studies support the value of music making in spatial reasoning, creativity and generalized mathematical skills. The activation between family groups of cortical neurons helps the cortex in pattern recognition.

A Russian study suggests that listening to music just an hour a day does change brain
reorganization. The experimental music group of four-year olds listened to classical music for one hour a day. When later measured, their EEG read-outs showed greater brain coherence.

This body of data hints that music does influence not just brain activity, but coherence,
making more of the brain active and acting as a whole, not in just random electrical
discharges. Therefore, one way that "whole" brain electrical activity shows is in our
chemical response - As music influences stress levels, social feelings, self-concept, activity levels and the reward system, we can only look to refine the ways we use it prudently inour schools. Taught By Song harnesses the results of this research to bring effective materials for teaching children French.

Music may be the foundation for later maths and science excellence. In Japan, students
get a minimum of two courses per week in music making. In Hungary, students get three
classes a week or, if they enrol in the music magnet schools, they get it every day.
In the Netherlands, music and other arts became compulsory in 1968. Today, students
are assigned comprehensive art projects to complete before graduation.

Based on the evidence gathered so far, it is both reasonable and prudent that music should be a significant part of every child's education. It is therefore ethically, scientifically and culturally important that all children get exposure to music as an equal to every other discipline. There is also support for the policy of starting children early in their music education, as the effects are greater in the early years. Positive impact increases with each additional year.

Taught By Song, with their imaginative use of Promethean Activprimary software
for Interactive whiteboards, are at the forefront of current teaching trends, using
all the benefits of modern technology to bring a very new and ground-breaking
teacher resource – ZIM ZAM ZOUM – into the Primary French teaching forum.

The first thing to realise about interactive teaching is that it is not a new idea or something
strange to be mistrusted. Nor is it a flash-in-the-pan teaching fad ! One look at the fun
songs and exercises included in the software of Taught By Song’s Zim Zam Zoum shows
just how much interactive teaching increases the potential of children in the classroom.
If you are a teacher and you ask questions in class, give and mark homework, or hold class or group discussions, then you already teach interactively. Interactive teaching at its
simplest is just giving students something to do, getting back what they have done, and then assimilating it yourself to inform your lesson planning and help you decide what would be best to do next. Even more interactively engaging are the songs, games and fun exercises that Zim Zam Zoum brings to the interactive whiteboard in the already interactive classroom and there is no better method of capturing the attention and motivation of primary children engaged in learning a foreign language like French!

Yet, almost all teachers already do these things and so is there more to it?

To answer this question, one has to first consider not how we teach, but how we learn.
Over the last twenty years, the field of cognitive science has taught us a lot about how people learn. A central principle, generally accepted, is that everything we learn, we "build" for ourselves. That is, any outside agent is essentially powerless to have a direct effect on what we learn. If our brain does not do it itself, - that is, take in information, look for connections, interpret and make sense of it, - no outside force will have any effect. This does not mean the effort has to be expressly voluntary and conscious on our parts. Our brains take-in information and work continuously on many kinds of levels, only some of which are consciously directed. However, conscious or not, the important thing to understand is that it is our brains that are doing the learning, and that this process is only indirectly related to the teacher and the teaching.

For example, even the most precise and scintillating exposition of a subject by a teacher in a lecture, may only result in limited learning if the students' brains do not do the necessary work to process it. This is why the term ‘engaging’ is so vital in the teaching process. There are several possible causes why students' learning may fall short of expectations in such a situation. They may:

* Not understand an important concept part-way in a lesson and so what follows is
unintelligible

* Be missing prior information or not have a good understanding of what went before,
so the conceptual structures on which the lecture is based are absent

* Lack the interest, motivation or need to use the mental effort, to follow the presentation,
understand the arguments, make sense of the positions and validate the inferences.

Many of these problems are addressed when a class is taught by song !! Learning is
hard work, and an injection of motivation at the right moment can make all the difference.
One motivating reason provided by the interactive teacher is wanting a response to a live
classroom task. This serves to jolt the student into action, to get his brain off the couch.
More subtle and pleasant events follow immediately capitalising on the momentum created by this initial burst. One of these is a result of our human social tendencies. When teachers ask students to work together in small groups to solve a problem, a discussion results that not only serves in itself to build more robust knowledge structures, but also to motivate. To expect immediate feedback in the form of reaction from their peers, or from the teacher is a strong motivator. If it is not embarrassing or threatening, students want to know desperately whether their understanding is progressing or just drifting aimlessly in idea space. Knowing that they are not allowed to drift too far off track provides tremendous energy to continue. Learning a foreign language benefits from this interactivity, the childrencan see and hear the lyrics to the songs and then sing along themselves to the karaoke versions. They can work co-operatively to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar sentences, benefiting from the combined and different thinking processes of a group to reach the correct translation. Moreover, the hugely engaging Promethean interactive tools such as drag and drop, recolouring, changing size, re-assembling broken language components, matching gender or verb agreements etc. all provide highly stimulating and formative learning games.

The motivational component of software such as Zim Zam Zoum therefore cannot be
underestimated, together with the sub-conscious assimilation of patterns and structures
that are remembered effortlessly to act as foundational and conceptual building blocks
for future learning.

Let’s summarise the reasons for interactive teaching:

It is an attempt to see what exists in the brains of your pupils. This is the "summative" part.
It is the easiest aspect to gauge and well covered in pedagogical literature. However, it is
certainly not the only perspective. The second reason is "formative", where the teacher aims through the assigned task to direct students' mental processing along a creative and logical path. The idea is that, as students think through the concepts encountered along the path, the resulting mental construction developed in the pupil's head will have those properties the teacher is trying to get across. This is something directly addressed by Monica Hyde in the exercises on language learning strategies, as well as the simple vocabulary assimilation games which make up the interactive software package that accompanies the Zim Zam Zoum animated songs. With this teaching resource, the children have demands made on them—and they will respond accordingly! Monica Hyde has devised a huge number of exercises to help guide both teacher and pupil through all the aspects raised by the songs themselves. A song about sweets and sharing them enables the children to have fun while learning how to count in French. Beyond this, the animated song of ‘Les Vingt Bonbons’ contains all sorts of other rich areas of learning
for young children, to do with personal and social education, emotional intelligence, sequencing and story-telling. The charming animations by Laurent Mouflier, will be watched over and again because of the bright colours and humour radiating through song stories. When use in the classroom the children have loved the interactive nature of the songs and the way that with the Promethean interactive software they can take part thoroughly in the learning process.

Importantly, also, the ZIM ZAM ZOUM songs are sung in French by native French children
and, being natural mimics at an early age, pupils assimilate effortlessly
a perfect French accent !

Taught By Song - Innovative teaching materials for children learning French.Learning
through ‘music’, being ‘taught by song’, starts in the cradle !

The use of primary noises is important to babies and children learn to sing before they speak. A baby first ‘talks’ with a musical series of coos that communicate hunger, fear, discomfort or pleasure. Further, the mother can often tell the child’s need based on pitch. This shows the role played by communicative musicality in language learning. The instinctive musical arrangements of spontaneous vocal sounds are obvious in babies as they advance from cooing to babbling. The infant learns quickly that his needs are met because of sound making (motivation !). Healthy babies compose melodious structures of rising and descending pitch using the full vocal range available to them from the moment they are born.

Music is a three-dimensional learning tool. Songs are not only words on paper and notes
on a stave. Music sends a message and the message is often clearer at a younger age !
The use of music in first language acquisition is a key aspect of a child’s development and research has demonstrated that music trains the brain for higher forms of thinking.

It is useful here to consider an adaptation from Krashen’s Hypothesis. There are several
features of Krashen relevant to music and language. Three of the most accepted parts
are the affective filter, the monitor model and natural input.

The affective filter hypothesis states that ideal learning occurs in an environment of high
stimulation and low anxiety. According to the theory, the emotional state of the learner acts as a filter. Krashen sees the learner’s emotional state as an adjustable filter that may pass or impede input needed for acquisition. Using music in the class can result in a more relaxed learning environment, and improves both the emotional state and the affective filters of the students. In a relaxed "alpha" state of awareness, the mind is able to absorb and assimilate information much more readily and quickly than in the more normal "beta" state. The primary reasons that influence and moderate brainwave patterns are sound, especially music, and vibration patterns, especially rhythm or beats. Millions of neurons are activated in a single musical experience. It is through the activation of these neural connections that learning takes place - The more neurons that can be connected, the greater the learning potential. Taught By Song recommend the use of music as a classroom tool to unlock the doors to other content. Music is a way to use a multisensory approach to learning that can enable students to absorb content with a relaxing and creative vehicle as a catalyst.

Another aspect of Krashen’s theory is the monitor model. In describing this model, he claimed that second language learners have two means for internalizing the target language. The first is acquisition, an intuitive process of forming the system of language. The second is a conscious process in which students pay close attention to form and rules and are clearly aware of the learning process.

During acquisition, the input language students receive should be just beyond their
understanding. This is called the “I-plus-one” formula. In other words, language learners
are exposed to their own competency “plus one,” or just a bit more of the next level.

Song lyrics often work this way because students will pick up the chorus much sooner
than the verses of a song. The chorus is a hook to the plus-one feature of many parts
of the verses. Students learn the chorus and then use it to learn the rest of the lyrics.

A third aspect of Krashen’s theory is defined as natural input. Given that each side of the
brain represents different styles of learning, natural input is achieved differently by each
individual learner. There are a few general conclusions about the functions of left and right brain learning that help relate to music.With cultural diversity and learning styles, clearly some cultures are more right brain dominant than others are. Among the features of the right brain, dominant personalities are preferences to drawings, freedom in expressing emotions and use of metaphors. Right brain people respond well to pictured instructions and rely heavily on images in thinking or remembering.

The left-brain dominant individual is defined as being more verbally oriented and objective. They rely on language in thinking and are analytical in their reading. The left-brain learner rarely uses metaphor. Music uses both brain hemispheres. Emotion and language are one in a song.

When coupled with a visual image, music can become a powerful learning tool, whilst
adding rhythm and melody to chunks of language invites rehearsal and transfers words
into the long-term memory. Repetition, pronunciation and hand motions combined with a
good-natured attitude can be very effective with language learning. Speech without music
leads to language without heart. Language and music tie themselves together in brain processing by pitch, rhythm and by symmetrical phrasing. Music can help familiarize students with connections and therefore provides a fun way to learn French.

Taught By Song - Making French lessons fun for young children !

"What is important when teaching children French in primary schools ?"
– This is a question that is often put by teachers and educationalists.

Music and rhythm can grip you—stay with you for the rest of your life! A song sticks in
your head all day, and you simply cannot get rid of it. What is it about the power of music
that takes hold of your whole being and your mood so it can create an intensely emotional experience? Music can surround you and make you a different person and it can make you feel energetic and motivated. Is there any way to unleash this power in the classroom to energize and motivate students? Can music possibly be used for instructional purposes in a foreign language classroom to help students in picking up the large range of new vocabulary needed in a year of language learning?

All teachers know this can be done—and often the younger the children the better. Games can reinforce and improve verbal ability and a myriad of physical response sessions to enable students to pick up the vocabulary and grammar concepts expected of them. We only need to think about music, then how younger children memorise songs and finger play in nursery school so effortlessly. The songs are "stuck" there in their heads and the songs remain with the children. Music can coordinate and enliven so much of what teachers are trying to do. Teenagers and younger children love music - they listen to it constantly!

Music can be alive with colourful idioms, grammar and vocabulary. This present-day music approach to teaching French is encapsulated in Zim Zam Zoum’s original songs composed and orchestrated by John and Monica Hyde. The tunes are very catchy and represent the kinds of music to which students listen, in styles with which they are already familiar. In the programme Zim Zam Zoum, Monica Hyde has created comprehension, speaking and writing activities that complement the songs. Thus, singing the songs and memorizing them is only part of the programme. Because the Zim Zam Zoum software systematically builds a scheme of work based on songs, the students can learn and remember fundamentals of French grammar and vocabulary in a fun way, as well as leaping effortlessly into authentic dialogue from the songs’ spring-board. Music is an effective memory aid, and since it is something students enjoy anyway, it helps them relax and become more receptive to language learning. Taught By Song understand that music combines the creative, non-verbal and emotional processes carried out by the right hemispher e of the brain with the specific verbal and logic-based learning carried out by the left hemisphere.

Reactions to the songs have been incredible. Primary school students in the Oxfordshire,
Essex and Berkshire areas where Zim Zam Zoum has been tested, could be heard singing the songs in the playground and parents reported how their children had come home and eagerly taught them to all the family ! We have found that because some of the children have taught the songs to their younger siblings, when they join the schools they already know the songs better than the traditional ‘Frère Jacques’ as though it was part of their musical heritage! One teacher told us that her pupils would work like Trojans all through the lesson, the reward being the chance to sing ZIM ZAM ZOUM at the end. They were not content to sing it once: they had to sing it several times to allow all who wanted
a turn in taking the solo lines.

School runs are valuable learning time and the Zim Zam Zoum package can be bought
as a separate CD to enable families to sing and learn from the songs when in the car,
on holiday or in the home.

We think, with our experience and research of UK primary schools,
that this is best way for children to learn French

The syntactical structures contained in the lyrics to a song transfer to students' everyday
use of the French language and the catchy music by John Hyde reinforces this. Music
has the power to motivate students and create a positive and relaxing environment in the
classroom and Zim Zam Zoum has been a front-runner in responding to this assessment
of how children learn a foreign language. We think, with our experience and research of
UK primary schools that this is best way for children to learn French.

The principle of linear processing is essentially that one limited unit of thought follows another unit in a logical, more or less one-dimensional relationship. The implication of this principle for education is the student's attention switches from one focus to the next focus closely related to it. According to modern research on the brain, the miraculous procedure bears no relationship to linear processing. Therefore, to expect students to react in the way the educational bureaucracy often expects them to is often counter-productive and inhibits learning. These important findings have led to suggestions the left side of the brain is logical and sequential because it is so involved with language--but language is so full of irrational twists and turns that it is anything but logical. Our goal in education should be to employ the rich connections the brain is making. Music has a way of connecting the two hemispheres by using the left for language and the right for distinguishing musical intonations through consistent integration by the corpus callosum. Though one cannot separate the roles of the two lobes, we do know the more connections made in the brain, the more integrated that experience is within memory.

Musical intelligence is a way of awakening and stimulating memory and learning when studying French for the first time. Music is a subject to be studied and understood as a separate skill, but music can also be used as a means for gaining other knowledge—this is a fact well used by Taught By Song.

Music has an uncanny manner of activating neurons for purposes of relaxing muscle tension, changing pulse and producing long-range memories directly related to the number of neurons activated in the experience. These connections measured by injecting the brain with radioactive chemicals detected when the brain cells are active.

To stimulate more neurons produces greater memory. The different parts of the brain and the nervous system filter and process information in different ways that are relevant to the musical mind and overall memory. These different ways provide us with some clues that help us in our teaching processes - Hemispheres of the brain -

Teachers intuitively know when students are enjoying their learning, and with

Zim Zam Zoum we are striving to motivate and interest students with new strategies and
techniques that have been shown to strengthen and increase learning.

Brain research and its connection to learning have enjoyed an explosion in recent years.
It makes sense to teach students using strategies that parallel brain processing to promote learning. Educators do not need to become neuroscientists, but a rudimentary understanding of the brain is in order. If students are to be actively involved in their construction of knowledge hrough multisensory experiences, the learning environment will become more positive as they get information in the different content areas. Music is of interest to students and should be included in a discussion of searching for meaningful knowledge. Singing and creating music to learn content engages students in talking, listening and acting out what they are learning. Lessons need planning in a manner that uses the different intelligences we hold. To assess what children know, teachers need to become "assessment specialists" and to devise ways of assessment that use activities that are contextualized and meaningful to students Zim Zam Zoum represents a fertile area that exploits students' interests, skills and confidence in one domain of knowledge as a means to help growth in other domains.

Attentive listening creates a neuralgic patterning imprinted within many circuits of the
brain. The information consolidates with data got through other senses and learned in
different ways, increasing the length and breadth of neurological circuitry. The implications and details of these patterns are not easily forgotten.

Music such as the songs in Zim Zam Zoum can be used in the classroom to carry out
the following goals: to create a relaxing atmosphere, to set up a positive learning state,
to provide a multisensory learning experience that improves memory, to increase attention by creating short bursts of energizing excitement, and to add an element of fun.

Music is a way to improve the classroom climate to allow creativity to take place. Music
is a thread that can tie together the best techniques in foreign language learning with the
new brain-based research.

Sometimes people feel that singing in class is not "real" education but simply "fun" for
students. Nothing could be further from the truth. As well as using all your intelligences,
you are learning in a positive environment and feeling motivated. Music used to teach
French in programmes like Zim Zam Zoum is a tremendous memory aid. By using music
in the language classroom, it is possible to bring a cognitively challenging activity to the
dimension of one of our most primary and primitive pleasures: singing. Music of the kind
featured by Taught By Song allows material to be remembered. Attaching tones and gestures to specific words sets them in a firm and easily retrievable form -teaching students to remember what they have learned, and to be able to call on that material when needed as they begin to produce language.

Taught By Song provides innovative teaching materials and interactive games for
young children learning French.

How do you use interactive whiteboards with Zim Zam Zoum?

What are interactive whiteboards and how can they help in teaching French language to primary schoolchildren? An interactive whiteboard is a white surface on to which a computer screen displays via a projector.

It is touch-sensitive and lets you use a pen on it (or sometimes a finger) to act like a mouse, controlling the computer from the board itself. Whiteboards can help you deliver exciting and engaging lessons to children of all ages and abilities.

Zim Zam Zoum produced by Taught By Song has used every facet of the Promethean
Activprimary interface for maximum interactivity. The original animated songs are a delightful way to teach French to a classroom of children. John and Monica Hyde have devised a comprehensive package that is incredibly flexible – however and whenever you teach French. The ready-planned lessons can be used ‘straight from the peg’, with a minimum of preparation by the non-specialist teacher, or they can be used as a foundation upon which the specialist French teacher builds a scheme
of work.

How can they help? Interactive whiteboards have the potential to improve teaching and learning by:

* Improving understanding of new ideas

* Increasing pupil motivation and involvement

* Improving planning, pace and flow of lessons

Taught by Song with their clever use of Promethean software for Interactive whiteboards are at the forefront of this thinking. They are simply great lesson ideas for teaching young children French.

Vive Zim Zam Zoum !
Taught By Song - Fun and innovative French teaching
for children in the classroom or at home.

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Languages Review report, March 2007

Right Hon Alan Johnson, MP Secretary of State for Education and Skills
28 February 2007

We submitted an interim report on the languages review on 14th Decd provisional proposals and a number of issues for further
consideration by your Departmenember as a basis
for consultation. It includet.We now have pleasure in offering our final report.

In making the review, you asked us to look into the following issues:

With secondary schools to support them in making available a wider range of more flexible language courses, with accreditation, so that more young people keep up language learning even if they are not doing a full GCSE course;

Further ways of strengthening the incentives for schools and young people themselves to
continue with languages after 14;

With representatives of FE and HE, to look at what more might be done to widen access to and increase interest in language learning among the student population;

With employer organisations, to consider what more they can do to promote the value of
language skills for business and to give stronger market signals to young people about
language skills and employability; and

What broader communication effort is needed to get across the importance of language skills to all sections of the population. In making this final report we have revisited

In making this final report we have revisited points made in the consultations that preceded our earlier report. We have held further consultation meetings on our provisional proposals and have received responses by letter and e mail. We are grateful to those who have helped us in this way, and to the six teacher associations, who at our request, sought to stimulate busy schools to offer comments. In this final report we have developed and extended the proposals in our consultation report for investment in teachers in primary and secondary schools.

We see these as the necessary bases for our proposal that languages should become part of the statutory curriculum for Key Stage 2. They also form a key element in our proposals for a renaissance of languages in secondary schools. We link our proposals for investment in teaching in secondary schools, and for investment in teaching materials, with our development of the major theme of this report on the need for a range of motivating learning pathways for the whole range of pupils and their different learning objectives.

We make proposals to that end. This action in support of teaching and to provide a
range of motivating learning opportunities, lies at the heart of any programme to strengthen the incentives to schools to continue with languages after 14. But we also invite you to consider supporting these in guidance to schools on the continued study of languages in Key Stage 4 and in other ways.

We confirm our earlier recommendation to increase the number of schools having languages as a specialism to 400, and in doing so we think that it will help languages in the schools community as a whole if the increase supported a more even geographical spread of specialist colleges across England.

We welcome the emphasis you placed in our terms of reference on the need for action to
make the case for languages to all sections of the population and to encourage employers to promote the value of language skills for business. We received several offers of help from employers’ organisations which are summarised in our consultation report. In this repor t we make a number of further recommendations, and urge the Government to put its weight behind the case for languages.

2. Languages Review

The cost of our recommendations, in including our recommendation that the present support for primary schools should be continued beyond the present planned support to 2008, would bring the total needed for languages to over £50m a year. By far the biggest element is the support for teaching. In addition we recommend that the additional financial support for specialist language colleges to support key elements of the National Languages Strategy should be continued (currently some £8m a year) with appropriate increase as the number of colleges increases. We are grateful to the Department for its assistance with this assessment.

If you feel able to back the comprehensive programme of action we have outlined in support of languages in schools we believe you will be in a strong position to call upon schools, through action over the next two years, progressively to lift the numbers choosing to take languages in year ten, the first year in Key Stage 4, to the 50 per cent to 90 per cent sought by Minister Jacqui Smith. We recommend that you closely monitor the plans made by schools to achieve this, and we outline administrative measures you could take in support of such an approach. We further recommend you make clear that you are prepared, if the decline is not halted and turned around within a reasonable
timeframe, to return languages to the statutory curriculum. That as you know is not our preferred course because we think the range proposed by the Minister gives schools scope to develop learning programmes for each child that best fits him/her for life, and best motivates many more of our young people to stay in learning after age sixteen. This must be a major objective of education policy. Ron Dearing Lid King

Chapter 1: The Problem and the Response in Outline

1.1 In September 2004, learning a language in maintained schools ceased to be a mandatory part of the curriculum for pupils in the last two years of their compulsory education, usually referred to as Key Stage 4. Instead it became an entitlement for all students who chose to continue after their three years of mandatory study in Key Stage 3.

1.2 Although up to that time learning a language in Key Stage 4 had been mandatory, in fact only 80 per cent got as far as taking the GCSE, and the take up had been drifting down since 2000. This became particularly noticeable when consultation about removing the statutory requirement began in 2002.

1.3 At the same time as the changes at secondary level, the Government launched a programme to provide an opportunity for all pupils at Key Stage 2 in primary schools to learn a language by 2010. The Outcome and Prospects

1.4 The take up of languages in primary schools has gone very well, and a recent survey suggests that already some 70 per cent of primary schools are now offering a language or are close to doing so. The reports we have had indicate that languages are enjoyed by children across the ability range and that there is no lack of enthusiasm, interest or keenness to learn. This has the potential to feed through into the secondary schools, improve performance, and encourage pupils as they reach Key Stage 4 to continue with languages. This is true of the traditional study of French, German, and Spanish, and there is potential amongst community languages, which over the coming two decades will become of increasing commercial importance, and a potential national asset.

1.5 At the secondary level by contrast, the number taking languages has fallen sharply. Last summer, the numbers continuing with a language to the GCSE at secondary level had fallen to 51 per cent. Inclusion of those taking other language qualifications increases this to only 52 per cent. A survey showed that there will be a further fall this year. The preliminary signs were that thereafter the fall was levelling off. However this is not certain, as numbers may be affected by the decision to include English and Maths in the 5 A*-C GCSEs measure in the Achievement and Attainment Tables and in the long term by the introduction of the specialised diplomas which are expected to be taken by 30 per cent of those entering KS4.

1.6 The fall in numbers taking languages at Key Stage 4 is closely related to social class, and to overall performance in Key Stage 3, and their later performance in the GCSE.

4 Languages Review

1.7 Thus the proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals gaining a language qualification in Key Stage 4 is only half that of pupils from better off homes. The proportion of pupils taking languages who obtained 5 A* to C passes is about twice that of the less successful pupils.

1.8 Thus while the policy of languages for all is working well across the whole range of social class and ability in primary schools; at secondary level, even before languages ceased to be compulsory, it was never fully achieved. Twenty per cent were being exempted as far back as the year 2000; a third had dropped languages by the time they became an entitlement rather than a requirement; and we have regressed further from it since then.

1.9 We gave the facts in some detail in our consultation report together with the reasons
for the Government’s decision to open up the options at Key Stage 4 and the reasons for the move out of languages that has taken place.1

Where Next?

1.10 Our judgement is that there is scope for many more of our teenagers to do better than in the past in languages. For the reasons we set out in Chapter 4 of our consultation report, it is in their interest and the public interest, that more of them should do so. We think the low priority many employers give to language skills, as reflected for example in their plans for the new specialised diplomas, is mistaken. It does not however lead us to the conclusion that at this stage all pupils should be required to continue after Key Stage 3, or with the same time commitment. We have seen it as our task to set out how to enable many more pupils to succeed in different ways, within a framework in which schools make a commitment to languages being a substantial part of the Key Stage 4 curriculum, but which also recognises the need to respond differentially to the capabilities and motivations of pupils, in the wider cause of sustaining them successfully in learning to eighteen and beyond.

1.11 The programme of action we propose in this report to enable many more pupils to engage successfully in the study of languages at the secondary level will take two years to complete. But if action can be taken quickly on our proposals to support language teachers in secondary schools, this together with the opportunities for new approaches to fully accredited learning now offered by the Languages Ladder, and innovative approaches to the GCSE; and with the progressive realisation of our other proposals, schools could be aiming in September 2008 to have made progress towards the 50 to 90 per cent benchmark for entrants to languages in Key Stage 4 proposed by Jacqui Smith last year, and aim to complete their progress to it for entrants to Key Stage 4 in the school year beginning in September 2009, when all our proposed changes could be fully in place.

1.12 Failing a response of that kind, from schools, head teachers and languages departments with corresponding support and challenge from government and its national agencies, which we discuss further in our concluding chapter, we outline a return to some form of mandatory requirement. 4 Languages Review

Chapter 2 Making the Case for Languages

2.1 Three out of the five issues we were asked to consider were concerned with getting across the importance of languages to all sections of the population, and in particular to young people. In this you asked us to consider with employers what more they could do to promote the value of language skills for business, and with representatives of Higher
and Further Education to consider what more might be done to increase interest in language learning among the student population. Higher and Further Education

2.2 As an immediate measure, we asked all universities, working with local F.E. colleges,
specialist language colleges and sixth form colleges, to seek opportunities in January and February this year to visit schools to speak with pupils about the value of languages.

2.3 As we have found from direct contacts, for example with the universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Hull, Manchester, Nottingham, and more widely, many university language departments have much experience of, and expertise in, engaging with local schools to promote languages. These activities have recently been positively reviewed by the Subject Centre for Languages Linguistics and Area Studies. We think that institutions should receive specific support to develop this activity.

2.4 With particular reference to widening participation in higher education the Higher
Education Funding Council for England HEFC(E) is funding four regional projects costing £2.5m over four years to encourage more young people to study languages. These projects are testing different methods of engaging with schools and colleges to raise the aspiration and demand among young people to study languages. A key feature is to provide the secondary, FE and HE sectors with the resources to work together to promote language study. The regional projects are one strand of a £4.5m programme of work to support languages.

2.5 A sensibly financed programme over four years such as that to be launched by the HEFC(E) is a well conceived response to the opportunity.

2.6 We are advised by the HEFC(E) that for an additional £3m over four years the scheme
could be given national coverage. We recommend that this additional funding is
provided for this scheme and invite the HEFC(E) to undertake it, with part being available for any strongly conceived proposals that are unsuccessful in the current bidding round, with the remainder being available for a second round of bidding in a year’s time

Employers’ Organisations

2.7 As stated in Chapter 6 of our consultation report, the CBI, the Institute of Directors, the
British Chambers of Commerce, the Institute of Exports, and the National Health Service
Employers have all indicated specific ways, outlined in that report, in which they are willing to advance the cause of languages. We invite the Department to maintain active contact with these organisations to foster their continuing support, and to consider whether from time to time there is news or developments that might be of interest to their members. In addition to encourage companies to support languages in schools we suggest for consideration the award of a “kitemark” to organisations who do good work in this field. Major Multinationals and Overseas Embassies

2.8 Our consultation has confirmed the very real and often well funded programmes of activity by major overseas embassies to promote the study of their national language, whether directly or through national institutes.

2.9 Some of the corporate responsibility programmes of multinational companies are
extending to languages and are very impressive. Our sense is that working with embassies, where the company is not headquartered in Britain, there is scope over time for broadening the commitment by such companies to support languages, and intercultural awareness.

2.10 We accordingly confirm the proposal in our consultation report that Government
working with the Embassies in London should encourage international companies, as part of their corporate philanthropy, to sponsor programmes to promote intercultural awareness and the value of languages in this to schools in the areas where they have businesses. In support of that, they could facilitate opportunities for work experience overseas for 14-16 years old pupils, and school to school exchanges between pupils in this country and overseas countries where they operate. Companies might also be asked to consider providing support for pupils in their localities, who have demonstrated an early ability in languages, to engage with similarly talented pupils overseas, to wor together on some project of common interest, for example, promoting intercultural awareness, a comparative study of the attitudes in their own countries to global warming, recycling or sport, and so on. Getting across the importance of languages to all sections of the population, young and old

2.11 While in England, those who are proficient in overseas languages are admired, this is at least in part a reflection of our relatively low level of language skills, rather than from any strong awareness that such skills matter and are an important enfranchisement in a Europe where there is free movement of peoples, a key to multicultural awareness in our own country and in the world, and increasingly relevant to the prospects of our young people in a world of multinational companies where linguistic skills are valued.

2.12 This points to the need for an active programme by the Government to communicate the importance of languages not only to young people, but also to parents who are influential on the choices pupils make for their Key Stage 4 curriculum and beyond.

2.13 In our consultation report we accordingly proposed that the Department for Education and Skills should develop a continuing programme to promote languages focussing on events like the Beijing Olympics of 2008, the 2012 London Olympic Games and other major international events such as the Rugby World Cup in France in 2007 and the European Football Cup in 2008.

2.14 At local level, Local Authorities could be encouraged to promote interest in local
schools in towns overseas with which they have twinning arrangements, and promote
contact at school level through communication technology and exchange visits. This doubtless happens to some extent already, but in schools where the language is in the curriculum this might, with the support of language departments and head teachers, be promoted with especial enthusiasm. We now confirm those recommendations.
In addition:

2.15 We invite consideration for an annual national Ministerial reception for heads of languages departments who in the year have made a distinctive contribution to promoting interest in languages, and for innovations in the practise ofpedagogy in their school, perhaps supported by a cash prize for investment in equipment or an overseas visit for professional development, for the most outstanding cases.

2.16 To address the low numbers of pupils achieving a very high grading at the GCSE progressing to A levels and beyond in languages, we urge that consideration is given to one day events at five or six centres, perhaps to coincide with the European Day for Languages, where pupils have an opportunity to hear from linguists about the range of work they do in this country, for example in the courts, in social services, in Government Departments, and in international organisations such as the European Commission, which we know is anxious to encourage more native English speakers to come forward for appointments as translators, and for main line appointments in its various directorates. This might be supported by the appointment of a “Languages in Careers” Director to get across the value of language skills as a means of widening opportunities in a whole range of careers. 2.17 We would add that major promotional campaigns to influence opinion require substantial resources if they extend to paid promotion using the full resources of the media. We understand that the Learning and Skills Council has found it necessary to allocate individual budgets of £6m a year, and more, to promote apprenticeships, train to gain and student maintenance grants.

2.18 Some substantial expenditure is a matter that goes beyond our competence to recommend, but we tentatively suggest a budget of £2m a year to support a sustained effort through events, articles, languages days, publications, and for material for use in schools, to raise public awareness of the importance of languages.

2.19 Finally we suggest that the potential of senior politicians in promoting the value of languages should be evaluated, and opportunities taken by them to illustrate from their own experiences how some facility in a language has been valuable to them, for example, in building relationships. In particular we urge that the Government should put its weight behind

Chapter 3 What Needs to be Done – motivating learners and supporting teachers

3.1 Our terms of reference invited us to: support secondary schools in making available a
wider range of more flexible language courses, with accreditation, so that more young people keep up language learning even if they are not doing a full GCSE course;
(consider) further ways of strengthening the incentives for schools and young people
themselves to continue with languages after 14.

3.2 It became clear very early in our review that the problems of Key Stage 4 languages could not be solved in isolation from earlier and later stages of learning. This was confirmed during the course of the consultation. What was needed was a coherent place for languages in the school curriculum, and beyond. Much progress has been made since the launch of the National Languages Strategy in 2002, but if we are to address the challenges of the unwanted fall-off in languages post 14, we need a significant reshaping of the languages offer – what has been described as the New Paradigm for languages.

3.3 This also prompts our first important conclusion, which is that a one menu suits all approach to secondary languages is not working for many of our children, and that we must encourage a more varied languages offer which suits a range of requirements for young people. The need is for a coherent languages programme leading to a range of appropriate options if those who are abandoning languages are to be motivated to continue.

3.4 In our consultation report we set out what amounts to a package of reform, intended to
strengthen the existing National Languages Strategy and proposing both short and longer term measures aiming to embed languages in the curriculum for primary schools; and at secondary level to improve the experience of learning a language for pupils, to increase the motivation to learn, and to enhance pedagogy. In the consultation these proposals have received a large measure of support. Combined with a stronger framework and manifest support from Government, we believe they provide the basis for a renaissance of languages in school and in the longer term an improvement in our national capability in languages. Languages in Primary Schools

3.5 The programme for the progressive introduction of languages into primary schools is going well. Schools are well on the way to the target of a Languages for life languages entitlement for all pupils in Key Stage 2 by 2010. Some 70 per cent of schools are already teaching languages or have made plans to do so, and all the signs are that this percentage will increase this year, perhaps to over three quarters. We continually hear the comment that children enjoy their language learning in primary
schools. A specifically primary experience of languages is being developed, linking language learning to learning across the curriculum and making good use of a range of resources, of speakers of the language and of excellent programmes of ICT based learning. There has also been the necessary financial support.

3.6 A framework for languages study in Key Stage 2 has been available to schools since 2005 and schemes of work for German, French and Spanish are now being published. A robust programme of Initial Teacher Training is also in place and set to continue. Local and regional training opportunities have also been made available. All of this means that the ground work for a statutory languages curriculum is already largely in place.

3.7 Against this background we recommend that languages become part of the statutory
curriculum for Key Stage 2 in primary schools, when it is next reviewed. This should
be as soon as practicable and if possible in time for languages to become part of the statutory primary curriculum by September 2010. In making this recommendation we have taken into account the statutory requirement that it should be introduced progressively by year group. In the interim we urge that the experience gained over the last few years and in the period immediately ahead should be used to inform our understanding of what is best learnt in the early years and the most successful approaches to learning. But while the purposes and outcomes of the learning should be prescribed through the curriculum, we would advise against any one tightly prescribed approach to teaching, as has sometimes happened in the past. Key to the future success of this significant primary initiative will be continuing support for teachers through opportunities for professional development and access to support networks and a range of resources, so that all primary schools have the necessary capability to teach languages.

3.8 We recommend that the provision for teacher support in primary schools should
be continued, and where necessary, extended to take schools through the first two
years of a statutory curriculum for languages and to help them widen the range of languages offered, as proposed below.

3.9 French has been the main language offered in primary schools, but as in our consultation report, we think it important to widen the range of languages that can be offered, and we recommend that attention is given to how that can best be achieved and that this should involve continuing consultation with embassies. We envisage that these will prominently be French, German and Spanish. But looking further ahead there will be increasing interest in other world languages, particularly Eastern languages. We should also value community languages, in which, in many localities, children will have a high level of speaking and listening skills. Decisions on such matters go beyond the scope

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of this review and need to be preceded by careful analysis and consultation, including the
need to be satisfied that the capability exists in the school to teach the chosen languages. It will also be important in this respect to ensure that advice and guidance continue to be madeavailable to primary schools on the specific languages which are taught, on the range of curricular models and on the challenges of progression and transition.

3.10 Indeed the full benefits of teaching languages in primary schools will not be realised unless there are good arrangements for transition to secondary schools. To this end we make two recommendations:

a) There should be informal classroom assessment of every child’s learning near the end of Key Stage 2 by reference to the Languages Ladder2, so that the Key Stage 3 teacher is well informed about the pupil’s learning standard and needs. We recommend use of the ladder because it provides the teacher with assessment at the level appropriate to the child in each of the four strands of learning: speaking, listening, reading and writing, and because it is to a common national standard. Its purpose is different from the SATs, which in the past have been essentially a summative means of assessing a school’s performance with all pupils taking the same test. The assessment we recommend is formative in purpose, fit for the individual child, not aggregated, and should not be the basis for any league tables.

b) Wherever possible, with appropriate leadership from Local Authorities, clusters of primary and secondary schools in a local authority area should link up to seek to achieve agreement on the languages to be taught in primary schools and arrangements for progression to the secondary schools, and to foster close contact between the primary teacher and the specialist language teacher in the secondary school. The more the last year of primary and the first year in the secondary school become a continuum the better. In this respect we fully support the proposal of the Training and Development Agency to develop a 9-14 Languages teacher training course.

3.11 The success of languages in Key Stage 2 raises the question of whether it should extend toKey Stage 1. On the mainland of Europe the age at which language learning begins has been coming down year by year, and in the Netherlands, for example, it now begins at age five. In general, however, a starting age of seven or eight reflects current European practice and the priority over the next few years should be the success of Key Stage 2. Where this is succeeding, it may gradually extend to Key Stage 1, and there is wisdom in leaving this to schools to decide for themselves, while ensuring that advice is available for those who wish to make an earlier start.

Languages in Secondary Schools – The Challenge of Motivation

3.12 Motivating learners is a key challenge for language teachers in secondary schools, and not only in England. In other countries the role of English as a world language, and the way it permeates the culture of young people, provides an incentive to learn it and facilitates learning. This tends to overlay the fact that many overseas learners of languages find it a challenging task. It is therefore not surprising that the major source of the abandonment of languages is by students who are amongst the less successful in learning generally.

3.13 Despite this, many teachers are successful with all learners. It has been put to us that 99 per cent of learners who really want to learn a language (i.e. who are really motivated) will be able to master a reasonable knowledge of it as a minimum, regardless of their aptitude or background. It is not our task in this review to provide the recipe for motivational success. We can however propose what needs to be done to create the conditions in which it will be possible to motivate all or most learners.3 These include: A more varied languages offer with a range of appropriate outcomes (assessment) The possibility to recognise and celebrate achievement in small steps Engaging curricular content (includin