Pupils eschew French, preferring cool English

According to a report compiled by the Conference of Directors of Education in central Switzerland relating to the teaching of modern foreign languages between the years 2014 to 2016, pupils in Zug are turning away from French with its tough grammar, much preferring English which they regard as cool.

In order to put this situation right and promote the teaching of French, the canton of Zug has decided to act, not least by promoting exchanges with pupils in French-speaking Switzerland.

Helping with this is the Zug Teacher-Training College (PH Zug - photograph) which has set up a new website, www.sprachaustausch.phzg.ch, providing headteachers, teachers of French in municipal schools, interested pupils and their parents with information about exchanges and showing teaching material at the same time.

A number of schools in the canton have taken up such help. As Regula Werder, a teacher in the early years of secondary school education and responsible for liaison work with regard to the teaching of modern foreign languages in Menzingen, explained recently, learning a foreign language is simpler and is made more enjoyable if there an aspect of reality is evident. To this end, the school she teaches at in Menzingen is to embark on an exchange programme with a school in the Val d’Hérens in the canton of Wallis, all with the help and support of Sylvia Nadig, who is responsible for school exchanges in the canton and responsible for the training of teachers in modern foreign languages at the PH Zug.

At present she admitted that only two per cent of pupils in Switzerland took part in exchanges with pupils in the French- speaking part of the country, something she regarded as a lost opportunity.