NEW technology, the internet, better transport links and more flight destinations have made the world seem a much smaller place – and never before has speaking a foreign language been more important.

For children in schools now, the chances are that once they start looking for jobs, those who can speak a second or even third language will be in a much better position than those who can’t.

But for many children, being able to make the connection between learning another language and everyday life can be difficult, along with seeing how useful it will be as an adult.

Another hurdle is the transition between primary school and secondary school. Having begun to learn a foreign language at primary level, children must cope with getting used to a new teacher, often going over old ground, and having little or no consistency between the two.

But for four schools in Worcestershire, the transition has been made all the more easier thanks to an improvement in teaching of modern foreign languages (MFL). With the help of funding awarded to the University of Worcester almost 12 months ago to develop a project in MFL, they have managed to take a more coordinated approach to how children are taught in year 6, before learning primary school, and then stepping into year 7, the first year of secondary.

Currently, many children will have started to learn a language at primary school – the Government recently announced that by 2010, every child in England will start learning a language in primary school – but then they get to secondary school and it almost goes back to basics again.

Therefore, the child becomes bored and disinterested in languages.

At a day recently held at Christopher Whitehead Language College in St John’s, children from the chosen schools were able to try out their new way of teaching MFL through other subjects.

So, instead of just having a French lesson, pupils would have a geography lesson, but all spoken in French, German or Spanish – which aims to make languages more relevant and show children how to use the languages in everyday life. Trainee teachers from the university, who will be going into both primary and secondary schools, joined together on the day to run a series of workshops for the children from Rushwick Primary School, Oldbury Park Primary School, and the Christopher Whitehead Language College. They put this theory into practice and, if it is seen as a success, this could become more permanent.

Luke Payton, a PGCE student at the university who speaks French, German, Russian and Polish, gave the new methods of teaching a try.

“It’s about looking at subjects in a cross-curricular way, and making it more accessible for the kids, so they are more likely to recollect what they have learnt,” he said.

“When I am working with primary school trainee teachers, we are able to plan the lessons together, and it makes a more smooth transition between the two.

“We are working really hard on vocabulary with them and making sure they know it all. This morning they saw French in a different light and they were writing a story in that language. It makes it all more relevant to them, it’s not just verbs in a book.”

Sam Macgregor, who is training to be a primary school teacher, agreed. “It is great to see crosscurricular teaching in practice and the children are reacting really well to it. It puts languages in a different light for them,” he said.

“We live in the European Community and language is a great way of getting out there and exploring different cultures.”

Activities on the day included the children making their own storybook, art classes, music lessons, dance and drama.

Teacher Claire Dolloway of Oldbury Park Primary School said: “The children are having a great day and it is helping them a lot and it gives them a chance to see what they will experience once they come to high school in September,”

she said.

Isabelle Schaefer, MFL teacher for trainee teachers at the university said the day had been interesting and a great success.

“About 90 children have taken part in this and the feedback has been very positive. For our trainee teachers as well, it is great to put the theory into practice within a school environment and in a classroom.”

Adrian Price, teacher of French and Spanish at Christopher Whitehead, said he wanted youngsters to see that learning languages was fun.

“This is a really interesting thing we are doing. The outcome isn’t just a language but also giving them more motivation to want to learn more and use it.

“The outcome also wasn’t just a language but also a piece of music, a painting or drama, which gives it a different perspective and they have come away with something else too,” he added.