I probably shouldn't be saying this, because all these people wanting to learn English is keeping me in business, but Spain really does need to calm it on the English obsession.
Spain has huge problems. It is politically corrupt. It has an economic system which is rotten to the core. It has the second highest rate of child poverty in Europe (1). Its education system is so shockingly bad that a graduate from a university in Spain has the same skill-set as a 15-year-old teenager from Japan (2).
A lot needs to be done if Spain wants to become a prosperous nation and someone has come up with the bright idea that learning English will solve everyone's problems.
Problem is, it won't. There is a link between the prosperity of a country and its ability to speak multiple languages. Most people in Northern European countries are fluent in English. Japan and Korea are pretty good at it too. But this correlation is misleading; they’re not rich countries because they have mastered English (though this probably does help international business and such), they’re rich because they have strong educational, political and economic systems. And a strong work ethic.
But it’s easier to assume that speaking more English = better prosperity.
So English has become the new craze. Like loom bands. English and loom bands. Everyone in Spain now needs to speak English and then all of the problems will magically go away.
There is 26% unemployment here, which rises to 55% for young people (3) and the idea is that if everyone learns English then everyone will be more employable and that will solve that problem. Which is scary.
Languages are useful. But it doesn't guarantee you a job. And it's not necessary for most jobs; postmen, electricians, PE teachers; they don't need to speak a second language. Neither really do doctors or lawyers or engineers. Yeah it's got its advantages (more academic journals are published in English, therefore you can learn more about your subject etc. etc.) but you can do a perfectly splendid job without it.
Being multi-lingual doesn’t automatically make you a superior nurse or accountant or personal trainer. Much more goes into it than that.
But Spaniards have been brain-washed into thinking otherwise. The other day I picked up a leaflet advertising jobs in Stradavarius, a clothes shop. They only had two questions; what is your availability for work and what languages do you speak. There was enough space to write four foreign languages. Obviously it hadn't crossed their minds that if someone can speak four foreign languages they're probably not going to be interested in working in a clothes shop.
Then there's this new law which requires all teachers in public schools to hold a certificate proving that they have a B2 level of English. All teachers. Regardless of what subject they actually teach. I've got a guy who teaches PE in Primary schools, who has been doing it for years, and who is probably really good at it. But he's shit at English. It's just not his forté. There’s not a linguistic bone in his body. But unless he somehow passes a B2 exam in September he's at risk of losing his job. His job teaching PE.
So what's happening is that people are prioritising speaking English over other, more useful and more necessary skills.
Stradavarius aren't asking potential employees, say, if they have any experience working in a shop, or if they're good with people or if they're organised or interested in fashion or any of the other things necessary to be a good Shop Assistant. And no one cares if Paco is good at teaching PE, if he's a good role model for his kids, if he's patient and kind and inspiring. No, they only care if he can speak English.
Spain really needs to stop this obsession with learning English or it risks putting people who are good at their job, out of work.
It’s also going to have a very serious consequence on people’s attitude to language learning; when you are forced to study something, something that you don’t really care much about, or that you’re not particularly good at, you start hating it.
Remember school? Remember being forced to memorise the definition of osmosis, Pythagoras’s theory, the 13 French verbs that conjugate with etre in the past tense instead of avoir? Remember the anger we all felt? Remember thinking “this is a bloody waste of time, I’m never going to use this in real life!”? Well that’s exactly what is happening now with people being forced to take up English again.
It’s risking making everyone resent English.
I’ve noticed a marked change in the attitude of students. Especially since the teacher law thing. There are now so many people that come to me saying “I don’t care about speaking English, I just need to pass this exam to keep my job”.
I also get parents forcing their kids to take extra classes because they think it will secure their future. I want to just shake them and tell them; “look at your son, he’s seven, and can’t string a sentence together in English after three months of one-to-one classes. He hates speaking. But when he holds a pencil in his hand, he transforms. He is creative and colourful and resourceful. His imagination is out of this world. This kid is not a linguist. He is an artist. An architect. A designer”. But I can’t say this.
I want to say “your daughter is 18 and has failed three years of English exams at school, not because she’s not bright, but because her skills lie elsewhere. She’s brave and funny and sociable. Her instinct and logic is flawless. She's just not academic”. But I can’t say this. People do not want to hear this. Not in Spain.
However, my seven-year-old’s older brother is gifted at English. Sometimes he makes me want to cry from pride at how articulate and resourceful and expressive he can be. He is a born linguist. And this should be encouraged and nurtured. But it’s hit and miss. Some people should be encouraged to learn languages, others, like his brother, should not be.
Learning languages is not for everyone, and it is foolish to assume that it is.
I’m not saying Spain should stop encouraging people to learn English. I’m saying Spain should stop forcing everyone to learn English. In doing this, in pursuing this obsession, people who are skilled and talented in other areas are at risk of being overlooked, side-lined, disregarded. It is risking telling people that they are not valuable members of society unless they can speak English. And that’s worrying.
Languages are great, but too much of a good thing will only have negative consequences in the long term. People, sooner or later, will get sick of learning English. They’ll realise that it hasn’t made a blind bit of difference to their employability or to the quality of work done in Stradavarius or in PE lessons or to Spain’s prosperity. Just like the loom band craze will surely be replaced with something else new and shiny, so too will the idea that learning English is a guarantee to success. And the sooner that happens, the better. The sooner I can go back to teaching students that actually, genuinely, want to learn.
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