Classwork Begins at Home

The objective of our educational system in the foreign language department, is to have all students acquire at least a B1 or B2 level of English by the time they graduate high school. If they continue to university, students have to pass at least a B1 level exam to get their degree, even if they major in something like Spanish Language and Literature. B1 covers lower intermediate and intermediate comprehensions of English. At the lower intermediate level, students should have the ability to read this paragraph from an adapted reading and understand it:

That evening I sat in my room again. The candles were lit and I looked at the pictures in an old book. My door was open and the door to Madam Crowl's room was open. And then I heard her voice for the first time. It sounded like a small bird or animal. I couldn't understand what she said. Then I heard my aunt's voice. 

Suffice it to say that too many kids who reach this level by the end of their obligatory schooling, at 16 years old, have no idea what most of this paragraph means. And those who continue two more years to prepare for university, or more advanced vocational courses, should reach the level to be able to understand this, which is upper intermediate, or B2:

There have been countless books and television series on living with teenagers, yet parents don't seem to have discovered how to get their children to pick up their clothes from the bedroom floor, or even clean their room occasionally. It might be difficult to accept, but a new approach to dealing with rude or difficult teenagers is for parents to look at their own behaviour.

Let's say that of those that graduate at eighteen, most will not be able to completely understand that paragraph. By the time they are thinking about passing an exam to get their university degree, they will need special classes just to be able to take a B1 exam. I know, because I've had to help four strapping young men prepare for it. In their twenties, they had already spent more than the prescribed number of years to study their majors, different types of engineering. They knew some technical English from some courses, but they didn't remember enough for the general language exams.

So, why don't more students reach that level of fluency in English, after having studied it from the time they are three years old? Mostly the blame is on the educational system. From first grade on, they only receive three hours of English a week in school, almost never get any homework, nor take their books home to study. In the preschool years, I think they get even less time. They get more homework in high school, from when they are twelve to sixteen, and the additional two years, from sixteen to eighteen, but the same number of hours at school. Many times, the teacher doesn't speak English in class, or speaks it badly. Of late years, some obligatory classes are being offered in English in high school, but only for those who sign up for them, otherwise they're automatically in Spanish. 

Most parents, thinking that having studied English for so many years their children should have learnt it well in school, don't try to help their children except by sending them to after-school classes. When some ask me how to bolster their kid's learning in English, I suggest putting the kid's favorite shows in original version with subtitles. Most of the cartoons are American, few are in other languages. The parent (and the kid) then usually tell me that they can't read fast enough and are frustrated by subtitles. 

Here, we have two problems. One is reading. Kids don't like to read and few parents foster it from the time they are infants. So, they don't acquire a good reading speed and comprehension. The second is that the parents tend to stuff their kid onto the couch, turn on the television, and leave them to it. The first is a cultural problem; reading for pleasure has always been looked upon as a subversive activity. (Franco and the Church did a good job here.) The second is a parenting problem. 

To attempt to learn from watching television in original version, parents should sit down with their children, and read the subtitles themselves, explaining when the children can't read fast enough. Those who remember a few things from their own school years, can always try to get them to hear specific words. "Did you hear him say a number? Which was it, 'two' or 'three'?" 

But, it's always as if I'm asking the parents to take on an extra job for no pay. First, finding the keys on the remote to put something in original version. It's not automatic in Spain; dubbing has remained from Franco's censorious days. Then, actually taking the time to sit with their kids and troubling themselves to read quickly and scratch their memory. Which is why they end up coming to me and to others, and asking us to work miracles in some cases. 

All I can do is reinforce what they learn in school and sometimes teach them some more vocabulary and grammar to keep them ahead of the game, but little more, unless the child is good at languages to begin with. If a child isn't continuously exposed to a second language, they won't end up learning enough to make them fluent. And university students will still need to take extra classes to pass a B1 level exam.