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BETTER AND EARLIER LEARNING OF ENGLISH MUST BE A PRIORITY, SAYS EDUCATION MINISTER EDUCATION Minister Luc Chatel says he wants to “reinvent the learning of English” in schools. Mr Chatel

said that he was setting up a committee to look in better ways of teaching languages, with English from age three for everyone one of the ideas to be discussed. He also wants to have an

“in-depth review” of teaching methods, for example to examine how more use can be made of information technology. He said: “We know that the earlier you start learning English, the easier it

is to pick up other languages. This idea is not to the detriment of other languages; however, English is a priority.” He said he would like every collège or lycée to have a partner school

in a country such as Britain, America or Germany, so all children have the chance of a foreign trip at least once in their school lives. He also wants national distance learning body Cned to

set up a new English learning tool. As for the school calendar and hours, which has been under review, he said he would not be making any decisions until mid-year, with any changes unlikely

before the autumn of 2013 at the earliest. The possibility of having different summer holiday dates according to geographical zones (as is already the case for the shorter holidays) was one

option being looked at, he said, adding that there was almost unanimous agreement that some change was needed. This is despite the fact a public internet consultation largely concluded

France should keep the status quo (see below). Previous articles Shorter days at school planned Public wants to keep status quo PhotoLeny83