The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 52

6 Tuesday September 30 1997 Guardian Education ie focus Goethe Anna McNay finds nation speaking unto nation in German Believe it or not, Japanese is nowhere near as hard to learn as it looks. Even boys like it! Emma Haughton on Eastern promise in the West Hopeful signs: As Japanese is a largely pictorial language, the dyslexic students at Tavistock can be on a par with their peers PHOTOGRAPH: MARC HILL Symbols of success hey came from all corners of the globe. Some were almost fluent, others spoke no Ger man whatsoever, but by the end of the month everyone was at least able to understand what was being said around them. What drew all these people of all ages and so many different cultures to the small Bavarian town of language course at the Goethe Institute. The institute, whose aim is to teach people about the German language and culture, has centres in more than 70 countries 18 within Germany itself.

I could have taken the same standard of classes in London, but where better to study a language than in its native country? Apart from learning the language, taking part in such a course is a great way to make new friends you end up learning hello in at least 20 other languages! But beyond greetings, German is often the only language everyone has in common. The lessons are relaxed and informal. You are put into a class depending on your performance in an interview, and a written test is taken on the arrival day. During the first week, students are free to swap classes to find a level which suits them. From the first day, everything takes place in German.

A friend in the beginners' class reported that this leads to a lot of gesticulating and frequent outbreaks of laughter. Although the teachers bring along plentiful materials, lessons are essentially what the students themselves make them. Discussions and debates develop unpredictably, dependingon the group's interest. Of course, there is one area which can't be avoided grammar! There is also the opportunity in the last week to take exams at an additional cost for certificates which are recognised worldwide. Perhaps spending holiday time at school is not everybody's idea of fun, but because lessons follow the continental timetable, the early start means you are free from lpm plenty of time to let your hair down.

needs. "For the first time, our dyslexic students are keeping up with their peers," says Mr Naylor. "Dyslexia doesn't seem to be much of a problem in Japan because it is such a pictorial language; it puts dyslexic students on a par with their friends, and that's a great boost to their self-esteem." David Heath, a dyslexic pupil in Year 8 who has been learning Japanese for over a year, agrees. "I find it very hard to spell and tell the words in French, but I find Japanese is much easier. The symbols are much easier to remember." He is so taken with the language that he wants to carry on to A level.

"It will be useful if I become a businessman," he says. According to language teacher Anupameya Jain, Japanese also finds favour with pupils who lean more towards the sciences. Although it is a largely pictorial language, it also includes two phonetic 'It's surprising how fast the students pick it up once they've got the basics' alphabets; while the characters often depict nouns and word stems, the phonetic alphabets are used for verbal endings and foreign words. "It seems difficult at first, but once you start there is a definite logic to it," says Jain. "It means you can adopt quite a scientific approach to learning Japanese." Japanese also has the advantage of a relatively straightforward grammar, using fewer cases and tenses than European languages such as French and German.

Once pupils have mastered a basic vocabulary and verb structure, they can quickly move into quite complex grammatical work. The language is also much more consistent than English its words are always spelled just as they sound. "Students do feel they make much more rapid progress in Japanese," says Naylor. "Even at an age where they are still learning their own language, learning Japanese as well doesn't seem to hinder them at all. It's surprising how fast they pick it up once they've got the basic characters." Tavistock originally opted for Japanese for a number of reasons.

The school wanted to overcome the traditional learning barrier to "hard-script" languages by introducing one at a stage when pupils' enthusiasm and openness to new ideas was still high. It also recognised that few people in Britain have any literacy in Japanese, despite the country being a major trading partner with an increasing economic and cultural influence in Europe. But Naylor was particularly interested in the multicultural dimension it offered to his pupils. "Devon is predominantly a 'white' county where students have little contact with ethnic minorities," he says. "They are disadvantaged because of that, and Japanese was a way of bringing in other cultural elements." Such cultural diversity is now boosted by the five Japanese students studying A levels in the sixth form, and the Japanese language assistant working with Tavistock's three Japanese language teaching staff.

But the school also plans to give its pupils more firsthand experience of the Japanese through visits and exchanges. It has already organised a rugby tour of Japanese schools for next year, and is planning other exchanges. Naylor hopes that his pupils' early contact with Japanese will blossom into a lifelong interest. you want to motivate boys and pupils with learning diffi- I culties, make them learn Japanese, suggests Tavistock College in Devon, which last year became the first school in the country to make Japanese language lessons compulsory for pupils in years 7 and 8. Tavistock, the fourth largest comprehensive in the country, with more than 1,900 pupils, recently surveyed last year's year 7 students on their attitudes to learning Japanese, and found that more than three-quarters enjoyed the language, with boys particularly keen.

"Bringing in Japanese was part of our bid for language college status, but our survey shows it has closed the gender gap for languages and is much more popular than European rivals such as French and German," says Tavistock vice-principal Charlie Naylor. "Because Japanese has so little history in schools, there aren't the large gender issues that surround a language like French, for instance, which is often perceived as something for girls. With Japanese, boys maintain the same level of interest as girls." Tavistock also found that the greater diversity of skills involved in Japanese such as drawing characters favours pupils with special Software reviews Unterwegs (Yorkshire International Thomson Multimedia Thomas Nelson, tel: 01 264-342992). For beginners in German, this CD-ROM gets top marks for simplicity, clear diction students and teachers. Price; 36.99 (classroom); 19.99 (home).

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