Region: Slovak students required to study English

By Michaela Terenzani-Stanková

For The Slovak Spectator

Though most Slovak English teachers have welcomed the initiative of the Education Ministry to make English courses mandatory in primary schools, others are expressing doubts whether the legislation passed Feb. 1 by the Slovak Parliament - overriding a veto by President Ivan Gašparovič - will go far enough.

Education Minister Eugen Jurzyca believes that giving preference to English as the contemporary lingua franca will bear fruit as every secondary-school graduate will be tasked with mastering English at the B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

"A positive impact from this decision will not be seen immediately, but in my opinion it was necessary to come to this conclusion," Jana Berešová, head of the Slovak Association of Teachers of English, told The Slovak Spectator, adding that the law in itself will not improve Slovak students' English and that further steps need to be taken, such as replacing the old-fashioned accreditation based on theory and literature with practical lessons focused on skills.

Slovakia is the 14th country in the European Union to make English-language instruction mandatory. The new law, which will require English for all students starting in the third grade, goes into effect March 1.

Currently, only about 66 percent of students in Slovakia learn English, according to Berešová. That percentage is much greater throughout the EU, as it reaches as high as 90 percent in Scandinavian and some West European countries. Slovak students are required to study two foreign languages: one beginning in their third year and a second beginning in the fifth grade. They will no longer be able to choose the first - English will be mandatory for all.

Berešová compared Scandinavian countries with Slovakia in that the countries are fairly small and their native languages will never be used as target languages by other Europeans.

"Their language policy supports English as a language of communication, so in Sweden children start learning English very early, and during their secondary school studies, they can learn another target language," Berešová said.

After the amendment was first passed by Parliament in 2009, Gašparovič immediately vetoed the law, stating that students should be able to choose their first foreign language. Gašparovič said some schools were also worried there might not be enough qualified English teachers.

Berešová explained that studying English at Slovak universities is not very attractive for young people as learning the language is not easy, the social status of teachers is low and the expected salary is discouraging. She suggested that one temporary solution for the lack of English-language teachers would be to give university students in any field of study an opportunity to continue in courses of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) for six to eight semesters.

"Most nonphilological faculties stopped teaching ESP to save money," Berešová said. "No institution checked if this kind of saving is good or bad. It seems to be bad because many graduates are unemployed. If they had completed ESP courses, they could have tackled this lack of teachers."

According to the Education Ministry, at the end of November 2009, nearly 13,000 teachers were teaching English at basic- and secondary-school levels and some schools lacked English-language teachers. The ministry expects to fill any shortage of teachers by using instructors who are upgrading their qualifications so they will be permitted to teach English.

Almost 4,000 teachers are now attending university courses for teaching foreign languages. The program for retraining teachers, which had been suspended for almost six months due to problems with drawing money from European funds, was relaunched in early 2011 when the education minister found resources in the state budget to fund it.

Michaela Terenzani-Stanková can be reached at news@praguepost.com