FRENCH IN SCHOOLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 244, 15 October 1929, Page 9

FRENCH IN SCHOOLS.

APPROVED BY M. PAUL SERRE.

SCHOOL METHODS WRONG.

TOO MANY RULES AND VERBS

In the course of a witty resume of the work accomplished by the Auckland French Club during the past year, M. Paul Serre, Consul for France, made some pertinent remarks concerning school French, and incidentally suggested that more attention should be paid in New Zealand to turning out men who could work and own their own farms, rather than add to the unemployed in the towns. He commented sarcastically on the recent remarks<of Mr. F. L. Combs before the Wellington Schools Committees' Association concerning the teaching of French in the secondary schools. It will be remembered Mr. Combs said that when the boys and girls left the secondary schools they only had a superficial knowledge of French, and quickly forgot' what they had learned. He also said that not more than one per cent of the pupils derived any benefit from the study of French, and "that inconoclast" as M. Serre"calls him, went so far as to say that he would rather the pupils studied Maori than French. ' M. Serre added: "And why not Sanscrit as well?" To all that Mr. Combs had said, M. Serre remarked that he would reply that in the secondary schools of New Zealand the pupils were taught too many rules of grammar and too many verbs—rules and, verbs that the average Frenchman might have learned, bu£ had certainly forgotten. The teaching was all In view of the annual examination, which was the main thing in the eyes of the teachers. On the other hand the spoken language was neglected, and the ears of the pupils were not accustomed to the sound of the French words. On most occasions. when he spoke French to a university student or a secondary school pupil, with a good accent (or at least he hoped it was), the student or pupil lis : tened with strained attention and obliged the repetition of the expression two or three times. In the end it generally resulted in him lapsing into English. . M. Serre went on. to show.* that the study of French broadened the mind of the student. He recalled that it was widely spoken, and instanced that when the airship Graf Zeppelin left Friedrichshafen there were on board a German, a Japanese, a Spaniard and an American, who spoke all languages, "but above all, French," as was remarked by the German editor who recorded the incident. Now that the teachers in the primary schools were permitted to teach French to the children, M. Serre suggested that, if consonant with the regulations, they should teach the children each day, two or three common words, such as would stick in the young mind. As for tackling the difficulties of the French language, and they were certainly real, it would ■be wiser to wait until the growing ■ pupil continued his studies in a more advanced school. The Consul suggested that it was possible that in an ' agricultural country like ■ New Zealand too much education was imparted to the children, with the result that the youth with a certain amount of learning objected to manual labour. It would perhaps be better if. the majority of the boys left school at the age of 13,. instead *of 17, and then studied farming, preferably at Government primary agricultural schools, which should be established for the purpose. With regard to the study of French by the scholars who left school It the age of 17, continued M. Serre, tbey could always join one of the French clubs established .in the four chief centres, and if they lived in the "country they could subscribe to a French magazine, or indeed, they might get into correspondence with a young person of their own age in France, through the medium .of the Alliance Francaise de Paris.