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1440
Teaching foreign languages: from Greek and Hebrew to Latin.
This trend was accelerated in the fifteenth century by a growing awareness of national identity facilitated by developments such as the inventions and spread of printing -
1500
Renaissance humanists revitalize the study of classical languages.
Major educational shift, however Latin was the prevalent language taught. -
1501
Mid sixteenth century onwards:
"Education sold grow out of the child’s experience of the mother tongue and foreign languages should be neglected to a subsidiary role”. -
1528
First Part of the Elementarie.
Richard Mulcaster champions the use of vernacular English over Latin, contributing to the standardization of the English spelling system. -
The first German Mother tongue schoool.
Wolfgang Ratke the opened the first German mother tongue school, but inspite of arousing considerable public interest the venture eventually failed through lack of sensible practical planning -
Great Didactic.
Ratke’s follower, the great Comenius estates in his book Great Didactic: “First the mother tongue must be learned… Foreing languages should not be taught until the child was ten years old and should not take too much time”. -
Some Thoughts Concerning Education
John Locke wrote an essay called 'Some Thoughts Concerning Education', in which he positioned himself as a supporter of early modern foreign language teaching. -
Moribund Latin
Joseph Aickin stressed the importance of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction. -
What Everybody Felt.
Daviel Duncan’s plea: “dead languages are unbearable for children” -
Heavy Weight
Joseph Priestley’s conclusion: “The propriety of introducing the English grammar into English schools cannot be disputed” -
Short Introductionto English Grammar
Lowth’s influential prescriptive grammar also known as the grammar that the twentieth century loves to hate, and Rousseau’s Emile or Education were published. -
Natural Method
Gottlieb Hennes taught German as a foreign language to the children of the staff at Yale University using objects of various kinds and a ‘conversational’ method that totally avoided the use of the native language. -
Foreign Language Schools.
The first school of Berlitz was opened nearby Rhode Island. -
Foreign Languages as Modern Studies
The Board of Education agreed that it was not desirable to introduce modern languages into the majority of Elementary Schools. -
Acquisition
The psychologist Wilder Penfield, answered the long asked question in a paper in which supported the view that pre-adolescent children were particularly well suited to the acquisition of foreign languages since their responses were still flexible enough to cope with the demands of new speech habits. -
FLES
Foreing Languages in the Elementary School programs were somewhat successful in America, young children learn well but slow. 1970: Foreign Languages were reserved for bright teens in Britain.
