How do you spark curiosity and interest in young minds, so they want to explore a new language – and continue to pursue that language all the way through school? It’s a challenge facing schools across Australia as fewer students choose to study languages into their senior years.
Research by the Lowy Institute found that while 40% of Australian students graduated with a second language in the 1960s, by 2021 that figure had fallen to just 8.6%.
Compare this to Europe where, on average, 96.8% of EU students graduate high school being able to speak and read at least one foreign language, and an impressive 71% of EU students have two foreign languages under their belt, according to 2023 data from the European Union’s statistics office.
So how can schools encourage more students to not only begin learning a language, but to stick with it?
To build and maintain a healthy interest in language studies at Haileybury, the School has redesigned how students from Prep to Year 6 experience languages in the Junior School by adopting an approach commonly used in Sciences and Humanities.
In those areas, younger students are introduced to a broad sweep of subjects before having to narrow down their subject selection as they progress through school. Based on this model, Haileybury has introduced the Languages and Cultures curriculum for Prep to Year 4 and a new ‘Language Taster’ program for students in Years 5 and 6.
Reimagining the language journey
The reimagining of language studies has been led by Stanley Wang, Deputy Principal (One Haileybury) who says studying a language is a journey, with students beginning that journey by tasting a range of languages. This then helps them later select and focus on a language that most resonates with them.
“The Science and Humanities see young people moving from generic to specialisation and we have used that as our inspiration,” explains Stanley.
“With languages, for some reason, students are expected to do just one language at the start of school. Instead, our Years 5 and 6 students now embark on a two-year cycle where they explore three languages and cultures. The idea is to spark curiosity and engagement and to get a taste of these different languages so they can better choose their elective language and continue with that language through to VCE.”
In those years, students at most Haileybury campuses will now rotate between Chinese, French and Japanese. Students at the City campus study Chinese, French and Latin.
Making the right choice
The Language Taster program runs for two periods a week with students studying one language per semester.
Importantly, it helps students to understand how the human brain receives and learns a new language. Students learn how the brain remembers new words and phrases in a different language, and they explore ‘brain tricks’ to help them embed new vocabulary and grammar.
Students also develop a sense of what language they’d like to specialise in from Year 7.
“In the past, students have often chosen a particular language in Year 7 just because they didn’t like studying a previous language. The program helps students find a language they’d like to commit to later,” says Stanley.
Building cultural understanding
Learning a language is far more than words and grammar. Through the program, students also develop greater awareness of the diversity of languages and cultures around the world, and how cultures may change over time.
“So, what does it mean to be contemporary Chinese? Chinese culture is proud of its ancient history and inventions like paper, but today that culture is also proud of its technology and having the longest bullet train tracks in the world and the largest proportion of electric vehicles in the world,” says Stanley.
“As they move between languages each semester, it is OK if students don’t retain language knowledge after each taster. But they will develop some intercultural understanding, and they will practise cognitive strategies and techniques that will help them no matter what language they choose in Year 7. They’ll have learned strategies to help them make a success of that learning.”
Studying with a Chinese lens
Since 2025 a new course has also been created for Chinese background students that supports the development of a healthy bi-cultural and bilingual identity through their adolescence, and their aspiration to pursue Chinese in the VCE.
The new program is taught through the medium of Chinese and uses Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) to deepen the cultural capital of second-generation migrants who, growing up in Australia, may not have had exposure to important cultural knowledge.
“The program engages students, leverages their oral skills and makes them proud of their cultural heritage. They learn about regions of Greater China and beyond, different culinary traditions, the various dynasties in Chinese history and where Chinese characters originate from. They study these topics through a Chinese cultural lens,” says Stanley.
In essence, both the Language Taster program and Background Chinese course in Years 5 and 6 aim to spark an enduring interest in languages. It ensures that, by the time students choose their Year 7 subjects, they have experienced different languages and cultures and have a clearer sense of which language they would like to pursue through to VCE.
“They make a more meaningful language choice,” says Stanley.
“They also have the right cognitive strategies, intercultural understanding and an international outlook, so they are set up for success for the rest of their language journey.”
