Languages in the Primary School

Australia stands alongside Canada, the United States §of America and Great Britain with progress in §developing primary school foreign language programs. §Although the policy in each Australian State and §Territory regarding the inclusion of languages study §in the primary school curriculum varies, each State §and Territory context continues to develop §opportunities for teachers and students to teach and §learn languages, beginning at some point between §Grades 3 and 6. There remains contention, however, §as to the optimum starting age for primary school §languages programs, the suitability of teacher §pedagogies, and effective policy for program §implementation. This book reports chiefly through §three teachers stories how primary school language §teachers were translating policy into practice in §Tasmania, Australia s southern-most state in the mid-§late 1990s. The teachers stories, sitting within a §general exploration of local, national and §international policy provisions, shed light on how §teachers own personal narratives shape the way §policy is implemented, regardless of how policy is §intended.