Page 13 - ELG2102 Feb Issue 474

NEWS
Apps lead the charge

Lockdown sees foreign language learning take off in UK

By Melanie Butler few students dropped out. Indeed, numbers
Foreign language learning is booming in the rose as new students logged on and, when
UK during the Covid-19 lockdown, according the school opened its doors in September,
to the BBC, with a number of app providers many students preferred to continue their
telling the British broadcaster that the studies. IH saw similar outcomes for its
increase in the number of Britons downloading part-time English Language courses for
a language course far outstrips the growth in local students.
numbers worldwide. Outside the IH network, surprisingly few
US-based Duolingo reports a 137% increase UK language schools chose to run classes
in the number of British users in 2020, almost in other languages, although a large number
double the worldwide growth rate. Busuu rent out their classrooms to third parties
reports a four-fold rise in UK numbers, giving such as Cactus, who run evening classes for
it a total of three million users in the country, foreign languages.
while Babbel’s UK registration rose by 80%. Could this be about to change? Three
All the digital providers reported the top two of the newly accredited schools on the
languages for British language learners were British Council list also offer foreign language
Spanish and French. classes in popular European languages for
Japanese, Spanish and Korean are the local students.
top foreign languages at International Language Tree, in Cornwall, for example,
House (IH) London, which switched its offers French, German and Spanish for local
large Modern Foreign Language department children doing their national GCSE exams. In
online in “a matter of days” following the Glasgow, Language Within has Gaelic on the
first lockdown in the UK last March, menu, while HIL in Liverpool adds on heritage
according to Eleanor Maly, head of education languages, including Hindi, Arabic and Farsi.
at the London school. Maly admits fearing Perhaps more established schools should be
that student numbers would plummet, but following their example.

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