France calls for plan to improve language teaching

PARIS – French children generally spend years learning foreign languages in school, but the results are often dismal. So President Nicolas Sarkozy called Tuesday for an emergency plan to produce more bilingual students.

In a speech outlining education reforms, Sarkozy underscored that "a foreign language is meant to be spoken," and suggested language instruction should be shifted away from written grammar and memorization to emphasize oral skills.

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