THE Englishman’s fear of foreign tongues reached crisis levels this school year.

An international study put Britain joint bottom of 39 of developed countries when it came to learning languages.

Everyone agrees we start learning too late. That’s why primary schools are now supposed to teach a foreign language from 7 to 11.

But the job often goes to a non-specialist teacher who does it as a sideline.

Two years ago, Moordown St John’s in Bournemouth decided to go for it.

It made its French-speaking teacher Kristina Nichol a dedicated French teacher.

Now all the pupils study an hour a week from four to 11.

The school, in Winton, has also employed a native Frenchwoman as a teaching assistant. The results appear impressive.

The Echo visited and the pupils showed off simple conversations – ‘my name is’ and ‘what is the weather like’ – but what was striking was their confidence.

Their pronunciation, a major a stumbling block for awkward teenagers, sounded spot on.

They did not show any fear about making a mistake.

And they also enjoyed it.

Their lessons are about singing songs and playing language games – not conjugating verbs on a blackboard.

The children also write to a school in Normandy and the end of Year 6 residential trip may include France.

“The reception class from two years ago is like our experiment,” said deputy head Gina Angiolini, a driving force in the change.

“In theory, by the time they leave they should be quite fluent.”

Gina is from an Italian background and said just hearing other languages, even if you don’t study them, is a big help.

“I learned Italian at a very early age, so I then learned Spanish really quickly,” she said. “My ears were ready to hear another language.”

And the younger you are, the easier it is to learn.

The school hopes its pupils will be up to Level 3 by the time they start senior school in Year 7, which is the level of a Year 8-9 pupil.

The parents and governors have been enthusiastic.

“We are part of Europe so it makes sense that when we get to other countries we can speak their language, rather than expect people to speak English,” said Governor Nina Laing.

“This is not to the detriment of any other classes. It doesn’t mean literacy and numeral are being pushed to one side.”

The national percentage of pupils taking French at GCSE has dropped by a third since foreign languages were made optional six years ago.

Gina and Kristina both think secondary schools should make lessons more interactive. For example, during Moordown's recent international day the children watched Spanish break-dancers and sang the German national anthem.

Kristina said: “It’s not just the language. It’s the whole culture that we are talking about, and the children’s place in the world.”