**The leader of the Ecolo group in the Chamber, Gilles Vanden Burre, wants to impose Dutch (or German) as the first foreign language in Wallonia. A bad idea? Will this proposal be enough to turn our pupils into true polyglots?**
“In two years, nothing has happened,” laments federal deputy Gilles Vanden Burre. The commitment of the government of the French Community in its policy statement is clear: “During the first year of the legislature, the government will initiate a wide-ranging public debate with the stakeholders on the opportunity to choose one of the two other national languages (Dutch or German).
The current government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation has been in place for over two years. “It’s dragging on,” complains Gilles Vanden Burre, who is reminding his colleagues that his party, Ecolo, is also in the majority in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation: “Understanding each other is fundamental, especially for the future of the country. In addition, being bilingual is an undeniable asset for finding a job. ”
In terms of employment, almost 12% of the offers published on the Forem website in 2016 mention knowledge of Dutch and just over 9% knowledge of English. While Flanders is desperately looking for candidates to fill its vacancies, some positions are not open to Walloons because their knowledge of the Vondel language leaves something to be desired.
Becoming bilingual is quite a task. For many years, the ministers of French-speaking education have expressed this wish. The most striking commitment was made in 1996 by Laurette Onkelinx, the Minister of Education at the time: she promised that French-speaking pupils would be “all bilingual by the end of secondary school in 2001”.
Twenty years after the fateful date, it is clear that the promise is far from being kept. “Ms Onkelinx’s words have done a lot of damage,” says language educator Eloy Romero Muñoz. “It was an electoral message without thinking about the reality of traditional language learning, which very rarely leads to bilingualism. ”
For the linguist, it is counterproductive to set objectives that are not achievable: “It is as if the expectations of a year 6 maths course in secondary school were those of a master’s level course for engineers. ”
The number of Walloon students in secondary 1 choosing Dutch as their first foreign language is also constantly decreasing: in 2005-2006, almost one in two Walloon students first learned Dutch in the first year of secondary school. In the 2020-2021 school year, two out of three chose English and one out of three chose Dutch.
​
**Teacher shortage**
For the time being, Flanders still imposes French as the first foreign language and Dutch is compulsory in French-speaking education in Brussels. So why not impose Dutch in Wallonia?
“Dutch is already compulsory in Brussels and the results are not good,” says educationalist Eloy Romero Muñoz. It would also pose logistical problems: who would give classes when we are already unable to provide the framework? ”
“We are facing a general shortage of teachers,” confirms Joseph Thonon of the CGSP Enseignement Wallonie-Bruxelles trade union. According to a study by FAPEO, nearly 200 hours were not taught during the school year, mainly because of the lack of teaching staff. This corresponds to a total of six weeks of classes per year. Dutch, French, science and maths classes are the most affected.
According to the new pacte d’excellence, the learning of a modern language will be compulsory from the third year of primary school onwards from the school year 2023-2024, which means finding another 220 teachers by then.
If, on top of that, new teachers have to be found for the compulsory courses, it seems very difficult to get enough teachers. Especially since Dutch is not the most popular language among prospective teachers: “Before, teachers were usually trained in English/Dutch. Now the combination English-Spanish is the most popular,” says Eloy Romero Muñoz.
**Getting out of the classroom**
Even if Dutch is imposed as the first modern language, other problems will continue to slow down effective language learning: “I am thinking in particular of a strong focus on error, perhaps linked to our systemic obsession with certificate assessment. The French-speaking teacher spends a lot of time assessing expectations, often against his or her will, and this reduces the time available for learning,” explains Eloy Romero Muñoz.
He fears that the principles enshrined in the charter of reference materials for the pacte d’excellence will reinforce this trend: “We will soon be able to assess linguistic knowledge (primitive tenses, for example) and metalinguistic knowledge (Why is the verb in the second place in this sentence?) outside of context. Knowing that students are already not very enthusiastic, an even more abstract knowledge-oriented approach to language will probably only make the situation worse.
“In other words, there is not enough room for communication and learning, says the linguist: “As a teacher, one has to make didactic choices to maximise exposure to the language in a very unfavourable context, certainly for Dutch. “According to the researcher, language teaching would therefore benefit from going beyond the classroom and textbooks: “This would require a review of the organisation of the school year to allow for immersion stays in a Dutch-speaking environment, including for teachers. ”
**Social problem**
Making Dutch compulsory in Walloon classrooms could also be unwelcome to parents: “More and more pupils are choosing English, because parents feel that this language is more important than Dutch: it is much more widely used in the world,” notes Joseph Thonon of the CGSP.
Eloy Romero Muñoz also points to the role of parents: “If children don’t like Dutch, imposing it won’t change anything. What about the parents, who I think influence what their children think too? It’s a bit unfair to attribute the lack of interest in Dutch to education alone. It’s like asking education to solve a social problem.
“The language educator also fails to understand why a pragmatic argument is used first and foremost to reconcile French speakers with Dutch: “There is an objective interest in learning Dutch and yet people still don’t do it. It doesn’t work with adults, not with teenagers. Yet it’s a real passport to employment. So this pragmatic approach does not work. ”
**Obstacle course**
In the meantime, the Minister of Education in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Caroline Désir (PS), has spoken out via her spokesperson about a possible obligation to use Dutch as a first language in Wallonia: “When it took up the matter on the initiative of Caroline Désir, the Council of Ministers considered that the organisation of this debate was not essential and that the question could be decided within the Council.
“Paul Magnette, president of the PS, explained on the VRT programme Terzake in October: “The three parties agree on the fact that Dutch should be imposed as a second language. But we are faced with a problem: finding more teachers of Dutch.
“Finding more Dutch teachers is the thorn in Minister Désir’s side. In this respect, she has commissioned a study to assess the capacity of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and the school system to absorb a decision to make Dutch or German the general language: “This work is being finalised and the dossier should be submitted to the government in the next few weeks.
“In short, imposing Dutch (or German) on Walloons would reduce the number of pupils who have never learned a word of Dutch during their schooling (provided that enough teachers can be found).
But even if Dutch becomes compulsory, this will not necessarily guarantee success if the way in which lessons are given is not changed. So there are still many obstacles to overcome before Walloon pupils become truly ‘tweetalig’ (bilingual).
No.
Why do you ask I say no? Because I was forced to learn French in school and I’m far from bilingual. Same with all my friends, the only people I know who kept their knowledge of French were the ones who had to use it in day to day life.
So this change alone won’t make people bilingual, you’d need additional changes.
I had compulsory/mandatory Dutch in my public school, and it didn’t make me bilingual.
Why? Because I never had/have to use it outside of school (and no, you have countless jobs that don’t ask for Dutch). And unless I go to Brussels, you are never exposed to Dutch either.
I think the real first step would be to make Dutch part of our lives since childhood: have songs in Dutch on the radio (you don’t hear Dutch on our main radio channels), have movies and TV shows from Flanders and the Netherlands on TV, and of course, not dubbed (everything is dubbed, hence why I don’t watch TV anymore); have bilingual books and promote Flemish writers, etc…
With that, Dutch would be part of our lives since childhood, and thus give incentives to learn it. The problem is our ministries of culture and of medias, that are way too Francophile. It is quite annoying to be frank, being so much exposed to literature, movies and music from France, and not from the other 60% of the country.
If they don’t want to learn Dutch, fine. But they should bear the consequences. Nowadays, bilingual jobs (e.g. federal institutions) mean bilingual for Flemish, French-speaking for Francophones because they can’t find bilingual French-speaking people and employers have to drop their standards. They “solve” it by sending them to a Dutch language course of a ridiculously low level and that’s it. “They’re learning”.
Whether the students become bilingual in the end or not is irrelevant.
I’m just gonna say that I got French for 11 years in school at am average of well above 2 hours a week. I do not speak French. I can’t have a conversation, I cannot ask for directions, I can’t order food in a restaurant,…
I do understand it a bit, if spoken slowly. And I can translate some stuff to French if given enough time (and the internet) but that’s it
Introduce English as 4th language. People working in the public sector receive more wage if they speak 2 / 3 / 4 of our languages at a reasonably high level. While obviously not through barema’s and as explicit, that’s more or less how it works in the private sector as well.
If some of them could at least speak and write French correctly…
you won’t have bilingual until there is dilingual teacher and bilingual administration.
no vlams teacher want to work in wallonia (pay less, too instable). nederlands teachers are germanic tongue graduate who like german and english but hate nederlands. and it feels, believ me.
I think the language used in this sub is a clear answer to that question. Unless y’all want to pack up and move to r/BELGICA.
No because the way we teach languages is totally broken and mostly useless except if you have an innate talent
Franchement ? Non, aucune chance ! Je maitrise à peine la langue française, alors le flamand, n’en parlons même pas.
The people in Brussels are lucky that they can use both languages and also need them for their daily life.
13 comments
**The leader of the Ecolo group in the Chamber, Gilles Vanden Burre, wants to impose Dutch (or German) as the first foreign language in Wallonia. A bad idea? Will this proposal be enough to turn our pupils into true polyglots?**
“In two years, nothing has happened,” laments federal deputy Gilles Vanden Burre. The commitment of the government of the French Community in its policy statement is clear: “During the first year of the legislature, the government will initiate a wide-ranging public debate with the stakeholders on the opportunity to choose one of the two other national languages (Dutch or German).
The current government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation has been in place for over two years. “It’s dragging on,” complains Gilles Vanden Burre, who is reminding his colleagues that his party, Ecolo, is also in the majority in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation: “Understanding each other is fundamental, especially for the future of the country. In addition, being bilingual is an undeniable asset for finding a job. ”
In terms of employment, almost 12% of the offers published on the Forem website in 2016 mention knowledge of Dutch and just over 9% knowledge of English. While Flanders is desperately looking for candidates to fill its vacancies, some positions are not open to Walloons because their knowledge of the Vondel language leaves something to be desired.
Becoming bilingual is quite a task. For many years, the ministers of French-speaking education have expressed this wish. The most striking commitment was made in 1996 by Laurette Onkelinx, the Minister of Education at the time: she promised that French-speaking pupils would be “all bilingual by the end of secondary school in 2001”.
Twenty years after the fateful date, it is clear that the promise is far from being kept. “Ms Onkelinx’s words have done a lot of damage,” says language educator Eloy Romero Muñoz. “It was an electoral message without thinking about the reality of traditional language learning, which very rarely leads to bilingualism. ”
For the linguist, it is counterproductive to set objectives that are not achievable: “It is as if the expectations of a year 6 maths course in secondary school were those of a master’s level course for engineers. ”
The number of Walloon students in secondary 1 choosing Dutch as their first foreign language is also constantly decreasing: in 2005-2006, almost one in two Walloon students first learned Dutch in the first year of secondary school. In the 2020-2021 school year, two out of three chose English and one out of three chose Dutch.
​
**Teacher shortage**
For the time being, Flanders still imposes French as the first foreign language and Dutch is compulsory in French-speaking education in Brussels. So why not impose Dutch in Wallonia?
“Dutch is already compulsory in Brussels and the results are not good,” says educationalist Eloy Romero Muñoz. It would also pose logistical problems: who would give classes when we are already unable to provide the framework? ”
“We are facing a general shortage of teachers,” confirms Joseph Thonon of the CGSP Enseignement Wallonie-Bruxelles trade union. According to a study by FAPEO, nearly 200 hours were not taught during the school year, mainly because of the lack of teaching staff. This corresponds to a total of six weeks of classes per year. Dutch, French, science and maths classes are the most affected.
According to the new pacte d’excellence, the learning of a modern language will be compulsory from the third year of primary school onwards from the school year 2023-2024, which means finding another 220 teachers by then.
If, on top of that, new teachers have to be found for the compulsory courses, it seems very difficult to get enough teachers. Especially since Dutch is not the most popular language among prospective teachers: “Before, teachers were usually trained in English/Dutch. Now the combination English-Spanish is the most popular,” says Eloy Romero Muñoz.
**Getting out of the classroom**
Even if Dutch is imposed as the first modern language, other problems will continue to slow down effective language learning: “I am thinking in particular of a strong focus on error, perhaps linked to our systemic obsession with certificate assessment. The French-speaking teacher spends a lot of time assessing expectations, often against his or her will, and this reduces the time available for learning,” explains Eloy Romero Muñoz.
He fears that the principles enshrined in the charter of reference materials for the pacte d’excellence will reinforce this trend: “We will soon be able to assess linguistic knowledge (primitive tenses, for example) and metalinguistic knowledge (Why is the verb in the second place in this sentence?) outside of context. Knowing that students are already not very enthusiastic, an even more abstract knowledge-oriented approach to language will probably only make the situation worse.
“In other words, there is not enough room for communication and learning, says the linguist: “As a teacher, one has to make didactic choices to maximise exposure to the language in a very unfavourable context, certainly for Dutch. “According to the researcher, language teaching would therefore benefit from going beyond the classroom and textbooks: “This would require a review of the organisation of the school year to allow for immersion stays in a Dutch-speaking environment, including for teachers. ”
**Social problem**
Making Dutch compulsory in Walloon classrooms could also be unwelcome to parents: “More and more pupils are choosing English, because parents feel that this language is more important than Dutch: it is much more widely used in the world,” notes Joseph Thonon of the CGSP.
Eloy Romero Muñoz also points to the role of parents: “If children don’t like Dutch, imposing it won’t change anything. What about the parents, who I think influence what their children think too? It’s a bit unfair to attribute the lack of interest in Dutch to education alone. It’s like asking education to solve a social problem.
“The language educator also fails to understand why a pragmatic argument is used first and foremost to reconcile French speakers with Dutch: “There is an objective interest in learning Dutch and yet people still don’t do it. It doesn’t work with adults, not with teenagers. Yet it’s a real passport to employment. So this pragmatic approach does not work. ”
**Obstacle course**
In the meantime, the Minister of Education in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Caroline Désir (PS), has spoken out via her spokesperson about a possible obligation to use Dutch as a first language in Wallonia: “When it took up the matter on the initiative of Caroline Désir, the Council of Ministers considered that the organisation of this debate was not essential and that the question could be decided within the Council.
“Paul Magnette, president of the PS, explained on the VRT programme Terzake in October: “The three parties agree on the fact that Dutch should be imposed as a second language. But we are faced with a problem: finding more teachers of Dutch.
“Finding more Dutch teachers is the thorn in Minister Désir’s side. In this respect, she has commissioned a study to assess the capacity of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and the school system to absorb a decision to make Dutch or German the general language: “This work is being finalised and the dossier should be submitted to the government in the next few weeks.
“In short, imposing Dutch (or German) on Walloons would reduce the number of pupils who have never learned a word of Dutch during their schooling (provided that enough teachers can be found).
But even if Dutch becomes compulsory, this will not necessarily guarantee success if the way in which lessons are given is not changed. So there are still many obstacles to overcome before Walloon pupils become truly ‘tweetalig’ (bilingual).
Translated with [www.DeepL.com/Translator](http://www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)
No.
Why do you ask I say no? Because I was forced to learn French in school and I’m far from bilingual. Same with all my friends, the only people I know who kept their knowledge of French were the ones who had to use it in day to day life.
So this change alone won’t make people bilingual, you’d need additional changes.
I had compulsory/mandatory Dutch in my public school, and it didn’t make me bilingual.
Why? Because I never had/have to use it outside of school (and no, you have countless jobs that don’t ask for Dutch). And unless I go to Brussels, you are never exposed to Dutch either.
I think the real first step would be to make Dutch part of our lives since childhood: have songs in Dutch on the radio (you don’t hear Dutch on our main radio channels), have movies and TV shows from Flanders and the Netherlands on TV, and of course, not dubbed (everything is dubbed, hence why I don’t watch TV anymore); have bilingual books and promote Flemish writers, etc…
With that, Dutch would be part of our lives since childhood, and thus give incentives to learn it. The problem is our ministries of culture and of medias, that are way too Francophile. It is quite annoying to be frank, being so much exposed to literature, movies and music from France, and not from the other 60% of the country.
If they don’t want to learn Dutch, fine. But they should bear the consequences. Nowadays, bilingual jobs (e.g. federal institutions) mean bilingual for Flemish, French-speaking for Francophones because they can’t find bilingual French-speaking people and employers have to drop their standards. They “solve” it by sending them to a Dutch language course of a ridiculously low level and that’s it. “They’re learning”.
Whether the students become bilingual in the end or not is irrelevant.
I’m just gonna say that I got French for 11 years in school at am average of well above 2 hours a week. I do not speak French. I can’t have a conversation, I cannot ask for directions, I can’t order food in a restaurant,…
I do understand it a bit, if spoken slowly. And I can translate some stuff to French if given enough time (and the internet) but that’s it
Introduce English as 4th language. People working in the public sector receive more wage if they speak 2 / 3 / 4 of our languages at a reasonably high level. While obviously not through barema’s and as explicit, that’s more or less how it works in the private sector as well.
If some of them could at least speak and write French correctly…
you won’t have bilingual until there is dilingual teacher and bilingual administration.
no vlams teacher want to work in wallonia (pay less, too instable). nederlands teachers are germanic tongue graduate who like german and english but hate nederlands. and it feels, believ me.
I think the language used in this sub is a clear answer to that question. Unless y’all want to pack up and move to r/BELGICA.
No because the way we teach languages is totally broken and mostly useless except if you have an innate talent
Franchement ? Non, aucune chance ! Je maitrise à peine la langue française, alors le flamand, n’en parlons même pas.
The people in Brussels are lucky that they can use both languages and also need them for their daily life.