Spending time in a foreign country is the best way for language teachers to properly learn languages, says education minister

Education Minister Bertel Haarder wants foreign language teachers to go abroad for at least half a year to better learn the languages in which they teach.

Haarder pointed out that fewer than four percent of language teachers in both Denmark and Sweden have spent a semester or more abroad.

‘It’s strange that people in Denmark can become a teacher of German, French or English without ever residing in countries where those are the official languages,’ Haarder told Berlingske Tidende newspaper.

Haarder said one of the barriers to implementing the semester abroad was that teachers’ educations were already filled to the brim with courses. The minister said a restructuring would have to take place to allow for the initiative without lengthening a student’s study period.

‘If the semester abroad means a student has to go to school longer, there aren’t many who would do it,’ he said.

‘Language also includes culture and a way of life that you can’t know if you’ve never been in a country. You have get the language under your skin and learn all the slang expressions and so forth,’ said Haarder.

But the minister is not ready to make going abroad mandatory for the students.

‘I’ll support it and encourage it, but you should never go to such extremes,’ he said.

The Danish Language Teachers’ Association, however, believes making the semester mandatory is the only way to properly strengthen teachers’ skills.

‘It’s too bad the minister won’t make it obligatory. Every language teacher ought to become familiar with a country’s culture and society,’ said the association’s Anne-Lise Petersen. ‘But few will do it if it’s not mandatory, because so many have jobs or a family alongside their studies.’