As one of the world’s most widely spoken languages, English can be spoken on any of the world’s continents. Yet many countries close to home are falling behind those further afield in terms of the standard of English that students are taught. French President Nicholas Sarkozy has attacked the education system in his home country for lagging behind modern teaching methods and hindering the effectiveness of English language lessons in French schools. This battering of the way English is taught in French schools has led to bigger opportunities for teaching English as a foreign language in France’s schools and private teaching institutions.

The latter is how many people are choosing to study English once they have left school. In national schools, children are taught English for six years, however the majority are unable to speak the language once they have left. So they are hiring private tutors at expensive costs to teach them English which they can use in conversation.

Sarkozy hopes that this method of teaching will spread into state schools. France really needs to improve its standing in the Test of English as a Foreign language because it stands only 69th out of 109 countries even though it spends 5.9% of its GDP on education. As one of Britain’s most historical neighbours with a long term economic and political relationship, this is surprising.

It seems however that the resistance to learning any other language than French is coming from within the education system of the country. The Academie Francaise has been purging the French language of foreign words since 1635. And in terms of French culture, English imported words have been kept out of film and music for 25 years.

Some students have been scared into limiting their knowledge of English for fear of eroding the French language. But private language tuition is growing in France. In terms of business, no CV is complete without the ability to speak English detailed on it.

So with different teaching patterns coming into French study in the near future, the time has never been better to teach English as a foreign language in France. And France is a great location to teach if you do not want to move too far away from home.