Developing intercultural understanding in primary schools

This chapter explores cultural learning and intercultural understanding associated with foreign languages in primary schools. The chapter focuses primarily on the UK and more specifically on the English context. The issues explored, however, are relevant to foreign language provision in other early language learning settings. We argue that intercultural understanding is relegated within many language lessons not because of teachers’ commitment, but rather because of the limited curriculum time allocated to languages given the expected levels of linguistic development and the lack of availability of appropriate training. We contend that without long-term systematic planning and a cross-curricular approach to cultural learning which encompasses the global dimension, intercultural development will continue to play a minor role in language lessons and in the primary curriculum as a whole.