PALMA
A TOTAL of 100 schools in the Balearic Islands, about one quarter of the region's educational centres, are offering classes where specific subjects are being taught in either English, German or French.
The move is part of a government strategy to get youngsters to cope with three languages from an early age - here in the Balearics these would be Catalan, Castillian Spanish and either English or French. The European programme aims to boost the number of hours that schoolchildren dedicate to the curriculum of the academic year in a language which is not their native tongue. The number of pupils currently benefiting from the scheme is around 9'000 and involves the specialised skills of 287 members of the teaching staff. Seventy-five foreign language staff are also helping those schools which have enrolled in the multi-lingual programme with conversation classes.