Students’ experience of a PGCE course for EC nationals training to teach their native language as a foreign language in British schools

Abstract

In 1991 the University of York launched a PGCE course for European Community nationals who wished to train to teach their native language as a foreign language in schools in Britain. This study reports the first cohort of students’ experience of the course. The study highlights some of the adjustment problems faced by such students in coping with English schools and the English education system. It also highlights some of the issues involved in the teaching of foreign languages by native speakers.