For many years, schools in England have been seen as lagging behind other European countries in teaching languages.

BBC: Straw regrets lack of languages

Currently the teaching of five languages face the axe at Glasgow University, where the Eastern European Centre is under threat after losing a funding revenue stream.

BBC: Public Petitions Committee 1

Participants provide an hour of service to earn an hour of service in return, involving such services as tutoring students, teaching English or other languages, gardening and lawncare, housecleaning, helping the homeless and teaching them skills, rides for those without transportation (or for seniors who can no longer drive), respite care freeing caregivers for children with special needs, adults with disabilities, and aged seniors to take a break, and other services.

FORBES: Rethinking Money: The Rise Of Hayek's Private Competing Currencies

Yet, all the same, only 3% of France's schoolchildren today receive any teaching in their regional languages.

ECONOMIST: How multilingual is France?

My desire to help these children led me to return to school to earn my Masters of Arts in Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) at Johns Hopkins University.

WHITEHOUSE: Building Long Lasting Relationships

The conference also urged the executive to support the Liberal Democrat policy to add a penny onto the basic rate of income tax, provide teaching facilities in Gaelic and other minority languages where there is demand, and ensure that class sizes are reduced across the whole age range of pupils.

BBC: Conference hears exams call

An effective remedy is to emphasize the teaching of Southeast Asian history and culture as well as languages.

CNN: RETOOLING ASEAN

But the government's ambitions to extend language teaching to younger pupils will depend on tackling a shortage of modern languages teachers.

BBC: Straw regrets lack of languages

"I've been studying languages at UEA for the last four years and LLT has given me great teaching and really good facilities, " said student Gemma Cross.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | Izzard campaigns for languages

He said that inadequate funding would mean that pupils would face less teaching in bigger classes and that some sixth forms might be forced to drop less popular subjects, such as languages.

BBC: Sixth-form funding dip 'could stymie' talent, Gove warned