Less than half of public primary school students have access to English classes in Argentina

[Uncle Wong]

Less than half of public primary school students have access to English classes in Argentina


Saw this. No wonder not many people in Argentina speak English. I was actually surprised my first trip to Buenos Aires that more people don't speak English. I thought with it being so educated and cosmopolitan more people would speak English but my experience was not many people spoke English.

Less than half of public primary school students have access to English classes in Argentina - Buenos Aires Herald

Only 46% of schools have access to classes, according to a study by the British Council

buenosairesherald.com

 

[noname]

Honestly, I used to think most schools didn’t really teach English, or that it was super basic… but I was surprised. In a lot of public schools, they start teaching it around 4th or 5th grade, and in places like Buenos Aires City, even from 1st grade.
Private schools are a whole different story, they usually have way more English hours, and many are fully bilingual.
Apparently, there’s been a national education policy pushing English as a foreign language for over 20 years. I had no idea it was that established in the system.
So honestly, I don’t know where that article is getting its info from.

 

[Melibaires]

Noname is right, according to Argentina’s Ministry of Education, over 85% of primary schools in the country offer some level of foreign language education, and English is by far the most common.
I have a niece who goes to a public school in Buenos Aires, and she's been learning English as one of her main subjects since first grade. It's also super common here for parents to send their kids to private language academies to reinforce what they learn at school, the most popular one is the Liceo Cultural Británico.
Nowadays, kids even start learning English in kindergarten.

By the way, do public schools in the U.S. teach Spanish at the elementary level?
I honestly think English and Spanish are the two most important and widely spoken languages in the world.