User:Adilyildiz/sandbox

Kyrgyzstan

Education in the Kyrgyz Republic is compulsory for nine years between the ages of 7 to 16. This is broken up into four years of primary, five years of high school, and two additional years of high school or vocational school. The majority of instruction is in Kyrgyz, but the language of instruction in mostly higher institutions is Russian. . The Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic introduced the English language into the syllabus as an additional language for grades 3-11 in educational institutions. According to the Ministry of Education of Kyrgyzstan, the main purpose of teaching English is to teach the basic level of foreign language, as under market conditions knowledge of English is necessary. A number of private schools and universities are involved in English-medium education. In some private universities in Kyrgyzstan, such as American University of Central Asia (AUCA), International Alatoo University (IAU), University of Central Asia (UCA), OSCE Academy in Bishkek students are taught exclusively in English. English language viewed in the minds of the young generation of Kyrgyz Republic with the possibility of receiving education abroad, job opportunities, travel purposes and getting information from English language sources.

Serbia

Foreign language education was introduced to the Serbian education system in the middle of 19^th century. From that time to the present, the languages selected to be taught in schools varied according to the influence of external political and cultural trends. Therefore, the popularity of certain foreign languages fluctuated in different historic periods.

During the 19^th century and early 20^th century the dominant compulsory language taught in public schools was French. However, between the world wars that situation changed when German language was introduced in schools. Furthermore, due to socio-economic and geopolitical momentum in the 1950s the situation changed drastically. English and Russian started to push French and German out of elementary and high schools all over the former Yugoslavia, including Serbia.

In the 1980s there were a lot of initiatives aiming to introduce foreign language learning from a young age. In the next decade more than 50% of schools in Serbia offered two foreign languages as part of their curriculum. In gymnasiums there is a requirement that all attending students have to pursue two foreign languages during their secondary education. Currently, English is the most represented language in the education system, followed by Russian, French and German. Spanish and Italian are only taught in Philology high schools and there have been some initiatives to expand the teaching of these languages to Serbian students.

The pivotal year for teaching foreign languages in the public school system in Serbia was 2000 when the Ministry of Education and Sport began the reform of teaching curriculum. This reform was supported by the World Bank, Council of Europe etc. The main aim of this reform was the modernization of the whole education system of the Republic of Serbia while the aim of the foreign language curriculum change was the adaptation of the Common European Framework of References for Languages. Elementary school students should acquire A1 level of English language knowledge by the fourth grade and A2 level by the end of elementary education. During secondary education students are required to continue foreign language studies with the aim to acquire B1 level by the end of high school.

As of 2015, approximately 600 thousand elementary students were pursuing foreign language studies. English is the dominant language, with more than 95 % of first graders taking English as their first foreign language. This practice is under scrutiny because many believe that it gives an unfair advantage to the English language, pushing other languages out of the foreign language curriculum.

Comparing students from the first to the fourth grade with students from fifth to eighth grade the situation is a little bit different. English is still dominant with 459.357 students, followed by German with 116.857 students, French with 81.021, Russian with 55.873, Italian with 12.597 and Spanish with only 5.950 students. In recent years, it has been noted that the number of students taking German and Italian has increased, and the number of students pursuing Russian language classes has decreased.

Finally, English has such a dominant position in the Serbian education system that some high schools have decided to implement experimental bilingual curricula. Furthermore, some secondary schools have introduced completely English taught programs for selected students.