I was going to do this D: hahah

I like that every country got a variation of their name as the name of their language. Except Ireland.

HAHA - NATURALLY, YO! HAD TO STICK IN A GOOD OLD IRELAND JOKE! ;D

Poor Ireland.

lol

Not American.

1.portugese
2.austrian
3.dutch and french
4.english
5.french
6.dutch
7.english
8.cymraeg and english
9. english
10.english
11. brazilian (similar to portugese)
12. spanish
13.english

11 = Portuguese!!!!! No such thing as "brazilian" (at least when it comes to the name of a language.) It's obviously a different portuguese than the portuguese spoken in Portugal... but still called portugeuse. Just like the english is different in the US, UK, Australia, etc... they're all still called english!

My Brazilian friend Dio calls it Brazilian.

Not sure why he does that, because the language is called portuguese.

The only people who might use "brazilian" to describe the language is the portuguese when diferentiating between our portuguese and theirs.

I know these answers, but not because of the English education system, that is for sure!! The only other countries I ever learned about in geography were Egypt, Italy and St. Lucia. A random collection if ever there was one! And in history we studied English history, a bit of Welsh history ( only because our examining body was WJEC!) and German Nazi history. I didn't get a good grounding in world history until degree level, when we had modules in the United States, South American, Russian and European studies. I still have huge gaps when it comes to Australia, Asia, and Africa which I'm always eager to fill.

What I know I know only because I have a general interest in "un--ignoranting" myself, reading around the subjects personally, and actually going to these places and experiencing it for myself, yo! And I certainly didn't take that from school!

Ah, but I think teachers in the UK still encourage their students to be open minded, and to learn about other countries, and to travel. Even if it's not included in the curriculum. It's not just about actual content, but the attitude with which it's taught.

Plus, clearly the Scottish education system is better than the English one!

Haha, you must be right about the Scottish education system being better than the English one, as it can hardly be any worse! ;D

I didn't even realise that Scotland had a different system until talking to a Scottish friend on Bloop (Ailsa) when I was doing my A-levels, and hearing that she was doing a different set of exams completely! And when she went off to Uni and her BA took four years, as opposed to England's three.

So you could say Bloop is constantly giving me an education in world studies. Like, I didn't realise until this week that because the US is federal, each state has different retail tax rates, because some American diarists informed me so. ;D That's the great thing about Bloop.

Anyway, I think a major problem with the English education system is the shitness of our ENGLISH syllabus. I got As in my English A-level without knowing the difference between you're and your. And it was possible to go right the way through English at secondary school (right up to A-level!) reading less than ten books. (one a year right through to year 11, and two a year at A-level!) The Americans I talk to seem to be reading ten books a year in highschool! Admittedly, these tend to me exclusively American literature, but even that is better than nothing! ;D

I don't think it counts if they're reading books like Twilight. :P And I can't believe you could get an A at A-level English without knowing the difference between you're and your. It wouldn't happen in Scotland, I tell you. And we had to read more than one book a year in English!

Oh, also, English is a compulsory subject here for higher grades (same as AS levels).

I think learning English should be compulsory right up until 35! ;D

Yes, yo! Most of my grammar knowledge comes from getting my ass kicked at degree, and Estella constantly correcting me. It's a shame that our pre-November-2008 entries got deleted, as if you were to read some of my older stuff you'd realise that I wasn't even schooled on how to use an apostrophe, and it's only something I've come to terms with in the past 2 years. :-o

And yet, I got full marks in three of my English A-level papers. When I look back at how bad my grammar was aged 16-18, it makes me feel quite sick and very confused as to how I was able to breeze by without it getting beat out of me with a stick.

Another thing that seems better about the Scottish education system is that you are taught "modern studies." Whereas south of the border politics is never compulsory! I feel it totally should be, from the age of about seven, as every adult is edgible to vote but never taught how, or why, or given the mechanisms to know what they are voting for!

YES, YO - I CAN TESTIFY THAT RYAN'S NAUGHTY GRAMMAR AND SPELLING USED TO BE SHIT, YO! HE HAS COME A LONG WAY! I AM JOLLY IMPRESSED. ALL DUE TO MY CORRECTIONS OF COURSE, YO! ;D

WHAT IS THIS MODERN STUDIES? IS THAT THE EQUIVALENT TO ENGLISH 'CIVILISATION' CLASSES? HAHA - GOSH, WHEN I TAUGHT IN A SCHOOL, I HAD TO TEACH CIVILISATION. WHAT A JOKE, YO!

Modern studies is like a mixture of sociology and politics. It is compulsory up until the age of 14 (along with geograpy and history), and then we have to choose at least one of the three social subjects (geography, history or modern studies) to continue into standard grade level (our equivalent of GCSE). If wanted, it can also be continued to higher grade (same as AS level). I took standard grade and higher grade modern studies. It included British, European, American and Chinese politics (although some schools could choose to study Russia instead of Chine), and we also learned about the National Health Service in the UK, trade unions, the developement of the EU and WHO, NATO etc. We also learned about Affirmative Action in the US, and the racial make up of the US, immigration (legal and illegal) and various other sociology related topics. We also had to do a sort of research project as part of standard grade, and I did mine on the homeless and the different resources available etc. In basic modern studies when we were 12 or 13 we also had to choose another country and do a project on their sociology and politics. I chose Australia.

We have to do that until 16 but it is called citizenship here.

OH - THAT DOES SOUND SIMILAR TO 'CITIZENSHIP' CLASSES (NOT 'CIVILISATION'! HAHA - I HAD A BRAIN FART THEN!). AT LEAST WHAT CITIZENSHIP CLASSES WOULD BE IN AN IDEAL WORLD, YO. I'M NOT SURE TO WHAT EXTENT IT HAPPENS IN PRACTICE.

Did citizenship include politics?

Mine did, but obviously there are different examining bodies, we did consumer law as well.

TO BE HONEST, THE SCHOOL WHERE I (VERY BRIEFLY!) TAUGHT WAS SO CRAP THAT I DON'T THINK THE WAY THEY DID CITIZENSHIP WAS REPRESENTATIVE.

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS AND THIS FOR WHAT THE SUBJECT IS INTENDED TO BE ABOUT. A LOT OF IT WAS ABOUT ETHICS AND TEACHING THE KID TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES ABOUT COMPLEX ISSUES. POLITICS WAS PART OF IT. MONEY MANAGEMENT WAS ANOTHER THING. LOOKING AT SOCIAL DIFFERENCES AND PREJUDICES ANOTHER. THAT IS WHAT I REMEMBER, BUT THESE SITES WILL BE MORE HELPFUL, YO!

I never knew that you taught, what did you teach? Did you enjoy it?

OH, GOSH, YO, YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE TRAGIC STORY OF PUCK'S TEACHING DAYS! HEHE - I WAS DOING THE GRADUATE TEACHING PROGRAM THING, SUPPOSEDLY TO BE AN ENGLISH TEACHER. BUT THE SCHOOL WAS REALLY SHIT. THEY DIDN'T ACTUALLY TEACH ME TO TEACH - THEY SIMPLY COULDN'T GET ANY QUALIFIED TEACHERS, SO THEY HIRED LOADS OF UNQUALIFIED TEACHERS ON THE PRETEXT THAT IT WAS THE 'GRADUATE TEACHING PROGRAM' AND THREW US INTO CLASSROOMS TO TEACH BY OURSELVES! THE SCHOOL WAS TOTALLY BONKERS YO - I WAS SHOVED INTO TEACHING RELIGIOUS STUDIES (FOR WHICH THERE WASN'T EVEN A SYLLABUS), CITIZENSHIP, FRENCH (LUCKY I HAD FRENCH A LEVEL - THEY TOTALLY WOULDN'T HAVE CARED!) AND THE OCCASIONAL ENGLISH CLASS. THE CLASSES WERE HUGE, FULL OF INNER CITY KIDS, AND KIDS WITH REALLY INTENSE BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS AND LEARNING DIFFICULTIES. THE HEADMISTRESS HAD A POLICY THAT KIDS WEREN'T ALLOWED TO BE TOLD OFF AT ALL - WE HAD TO BE VERY NICE TO THEM ALL THE TIME, WHICH MEANT THAT THEY TOTALLY TOOK THE PISS, YO! AND THEN ALONG CAME OFSTED FOR THE INSPECTION. HEAD MISTRESS AND DEPUTY HEAD WERE FIRED INSTANTLY (THEY'D BEEN EMBEZZLING LOTS OF MONEY) AND NAUGHTY UNQUALIFIED TEACHERS HAD TO GO! HAHA - GOSH, YO, HAPPY DAYS! ;D

OH, AND HAHA - NO, I DIDN'T ENJOY IT, YO! WELL, ACTUALLY, THE CLASSROOM PART WAS OFTEN REALLY ENTERTAINING, BUT I HATED THE TEACHER POLITICS - THE POWER GAMES AND ONE-UP-MANSHIP AND LACK OF EXPERIENCE OF THE REAL WORLD. GOSH, THE STAFF ROOM WAS LIKE A BITCHIER VERSION OF HIGH SCHOOL!