Last week's GCSE statistics revealed a slump in the number of students studying modern languages. Husband and wife Peter and Anne Goldstein think they have an answer: they have set up language-
exchange website to boost children's interest and expertise in learning foreign languages.
The couple, who believe the most effective way to improve a language is to live in the country where it is spoken, have created www.lingoo.eu, which enables parents to organise language-exchange holidays for their children.
French-born Mrs Goldstein, 48, a former teacher and journalist, tells People: "We feel the dominance of the English language in the world might be very detrimental to native English speakers. Today, an English-speaking child often asks: ‘Why should I go through the pain of learning a language if the world is happy to speak mine?'