SECONDARY SCHOOLS in Barbados will soon have a new foreign language syllabus.

Minister of Education Ronald Jones made the announcement yesterday at the Barbados Language Centre's prize-giving ceremony at the Barbados Community College (BCC).

He said while the Spanish programme in primary schools was heralded as "the move towards moulding a Barbadian citizen who would be linguistically, socially and culturally aware of other linguistics groups", a different syllabus was required for the older children.

"At the secondary level, policy has sought to sustain and uphold the efforts of the primary school Spanish programme.

"It has been recognised that a differently oriented and planned syllabus for the secondary schools would have to be designed in order to serve the developmental needs of the island.

"For this reason, a foreign language syllabus which takes the focus away from the 'academia' but features communicative goals has been created," he said.

Meanwhile, the minister lauded the 50 plus BCC graduates who were rewarded for their achievements.

He also presented several students with trophies, including 67-year-old favourite Anthony Davis for being the most improved in German and Spanish.

The most outstanding student was Hector Fuentes, who also collected an award for the best results in the programme English As A Second Language.

Jasmine Sealy got the coveted Grace Pilgrim Trophy for Best All-Round Student and was one of the most outstanding students in French, Italian and Spanish. (TM)