“BONJOUR!” says Chloe, adding, “Salut! Ca va?” for good measure. Twenty-four other members of Class 3 also greet their teacher in French. At Headcorn Primary School, Kent, right, registration in French is the norm. The seven and eight-year-olds also do maths in French, recognise which French letter their names begin with and know their French colours.

It is all because of Pilote Moi, a CD that encourages children to use French in everyday situations, taught by their class teacher, rather than by a specialist. The CD, which has been developed by Kent Education Department and given to the county’s 475 primary schools, uses videos of French schoolchildren to teach numbers, greetings and days of the week. In one clip, in a French supermarket, a child puts three red peppers in his basket, while three children balance blue washing-up bowls on their heads.

Humour, through film and animation, pushes the action along. Children stick paper fish on their friends’ backs on April Fool’s Day to become April Fish. If it is your birthday, after the class has sung Joyeux anniversaire, you will be kissed on both cheeks by your teacher. “Yuk!” cries Class 3.

Perhaps Kent feels the need to teach foreign languages because it is close to France. In the case of Liverpool, it is the city’s bid to be European Capital of Culture in 2008 that provides the motivation. Six primary schools have been chosen by the LEA to be centres of excellence for modern foreign languages.

At Arnot Community Primary School, a sign at the entrance declares: Escuela Primaria de Español, and assembly is conducted in Spanish. At Lister Junior School, a few miles away, the head teacher holds staff meetings in French. At all the schools the emphasis is on songs, games and activities in a foreign language.

The Government wants all seven-year-olds to have the chance to learn another language and has promised that every primary school will have a languages co-ordinator. The thinking is that if children learn early enough they will have fewer inhibitions about speaking it later. According to research by Dr Catherine Watts, of Brighton University, for the Anglo-German Foundation charity, teenagers are turned off by poor teaching and boring lessons. Older students also claim that even after years of study they would struggle to communicate abroad and would be embarrassed if they tried to speak French to people in France.

There has been a dramatic decline in the number of students taking degrees in modern languages. The Nuffield Languages Inquiry highlighted the fact that the subject is “in crisis”. Just 1,272 students enrolled for degrees in French, German or Spanish in 2000, down 17 per cent on 1996.

Further CDs, to introduce grammar, are being devised in Kent, still using video and animation. Keeping the entertainment factor high while teaching personal pronouns may prove more difficult, although, as with all sequels, they have the advantage of a captive audience.

Pilote Moi is available from 01304-202827

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