Linguistics Head Of Paris Schools Sees Whatmough

"L' Inspecteur de Penseuignement des Leagues Vivantes," Paul Feraud--he thinks Americans mistrust the term inspector and prefers to be called the supervisor of Paris schools--yesterday said he sees little similarity between language teaching methods at the University and in Europe.

Visiting the University on a State Department grant. Ferand met with professors I. A. Richards and Joahua M. Whatmough, both advocates of the European system of teaching languages in secondary schools.

Feraud, who supervises language instruction in the high schools of Paris, was sent to this country by UNESCO to collect information on visual aids as they are used in American secondary schools and colleges.

Specialization Cited

Speaking of Whatmough's recent plea to push language instruction back into the secondary schools, Ferand said. "The difference seems to me to lie in the fact that in the United States you are not specializing when you go to college, whereas we in France specialize in the Colleges."

He said this specialization necessitates knowledge of a foreign language at high school age. In France, said Feraud, "modern language is compulsory as soon as you enter secondary schools. In a majority of cases the language is English."

Feraud reported there are over 500 teachers in the Paris secondary school system, with at least 30 new men being trained every year.