Article: Nicola rippon ; When we're abroad, all we need to know is how to drink, eat, relax and find our way around. So why do we waste time learning so many tenses at school?

When we're abroad, all we need to know is how to drink, eat, relax and find our way around. So why do we waste time learning so many tenses at school?

You see them all the time when you're on holiday abroad, the Brits whose approach to communicating with foreigners is to speak in English very loudly and very slowly, all accompanied by not necessarily helpful hand gestures.

If you're anything like me, you've probably shuddered at the Basil Fawltyness of it - and then wondered whether you'd be any better.

Taking into consideration the five years I spent studying French, my ability to speak it is shockingly weak.

Five years of describing objects in a room - the dog was in the basket, the cat ...

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