The learner of a second or foreign language and culture does not cease to be competent in his or her mother tongue and the associated culture. Nor is the new competence kept entirely separate from the old. The learner does not simply acquire two distinct, unrelated ways of acting and communicating. The language learner becomes plurilingual and develops interculturality.
Common European Framework
The Common European Framework is very clear about this. Although this is in theory all very clear, I have a feeling that in concrete terms, when we think of what is actually going on in actual classrooms, we still rely quite a lot on mental images, on beliefs and attitudes which are not really consistent with this idea of plurilingualism. So I would like to briefly examine some reasons why it is important for all of us, teachers of English, to re-discover what we have in common with our colleagues teaching other languages, what we are all together actually doing when we work with our students on languages and with languages.