Algeria expands English lessons to primary school students

By The Associated Press

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — As a new academic year starts in Algeria, third graders can expect to learn English, as well as French, as a foreign language. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced in June that the Arabic-speaking North African country would gradually begin to expand English to 20,000 primary school children nationwide. The linguistic shift is a small but symbolic step toward taking Algeria further away from its past as a French colony. Tebboune has emphasized the move is not about replacing ties with France but modernizing Algeria. Yet such changes are a delicate political dance for Tebboune. He wants to expand the use of English while not alienating older generations, the middle class and elites that speak French.