Children will learn to recite poems by heart from age of 5 Ministers believe that equipping children with foreign language skills is essential if they are to be able to compete in a global economy and support economic growth in future. If you learned poetry by heart at school did you find it beneficial? Officials acknowledge the proposals are likely to be controversial with some people arguing that they are too demanding while others will feel they are not demanding enough. Mr Gove is said to be keen to promote a public debate on the plans before redrafting them for a formal consultation later in the year. They follow a report on the future framework of the national curriculum in England drawn up by an expert panel chaired by Tim Oates, the director of research at the Cambridge Assessment exam board. On the teaching of English, the aim is to ensure that pupils leave primary school with a strong command of both written and spoken English, with high standards of literacy. It will call for a systematic approach to the teaching of phonics as a basis for teaching children to become fluent readers and good spellers. It will also emphasise the importance of grammar in mastering the language, setting out exactly what children should be expected to be taught in each year of their primary schooling as well as lists of words they should be able to spell. At the same time the study of poetry will also become an important part of the subject at primary school level. From Year 1, at the age of five, they will be read poems by their teacher as well as starting to learn simple poems by heart and practise recitals The programme of study for Year 2 will state that pupils should continue "to build up a repertoire of poems learnt by heart and recite some of these, with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear." More generally the curriculum will place a much stronger emphasis on reading for pleasure with children from Year 1 "becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales." A Department for Education spokesman said: "We will be making an announcement on this shortly."