List of Committees

Special Interest Group for World Languages

ALL has recently established a new Special Interest Group intending to take forward issues relating to the wider group of languages learnt in the UK (those which might be termed Community Languages or World Languages).

Our hope is to work with other associations and agencies to try to overcome the isolation that some language teachers experience, to bring together teachers who may work in different sorts of settings but who share many principles and can learn from each others’ practice, to work towards overcoming the barriers between mainstream and other systems and to keep an eye on resources and services which are at risk at a time of national financial stringency.

 

Purpose:

The SIG advises ALL on strategic matters and recommends specific things, such as the notion that it is good practice for the Association to include examples from the wider range of languages in its events and publications.

 

News:

Asset Languages

ALL members will be aware of an issue surrounding the recognition of Asset Languages qualifications within the Government's English Baccalaureate arrangements and within League Tables. For some Languages Asset is the only accreditation available, and yet it does not count. A campaign of Young People from London has taken this matter forwards along with support from a variety of academic bodies, and recently (February 2012) a meeting was held with OCR, the accrediting body which operates Asset Languages. The ALL World Languages SIG has taken an interest in this work because of our commitment to support the valuing of a wider range of World Languages in the UK system. Please find here a narrative of the meeting from Charmian Kenner of Goldsmiths, University of London.

British Academy Awards

The British Academy is offering 15 awards of £4000 for UK schools (in both the mainstream and the complementary sector) that want to develop creative ways of improving language teaching and learning.

The funding is intended to extend or strengthen a project that has already started, even if on quite a small scale. There will be two awards for each of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales plus 4 English regions. One of the awards in each region is for mainstream secondary schools and the other is intended for supporting community languages in complementary or supplementary schools. PLUS the winners will have a chance to win an extra £4000 which will go to the best overall UK project. The closing date for applications is 31 March and there’s an easy application form to fill in and further details at: http://www.britac.ac.uk/policy/Schools_Language_Awards.cfm

This is the first year that the British Academy has run the scheme and we need to get the message out, so if you know someone who would be interested, pass this message on. It would be a real shame if schools missed out on this opportunity.

Arabic Teachers Conference

The ALL Special Interest Group is working with partners at CILT, Schools Network, SOAS, Goldsmiths, Dulwich College, British Council etc. to arrange a conference for teachers of Arabic latye in 2012. News will follow …

Summer School in Bilingualism
July 16-27, 2012, Bangor University, UK
www.bangor.ac.uk/bilingualism-summerschool

 

Discussion List:

A discussion list has recently been set up, enabling colleagues working in mainstream and complementary school sectors as well as in higher education and other organisations interested in languages of the wider world to share information, put questions and discuss issues. To register for the World Languages discussion list, please go to: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=WORLDLANGUAGES.

 

Policy:

Every Language Matters (Ofsted):
www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/every-language-matters

Positively plurilingual:
www.cilt.org.uk/community_languages/making_the_case.aspx

Multilingualism: an asset for Europe and a shared commitment. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities (2008):
http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/pdf/com/2008_0566_en.pdf

CILT Cymru has developed a Community Languages section of its website. It contains details of a report commissioned by the Welsh Government into the provision and accreditation of Community Languages in secondary schools in Wales plus links to other sources of support and guidance:

www.ciltcymru.org.uk/community-languages/

 

Key organisations / Centres:

Click here to download the pdf document.

 

Projects / Campaigns:

Community and Lesser-Taught Languages (COLT) Project (Routes into Languages North West)
www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/northwest

Our Languages
www.ourlanguages.org.uk/

Speak to the Future: The Campaign for Languages
www.speaktothefuture.org/

 

Research:

London Education Research Unit
http://www.ioe.ac.uk/research/40545.html

Multilingual Learning (Goldsmiths, University of London)
www.gold.ac.uk/clcl/multilingual-learning/

The MOSAIC centre for Research on Multilingualism (University of Birmingham)
www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/education/mosaic/index.aspx

 

Professional Development:

Click here to download the pdf document.

 

Weblinks:

Click here to download the pdf document.

 

ContinYou/NRC Directory

ContinYou/NRC has been updating the directory of community-led complementary schools on annual basis since 2009 because the majority of those included on the database are members of NRC. This updated database includes supplementary schools focusing on core curriculum subjects as well as those teaching mother tongue/community languages. Unlike the OurLanguages Directory it does not include mainstream schools because there are many places to find that information.

The directory lists 2,700 supplementary/complementary schools with detailed information on 800 schools for which we have up-to-date (within the last year) information ie. those that have joined NRC.
(Membership was free of charge until April 2012 and is now only £30/£15).

The directory is entirely free to search, ContinYou/NRC has done this to support the schools and raise awareness of their work. The Online directory is updated weekly.

Go to www.supplementaryeducation.org.uk or type 'NRC Supplementary Schools Directory' into any search engine.
 

SIG members:

The SIG involves members whose experience covers a wide spectrum of agencies and we will work with others on specific projects. You do not need to be a member of ALL to join the discussion list, but please do consider joining. The more members we have, the more we can do on your behalf.

ALL is an independent charity funded by membership subscription. We rely on this income to fund all the activities and resources we offer.

 

More information:

If you would like to work with us, suggest projects, or find out more, please contact: info@ALL-languages.org.uk.