Language World 2003 “Next Steps” was at the University of Bath, 04-06 April 2003.
This year saw the return of Steven Fawkes as ALL President, who echoed the theme of the conference in his welcome to Language World 2003 with the comment that ‘the UK still needs to take steps to keep up… especially in its attitudes to using languages, and its provision for learning them’.
Working with the KS3 Framework preceded Language World, with Lord David Puttnam, Chairman of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, presenting the opening plenary of the conference in the afternoon.
Other notable speakers included Kate Green, the Principal Subject Officer for MFL and Classics at QCA; Terry Lamb, University of Sheffield and Past President of ALL; Steven Fawkes, BBC Education and President of ALL; and Bill Musk, British Council and President Elect of ALL.
Sessions ranged from:
• Dyslexia and MFL, Loeke Wartna-Stok, member of ALL Dutch committee, lecturer of Dutch and English and remedial tutor of dyslexia; to
• St Petersburg’s renaissance: contemporary life of an historic city, Natalia Tronenko, Carl Duisberg Centre; to
• University challenge – learning languages in HE in the 21st century; and
• Preparing for 2012: first steps in teacher training for primary languages, Dr Cynthia Martin, Universities of Reading and Southampton.
Elsewhere, the UK Government formally recognised British Sign Language (BSL) as a language in its own right, Europe experienced a scorching summer heatwave and Apple revealed a new online music store: iTunes.