ALL has always worked with like-minded partners – individuals and organisations, to further our work of promoting the importance of language learning, supporting teachers and engaging learners of languages. We are all links strengthening the chain.
Collaboration was one of the main themes of Language World Conference 2026:
Collaboration is close to the heart of this year’s Co-Presidents, just as Members are at the heart of the whole Association.
Anna Lise Gordon
Steven Fawkes
We are grateful to all the colleagues who joined us in Hinckley and created, as they always do, connections with new professional friends which will lead to positive outcomes.
As a special pre-Conference event, free to anyone who could make it, we held a sponsored Show & Tell on the Thursday evening where we had some great short inputs in a very positive atmosphere; it really set the tone for a fabulous conference.
Impact of local collaboration
Liz Lord, ALL Portsmouth
We have been fortunate to have an ALL Primary Hub in Portsmouth for almost ten years. More recently, Portsmouth, City of Languages, a thriving grass-roots initiative, has added momentum to our drive to support and celebrate languages education and all our language learners. In the past three years, the DfE-funded Solent Language Hub, now the Solent Language Network, has also been successful in energising and motivating language teachers and learners in Portsmouth and the wider area.
We came together to hold a joint meeting of the ALL Primary Hub, the Solent Language Network and the Portsmouth LA Primary Languages Leads.
Bringing colleagues together in this way - from primaries and secondaries, trainee teachers and academics (thank you, Professor Suzanne Graham) - this is how we can improve the language learning journey of our learners, and motivate each other too! And a super presentation on the power of using songs to support language learning from our friends in the north, Catherine Woodward and Michelle Massey - vielen Dank!
Following our meeting it was inspiring to receive such a positive comment as this:
"I just wanted to say thank you for today’s meeting. Anytime we all have the chance to get together and share ideas I really appreciate it and it’s quite honestly the only time I leave an after school meeting feeling energised and almost wishing it was longer!"
Let’s continue to communicate, collaborate and celebrate - it's at the heart of what we do!
Collaborations to raise the profile of all our languages
Cities of languages
Home, Heritage and Community Languages
ALL works with British Council, and many other partners, to share the great work of the Cities of Languages, hosting the webpage: Click here
Universities
ALL works with British Council, and many other partners, in support of HHCL teachers and learners, by co-chairing the Advocacy Group and hosting the termly webinar, the newsletter and the HHCL webpage: Click here
Careers and Languages
Newcastle University Languages Resource Centre engages its multilingual students to support ALLNE in the EDoL writing competition and in the Mother Tongue, Other Tongue celebration which forms part of the Festival.
ALL has worked with partners in the North-East Careers Service to compile video resources and Careers-oriented documentation for the Festival which include the work of ALL Fellow David Binns. Express yourself Careers: Click Here
They link to the Association’s own pages: Why Study Languages Making the Case Resources and Why Study Languages
See below the new collaboration between ALL and corporate member Rayburn Travel.
Publications
ALL contributes to the publications of partners such as FIPLV.
With The Languages Gateway, a special collaboration with the ALL ITET Forum is in place in 2026: Click here
ALL’s own publications are enriched by including partners. The examples below are great illustrations of this:
This is not a De-colonising handbook: Read here (free to members) and
It’s good to talk: Click here for ebook
Languages Today magazine: Read here
Legacy resources from collaborations
In 2027 we look forward to the return of the UK into the Erasmus+ programme, which supports so much powerful and useful collaboration with others.
Erasmus+ projects produced legacy resources such as:
The Language Magician
A game for Primary learners which collects (anonymously) assessment data.
Please click here for more information
ELAPSE
CPD and classroom resources to support CLIL approaches, available via this link.
Knights of the European Grail
A cross-curriculum online game.
Please click here for more information.
Primary French Project
An example of ALL working on resources with our cultural, Higher Education and other partners.
The Primary French Project was created by IFRU in association with ALL and continues to be available here.
New collaborative projects evolving this academic year
May - ALL Peer Mentoring Scheme
The Peer Mentoring Scheme is in itself an example of great collaboration, as it is based on the principle of Member supporting Member. It was developed as an initiative by ALL Council members led by Maud Waret.
Details are on this page: ALL Language Teacher Peer Mentoring Programme
March – NEW Show&Tell event prior to Language World
March – NEW Show&Tell event prior to Language World with Corporate Member Discover Education.
March – Careers Webinar
March – Careers webinar project with Corporate Member Rayburn Travel.
Please click here for more information.
February - Development of Nihongo Zone
A new Language Zone for Japanese with the Japan Foundation.
More information coming soon.
September – European Day of Languages
September – European Day of Languages Nursery Rhymes resources working with Twinkl.
September – Multilingual Verses
September – Multilingual Verses project working with Sheffield, City of Languages.
Please click here for more information.
Collaboration around Policy
The impact of the UCET SIG collaboration (including ALL) demonstrates the power of collective action in shaping national discourse around issues affecting international teachers in our country. Through the commitment of its diverse membership, the group has transformed individual concerns into a coordinated movement for change for culturally responsive mentor training in schools but also for coherence in policies.
National Conversations on International Teachers
Juliette Claro describes the collaborative work of a SIG
UCET (The Universities Council for the Education of Teachers) has a Special Interest Group (SIG) for the Support of International Teachers which has rapidly become an active and influential collaborative network in the teacher education sector.
It brings together 83 members from universities, school partners, subject associations and others (ALL, the Institute of Physics, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Languages (APPG).
Collaborative Action for Change: Read here
In Policy work ALL works with partners such as
- ASCL
- British Academy
- CfSA
- CLE
- NALDIC
- NCLE
- The Languages Gateway
- UCFL
- Individual Universities
- And holds meetings with agencies such as DfE and Ofsted
Coalition for Languages (CLE)
Together across sectors for the future of language education: Read here
ALL Decolonising Special Interest Groups (SIGs) for Primary and Secondary facilitate dialogue between MFL specialists in schools, universities, HE ITT institutions and publishing, in order to mobilise pedagogical advances in decolonised curriculum development, in order to have positive practical impact on our students in the primary and secondary MFL classroom. Read more here
The ALL Creativity SIG
includes teachers, teacher trainer and other Languages professionals from around the UK and abroad. It provides a platform for, and guidance on, evidence-based practice with the use of authentic resources in the MFL classroom to develop creativity and fluency in the target language. Read more here
ALL New Curriculum SIG is developing in Summer Term 2026
Creativity and Language anxiety
A presentation on this important theme, Please read here: Creativity and language anxiety
The Languages Gateway is the UK’s one-stop portal – a directory to agencies and associations supporting Languages education. ALL is represented on the Editorial Board and contributes through the ITET-forum to the Blogs section. Read more here
ALL renewed Primary SIG 2026 is developing in Summer 2026
Combining voices in consultations
Information, consultation and responses
2025 Curriculum and Assessment Review
Interim report response from ALL, UCFL and ICLS: Click here
Previous SIGs:
CLIL SIG – working together with partners around Content and Language Integrated Learning:Read here
Previous Primary SIG - working with partners in the wake of the 2014 curriculum change making a Language statutory:Read guidance here
Collaboration to promote individual Languages and Special Interests
Languages
ALL’s webinars for individual languages are supported by our cultural partners:
IFRU, GI, Consejeria.
Sectoral meetings online
ALL hosts online meeting often with partner support for Language teachers in Primary (PHOrum) And in Secondary (STALL) Subject Leaders ECTs and trainee teachers (the Social Zoom)
ALL is planning a new strand for Adult Education teachers
New in 2026: Japanese Zone
ALL hosts the Japanese Zone in collaboration with the Japan Foundation, in this area Alongside Zones for Arabic, Chinese Language, French, German, HHCL, Italian, Spanish& Portuguese, Russian.