Latest News
All the latest news from the world of languages and language teaching.Madeleine Bedford – former President of ALL
Madeleine Bedford – former President of ALL Members will be saddened to learn of the recent death of Madeleine Bedford after a lengthy illness. Madeleine was also an active member of NALA and for a long time the Languages Adviser in Hampshire, where she worked...
Wonkhe: Modern languages are far from dead
Reports of the demise of Modern Languages are premature, says Andrea Wilczynski, Head of the School of Modern Languages at Newcastle University. But universities need to continue to innovate and adapt their programmes to changing demands. We often hear reports that...
UKALTA
Meeting UKALTA at Language World 2021 Attending Language World Conference for the first time in 2021 was new member Professor Lynda Taylor, President of UKALTA. We welcome her, and asked her to tell us more about her Association. ‘UKALTA is the UK Association for...
#CelebrateSpeaking
Express Yourself in Lockdown, Spring 2021 This year’s Celebration of Speaking is now over, but you can still take a / listen look at how people have celebrated by putting into Twitter Search #CelebrateSpeaking. You’ll find there some of the contributions to...
MFL Teachers added to the Shortage Occupation list.
Modern Foreign Language teachers will have a greater opportunity to come to the UK following changes announced to immigration rules by the Home Office and UK Visas and Immigration. Rule changes have taken place to make it easier to recruit modern foreign language...
Express Yourself in Lockdown
Express Yourself in Lockdown, Spring 2021 This year’s Celebration of Speaking is now over, but you can still take a / listen look at how people have celebrated by putting into Twitter Search #CelebrateSpeaking. You’ll find there some of the contributions to...
The Guardian: Thousands of UK language students left in limbo as Brexit hits travel plans
Universities say they have received inadequate guidance on red tape and costs for academic years abroad according to a report in The Guardian. Thousands of UK students hoping to spend the year abroad are caught in limbo after facing major disruption to their travel...
The Guardian: Coronaangst ridden? Overzoomed? Covid inspires 1,200 new German words
The Guardian has reported about a linguist who compiled list of words says they help tell story of life during pandemic. From coronamüde (tired of Covid-19) to Coronafrisur (corona hairstyle), a German project is documenting the huge number of new words coined in the...
The Guardian: Fears language degrees at risk as Erasmus replacement focuses on UK trade agenda
The Guardian newspaper reported on the new Turing Scheme and concerns raised about the impact of the scheme focusing on the UK trade agenda and the impact this might have on the study of modern languages at university level. To read the article in full, click...
Express Yourself North East Festival of Languages 2021
Steven Fawkes, Chair of ALLNE, writes Back in the 1990s , long before lockdown and online and Brexit, ALL’s sister charity was the Festival of Languages (and Young Linguists Award) which did what that title suggests; there was a biennial...
Everything to Everybody: Birmingham library brings Shakespeare to life in dozens of languages
The largest Shakespeare collection in a public library is launching Everything to Everybody, with films and readings in most of the city’s 93 languages the Guardian has announced. It is a little-known fact that Birmingham is home to the largest Shakespeare collection...
Top 10 books that take children on a travel adventure: readers’ tips
The Guardian published readers' tips on the top 10 books that take children on a travel adventure and as we can't travel at the moment quite yet to far and distant lands, we can treat ourselves and the children and young people we teach and work with to classic tales...
A stellar contribution
Harmer Parr pays tribute to Stella Marsh, architect of the North-East Festival of Languages and supporter of ALL in that region. Read about the latest incarnation of the Festival in News !
The Turing Scheme has now been launched
The Turing Scheme has now been launched On 6 February 2021 the Department for Education launched the Turing Scheme, the UK's global programme to study and work abroad. The UK-wide scheme provides funding for international study and work placements across the...
The impact of a language teacher: Des Johnston
Gary Chambers reflects on the life of Des Johnston 1944-2020 “The true artist is not one who is inspired but one who inspires others” (Salvador Dali). The languages teaching and learning community in Northern Ireland and across the United Kingdom more widely...
The New Normal
ALL is grateful to Sonja Fedrizzi from our sister organisation in Scotland (SALT) for sharing her thoughts on the New Normal. At the 2020 annual SALT conference, I was fortunate to share my experience of teaching ML in the ‘new normal’. My presentation,...
Review: The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book by Alex Bellos
The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book Alex Bellos Guardian Faber, 2020, 416pp, £14.99 978-1-783-35218-0 When ALL was asked to review this book, my interest was immediately sparked. Having always been interested in the development of languages and an avid puzzle solver, I...
Language Learning in Wales
This weekend, the Guardian reported that since Duolingo launched Welsh on it's language learning app it is helping the Welsh Government towards reaching it's goal of achieving 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050. To read more on how the National Centre for Learning...
Ofsted receives 13,000 emails praising schools (but just 260 complaints)
SchoolsWeek have reported that Ofsted received fifty times more reports from parents praising schools’ remote education offer than those complaining about it after Gavin Williamson urged parents to flag concerns to the watchdog. This is great news...for school and for...
Express Yourself in Lockdown
We all know that Speaking a language confidently and coherently is an important thing, and forms a critical part of linguistic and cultural development for all learners of languages. One of the impacts of COVID-19 has meant that many pupils have had fewer...
Teacher Briefing 27: OFQUAL/DfE Consultation on how GCSE, AS and A-Level grades should be awarded in Summer 2021
Theme: OFQUAL / DfE Consultation on how GCSE, AS and A-level grades should be awarded in Summer 2021 Background: The remit for this consultation emerged from letters on 13th January between the Secretary of State and OFQUAL. Consultation is open until Friday 29...
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