I was lucky enough to be invited to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, to pick up the European Award for Languages for Musselburgh Grammar School, along with Morgane Leroux, who is helping to carry on the successful weblog and podcast exchanges this year.

Sir Trevor McDonald gave hearty handshakes to the winners (although that seemed to be more of a thrill for the adults in the audience than the younger school students who are probably wrapped up in bed when he’s on the telly).

The main message from all the speakers, from TV personality to Director of Languages at the DfES was this: we need more people knowing more languages and getting certification in them. A large number of community languages speakers are still not being recognised for the abilities, often gained from within their own community.
But I always leave these events feeling that it’s the converted being preached to. Am I alone in wanting something that we can use to convince those parents and pupils who are not yet on our side of the linguistic fence?

Categories: Uncategorized