Modern Languages Blog

In France, a teacher’s lot appears not to be a very happy one.

This Le Monde Article reveals one author’s views that TF1 and Endemol may have chosen an obese contestant on Star Academy to fulfil their obligations of “bonne conscience”.

A new behind-the-scenes book reveals how it was the public who won in the end, ensuring that Magalie, 18 years, would win the competition. Their efforts were thwarted by the French public who voted her winner this weekend.

Read the full story here and some reaction on the blog of Loic Lemeur.

New! We now have an Image Bank
on our MFLE website that you can make good use of. You can download any
of our copyright-free photos for use in the classroom. Use them to make
resources, PowerPoint presentations, posters – or to enhance your own
website!

A new way to create partnerships with foreign schools and work collaboratively online – for free!.

eLanguages is a free and simple-to-use tool for teachers to create their own projects with teachers in other countries. It is supported by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

Motivate your students and broaden their horizons through fun and curriculum-relevant international collaboration using your own, structured, project space of up to 100Mb.

For all the information and to set up a project go to eLanguages.org

From The Independent today:

The outgoing German ambassador delivered a fiery parting shot on the state of language teaching in UK schools yesterday, saying “English is not enough” for tomorrow’s youngsters.

Thomas Matussek, who leaves the UK shortly for a post in India, warned that the number of students learning languages was “unfortunately still falling”.

He urged the Government and local education authorities to ensure languages had “a firm place in school life”, for the sake of trade and cultural exchanges.

Mr Matussek said: “The greatest task probably lies in raising the awareness of the British public. In the home country of English, the world language, the task of persuasion is especially difficult. I firmly believe this is also a matter of social justice because languages facilitate social mobility.”

Mr Matussek delivered his farewell message at a conference organised by the Centre for Information on Language Teaching in Bedford yesterday. (Languages for competitive advantage: UK business in an international context)

He said he had detected a growing awareness of the “vital importance” of languages among ministers and the media in the UK. This had led to efforts to boost the take-up of the subject in primary schools – ministers have insisted that within a decade, every child should be able to learn a language by the age of seven.

Mr Matussek told the conference: “Britain faces the great task of changing this trend. Languages are not just an ornamental necessity but vital to the real interests of this country.”

Businesses have warned that the lack of language schools costs them around £100million of trade a year.

A report published by CILT yesterday also warned that while 75 per cent of French and German multinationals saw language skills as essential for recruits, fewer than 30 per cent of UK companies did. The conference also heard that 20,000 students a year from France and Spain participated in exchange trips, but only 7,000 from Britain.

“Learning a foreign language at the earliest possible age opens up a whole new dimension for children,” he added. “It greatly benefits their reading and writing in their own language and there’s evidence that, like musical education, it contributes significantly to the development of individual intelligence; and it concretely improves overall results at school.” He urged both parents and universities to promote the importance of the discipline. “If language skills are to improve here in Britain, everyone needs to play their part.”

The top news item on DW-TV is on the London fire. A great story for even younger classes, as most of the ideas behind it are things they’ll have seen on the British news.

As part of our ethos to always promote creative teaching, we have recently published a new section dedicated to Foreign Language Assistants. In particular, three foreign language assistants share their video diaries with the MFLE. They talk about the welcomes they received in Scotland, and about what would make it easier to settle into their new posts. Over the coming months, we’ll bring you more diaries as we chart their progress. Feel free to explore the Foreign Language Assistants area of the MFLE website and feedback your thoughts by replying to this post …

This year for the first time British Council Scotland has been able to offer schools the skills of young Chinese people as an official part of the Foreign Language Assistants programme.

The four assistants have been working in Scotland since September. They are qualified teachers of English at home, but while here they teach their own language and culture for 12 hours per week.

Dunbar Grammar School in East Lothian decided to take an assistant as a follow-up to pupils’ participation in an immersion course in China in July. Lingwei has been able to build on the Mandarin skills gained by the pupils involved, and extend the knowledge to other pupils, which will help with the school link which they are currently setting up. Knox Academy, also in East Lothian, hopes to follow a similar path with the help of their assistant George.

Read the full article on the British Council website.