Modern Languages Blog

“New research suggests that bilingual people have better problem solving-skills, greater creativity and brains that are more resistant to dementia.  Meanwhile others, such as the neuroscientist Dr Mark Lythgoe, have tried and failed miserably to learn a number of languages.
On Say What You Think, Lythgoe looks into the impact of a second language and finds out why some find it so hard, and the theory that there is a critical period in childhood in which the brain is programmed to acquire language.  He also analyses the benefit of late learning – and the evidence suggests thankfully that it is never too late.”

Moblogging is where people take photographs and write text on their mobile phones before pressing the button to send it live to the web. The webpage it ends up on is the moblog, the mobile weblog. Libération have found a new way to report on fashion developments on the catwalk in Paris through their own Fashion Moblogs.

Every weekend I present the MFLE to another group of teachers somewhere in our fair country as part of the Scottish CILT Outreach event. Every time I am amazed that more people haven’t been caught by the wonders of iTunes. I’m also reminded by my legal-savvy colleagues at LTS on a very regular basis that there are other music storing programmes out there.

But iTunes is the most popular free programme for storing and downloading music and podcasts, confirmed in a report by the BBC today. I’d certainly recommend it for finding and subscribing free to the mflePodcast. If 85% or so of this market is cornered by iTunes surely that means it works. Does anyone else think the same or should we consider some other programmes just as good or better for storing our music and downloading new tunes?

The Association for Language Learning and the Consejería de Educación are delighted to announce the annual National 24-hour online Spanish quiz for intermediate and advanced learners of Spanish. The quiz will go online at 17.00 on Thursday 26 January 2006.

For information on how to enter go to the ALL Website.

The ICT Register is an online database of schools willing to share their ICT experiences. The Register is run by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and it can put you in touch with other schools who may already have achieved what you are hoping to bring about with ICT. The Register is a searchable database and is useful for getting ideas to move on to the next stage in embedding ICT. For example, you could enter ‘language learning’ as a search item, and the database would bring up a list of schools which have expertise in this area and are willing to share their experience. You can browse the website to choose from a range of advice, training and peer-to-peer demonstration including: learning and teaching with ICT, strategic ICT development, technical infrastructure and internationalism with ICT.

I’ve put up the presentation that I gave at Jordanhill College of Education, University of Strathclyde. It asks the question: “What is Web 2.0 and why use Web 2.0 tools in education?” and attempts to answer them in 35 minutes. There’s a conversation developing over the blogosphere about these points, too, which is trying to put the finger on why these tools create such a buzz, both negative buzz and positive buzz. After watching the screencast what are you impressions?

Get those applications in, Scotland! CILT’s annual campaign to find the UK’s top language projects began today as applications were invited from schools, colleges, business and other institutions. The European Award for Languages, also known as the European Label is a Europe-wide initiative which recognises projects demonstrating an innovative, effective and replicable approach to learning languages.
 
In the past few years the Award has showcased projects from across the UK and from a wide range of institutions, including The languages zoo, Teach a friend a language (TAFAL), Italian in the news, Language through theatre, BSL for primary, Doing business in French, International journeyman  and many more, which you can read about at www.cilt.org.uk/eal/winners.htm
 
These winning projects not only earn European recognition for their achievements, but serve as inspirational examples for language teachers throughout the UK and beyond. The Award is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our most outstanding language-learning initiatives and mark them out as among the best in Europe.
 
For more details see www.cilt.org.uk/eal, the deadline for applications is Thursday 13 April 2006.

A great little post in French over at Loic Le Meur’s blog, where the very definition of  podcast à la française is discussed. I love the novel explanation that it is the frozen food of radio, that you can take it out the freezer (computer) any time you want to. You can also join in the discussion about its definition over there or here.

With the news from the BBC that one school in Brighton is making Chinese compulsory for its students, do you think that more schools should be doing the same? Is it better for our future economy? Does it add to the fun of language learning? Is it a risk for school managers to introduce an apparently more difficult subject?

Pour commémorer la Journée internationale de la Francophonie, le Centre franco-maltais de Recherche et de Documentation a cette année encore le plaisir d’organiser la francofête qui s’ouvrira le lundi 20 mars 2006. La francofête est une manifestation s’adressant particulièrement aux élèves des écoles de Malte mais aussi à tous les amoureux de langue française. Vous êtes donc aussi invités à y participer !

Tout comme vous, nous sommes fortement attachés aux échanges culturels entre Malte et le monde francophone et espérons vous voir contribuer à la mise en place de ce projet.

Le festival email  

    Il s’agira pour chaque établissement participant de créer un message de quelque nature que ce soit (audio, vidéo ou autre) destiné a des jeunes francophones.

    Dans la matinée du 20 mars, ces messages franchiront les frontières: ils seront envoyés via e-mail à diverses écoles à l’étranger.

Nous sommes impatients de partager les moments de la Francofête avec vous !

Contact the CENTRE FRANCO-MALTAIS DE RECHERCHE ET DE DOCUMENTATION, Junior College Campus MSD 10 Malta Téléphone : (00356) 21233118 e-mail: centrefrancomaltais@gov.mt