Modern Languages Blog

With apologies to our French readers, mais oui, il faut bien quelque chose à lire pour ses classes le lundi matin…

Scottish schools are encouraged to get in on the Green Week Biodiversity Competition. This is a great way to bring together languages work on the environment across Europe.

Younger children can enter the competition with drawings and paintings illustrating their opinions about biodiversity while older pupils are invited to submit short digital videos on the same theme.

The top three winners of each category will be invited to Brussels
for the awards ceremony during Green Week. Deadline for entries is 25
March.

The annual environmental conference and exhibition will take place in Brussels between 30 May and 2 June 2006. Part of the event is the annual Green Week School Competition, which encourages young people from all EU Member States, candidate and EFTA countries to learn about environmental issues and express themselves artistically.

This sixth edition of the Green Week school competition builds on the success of past years. This year, the school competition will focus on biodiversity: the year 2006 is of great significance since it represents the half-way mark towards the EU’s target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010.

See the European Schoolnet website for more information on how to enter. Teachers are encouraged to make the competition part of the class activity and the website will offer some ideas and support.

Citizens Online and Microsoft are joining forces for a third year to bring you The Microsoft Community Learning Awards (MCLA), recognising communities and charities that promote IT skills and access to those that might not have the same chances as others. This year they are donating grants of £2,500 and essential IT software to the 30 winning entrants. The awards are available to all community groups and registered charities throughout the UK that are seeking funding for IT skills projects for disadvantaged young people and adults in their area. Eligible groups can download an application form from the awards website. The deadline for applications is 24th March.

What does Europe mean to the kids in your classroom? Don’t know? They don’t know? Well, a small session in the computer lab this coming week could help get some of those questions answered as a group of Scottish school students head off to Strasbourg, to find out all about the European Union as part of the Euroschola experience. Their visit includes a visit and debate in the Parliamentary chamber itself. You can see what’s going on and ask a question on the trip blog.

This two-parter explores the science behind language-learning, using neuroscientist and language-phobe Dr Mark Lythgoe as a guinea-pig. Producer Michelle Martin sets about encouraging Mark to learn Spanish in just two weeks. Very interesting!

The BBC’s ambitious new free learning websites for children have got its commercial rivals worried. Read more on this in an article at EducationGuardian.co.uk

A whole dossier from the Internaute on teaching with technology, covering the overarching issues of infrastructure and equipment.

That’s right, J-P’s joined the French ministers who blog. Actually, there’s some great reading in there for older students / teachers with an unhealthy interest in French politics.

If the first two cult films in the Les Bronzés series weren’t enough for you the Internaute announces that Les Bronzés 3 is released this spring, no doubt slightly grey and creased, but certainly more of the same farce. Something for the kids, or is Les Bronzés for another generation?