Modern Languages Blog

We cannot sustain current levels of funding for ESOL provision, says Bill Rammell, Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, in the Education Guardian.

He writes: ‘I suspect barely a day goes by without a minister of state reading, over his or her breakfast, a newspaper article that purports to represent an accurate picture of government policy, but which is, at best, a gross distortion of the truth. I faced that scenario when reading a column in Education Guardian last week about our changes to the funding entitlement of English for speakers of other languages (Esol).

‘One particular claim that made the All-Bran stick in the throat was that our proposals were “the worst learning and skills decision taken since 1979″. This is choice, given that the Conservatives cut FE funding by 14% in real terms, compared with the 48% real-terms increase we’ve delivered since 1997.’

Read his full article in the Education Guardian.

A year-long cultural beanfeast is taking Highland schoolchildren out of their comfort zones and involving them in activities such as ballet, bridge building, broadcasting and Gaelic song and literature.

The TES Online has the full story.

It is not quite the case of an innocent abroad, but an Irish language television presenter brought Gaelic to the heartland of loyalism in Belfast to see how widely the language is spoken. Manchan Magan made a trip around Ireland speaking only Irish to see if census claims of 1.6m people being able to speak the language were true on the ground.

Read this article on the BBC website.

The National Eisteddfod will be given more money by the Welsh Assembly Government for this year’s festival, says a report on the BBC website.

Culture Minister Alun Pugh described the extra £62,000 as ’substantial’, taking assembly government support for the 2007 Mold event to £470,000.

Read the full story on the BBC website.

The Education Guardian reports that a year of bad press and security concerns means the educational potential of social networking sites remains largely untapped. Jerome Monahan investigates.

Read the full article on the Education Guardian website.

The Education Guardian reports that teachers are using hand-held devices in increasingly innovative ways to help make learning more pupil-centred. John Galloway investigates some of the latest ideas.

Sharing lessons in real time with a class in another country is now a reality.

Imagine an instant link between your school and a partner in France or Spain. You can sit in on each other’s language lessons, share resources, and above all talk to each other as and when you wish, and without the expense, hassle and energy costs of transporting large groups of children from one country to the other.

This is the goal of a joint venture between Microsoft and the Teaching Development Agency, and it is tantalisingly close. Three Manchester schools and Manchester Metropolitan University have signed up. Equipment is installed, teachers have learned to use it, and have got to know their partners.

Read the full article on the Education Guardian website.

Mel Gibson’s bloody historical epic Apocalypto has claimed the UK box office record for the biggest opening weekend for a foreign language film. The movie, spoken in a Mayan dialect, has taken £1.3m since Friday.

Read this story on the BBC website.

In just five years, the number of non-Chinese people learning Mandarin Chinese has soared to 30 million. What is fuelling this expansion, and will it change the status of English as a global language?

Read the article on the BBC website for more information.