‘Languages from the Cradle‘ is a European Union funded project to collect the lullabies of Europe. Lullabies in the original European languages, with their translations and background will be available for families, schools and children to use.
Lullabies in multiple languages are a perfect way to introduce new languages into a family setting. Every European country […]

The Scotsman reports that pupils at a Lothians high school are forging links with China ahead of this year’s Beijing Olympics.
Bathgate Academy is pairing up with Weifang Middle School - built on the site of the Japanese internment camp in which Edinburgh sprinter Eric Liddell died.
The pupils will also take part in workshops on Chinese […]

The French Film Festival UK, now in its 16th year, continues its annual celebration of le cinéma français from Friday 7 to Thursday 20 March 2008 with 32 films, 10 cities, 14 venues, exhibitions, school screenings, personal guest appearances and a great atmosphere.
The Glasgow Film Theatre and Edinburgh Filmhouse will be showing a range of […]

Ofsted marked yesterday’s International Mother Language Day with the release of a new report, Every Language Matters, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of initial teacher training in languages other than French, German, Irish, Spanish and Welsh.
The education watchdog said that languages such as Arabic, Bengali and Mandarin should be given higher status in England’s schools […]

Communicate, the annual ICT conference organised by Scottish CILT and Learning and Teaching Scotland, will be held on Saturday March 8, 2008, in the Management Centre at the University of Stirling.
You can view the programme on the MFLE website. The cost is £95.
If you are interested in attending, please email Amanda Reeman-Clark at Scottish CILT (amanda.reemanclark@stir.ac.uk).
If you […]

Speaking assessments for GCSE modern foreign languages will change to make them a more accurate reflection of pupils’ ability and their capacity to respond to real life situations, Schools Minister Jim Knight has announced.
From September 2009 students will be assessed on different occasions during Key Stage 4, rather than face a single ‘oral’ examination at […]

An influential group of experts is putting pressure on the Scottish Government to take urgent action to make Scotland more multilingual, the Herald reports.
Figures show that the number of school pupils taking modern language Highers has slumped by nearly 60% since the 1970s. The group has highlighted an ‘apartheid’ in foreign language study in Scottish […]

Positively Plurilingual, a report published by CILT on the contribution of languages to UK education and society, is now available to order free of charge from the CILT online shop.
The report highlights the major linguistic asset that the UK has in its multicultural population, which, if developed wisely, has the potential to benefit society as […]

A Bute language teacher has been so successful in establishing links with overseas schools that she has been appointed as an ambassador for the British Council. Cathy McKirdy, who teaches languages to pupils at all the island’s primary schools, will support schools across the country in their attempts to develop overseas partnerships of their own.
Read […]

One quarter of UK companies (26%) have lost out on business because their staff cannot speak a foreign language, according to a new report released by Hodder Education last week. The independent research conducted by Gfk NOP reveals that insufficient language skills in the workplace has meant that 17% of companies have not been able […]