Hazel Blears has said learning English must be ‘an absolute top priority’ for migrants to the UK, the BBC reports. The Secretary of State for Communities also said local authorities should ‘think carefully’ about whether documents needed to be translated.
She told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show the ability to speak English was ‘fundamental’ for migrants […]

The latest on the BBC website story about whether the oral exam in GCSE will be dropped:
Schools Minister Jim Knight has rejected as ‘ridiculous’ a claim that modern language GCSEs could be gained without candidates taking oral tests. A report in the Sunday Telegraph had suggested the exams watchdog was planning to drop orals because they […]

The Sunday Herald reports that the minister for schools and skills has said that the language of Scots should be used in the classroom.
Maureen Watt’s statement is linked to the draft outcomes and experiences for literacy under the new Curriculum for Excellence, to be released this week, which will “ensure that schoolchildren are exposed to […]

The BBC reports that oral tests could be dropped from language GCSEs because they are ‘too stressful’, according to a report.The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority could adopt a recommendation to rely on teacher assessments instead, reports the Sunday Telegraph. The QCA said its report next week would follow the line of a previous review which […]

Dundee Staff Tutors are interested to see how senior students’ vocabulary learning will progress after starting to use the Nintendo DS gaming console with My Word Coach in Spanish. [link]

‘There are lots of good reasons to learn a language,’ says Rebecca McQuillan in the Herald. ‘For instance, I’ve taken up French again because I want to be able to speak intelligently to my niece, who lives in France. My heart sinks at the thought of future conversations where I rely on desperate phrases such […]

An article in last week’s Education Guardian highlighted a critical shortage of interpreters with English as a native language and a lack of skilled young linguists coming through to fill this role. The Guardian revealed that the average age of interpreters at international organisations such as the United Nations and the European Union is now […]

A university department to promote Chinese culture and language and strengthen business links with Wales has officially opened, the BBC reports.
The Confucius Institute, named after the Chinese philosopher, is based at Cardiff University.
With 73 similar institutes in Europe, it is the second to be opened in Wales.
Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy said the institute was ‘hugely […]

The British are notoriously bad at learning foreign tongues. But with Franglais, the late Miles Kington showed anyone could get by on holiday with just a petit peu of effort, says the BBC.
If there is one foreign language that English speakers always seem to crack, it’s Franglais.
Its rules are simple. Insert as many French words […]

The Times reports that the Polish government wants Britain to make Polish a standard choice for British children studying a foreign language because so many are now living in the UK.
Krzysztof Stanowski, Poland’s deputy minister of education, said that Polish language teaching had ‘about the same status as Swahili’ even though there were now some […]