European Language Gazette no. 60

Has your school opened its doors to refugees from Ukraine? What impact has this had on learning and teaching? Do you feel confident in supporting learners who struggle to understand you or to make themselves understood? Do you have access to appropriate resources?

This webinar will provide you with guidance and teaching resources to address these new challenges and ensure a welcoming atmosphere, conducive to learning. You will discover how best to value this linguistic diversity in your classroom in ways that also foster the development of the language of schooling.

Target group: pre-primary, primary and secondary teachers (of languages and other subjects)

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In February this year, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the first comprehensive Recommendation in the field of languages – Recommendation R(2022)1 on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture.

This webinar will explain the background to this Recommendation – where it came from, how it is structured, and why it was adopted. It will focus on key messages and what these mean for decision-makers, drawing on the seven principles that underpin the Recommendation's conception of plurilingual and intercultural education. It will conclude by outlining the series of follow-up events planned for the academic year 2022-2023 that will explore specific aspects of the Recommendation and their implications for different target groups.

Target group: education decision-makers at national/regional or institutional levels

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This new two-year ECML project was launched on 12-13 January 2022 at an online expert meeting of the project team. The aim of the project is to devise a set of products targeted at teacher educators and curriculum planners, to assist them in the planning of language-sensitive teacher education across all subjects.

The building blocks will include recommendations for reviewing existing teacher education curricula and courses by, for example, adding various modules and activities aimed at developing (future) teachers’ language awareness and language competences. Sample hands-on tasks for initial and in-service teacher education will illustrate these recommendations. The building blocks will also stimulate debate about the language-related competences required by all teachers, and about those which are needed by teachers of specific subjects including foreign languages and the language(s) of schooling.

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Project website available in English and German: www.ecml.at/languagesensitiveteachereducation

The RECOLANG team (Resources for assessing the home language competences of migrant pupils) is carrying out a European survey on the place of home languages at school, particularly within different education programmes or curricula involving migrant adolescents aged 11-18. This survey focuses on the practices of assessing home language skills and their role in different European education systems. The survey is made up of two complementary sections targeting different target audiences:

• A section aimed at pupils aged between 11 and 18 (or their families), who are from a migrant background and with one or more home languages other than the language(s) of the school. This section is available in Arabic, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Persian (Dari/Farsi), Portuguese and Turkish: https://surveyforlearners.questionpro.com.
• A section for schools and educational institutions, teaching and supervisory staff in schools, reception centres and organisations involved in initial and further professional development of teachers working with this age group (11-18 years). This section is available in English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian and Portuguese: https://enqueteinstitutionseducatives.questionpro.com.

The survey will be online until the end of 2022. More detailed information on the survey can be found on the ECML website.

A series of national workshops will take place within the, “Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning” cooperation action of the ECML and the European Commission between May and December 2022. The “RELANG” and “Supporting Multilingual Classrooms” workshops will be hosted in the following countries:

“RELANG”: Albania, Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Romania, Spain and Switzerland. For details, please see the RELANG event page.

“Supporting Multilingual Classrooms”: Armenia, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovak Republic. For details, consult the “Supporting Multilingual Classrooms” event page.

In addition, a special webinar, involving Polish teachers, will be held on 12 May, focusing on “Supporting the linguistic integration of young refugees from Ukraine”.

Details of the dates, venues and how to take part in the workshops are indicated on the respective sites.

“RELANG” focuses on relating foreign/second language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and “Supporting Multilingual Classrooms” focuses on the linguistic integration of migrant learners in schools across Europe.

Photo: Mercè Bernaus, “Supporting Multilingual Classrooms” workshop, Bratislava, 5 May 2022

This year, under the motto of “Valuing all languages in Europe”, we will be seeking to highlight the importance of all languages present on the continent of Europe.

Having cracked the 40 mark for the number of languages represented on the European Day of Languages website, with the site to be launched in Maltese soon, we are endeavouring to practice what we preach!

A host of new features and resources are currently under development for this year’s Day, such as:

• a “21 more things you may not know about languages” poster;
• a “famous quotes” section: including variety of quotations from different languages and their origins such as “Der Ball ist rund. Das Spiel dauert 90 Minuten“ (“The ball is round and the game lasts 90 minutes”). Sepp Herberger’s original quote is considered a deceivingly simple yet complete summary of what the game of football essentially is all about. Herberger was a famous German player and manager of the 1954 West German world-cup winning team;
• a “Where am I?” game, where you need to identify which country is represented in a picture – from the linguistic clues visible;
• a “Questions you never dared to ask about languages” – where language experts from around Europe respond to questions, such as “Do I really need grammar to learn a language?” or “Which language could I learn that will enable me to understand the greatest number of other languages?”;
• a language calendar featuring key dates and milestones;

There will also be proposals for initiatives for anyone or any school, institute, association or business to run on or around 26 September to celebrate the 21st European Day of Languages – coming soon!

As ever, we welcome new ideas, promotional initiatives and volunteers who can help us to ensure that the content of EDL site can made available and updated in as wide a range of Europe’s languages as possible.

Website: www.coe.int/edl

In the course of 2021, the ECML carried out an in-depth evaluation of its 5th medium-term programme, “Languages at the heart of learning”. The findings provide substantial evidence of the positive impact of the programme – of the relevance of the themes addressed, of the quality and usefulness of the project resources, of extensive outreach and follow-up activities, and of the beneficial influence at individual, institutional and national levels.

The evaluation drew on substantial quantitative and qualitative data from three main sources – internal reports from programme consultants and from expert coordinators of ECML projects and Training and consultancy capacity-building activities, from participant feedback surveys following ECML events and from a wide-scale post-programme survey addressed to ECML National Authorities. By identifying both success factors and challenges, the evaluation provides helpful guiding principles for current and future ECML programmes.

An attractive brochure focusing on the highlights from the full report has just been published and should serve as a further promotional instrument for the work of the ECML.

The recently published multilingual glossary of key terms in language education of the European Centre for Modern Languages (Council of Europe) presents an overview of key terms in English, French, German and international sign, together with definitions and references used in ECML projects since 2012.

In 2019, the CercleS Management & Leadership Focus Group decided to design a training programme aimed specifically at language centre managers, and the “Aspire to Inspire” training programme was established. It provides participants with an opportunity to develop an understanding of management and leadership skills necessary for a range of tasks, duties and responsibilities considered to be essential for running a university language centre.
“Aspire to Inspire” is a CercleS initiative presented by CercleS members. It has already been offered with great success in 2020-2021 and a new (hybrid) edition of the training programme will be held from October 2022 to February 2023.

More information: flyer – website

Language materials in Ukrainian and Russian are available in digital format on the website of Post-Primary Languages Ireland (PPLI). Although the original intention of these materials was to support the development of target MFL language in the classroom, EAL teachers have been using them to support development of the language of schooling. They provide commonly used classroom language in Ukrainian and Russian.
A link is also available through which hard copies may be ordered according to the particular requirements of the school.
The assumption for the moment is that most pupils and students from the Ukraine would be attending English medium schools but if a need for Irish arises PPLI will also explore this issue.

Website of Post-Primary Languages Ireland

E-newsletter edited by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI) / University of Ottawa:
In other words / Autrement dit (March 2022)

OLBI news

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is the European Convention for the protection and promotion of languages used by traditional minorities. Together with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities it constitutes the Council of Europe's commitment to the protection of national minorities.

Recent developments

• The Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (COMEX) held its 72nd plenary meeting (15-17 March 2022): focus on the report on the application of the Charter by Bosnia and Herzegovina, the adoption of a mid-term report on the implementation of its recommendations for immediate action by Croatia, and the promotion of regional or minority languages through artificial intelligence
• Croatia: recommendations aiming to support the Croatian authorities in implementing the Charter regarding eleven minority languages
• France: local charters for the promotion of the Basque language signed
• Germany: visit to evaluate progress made in the protection and promotion of regional and minority languages
• Follow the newsroom

Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)10 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on multilevel policies and governance for intercultural integration (adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 6 April 2022 at the 1431st meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies of the Council of Europe) addresses the national level, recommending that their national integration strategies should be based on the four key principles of the intercultural integration model – real equality, diversity as a collective advantage, meaningful intercultural interaction, and active citizenship and participation.

Full news item

Gérer la controverse – Définir une stratégie pour traiter la controverse et enseigner des sujets controversés à l école (2022): French version
[Original version in English: Managing controversy – Developing a strategy for handling controversy and teaching controversial issues in schools (2017)]
Also available in Czech, Finnish, German, Greek, Norwegian, Swedish

Apprendre à traiter les sujets controversés à l école et dans d autres contextes éducatifs – Guide de bonnes pratiques (2022): French version
[Original version in English: Learning how to handle controversial issues in schools and other education settings – A good practice guide (2021)]

Browse the Council of Europe online bookstore

Education and support for Ukrainian refugees: resources
Web page

Webinars

“Teachers’ training and professional development on inclusive education” (13 May 2022 at 16:00 CEST)
Web page

Webinar recording “Welcoming newly arrived refugees in the classroom” (6 May 2022)
Web page

Celebrating the IDIL2022-2032 will help promote and protect indigenous languages and improve the lives of their speakers. It will contribute to achieving the objectives set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. The celebration is also expected to strengthen and reinforce the many standard-setting tools adopted by the international community which include specific provisions to promote and protect languages.
You can follow IDIL2022-2032 here:

• Dedicated website
• Facebook: @IndigenousLanguagesDecade
• Twitter: @ILDecade
• Instagram: @indigenouslanguages

Lastest newsletter issues: no. 182 (April 2022) – no. 183 (May 2022)