The conference represents the culmination of the four years of work of the ECML’s “Inspiring innovation in language education: changing contexts, evolving competences” programme, involving, among others, 9 projects, 1 think tank, 12 offers of training and consultancy (TaC) and a series of initiatives developed with the support of the European Commission.

The conference is aimed at all language education professionals and in particular at ECML stakeholders, policy makers and persons with a professional focus on the practice of language education (curriculum development, teacher education, material design…).

The programme involves plenary presentations, speeches, a round table, a series of smaller workshops for the presentation and discussion of programme outputs and outcomes as well as envisaged links to activities in the 2024-2027 programme. 

The workshops on the second day of the conference will be organised thematically:

• Language teacher and learner competences,
• Transversal dimension of language education / Competences for life and work,
• Plurilingual and intercultural education,
• Languages of schooling; language in subjects.

Within each given theme there will be a focus on the completed project resources and related TaC activities from the current programme. Presenters will focus on the inspiring and innovative aspects of their TaC activity/new resources and will consider how the different approaches and materials presented in their thematic session complement one other.

This will also be an excellent opportunity to get a preview of the new ECML programme “Language education at the heart of democracy” (2024-2027).

In order to ensure access to a wider audience, the event will be streamed in both working languages (English and French) and the recordings made available on the ECML website.

Conference web page: English – French

Conference programme: English – French

Join the live streaming here – no registration required: English – French

#ECMLCELVconf2023

Within the context of its 2023 cooperation action with the European Commission, the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe organised a colloquium focusing on regional and minority languages (RMLs) within a plurilingual context. This stock-taking event focused on educational practice in contexts where RMLs are prevalent. It highlighted examples of practice where regional and minority languages are part of the curriculum and/or a language of schooling – which are potentially transferable/adaptable to other contexts. The event primarily addressed pedagogical aspects in relation to curricula, teacher education and classroom practice and look at the further support required by the professional community in this area.

The colloquium took place against the backdrop of the 2022 Council of Europe Recommendation on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture and drew upon the Council’s wide expertise on RMLs. The event took full account of the work already conducted both by the Council and the European Commission in this area, as well as the concerns expressed within the Minority Safepack initiative with regard to the sharing of good practice among European educational systems.

50 representatives from over 30 member states of the ECML and the European Union, as well as key networks and associations active in this area, took part in the event and around 200 viewers followed online.

On the ECML website, you can find the description of the colloquium, the list of speakers and panel members, a photo gallery, as well as the following 8 presentations (recordings and PowerPoint presentations):

• France and its languages: towards a shift in paradigm (Thierry Delobel),
• Implementation of the Romani plurilingual policy experimentation (Ágnes Antal Nyustin and Szabina Szabó Balázs),
• Promoting the Romansh language to different target groups (Annalisa Schaniel and Andreas Gabriel),
• Policy and innovative practice in teaching Walloon language (Romain Berger and Julien Noël),
• Curriculum, examinations, and assessment for RML in Norway – challenges and solutions (Kim Buxton),
• Presentation of the ECML publications and how they can be used (Gabija Kiaušaitė),
• Innovative teaching practices to foster student motivation in the Basque and Friulian contexts (Ada Bier),
• Minority education regulation in Slovenia with best practices from the bilingual area of Prekmurje (Darja Farič Klemenčič).
  
  

ECML dedicated web section: English – French

Programme: English – French

ECML livestream (7 November 2023, 09:00 – 12:30 CET): English – French

The 2023 European Day of Languages was organised under the motto of “Say YES to languages”, encouraging people from all backgrounds and all ages to open up their world a little more through learning languages.

On 26 September, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, highlighted the importance of language learning as “a step towards openness and respect for other cultures”. These values were very much in evidence among the huge number of events taking place in celebration of the Day. Some 1 400 events were registered in the EDL events calendar and over 2.2 million visits were recorded to the dedicated EDL website over the course of the course of September – the EDL Facebook page also had its highest figures ever.

For the 22nd edition of the Day, the dedicated website which now counts Icelandic amongst its languages offered a wealth of new games and resources to help mark the occasion, such as:

• Lara’s journey through Europe’s Regional and Minority languages
  Having found out about some 46 of Europe’s mostly ‘bigger’ languages on her first journey, on this trip Lara chose to scratch beneath the surface and explore languages which are not so well known beyond the areas they are spoken in. The booklet is currently available in English, French and German and thanks to the support of the EDL National Relays is due to be translated into at least 10 further languages in the coming months.
  https://edl.ecml.at/languagejourney
• The funniest one and only multilingual joke book
  Based on one of last year’s initiatives “In how many languages can you make someone laugh?”, a selection of some 250 jokes featuring 25 languages was compiled from a vast range of submissions. With Christmas just around the corner – this is a ‘must have’ for gatherings of friends and relatives over the festive season! You can then judge for yourself whether humour really is a universal language for breaking down barriers! You are, of course, also most welcome to submit your own jokes for a follow-up book…
  https://edl.ecml.at/jokebook

In addition to the resources, a series of competitions, polls and initiatives were also organised.

• According to the thousands of respondants to the ‘Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the future of language learning?’ poll, the ‘personalised and adaptable learning experience’ offered by AI turned out to be the most important perceived benefit, followed closely by the ‘infinite possibilities for content (exercises, tasks, etc.)’ and the offer of 'advanced translation tools’. Although benefits appeared to outweigh the dangers, there were concerns about the ‘reduction of human interaction in the learning process’ and the ‘potential threat to employment’. A little surprisingly, 'data protection issues' and fear of 'technology dependence' seemed to be regarded as less important threats:
  https://edl.ecml.at/poll
• There was a huge response to this year’s poster competition on the theme of “How many languages are spoken in your classroom or school?” A total of 1,900 designs were submitted. Prizes will be awarded for the top 5 but, in fact, all of the fantastically creative entries would merit a prize! The ECML premises in Graz are currently being decorated with the posters but we are fast running out of wall space! See the posters here:
  https://edl.ecml.at/languagesinmyclassroom
• There was also a highly impressive response to the Beauty of languages initiative: where participants were invited to submit a short video presenting an intriguing expression in a particular language and illustrating it with an interesting/amusing anecdote related to its use. With over 300, again very well conceived videos, submitted, a selection has been compiled of just some of the best:
  https://edl.ecml.at/beautyoflanguages
• The Message in a Bottle event organised by the s organised by Departamento Curricular de Línguas, Alcobaça, Portugal, received the most votes in this year’s ‘Most innovative event’ competition. The initiative involved individual students from all levels (as well as teachers and assistants, or students' parents) writing their own message to the world in a European language, and posting it in a bottle. Congratulations to the 2023 winners!
• The 2024 EDL T-shirt design competition is open until 31 December 2023, so there is still time to come up with an ‘award-winning’ design – no doubt to be featured in the Paris spring fashion week next year!
  https://edl.ecml.at/tshirt

As ever, a big thank you to the EDL National Relays for their enormous commitment in promoting the Day and sending out materials to schools and event organisers in their countries. We are also most grateful to everyone who contributed to making the Day this year an occasion to remember... and there are only 10 months to go to think of yet more ambitious and creative events and initiatives for next year’s EDL!