Tow new important language campaigns were launched today:

1. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Languages is launching its Manifesto Campaign for Languages aimed at all political parties in the run-up to the next election. Download the campaign document here. See also: http://blog.britishcouncil.org/appg-modernlanguages/

2. UCML is launching a campaign aimed at all universities to ask for a language qualification as an entry requirement regardless of subject of study. UCML members are urged to forward this to their senior management teams and heads of university admissions and to support this campaign.

To all Languages@Warwick users.

After a complete platform review this year we have decided to change our hosting provider to Moodlerooms. This will bring numerous advantages including:

o a more modern look and feel

o better support for our key plug ins (BB collaborate, Kaltura, Equella)

o additional reporting and analytics for all users

o easier sub-theming for other users who have their own categories on the site

Warwick Arts Centre have variety of foreign films showing throughout the term. If you are thinking about taking a language with us, take this opportunity to immerse yourself in your chosen foreign language and culture.

The Language Centre at University of Warwick, one of the UK’s leading universities, announced today that is has selected Kaltura, the leading open source video platform (http://www.kaltura.com), to power video for teaching and learning. The Language Centre is deploying Kaltura’s full-featured video extension for Moodle, as well as its own video portal, based on Kaltura’s MediaSpace video portal application.

The Language Centre is accredited by the Centre international d'études pédagogiques (CIEP) to offer the Test de connaissance du français (TCF).

New campaign calls for urgent action on languages

A new campaign, branded Speak to the Future, has been launched with the support of over 30

organisations to address the UK’s flagging achievement in language learning. The campaign calls

for urgent action on policy to safeguard and revitalise language learning across all phases of

education in order to boost educational and career opportunities for young people and our ability to

compete in the global economy. Campaigners have united to send a powerful public message

highlighting the vital national importance of foreign language capacity in today’s global world.

The LETPP project -  Languages in Europe: Theory Policy Practice - has just launched its website:

Multilingualism has been described as an "asset for Europe and a shared commitment".  This may, however, be more a vision of what might be than a description of reality.  Reality is mediated not only by the vision (what people think), but by policy decisions (laws and regulations) and by performance (what we actually do).

A one year project - LETPP - has therefore been initiated in order to identify the conditions which allow good ideas on multilingualism to develop into coherent policy and practice, and also the obstacles to that happening.  By policy we mean European, national and regional strategies which promote or inhibit linguistic diversity in social and economic life, and also specific measures which may support that diversity, such as the Lifelong Learning Programme. 

For all those who ever struggled to find the relevant resources for their courses, they are now clearly presented and divided by language. Tutors: click on Teachers' Home and join the language teachers' community.

Languages at work
The Confederation of British Industry recently found 74% of employers look to hire candidates with conversational competence in another language because it helps businesses to communicate with customers and clients on a wider scale:

The Independent offers careers advice for those wanting to be language teachers. There is the option to post a comment if you see fit.