The Association for Language Learning conference, Language World, takes
place at the University of Bath from 4 – 6 April 2003.
On the opening day, Friday 4 April, Baroness Ashton will speak on 'How to
implement the National Languages Strategy' and time will be allocated
afterwards for questions. Catherine Ashton is Parliamentary Under Secretary
of State for Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare, and is responsible for
MFL across the education and skills sectors.
One of the major themes of the conference this year is collaboration. In the
light of the National Languages Strategy, it is clearly important that
different sectors should work together to promote languages, improve
teaching and learning and encourage more young people to study languages at
higher levels. Sessions of particular interest to colleagues in Higher
Education might be:
* University Challenge: Learning Languages in HE in the 21st century
Two information/discussion sessions for teachers in schools,
organised by the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies,
on studying
languages in HE (Friday and Saturday)
* Presentations on collaborative projects between universities and
schools/LEAs
* A session from Hilary Footitt (Chair of UCML) on Virtual Language Learning
Communities (Saturday)
* A presentation by the Villiers Park Educational Trust on work they are
doing with schools and universities in the field of languages
* A panel session on post-16 languages education with representatives from
QCA, CILT, OFSTED and other experts (Friday)
We do hope that colleagues teaching languages in HE will be able to join us
for some or all of these sessions. We normally have 450 – 500 participants
over the three days, so the conference and exhibition – which is the largest
UK exhibition of language resources and includes a number of free
promotional presentations - provide an excellent opportunity for networking
and discussion.
You can view the full conference programme (it takes a few minutes to
download) at http://www2.all-languages.org.uk/language_world_conf.htm.
We look forward to meeting you there!
Linda Parker
Director
Association for Language Learning
Tel: 01788 546443
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.ALL-languages.org.uk
