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Colleagues may be interested in this. Best wishes Amy Begin forwarded message: > From: Speak to the Future - the campaign for languages <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Speak to the Future news release > Date: 1 February 2016 14:49:07 GMT > To: Amy Thompson <[log in to unmask]> > Reply-To: Speak to the Future - the campaign for languages <[log in to unmask]> > > View this email in your browser > > News release: free app to encourage language learning: 15 Minute Mandarin Challenge > > Dear Colleague, > > Speak to the Future is today launching the 15 Minute Mandarin Challenge to celebrate Chinese New Year. It includes a free app (for Android and Apple) to encourage people to discover how much language they can learn in a surprisingly short amount of time! > > There are prizes available too: click here to read our article, and our press release below. Please do try it out - and forward to your contacts! > > Happy new year from Speak to the Future! > > NEWS RELEASE 1 February 2016 > > Languages campaign launches new free App to overturn preconceptions about language learning > > Speak to the Future, the campaign for languages, is challenging everyone to devote 15 minutes of their time to test out a new approach to learning languages which could change their minds about what it involves. > > Developed in conjunction with Minute Mandarin, to celebrate the Chinese New Year, the App is aimed at everyone who thinks that learning a new language is beyond them, and that Chinese is especially hard. > > The 15 minute Mandarin challenge is easy to use, intuitive and fun. But it also has a serious purpose: to develop people’s curiosity about how language and culture fit together to provide different windows on the world. > > Bernardette Holmes, Campaign Director of Speak to the Future, says: > ‘To everyone who has given up on language learning, or is afraid they are not cut out for it, we say “take the 15 minute Mandarin challenge”. It could open up a new world for you. Take 15 minutes to change your ideas about foreign languages!’ > > Tim Nash, of Minute Mandarin, says: > ‘Mandarin is so different, that from the first minute, you are immersed in a culture that can open your mind to understanding differences between people. It also has vast potential for making us think differently about language learning. We want as many people as possible to give it a try and let us know what they think.’ > > The 15 Minute Mandarin challenge App can be downloaded free from the Apple store, or from Google Play for Android users. Alternatively, you can follow the links from www.speaktothefuture.org/mandarinchallenge/ > > The challenge is open throughout the month of February, to welcome in the Year of the Monkey. There is a prize draw for everyone who completes the challenge by 29 February 2016. > > Contacts: > Philip Harding-Esch, Speak to the Future: 07834 174733 [log in to unmask] > > Tim Nash, Minute Mandarin: 07507 809041 [log in to unmask] > > Notes > 1. Last year, 49% of students took a GCSE in a language. Just over 1% of all language entries were in Chinese (3,710 out of 335,561 – figures fromwww.jcq.org.uk). > > 2. Speak to the Future has called on head teachers to include languages within a core curriculum in Key Stage 4 in support of an outward-facing Britainhttp://www.speaktothefuture.org/speak-to-the-future-calls-for-head-teachers-to-implement-the-ebacc-and-support-an-outward-facing-britain-with-an-outward-facing-curriculum-which-includes-languages/ > > 3. Research commissioned by the British Council last year showed that, while three quarters of British adults (73%) think that speaking another language is an important skill, nearly half (46%) are embarrassed by their current lack of language skills.https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/press/uk-adults-regret-losing-language-skills-school-days > > 4. Chinese New Year is celebrated throughout the month of February. In China, each year is named after a different animal on a 12 year cycle. > > 5. The British Council has produced a teaching resource for young children about the Year of the Monkey. It can be downloaded fromhttps://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/classroom-resources/list/year-monkey > > > > > Want to change how you receive these emails? > You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list > > > > > > > > > This email was sent to [log in to unmask] > why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences > Speak to the future · Saxon House · 48 Southwark Street · London, London SE1 1UN · United Kingdom > > >