our words make worlds

‘Our Languages’: Exploring Collaborations in Language Education

This conference, organised by Elena Polisca and Sascha Stollhans, explored cross-sector collaborations in language education in the UK. Taking place at Lancaster University, 28 September 2019, it invited primary and secondary teachers, academics, other language professionals and policy makers to discuss ideas to tackle the ‘language crisis’ in the UK, and explore potential cross-sector collaborations. The event will result in the publication of open-access position papers with recommendations for future developments in British language education.

Programme

09:30-10:00 Arrival, coffee and registration in Bowland North

10:00-10:15 Introduction and housekeeping - Elena Polisca & Sascha Stollhans; Welcome note – Olga Gomez-Cash, Associate Dean for Education (FASS) Keynote speakers

10:20-10:30 Where are we now? Facts and figures – Benjamin Kulka, The British Academy

10:30-10:50 The primary sector: successful implementation of languages – Janet Lloyd

10:50-11.10 The secondary sector: challenges, initiatives, recommendations – Helen Myers

11:10-11:50 Community and home languages – Pascale Vassie Language Explorers: linguistic diversity as a resource in the primary classroom – Francesca La Morgia

12:00-12:45 Q&A with Keynote speakers

12:45-13:45 Lunch and Networking

13:45-14:15 Panel discussion with Paul Kaye, Shirley Lawes, René Koglbauer

14:15-15:15 Working groups: Policy group: with Paul Kaye; Curriculum group: with Shirley Lawes, and a contribution by representatives from the ‘Linguistics in MFL’ project; Implementation and cross-sector collaboration group: with René Koglbauer

15:15-16:00 Report back from working groups and discussion: taking languages forward

16:00-16:15 Concluding remarks and plans for the post-conference future

To download the programme as a pdf, see the conference webpage.

If you have any questions about this event, please email e.polisca@lancaster.ac.uk and s.stollhans@lancaster.ac.uk.