• 23Aug

    Australia’s unrecognized resources boom – Languages for Australia’s future

    9. All ages, All, Everyone, National, Opinion Comments Off

    Emeritus Professor Michael Clyne, one of Australia’s foremost experts on and advocate for multilingualism, gave The Year of Languages Lecture on 19 August 2008 at Monash Uni.

    “This year, the UN International Year of Languages, countries all over the world have been reflecting on their achievements in languages and what they could be doing better.

    In Australia, we have seen the continuation of a public discourse which started the previous year, on the benefits of second language learning and the decline in language programs over the years.

    I will argue that this discourse will remain on the surface if it does not take into account the linguistic diversity we are blessed with, and if we cannot overcome our pervasive monolingual mindset.

    I will also suggest a different, more holistic way of thinking about the benefits of plurilingualism, that is the use of more than one language. “

    As well as being Emeritus Professor at Monash University and an honorary professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne, Michael Clyne is a bilingual parent of a bilingual child and is a member of the Languages Action Alliance.

    Read the transcript

  • 23Aug

    Language Links

    9. All ages, All, Everyone, International, National, Resources Comments Off

    Poppy Masselos is a registered teacher with decades of experience in the classroom.

    A large part of her career in the past has been to help teachers to make sense of new and emerging technologies and to help infuse these in all curriculum areas in all grade levels.

    Poppy maintains a blog for the Brisbane Courier Mail on digital resources for the classroom.

    In this post she has provided an impressive list of links to websites related to languages learning. Go there now

    Reprinted from Languages in Education newsletter 22 August 2008

    NB: There are quite a few broken links on this page, but there are also some gems.

  • 22Aug

    Foreign languages: Learn early

    All, Spanish, Uncategorized Comments Off

    Allysia Finley, 13 July 2008

    Public schools aren’t helping students compete with foreign counterparts

    The Register recently ran a story on HABLA, the Home-based Activities Building Language Acquisition program, which aims to help teach toddlers from low-income, Spanish-speaking families English and Spanish by sending language coaches into their homes.

    HABLA is based on the premise that the more children communicate at a young age, the more quickly they develop language skills.

    While the program remains controversial because of its bilingual approach, recent studies by the Brookings Institution suggest that improving toddlers’ native linguistic skills helps them more easily learn English.

    Regardless of the arguments for or against HABLA, its premise – that children best learn languages when they are young and that frequent communication is necessary for language acquisition – should be considered in constructing foreign-language education in America.

    Most public school students do not begin studying foreign languages until high school, and then it is usually to fulfill a graduation requirement. After all, it is difficult to see any reason to study a foreign language since much of the rest of the world is becoming fluent in English. Read more

    Reprinted from Languages Education in Australia newsletter 21 August 2008

  • 18Aug

    MLTAQ Biennial Conference

    4. Years 1-3, 5. Years 4-6, 6. Years 7-10, 7. Years 11-12, 8. Tertiary, All, Events, Principals, QLD, Teachers Comments Off

    The Modern Language Teachers Association of Queensland (MLTAQ) holds its 2008 Biennial Conference under the banner “Languages Matter!” from 1-2 October 2008, hosted by Gold Coast Branch and Griffith University

    Languages Matter!

    Languages matter in developing classroom pedagogy.

    In understanding teacher professional standards.

    In quality interactions in the language specific classroom.

    In building bridges to the world.

    In developing intercultural and other literacies for Australia’s future.

    Share with your colleagues how you are making Languages Matter.

    Read more

   

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