News
Reminder! The GCHQ National Language Competition 2024
The GCHQ National Language Competition 2024 will run from Monday 18th November - Friday 22nd November.
This is suitable for Year 10 pupils. Please follow the link below:
International Education Week 2024 - British Council
The British Council are busy planning exciting events and resources for International Education Week 2024 which will take place from 18 to 22 November.
Follow the links below to find out more:
TPL Thursdays! Bitesize Professional Learning
Find out more about Language Trends, Careers with Languages, Pedagogical Approaches to Language Learning, Raising the Profile of Languages and Nurturing Young Linguists.
The TPL Thursdays! Language Landscape Supporting Materials can be accessed below.
The GCHQ National Language Competition 2024
We are pleased to confirm the date of the 2024 GCHQ National Language Competition, which will run from Monday 18th November - Friday 22nd November.
The National Language Competition (NLC) is a virtual competition where teams from schools around the UK compete against each other to solve language-based puzzles and score points. The overall winners are then invited to GCHQ’s headquarters in Cheltenham to receive their trophy!
With the NLC, GCHQ aims to inspire language learning by encouraging students to discover their aptitude for learning languages. Some sample challenges are provided below- why not encourage your pupils to have a go?
Teachers can register their interest in the NLC 2024 by contacting [email protected]
Please contact us on [email protected] if you have any other issues or queries.
Upcoming events hosted by the British Council
Check out upcoming events hosted by the British Council.
Celebrate Speaking
Speaking another language is an incredible skill – and it’s great fun too! Give your students the chance to practise and celebrate their favourite language, whether it’s one they're learning in class or one they speak in their community. Join our festival of language in February.
Employ a language assistant
Thinking of bringing a modern language assistant into your classroom in 2024-25? Find out how it could benefit your students and what’s involved. Applications open 29 February.
Education Exchange: Climate
Join our webinar on 1 February to learn how to set up climate change and sustainability education in schools.
Year of the Dragon: Free resources
Celebrate the Year of the Dragon in your classroom with our free teaching resource and explore Chinese language and culture.
Irish Language Broadcast Fund | An Ciste Craoltóireachta Gaeilge
Worthwhile for teachers to explore this digital archive of films in Irish provided by An Ciste Craoltóireachta Gaeilge.
Lots of material for different age groups and different levels of fluency.
International Education Week - Languages
This is International Education Week. Please check out all the resources available from the British Council.
The Languages Gateway
A very useful source for resources and information for languages has recently been launched - The Languages Gateway.
We would encourage all language teachers to explore what is available on the site. Searches can be refined to a particular language and to a particular UK region.
The GCHQ National Language Competition 2023
GCHQ, one of the UK’s intelligence agencies, is running a National Language Competition from 6th-10th November aimed at pupils in Year 9 in England and Wales, Year 10 in Northern Ireland, and S3 in Scotland.
Schools can enter multiple teams of up to four pupils to take part. Over the course of five days, the teams will score points by tackling a variety of fun, immersive, language-themed challenges of varying difficulty levels hosted on a virtual platform.
All pupils will be able to take part, no prior knowledge is required, only a keenness for languages.
The winning team with the most points at the end of the competition will be invited to GCHQ’s Headquarters in Cheltenham and will be presented with their trophy!
To take part, schools can email [email protected].
NICILT has created a summer challenge activity booklet for pupils in years 8 & 9 studying French, German, Irish and Spanish
CCEA Education Team (Languages) would like to inform you that this year, NICILT has created a summer challenge activity booklet for pupils in years 8 & 9 studying French, German, Irish and Spanish
The aim of the booklet is to encourage KS3 pupils to practise their language skills and discover more about the culture and traditions associated with the language they are studying during their summer break.
Pupils can pick and choose between the fifteen activities in the booklet and participants will be awarded a Bronze, Silver or Gold award depending on the number of activities completed. Pupils should submit their activity booklet to their Languages teacher when they return to school in September.
The teacher can then request certificates by completing the return form attached and submitting to [email protected]. In order to receive your certificates before European Day of Languages (Monday 26 September), please return your form to us by Friday 16 September at the latest. Activity booklets DO NOT need to be returned to NICILT.
NICILT Teacher Professional Learning Webinars with Joe Dale
CCEA Education Team (Languages) would like to inform languages teachers of three twilight professional learning webinars offered by NICILT in collaboration with Joe Dale:
Quizzing tools and retrieval practice in MFL
Monday 11th January, 8pm – 9pm:
Hybrid teaching for Roomies and Zoomies
Monday 18th January, 8pm – 9pm:
Harnessing the power of Bitmojis and Jamboard to engage learners in and out of the MFL classroom
Monday 25th January, 8pm – 9pm
For more information and to register, please follow the link below:
GCSE Modern Languages – Changes to the GCSE Specification from Summer 2020
Please note the circular S/IF/54/19 issued in September 2019 setting out changes to the GCSE Specification from Summer 2020