Latest News

A selection of language-related news. Does not claim to be comprehensive or represent the views of SCILT.


Parental engagement

SCILT/Save the Children – case study now published

1 November 2022 (SCILT)

In partnership with Save the Children, SCILT is delighted to publish a new case study which focuses on parental engagement with languages in the primary and Early Years sectors. Here we look at four primary schools and one ELC, all within the Forth Valley West Lothian RIC, and how they managed to involve parents/families with languages and language learning during the most challenging times of the Covid pandemic. We are thrilled to share the creative ways in which schools got parents involved with languages and the impact this has had.

Read more...

Open access Wednesdays

16 August 2022 (SCILT)

Paging primary teachers and primary education students across Scotland. Keep your Wednesdays free! On the last Wednesday of each month between August and November 2022, SCILT’s primary professional development officers will host a series of online workshops.  

These workshops are free and open to all primary teachers and primary education students in Scotland.

Karen and Lynne look forward to welcoming you to explore one or more of these areas of primary languages pedagogy.

The sessions will be hosted on MS Teams and will not be recorded. Register for each event separately via the links above.

Plus, there are even more open access workshops to come:

  • Five primary workshops with a creativity twist between January and May 2023
  • A series of online, open access secondary workshops in May and June 2023

Keep an eye out in the ebulletin for further details. 

Parental Engagement - NEW - A Practitioner’s Guide

19 May 2022 (SCILT)

We have collated a range of materials to provide practitioners with useful information, including examples of practice across sectors, about engaging parents and families with language learning. This guide features a variety of reading materials, resources, and case studies to equip practitioners working in a variety of contexts with the tools to actively consider how to get parents and families engaged with their child’s language learning.

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The Big Question: SCILT secondary seminar series

29 April 2022 (SCILT)

This term we are hosting a series of interactive seminars for secondary languages teachers, based on some of the main themes from our workshops this year, and covering some of the big questions that you might be asking about teaching languages today.

Each session will feature the chance to hear from a guest practitioner, and the opportunity to discuss and share with fellow teachers, and hopefully together to come up with some answers to these questions!

Seminars are free to attend and are open to all secondary languages teachers and student teachers; attend as many or as few as you wish. Register for each seminar separately via the links below. 

  • Seminar 1: Employability and languages
    4-5pm, Tuesday 17 May
    In this seminar we will consider why and how to make meaningful connections between language learning and the Developing the Young Workforce agenda. Sarah Coats from Musselburgh Grammar School will be our guest in this session, sharing some of the work that she has been involved with in this area, which led to the school achieving the Scottish Languages Employability Award this year.
     
  • Seminar 2: Encouraging uptake
    4-5pm, Wednesday 25 May
    Across Scotland, we are all facing the challenge of how to encourage learners to continue studying languages when faced with the choice. In this seminar we will have the chance to share ideas and strategies that we have tried or would like to try. France Reid from Dunblane High School will be our guest in this session, sharing the issues that they have faced and how they are seeking to address them.
     
  • Seminar 3: Teaching controversial issues
    4-5pm, Thursday 9 June
    In this seminar we will look at how can we approach controversial issues such as gender, race, politics and climate in the context of language learning.  We will explore strategies for tackling controversial issues safely and effectively in the languages classroom. Our guest in this session will be Lynne Jones of SCILT who will be sharing particularly around areas of gender and immigration.
     
  • Seminar 4: Building confidence in talking
    4-5pm, Wednesday 15 June
    Talking is often the area of our subject that learners find most challenging and stressful. In this seminar we will discuss and share practical ideas and activities which help build learner confidence in talking in the target language. Lisa Hanna from SCILT, who is a Visiting Assessor for talking with SQA, will be our guest in this session.

The sessions will be hosted on MS Teams and will not be recorded.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Primary languages workshop series 2022 - places available

21 April 2022 (SCILT)

There are a small number of places remaining on the final two workshops in the SCILT primary languages series. These workshops are free, take place online, and each focus on a different aspect of primary languages pedagogy.

The workshops are open to any primary teacher or student primary teacher in Scotland. You can attend as many of the workshops in the series as you like. You must register for each workshop separately by clicking on the links below. 

  • Workshop 3: Parental engagement for family learning in languages at primary
    4-5pm, Wednesday 27th April 2022
    We will consider the positive impact that parental engagement and family learning with languages can have on pupils and their families. We will consider the importance of parental engagement in relation to other initiatives within Scottish Education, mainly raising attainment and will share examples of current practice on how schools are engaging with parents/families through languages.
     
  • Workshop 4: Making languages work for your primary pupils: DYW and 1+2
    4-5pm Wednesday 25th May 2022
    We will look at how your school can make meaningful connections between the language learning and the Developing the Young Workforce agenda, and maybe pick up a Scottish Languages Employability Award along the way! Be inspired by examples from primary schools across the country.

All workshops will take place on Microsoft Teams and will not be recorded.

See attached workshop series flyer which can be distributed to colleagues.

Related Files

Making Your Future Brighter With Languages (1+2 December 2021) – Event recordings now available!

21 January 2022 (SCILT)

We are delighted to confirm that the recently launched toolkit for Phase Three of our ERASMUS+ project, Generation Global, now includes recordings of the sessions that took place at the virtual launch events on 1+2 December 2021. Entitled Making Your Future Brighter With Languages, the events, like the toolkit, set out to give young people, parents and carers a wealth of information, ideas and advice about the importance of learning languages.

The first event, on 1 December, which was aimed at young people, featured interactive activities and an interesting and informative panel discussion of young professionals talking about how they use languages in their careers. These recordings could be useful for teachers to show to classes of young people around subject choice times.

On 2 December the event focused on parents, carers and teachers. At this event we enjoyed contributions by Dr Paul Hare (Professional Development Officer, SCILT) and partners from Denmark and Norway, a fascinating panel discussion with representation from employers, educators and careers advisers, and a powerful message from Liz Neil of the British Council on the value of language and intercultural skills to the workforce of the future.

Recordings of all sessions are available on our website.

Read more...

Primary languages workshop series: spring 2022

26 November 2021 (SCILT)

The SCILT Professional Development Team is thrilled to announce that in spring 2022, we will host a series of four free online workshops, each on a different aspect of primary languages pedagogy.

The workshops are open to any primary teacher or student primary teacher in Scotland. You can attend as many of the workshops in the series as you like. You must register for each workshop separately by clicking on the links below. 

  • Workshop 1: Assessing progress in primary languages
    4-5pm, Wednesday 26 January 2022
    We will explore some assessment approaches and tools. We will look at examples of listening, talking, reading and writing in L2 by primary learners. We will refer to Education Scotland’s Modern Languages early – second level benchmarks and first – second level progression framework.
     
  • Workshop 2: Engaging cultural contexts for primary language learning
    4-5pm, Wednesday 23 February 2022
    We will look at interdisciplinary approaches to support language learning. We will explore a range of activities and resources to develop children’s intercultural understanding, awareness of cultural diversity and multilingualism both globally and locally. We will share examples of current practice in Scottish schools.
     
  • Workshop 3: Parental engagement for family learning in languages at primary
    4-5pm, Wednesday 27th April 2022
    We will consider the positive impact that parental engagement and family learning with languages can have on pupils and their families. We will consider the importance of parental engagement in relation to other initiatives within Scottish Education, mainly raising attainment and will share examples of current practice on how schools are engaging with parents/families through languages.
     
  • Workshop 4: Making languages work for your primary pupils: DYW and 1+2
    4-5pm Wednesday 25th May 2022
    We will look at how your school can make meaningful connections between the language learning and the Developing the Young Workforce agenda, and maybe pick up a Scottish Languages Employability Award along the way! Be inspired by examples from primary schools across the country.

All workshops will take place on Microsoft Teams and will not be recorded.

See attached workshop series flyer which can be distributed to colleagues.

Related Files

May Bitesize: Parental Engagement in Schools – Primary & Secondary drop-in

11 May 2021 (SCILT)

SCILT monthly drop-ins are free, themed virtual events that are open to teachers and student primary teachers working in Scotland. Drop-ins are an opportunity to share your thoughts on that month’s Bitesize resource and/or share your own experience on the theme.

In May 2021, we’re looking at parental engagement and how schools approach this in a languages context. So join the drop-in on 26 May, share your ideas and experiences and hear what others do too!  

Find out more, along with the registration link, on our Bitesize webpage.

Read more...

BSL:  New case study alert!

23 October 2020 (SCILT)

SCILT is delighted to announce the publication of its new case study on engaging parents with languages. This study, in conjunction with Education Scotland, highlights how Moorfoot Primary and Garvel Deaf Centre in Gourock support parents of deaf and hearing children with learning BSL. It provides insightful information on how BSL features greatly within the school, in addition to the other languages taught. Parents, pupils and staff share their experience of using and learning BSL and emphasise the value, significance and importance of all language learning and the impact it can have locally and beyond.

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NEW! Languages in a nutshell

16 November 2018 (SCILT)

NEW! Languages in a nutshell

Languages in a nutshell is a guide to learning languages, produced by SCILT in partnership with The National Parent Forum of Scotland. Aimed at parents, this leaflet explains how the 1+2 Approach will be put into practice and why learning other languages is so important. It also suggests ways parents can support their child’s language learning.

If you are interested in ordering this leaflet for your school please visit our Leaflets page.

Languages in a nutshell is one in a series of Nutshell leaflets produced by The National Parent Forum of Scotland.

EAL parents 'can't engage with school life'

1 November 2018 (TES)

More than half of teachers worry that parents whose native language is not English are missing out on critical elements of their children’s education, a survey shows.

Nearly seven out of 10 teachers said they were concerned parents couldn’t help with homework, and 51 per cent worried whether they could identify if their children had learning difficulties.

More than half (56 per cent) of teachers surveyed said they feared parents with English as an additional language (EAL) could not fully engage with school life.

Read more...

Zoo fun with Mandarin - Free mini classes at Edinburgh Zoo

30 October 2018 (RZSS)

Zoo Fun with Mandarin is a mini Mandarin language course with a difference. It is an opportunity to learn Mandarin whilst also finding out about animals at the zoo and RZSS projects. The course is suitable for 8 years to adult and these are family learning sessions so children must be accompanied by an adult to attend.

RZSS Edinburgh Zoo hosts the first science specialist Confucius Classroom in the world.

Related Files

Building with Lingo

23 March 2018 (SCILT)

Children, young people and their families had the opportunity to discover the benefits of language learning at an action-packed, family learning event held at University of Strathclyde on 17 March 2018.

Participants took part in a wide range of intergenerational activities to celebrate and promote languages and cultural diversity. The varied programme featured interactive workshops and lectures as well as language and cultural taster sessions. These included a French puppet show, a lecture on the benefits of bilingualism, a masterclass in British Sign Language, an opportunity to hear how languages are used in the RAF and an overview of how languages facilitate the conservation work of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

A parent attending the event said: “This was a wonderful day, brilliant for adults and kids alike! It has reinspired my love of languages.”

Another parent stated: “I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with my son and encourage his love of languages.”

The day was facilitated by SCILT, Scotland’s National Centre for Languages based at the University of Strathclyde.

Fhiona Mackay, Director of SCILT said: “All parents and carers want the best for their child. Language learning contributes to building stronger, more cohesive communities in which our children can flourish. It offers youngsters a new way of thinking and exploring the world around them and helps lay the important building bricks that will support their learning throughout their life.”

SCILT are grateful for the support of The National Parent Forum of Scotland, Bilingualism Matters, Carmyle Primary School Choir, Classics for All, Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools, Le Petit Monde, Lingo Flamingo, North Ayrshire Council, Radio Lingua, Royal Air Force, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Russian Centre ‘Haven’, SFS School of Irish Dancing and Theatre Sans Accents.

Parental engagement a key driver in the Scottish Government’s National Improvement Framework and family learning in particular is recognised as a “powerful method of engagement and learning which can foster positive attitudes towards life-long learning, promote socio-economic resilience and challenge educational disadvantage.” (Family Learning Network, 2016).

For more information on the work of SCILT to promote languages across all ages, visit the SCILT website.

   
University of Strathclyde Education Scotland British Council Scotland The Scottish Government
SCILT - Scotlands National centre for Languages