What is the European Day of Languages?The European Year of Languages 2001, jointly organised by the Council of Europe and the European Union, was successful in involving millions of people across 45 participating countries. Its activities celebrated linguistic diversity in Europe and promoted language learning.
The general objectives of the European Day of Languages are:
1.Alerting the public to the importance of language learning and diversifying the range of languages learnt in order to increase plurilingualism and intercultural understanding;
2.Promoting the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe, which must be preserved and fostered;
3.Encouraging lifelong language learning in and out of school, whether for study purposes, for professional needs, for purposes of mobility or for pleasure and exchanges.
Who is the European Day of Languages for?
The Council of Europe is hoping that this Day will be celebrated by both authorities in its member states and potential partners at the following levels:
■among policy-makers (specific measures or discussions on language policy issues, for instance)
■among the general public (awareness-raising on the overall objectives of the Day, including the importance of lifelong language learning, starting at any age, in educational establishments, at work, etc);
■in the voluntary sector (specific actions by and/or for NGOs, associations, companies, etc).
SOURCE:
http://edl.ecml.at/Abouttheday/Whatisit/tabid/1760/language/en-GB/Default.aspx
After some info on this particular day, I have some suggestions for students and teachers/colleagues alike...
To celebrate the upcoming European Day of Languages I would invite you all to click on the link below
http://edl.ecml.at/LanguageFun/MemoryGame/Flagsmemorygame/tabid/1870/language/en-GB/Default.aspx
It will take you to two examples of pelmanism. TRY at least the easy one!!!!
Anyway, there are also other activities I find quite interesting. If you click on "Language Fun", you will find topics such as "Language Treasures", "Language Facts" or "Language Quiz" but I would challenge you to send me (or somebody else) a CARD ("Send a Card") :)))
Another suggestion (especially for teachers of English) is to click on
http://www.britishcouncil.org/portugal-ensinar-ingles-materiais.htm
where you will find resources you may wish to use.
I'll be waiting for your feedback and cards!!!
2 comments:
As the European Day of Languages approaches, don't forget the Esperanto language which is now gaining much interest.
I've just done a Google search, and came up with 50,000,000 hits. This unique phenomenon seems to be gaining much attention :)
Your readers may be interested in the following video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670
A glimpse of the language can be seen at http://www.lernu.net :)
Thank you for your first contribution and accept my apologies for having taken so long to drop a few lines.
Esperanto is not totally unknown to my students, I mean, Plurilingualism / Multiculturalism is one of the topics in the Portuguese syllabus for secondary students and I've always introduced some information on it. Besides, in Lisbon there is a fair every year - Expolingua - and Esperanto has always had a stand there to which students have to go to and ask for some words... As a Portuguese teacher of English I try to motivate them for foreign / other languages which, inevitably, has always included Esperanto.
Thanks a lot for your suggestions -I've already had a look at both of them and would just like to add (to my readers) that wikipedia also has loads of information on Esperanto and it is one of the languages used.
Alexandra
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