Mercator Network Newsletter 175

August 2021

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VirtuLApp Webinar Welcome back to the Multilingual Classroom!

This interactive webinar (15 September, 2021. 15:00-17:00 CEST) is open to everyone at the start of the new school year who is interested in learning more about teaching in multilingual classrooms. The programme includes: talks by teachers and school principals based on their experience of multilingual classrooms, explanation and demonstration of the resources available to support teachers including the updated BabelAR game with several new features, and the sharing of experiences of teachers as to how they have been using BabelAR as part of their teaching practice. For more information and registration go to the VirtuLApp website.


	Call for Proposals: Multilingualism in virtual communication and encounters The editors of Language Education and Multilingualism – The Langscape Journal invite proposals for contributions to Volume 5 of the journal scheduled to be published in 2022. The journal is part of the international research network LANGSCAPE that focuses on plurilingualism, language education and language learning. The special topic volume will address Multilingualism in virtual communication and encounters. New approaches to educational contexts. Proposals should be submitted by September 15, 2021. Read more


	Formal complaint to UN by European Language Equality Network The European Language Equality Network (ELEN) and its French member organisations have made a formal complaint to the United Nations about the French state’s continuing discrimination against territorial languages. The French Constitutional Council partially censored the “Molac Bill” on May 21st, which makes regional language immersion education and the use of those languages anti-constitutional. Read more


	INTERESTING LINKS




	EUROPE

● £1.1m plan to immerse non Welsh speaking children in the language

● Online multiplayer game "Among Us' now also available in Irish

● Podcast – How bilingual children’s languages influence each other

● Language use in Maltese bilingual and multilingual classrooms

● FUEN: The Frisian-Danish school in Germany was presented in Minority Talks

● Welsh is one of the ‘most popular’ languages on Duolingo, says company boss

● New internet browser written in Scots language

● The decline of Occitan: A failure of cultural initiatives, or abandonment by the state?

● The lessons from Ireland that could help save Gaelic in Scotland

● France's regional languages, patois, dialects: what was that again?

Click here to register


	European Structural Funds for speakers of Scottish and Welsh The latest post on the ECMI’s Minorities Blog sheds a light on an under-researched topic: The role of European Structural Funds with regards to a linguistic minority context and language preservation, in this case Scottish Gaelic and Welsh. Read more


	Article on the recent evolution of first languages in Catalonia The paper from Avel·lí Flors-Mas, Natxo Sorolla, Miquel Àngel Pradilla, and F. Xavier Vila, from the CUSC-UB and the IEC CRUSCAT Network, contributes to the evaluation of the current language policy in Catalonia. It assesses the development of the first languages of the autonomous community’s population over the last 15 years. Read more


	Revitalizing language online



	Young people on revitalizing their native languages through internet


FUEN Minority Talks

First edition about a school in Denmark


	Language Awareness journal article The open access journal article “Experts’ views on the contribution of language awareness and translanguaging for minority language education” explores how teachers and teacher trainers view language awareness and translanguaging approaches as possible practices to enhance pupils’ language attitudes and motivation to learn a minority language, such as Frisian in the Netherlands. Read more


	European Day of Languages anniversary! September 26 will mark the 20th anniversary of the European Day of Languages, an initiative by the Council of Europe. Check out the official website for activities to carry out in your class, school or organisation! You can also find an interesting infographic and other resources all about language. Read more


	INTERESTING LINKS




	WORLD

● Language, education and citizenship: OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities visits the Russian Federation

● Spanish as a medium for mutual cultural understanding [USA]

● Ways of preserving African languages: children's cartoons [www]

● Language month in the Philippines [Philippines]

● Enforcement of Mandarin language teaching in kindergartens in rural ethnic minority areas [China]

● Demand to make Tulu an official language [India]

● English on the rise in Singapore [Singapore]

● China, English, and the Olympic Games [China]


	Belgium joins the ECML On 20 July 2021, Belgium became the 34th member state of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the European Centre for Modern Languages. Belgium will hold its first activity as an official member state on 7–8 October: "Supporting Multilingual Classrooms". Read more


	Call for Papers On 18 November 2021, the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations will hold the Symposium on Recognised Languages with 'language emancipation' as its overarching theme. During the symposium, specific attention will be paid to actions and measures that lead to the safeguarding, promotion, and survival of the recognised (minority) languages in the Netherlands. The deadline for sending in proposals and abstracts is 10 September 2021. Read more (in Dutch)


	INTERESTING EVENTS



	6 - 8 September 2021, Graz (Austria) Language Teacher Psychology Conference 2021 (LTP) Organised by the University of Graz. 8 - 9 September 2021, Warsaw (Poland) Conference: Conventional and unconventional ways of transmitting and revitalizing minoritized languages: in European context and beyond Organised by the Institute of Slavic Studies at the Polish Academy of Science. 9 - 12 September 2021, Triest (Italy) FUEN Annual Congress 2021 Organised by the FUEN Annual Congress 2021, hosted by Confederation of Slovene Organisations 15 September 2021, Online VirtuLApp Webinar Welcome back to the Multilingual Classroom! Organised by the Erasmus+ project consortium VirtuLApp 15 September 2021, Online Global Citizenship and Multilingual Competences Organised by the Erasmus+ project consortium GCMC, hosted by Graz university 16 - 19 September 2021, Poznań (Poland) 50th Poznań Linguistic Meeting Organised by the Adam Mickiewicz University 24 - 25 September 2021, Graz (Austria) 5th International Conference on Kurdish Linguistics (ICKL-5) Organised by the University of Graz 27 - 29 September 2021, Online CLARIN Annual Conference 2021 Organised by CLARIN (Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure) 14 - 15 October 2021, Flensburg (Germany) International conference: Multi-platform and Connecting Communities: Contemporary Challenges for Minority Language Media Organised by the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) 2-3 November 2021, Ljouwert/Leeuwarden (The Netherlands) Final Multiplier Event VirtuLApp Organised by the Erasmus+ project consortium VirtuLApp, hosted by Mercator 18 November 2021, Wolvega (Netherlands) ‘Symposium erkende talen’: taalemancipatie’ Organised by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties) 26 November 2021, Online Mercator Multilingualism Lecture. We talk, they listen: The role of language exposure in early multilingual development Organised by Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning 29 - 30 November 2021, Paris (France) 2nd International Symposium on Family Language Policy Organised by the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Inalco) ONLINE: 15 - 16 December 2021, Sydney (Australia) The Value of Languages in a Multilingual World Organised by Multilingualism Research Centre (MRC)/ Macquarie University 16-19 December 2021, Tirana (Albania) Conference 'Endangered Languages and Diaspora' Organised by the Foundation for Endangered Languages and the Center for Research and Publication on Arbëresh 27-29 June 2022, Warsaw (Poland) World Congress of Modern Languages and the Annual Conference of the Polish Association of Modern Languages Organised by the International Federation of Language Teacher Associations, the Polish Association of Modern Languages and the Faculty of Modern Languages, University of Warsaw 13-16 July 2022, Ghent (Belgium) Sociolinguistics Symposium 24 - Inside and beyond binaries Organised by Ghent University


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Call for Proposals: Multilingualism in virtual communication and encounters

Formal complaint to UN by European Language Equality Network

INTERESTING LINKS

EUROPE

European Structural Funds for speakers of Scottish and Welsh

Article on the recent evolution of first languages in Catalonia

Revitalizing language online

FUEN Minority Talks

Language Awareness journal article

European Day of Languages anniversary!

INTERESTING LINKS

WORLD

Belgium joins the ECML

Call for Papers

INTERESTING EVENTS