This was the Esperanto Association of Britain's site from 2005 to 2018. You will find its current site at esperanto.org.uk.

EAB Archive 2003-09-26 European Day of Languages

European Day of Languages: September 26

The European Day of Languages was launched by the Council of Europe during the European Year of Languages 2001, to celebrate linguistic diversity and promote language learning.

In 2002, EAB NetNews included a piece on the European Day of Languages , which included some links to other sites. In the following issue, we reported:

Elizabeth Stanley, who teaches at Sir Thomas Rich's School in Gloucester, reports that her Esperanto group took part in the school's celebrations of the European Day of Languages. She talked about Esperanto in the school assembly, and the school choir sang in Esperanto, and two bible readings were performed in Esperanto. The school was granted language college status in 2000, which means that they receive a government grant not only to teach languages at the school, but also at local feeder schools. In the curriculum they teach Spanish, German and French, but in club activities they teach also Latin, Chinese and Hindi - and now Esperanto, with seven pupils aged from 13 to 17. They are now looking for other schools to correspond with in Esperanto, and they are planning to visit the EU's Euroscola next year.

In 2003 we received an email from Elke Resch , of the European Centre for Modern Languages , suggesting what EAB can do on the European Day of Languages.

EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES

Celebrating linguistic diversity, plurilingualism and life long language learning 26 September 2003 is the European Day of Languages ! Events will be taking place all over Europe to celebrate linguistic diversity on 26 September 2003. One website tells you all you need to know ! The Council of Europe EDL website www.coe.int/edl will keep you informed with up-to-the-minute news about EDL activities throughout Europe

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Promote Organise events and promote them via our interactive events database Include a mention of EDL2003 in your newsletters and journals, and put it on the agendas of your meetings

Share Become part of a European-wide network on languages and discover things you never knew about language learning Inform yourself and others on the events going on in the 45 participating countries

Participate Win a trip to the European Centre for Modern Languages in Europe's Cultural Capital 2003, Graz, by participating in the slogan competition 2004 Share your experiences of the events from last year which took place in your country

Discover Consult the documents and useful links on the website . Use the EDL poster, leaflets, stickers and logo to brighten up your event/office/classroom

I recently received a request for ideas for celebrating the Day from a language teacher in Bristol. I wonder how many other schools there may be that would be interested in exchanging ideas on including Esperanto in their Day of Languages celebrations. On the ECML's webpage on the European Day of Languages , you can find out what others are up to - and you can promote your own events too, by entering them on their online database.

So far (2003-08-11), there are activities at :

Brighton & Hove LEA: Launching City Languages: Target Group: General public, Students, Language learners, etc. Contact Address: E-Mail: viki.junor @ brighton-hove.gov.uk Phone: +44 1273-293651

Belfast: Europe on the Move Conference: A conference for post-primary schools in Northern Ireland providing information on European enlargement. Students will be able to participate in language taster lessons in candidate country languages. Organiser: European Resource Centre, British Council E-Mail: jonathan.stewart @ britishcouncil.org Web: www.britishcouncil.org/education/ Phone: +44 28 90248220

Longridge High School, Lancashire: Language Week (22-26th): Teachers will be teaching a different language! They're also holding competitions of posters, jokes, videos, poems, songs, internet and cartoons. ALL MFL Teachers will wear typical costumes from different European countries. Beechen Cliff School: A cross-curricular day where all departments will be teaching with a european theme. Registration in different languages for different year groups; guest speakers who have used languages in their work.

Queen Mary's College, Basingstoke: Taster sessions in Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Welsh, Polish, Russian culminating in a challenge. Games in French and German. In the afternoon, a foreign film. The target is college students 16-19 as well as an equal number of pupils form the local secondary schools.

The Wellbeck Hotel, Nottingham: French training for those working in the tourism industry

CILT, the National Centre for Languages has a webpage on the European Day of Languages , which contains a lot of useful material and ideas. In particular, there is a page on Things to do . There is also an A4 leaflet in pdf form on Getting Involved , and there's advice on Activities and ideas for schools . There are even quotes from some celebrities on the value of learning languages . CILT also provide posters and stickers, and there are links to electronic post cards etc. Unfortunately, none of this is in Esperanto.

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