The Linguist

Lockdown conditions enable the cross-party group to open meetings to a broader audience Inside parliament As most parliamentary business moved online due to the pandemic, All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) went through a period where meetings were impossible. The APPG on Modern Languages held two online meetings in autumn, in what it is hoped will be the beginning of a regular series of virtual events. The first such meeting was restricted to MPs and Peers. Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury was elected as the new Vice-Chair, taking the place of Victoria Prentis following her appointment as a government minister. The meeting was an opportunity for the APPG to discuss the priority areas for language policy in the coming period, with a particular focus on areas affected by Brexit and Covid-19. This included a review of ongoing interest in a cross-Whitehall strategy for languages (one of the priorities in the APPG's National Recovery Programme for Languages). The British Academy presented the new National Languages Strategy, with proposals for coordinated action at all levels of the education sector and in society to recover from the pandemic and strengthen the UK's relationships around the globe. The strategy's partner organisations are the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), British Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), University Council of Modern Languages (UCML) and Universities UK (UUK). In November, the APPG supported a webinar hosted by the British Council entitled 'Languages For All: How do we get there?' The three short presentations were aimed squarely at teachers and school leaders, and looked at the practical steps schools can take to transform languages uptake and success. Ian Bauckham, Chair of the Teaching Schools Council's Modern Foreign Languages Pedagogy Review, outlined pedagogy recommendations for secondary schools, including resources currently being developed by the National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy. Suzanne O'Farrell of ASCL presented on successful models for primary to secondary transition. Finally, Oliver Hopwood, a Head of Department, shared ideas for bringing languages alive through cultural knowledge and international connections. The webinar was chaired by CIOL Vice- President and APPG co-Chair Baroness Coussins. It was attended by several hundred individuals and the format allowed participants to ask questions. This was an opportunity for the APPG to participate in a different kind of meeting, open to the wider public (with free attendance), facilitating discussion of policy with direct input from stakeholders. The APPG hopes to host similar events in the coming months. 6 The Linguist Vol/60 No/1 2021 thelinguist.uberflip.com NEWS & EDITORIAL In the media PHILIP HARDING-ESCH 2020 came to a close under new lockdown restrictions, and a sense of anticipation and foreboding. As the Brexit transition period drew to an end, the UK government's widely reported decision to withdraw from the Erasmus+ programme and replace it with the smaller Turing programme was perhaps the biggest language-related story. A report indicated that the languages associated with the highest paid jobs in the UK at the moment are non-European. Asian Image noted that Bengali tops the list, followed by Mandarin and Russian. Will the Turing scheme concentrate more on languages such as these? Another interesting story, picked up by the New European, was the re-emergence of reports that English may no longer be classified as an official language of the EU after Brexit. Private Eye highlighted a government report critical of the Home Office's use of language services in the asylum process, which may encounter even more difficulties as immigration rules change after the transition period. The Daily Mail published several stories on the government's poor treatment of Afghan interpreters. Many are either refused relocation in the UK or rendered ineligible to apply for relocation after having their contracts summarily terminated by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Language issues linked to the pandemic continue. The BBC published public health messages in a range of languages, while The Independent ran a story on the government being sued for the lack of sign language provision in its Covid briefings. Language learning apps mushroomed across news sites under the fertile conditions of lockdown, with The Guardian claiming "Britons are turning to learning languages like never before". But of course, the app everybody was talking about was MeowTalk, the 'first cat translator'. According to Unilad, it will help you to avoid your cat menacingly standing over you while you sleep. Download it now! Philip Harding-Esch is a freelance languages project manager and consultant. © SHUTTERSTOCK

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