The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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The All-Party Group's year began with a look at Mandarin in schools, says Philip Harding-Esch Inside parliament Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Modern Languages began the year by monitoring developments in language policy, as Brexit continues apace alongside existing policy reforms. Baroness Coussins, Co-Chair of the APPG, participated in a debate on the impact of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) and tabled a series of written questions to ministers, including questions on future arrangements for public service interpreters. It is vital that APPG members also attend external meetings in order to build a picture of current developments and the main priorities for stakeholders, and to engage with policy on specific points. For example, the APPG contributed to the Department for Education's (DfE) consultation on the new subject content for A and AS levels in modern foreign languages (MFL) with smaller cohorts; and APPG Vice Chair Baroness Garden recently addressed the plenary workshop of the University Council of Modern Language (UCML). The APPG supports pro-MFL policies, such as the forthcoming government response to the DfE consultation on implementing a 90% achievement target for the Ebacc (grades A-C at GCSE in five core subjects including a language). At its January meeting, the APPG looked at the DfE's flagship Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP), launched in September. Philippa Vallely, of the Institute of Education Confucius Institute, which manages the MEP with the British Council, addressed the group. The MEP aims to get 5,000 pupils in England on track to achieve a high level of fluency by 2020. Starting in Year 7, pupils learn Chinese for eight hours a week, with funding available for participating state schools. Challenges include the logistics of finding curriculum time for the extra hours. Schools have shown themselves to be inventive, some running early morning lessons or deciding that the MEP cohort learns only Mandarin (and no other language) until Year 8. A group of Year 7 students from the Anglo European School showcased their excellent spoken Mandarin at the meeting: a particularly impressive performance given that they had been learning it for just one term. Key to the MEP's success is that it is school-led. Its "hub and spoke" structure has 14 hub schools, with a history of teaching Mandarin, engaging a local network of schools. Certainly the MEP experience suggests that an ambitious and well-supported programme can engage secondary headteachers and convince them to commit to languages – and the students were clearly extremely motivated. For more information about the Mandarin Excellence Programme, see ciforschools.word press.com/mandarin-excellence-programme. 6 The Linguist Vol/56 No/2 2017 www.ciol.org.uk NEWS & EDITORIAL Thebig Q. What services does Access Friendly offer? A. The adaptation of exhibitions and museums for people with disabilities or sensory impairments, and information in the field of accessible tourism for people who have special needs and want to come to Barcelona: audio-description, sign language, subtitling, tactile elements, guided tours for special needs, audio guides for museums and exhibitions for the blind audience. Q. How did you get interested in accessible communication in arts and culture? A. I have always been fascinated by blindness – how people who cannot see live and especially how they enjoy visual art – and I'm a journalist and translator, so I'm interested in the field of information and communication. My first experience of accessible museums was in Brussels: a museum educator was doing a guided visit for two blind people and she had many tactile elements. That was in 2001. And all of a sudden, I realised, "Of course, blind people are also interested in museums!" – it was as silly as that. In parallel, I learnt about audio-description techniques from Lourdes Melción [of Roehampton University]. Since I was involved in tourism and culture in Barcelona, I decided Maria-José Anía explains how her business, Access Friendly, is increasing access to arts institutions for people with disabilities Philip Harding-Esch works on behalf of the British Council to support the APPG on Modern Languages. TL CREDITED TO PHILIP MEECH/M ANDARIN EXCELLENCE PROGRAMME