European Award for Languages
European Award for Languages
The European Award for Languages (EAL) is part of the Transversal programme and is also known as the European Language Label. In the UK it is run by CILT, the UK’s national centre for languages, on behalf of ECOTEC.
The European Award for Languages is a Europe-wide initiative which recognises creative ways to improve the quality of language teaching, motivate students, and make the best of available resources. To qualify for an Award, language projects must provide an inspiration to others, be replicable, and involve any language other than English.
The Award is open to every organisation involved in language teaching.
European Award for Languages 2009
Schools, colleges, adult education and community projects were invited to apply for the prestigious 2009 Award ahead of the deadline in January 2009.
A panel of expert judges visited a shortlist of projects and compiled a list of the UK’s most innovative language projects.
2009 winners included primary schools who experimented with blogging and interactive resources; a secondary school who got the whole of Year 7 singing their hearts out in Spanish in their ‘Spanglovision’ contest; and a University who set up an e-mentoring system between undergraduates studying languages and local pupils.
See the full list of 2009 award winners.
The winners received their Awards from broadcaster Henry Bonsu and languages advocate Baroness Coussins at a prize-giving ceremony in Bristol on the 30 June 2009.
Prizes included resources and materials from a range of sponsors, including £1,000 for the best project involving community languages and the best project involving languages in business. The TDA ITT Partnership Schools prize of £1,000 was awarded to the most creative project involving an ITT partnerships school, with further special prizes going to the best projects involving French, German, Italian and Spanish.
The Award has recognised over 1,000 language projects across Europe since it began in 1999, including 134 projects in the UK. CILT is always looking for more examples of innovation, creativity and inspiration for the awards.
Visit CILT’s website for more details: http://www.cilt.org.uk/eal or to register your interest in applying for next years' Awards, contact eal@cilt.org.uk.
