Subject Centre Open Day

Past Event Summary

The Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies had been up and running for just over two years when this event was advertised. Interested parties were invited to visit us to hear about some of the things that we had been doing to support learning and teaching in our subject areas. The day consisted of the following events:

Launch of the Subject Centre’s Materials Bank and Web Guide to Teaching and Learning in Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies.
These electronic resources are the product of two LTSN funded projects to address the needs of the sector.
The Materials Bank is a repository for shared in-house teaching materials donated by colleagues which can be linked to or downloaded from the Subject Centre’s website. The project also funded some small materials development projects which can also be accessed from this site. For example a book written by Rodney Ball for teaching phonetics to students of German, French and Spanish has been put online, together with sounds and interactive exercises.
The Web Guide is a collection of commissioned articles, case studies, reports, links etc. that relate to different aspects of the learning and teaching of Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies. The project has developed a learning and teaching typology which underpins and structures the information held in the database. The Guide features articles from Paul Meara, Graham Davies, Keith Marshall, Isabelle Perez, Ron Carter, Peter Skehan, Florence Myles and Dick Hudson.

Subject Centre Showcase
The Languages Box
The Subject Centre has been involved in several initiatives over the past year, one of which, has been the development and distribution of The Languages Box. This box which has been sent to all Modern Languages department in the UK contains materials to assist departments in raising the profile of languages among young people and for marketing and recruitment purposes. The Subject Centre would like to thank the French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese Embassies for their contributions to the box.

The Area Studies Marketing Pack
This electronic pack contains a powerpoint presentation (similar to that in the Languages Box) that can be used/adapted for any Area Study. It is accompanied by notes, links and a web version for use on websites.

Want to Know About...?
Language Porfolios/Personal Development Plans
This session will look at the European Language Portfolio which now has versions for Primary, Higher Education and Adult Learners that can be used to support the learning of languages as a lifelong process. It will also give an overview of the more generic Personal Development Plan (PDP).

E-learning
This session will discuss the nature of e-learning and will look at tools such as virtual learning environments for the delivery of teaching materials and learning support. There will be particular emphasis on the use of e-learning for fostering independent learning and for setting up and exploiting student discussion groups.

Put Your Questions to the Subject Centre
If you have any comments on the activities of the Subject Centre or have issues that you would like to bring to our attention this is your chance to put them to the team and to find out more about us and our work. The Centre has been set up to serve the subject community so we rely on your feedback and ideas to help us to achieve our aims.

Programme