Language Café project exemplifies leadership, wins award

June 16, 2010

In a post I did last month called Trends in Language Learning: What’s hot, what’s not, one of the emerging directions in the field that I found is to link language learning to leadership and changing the world in positive ways.  I was thrilled to see this trend in action through a recent news post by European Association of Education for Adults (EAEA). The Language Café project demonstrates the link between language learning, leadership and empowerment.

In an article entitled, “Closing the Gap with Languages: European award for projects in support of social inclusion” , the EAEA announced  that the University of Southampton (England) won the European award for the best 2010 language project aimed at fighting poverty and supporting social inclusion for their project “The Language Café”. The EAEA reports that Southampton won the award for its innovative approach to language learning in a relaxed environment for people of all ages and backgrounds”, noting that there are 29 language cafes in Europe. Many of them have “broadened their scope to offer specialised help for immigrants and people who use sign-language”.

Check out the Language Cafe website. After entering the site in the language of your choice, you’ll be able to see the premise behind the cafes and how they are impacting the lives of language learners all over Europe. It is an inspiring demonstration of informal language learning that empowers others.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Got a language lab? Rip it out!

June 14, 2010

Language labs went out with the 20th century. Language labs came into existence in the late 1940s and early 1950s when modern foreign language programs were starting to develop in universities. Labs were constructed where students were gathered together and collectively followed a prescribed audio programs. This followed the behavourist model of language teaching. That was long before the communicative method was ever developed.

The purpose of language labs was for students to gain auditory exposure to the language they were studying. This was a big deal back then. Students had far fewer opportunities to travel. There was no such thing as the Internet. There was no foreign television programming. And phone calls to family members who were living abroad were horrendously expensive.

That’s all changed. In today’s world of digital everything, audio exposure to foreign languages is readily available at little to no cost. Satellite radio, Internet radio and podcasts are all available. Even as far back as the 1980s, visionary scholars began to see that one day, language labs would become extinct (Chen, 1996; Froehlich, 1982). They were right. In the twenty-first century, constructing language labs is not a wise use of a school’s limited money, time and other resources.

Note: This blog post was one of a number that served to inform a larger article that can be found here:

Eaton, S. E. (2010). Global Trends in Language Learning in the Twenty-first Century Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED510276.pdf

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Are you promoting your program from the inside out?

June 13, 2010

I like to say that marketing is about people and sales is about the dollars. Marketing is about developing excellent relationships and building a reputation of excellence so others want to work with you. The most effective marketing starts from the inside out. This includes the marketing of educational programs, be it an English as a Second Language program, a literacy program or any other kind of educational program.

Here’s how: Managers, administrative staff, teachers, tutors and all staff become your program’s ambassadors in the community; not because you want them to, but because they want to. Are you the kind of administrator who inspires your staff to be an ambassador for your program?

  • Do you treat them as if they are the most important aspect of the program? Excellent teachers = excellent program.
  • Do they have their own business cards? A business card is a symbol of professionalism. Can you really afford not to have them? If your teachers don’t have this “business basic”, the message you are sending is that they are not considered professionals.
  • Do you ask for their input? What are their ideas on how to clean up the school, improve the program and extend your reach further into the community? Do you ask them to act on their ideas by pitching in to help the school improve?

If you want to market successfully, start from the inside out. Make sure relationships within the school are the best they can be.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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University’s English Language Program accreditation restored

June 8, 2010

A few weeks ago I did a post about English Language Institute at the University of South Florida having its accreditation revoked by the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA), an international standards and accreditation organization for English language programs. (See the original post here.)

Thanks to a reader who pointed me in the direction of “Accreditation Restored to U. of South Florida Program” by Inside Higher Ed. the same publication that reported on this initial situation. Higher Ed now reports that the CEA has agreed to “restore recognition, conditioned on the university now showing that there was no meaningful change in control of the program, and that it still met all standards (which the university says is the case)”.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

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