1. Here’s the latest newsletter from the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) in Graz: https://www.ecml.at/News/Newsletter/Gazette54/tabid/4424/language/en-GB/Default.aspx If I’m honest, I often groan when a newsletter of this length lands in my inbox, but I never groan when the ECML one arrives – there’s always two or three items of interest. You can subscribe here: https://www.ecml.at/Resources/Newsletter/tabid/1385/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

This time round I noticed the item on the ECRML (not to be confused with the EC -no ‘R’- ML), the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Here’s the ECRML website: https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-charter-regional-or-minority-languages/home and here’s a link to the page where they list the languages they protect: https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-charter-regional-or-minority-languages/languages-covered I’ve attached a PDF of the list of languages below, and what really strikes me is how short that list is for Europe! How long would the comparable lists for other continents be, I wonder?

Another item that caught my eye was the one on UNESCO’s ‘Mother Language Day’ https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/motherlanguageday (Not a term I’d come across before: ‘mother tongue’, yes, but not ‘mother language’: maybe a straightforward translation of langue maternelle in French?) This year’s theme is Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society and here’s a link to register: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_L44NOqccRHKddCKqGM9b0A PDF of programme also attached below.

2. I thought this was a really good, engaging, inspiring story about the 2021 TESOL-National Geographic Learning Teacher of the Year Khanh-Duc Kuttig and her professional journey: http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/tesolc/issues/2021-02-01/4.html (How well does the expression “I am really, really chuffed” travel, I wonder – does the expression mean anything in the USA?)

More on the award here: https://www.tesol.org/news-landing-page/2021/02/05/tesol-and-national-geographic-learning-announce-2021-tesol-teacher-of-the-year

3. I hope most of you found something of interest in the British Council Teacher Educator newsletter I shared yesterday. I couldn’t find the link to the page where you can subscribe yesterday, so here it is today: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/subscribe-our-newsletter You can subscribe to both the teacher educator newsletter and the teacher newsletter, should you so wish.

4. And, finally, here’s some more Amanda Gorman, her mould-breaking Superbowl performance: https://youtu.be/-ejbSCjg2qo

plus a piece from the New York Times with a bit more background https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/07/sports/football/amanda-gorman-poem-chorus-of-the-captains.html

which includes (right at the very bottom) this link to a piece, with videos, of ten young black poets whose work might engage your students (and their teachers!) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/09/arts/young-black-poets.html