Congratulations!

It is with great pleasure that we tell you that your NDLR Modern Languages’ Community of Practice blog as part of the project ‘The NDLR Modern Languages’ Community of Practice (CoP) blog as a Language Community Building Medium’ has been selected for the ‘European Award for Languages – the Language Label 2008′.

The European Award for Languages – the Language Label (EAL) is coordinated by the European Commission and managed on a decentralised basis by each member state. Léargas is the local Irish coordinating body. The Award is designed to recognise creative ways to improve the quality of language teaching, motivate students, and make the best of available resources. Award-winning initiatives serve as a potential source of inspiration for projects in other contexts, languages and even other countries.

2008 Criteria for the European Award for Languages:
The National Jury 2008 sought projects based in traditional or innovative learning environments, which brought participants added value in terms of competence and motivation. The European-wide criteria for the 2008 Award was:
Innovative: The initiative involves a new method, approach, or resource, which improves on previous provision.
Effective: The Award can only be given to projects where the work is already completed or which at least show verifiable progress. Projects still in the planning stage cannot be considered. Projects should also give evidence of self-evaluation and ongoing critical review.
Replicable: The initiative has potential for growth and can serve as a model for other projects and situations.

We would like to thank all of our NDLR colleagues and Modern Languages’ Community of Practice members for their support, feedback and encouraging words throughout the development of the website.

Award Ceremony
The 2008 European Award for Languages ceremony will take place on Friday 26th September in Limerick – the European Day of Languages.

More information on the Language Label can be found on the Léargas website. Details of all Language Label awards will be posted here on the Modern Languages’ CoP website very soon.

The abair.ie web site, featuring a text-to-speech synthesis system for Irish, is a resource for learners and teachers of Irish in Ireland and around the world, and the system has recently been released for a testing period.

To use the system, simply enter some text, and with the click of a button, your sentence comes out in the voice of a young female speaker of the Gaoth Dobhair dialect of Donegal. This voice is called Cabóigín (little chatterbox in Donegal Irish).

Do thuilleadh eolais téir i dteagmháil leis an Dr Pauline Welby, Comhalta
Taighde, Saotharlann Foghraíochta agus Urlabhra, tel: 8961348/ 085-7512074

For further details contact:
Dr Pauline Welby, Research Fellow, Phonetics and Speech Lab, tel: 8961348/ 085-7512074.
www.abair.ie.

The official press release can be viewed here.

On the occasion of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Cultural Service of the Embassy of France has invited 27 talented photographers, representing each of the 27 member states of the Union, to share with us their vision of France.

Opening time: Monday to Friday: from 9.30am to 5.00pm, and entrance is free to the public.

More information is available here.

For those of our members learning or teaching Spanish, the mystery drama “My Vida Loca” set in Spain might be of interest to you. “My Vida Loca” is just one of the many excellent language resources provided on the BBC languages website.

You can access the video here.

Problem-based Learning Summer School University College Dublin, June 23-27, 2008.

Problem-based Learning, Generic Skills and Work

FACiliTATE: The Irish Problem-based Learning (PBL) Network in association with the Centre for Teaching and Learning at UCD are hosting the 2^nd PBL Summer School Problem-based Learning, Generic Skills and Work at the Health Sciences Building, University College Dublin from June 23-27, 2008.

More information is availabe from the workshop website www.facilitate.ie