Endorsements

Modern Languages in the UK currently faces a series of significant challenges. The pipeline between primary and Higher Education is currently not functioning in a way that produces sufficient numbers of talented linguists across the educational system and beyond. There are additional risks that language learning – in universities and schools – is becoming the preserve of a privileged few, with cold spots in provision increasingly apparent. Linked to this, we have systematically failed to offer an inclusive understanding of the discipline that extends to home and community languages. And in terms of the curriculum, there is growing anxiety over approaches that do not foreground cultural learning as an integral part of language learning.

WoLLoW contributes in a unique way to debates across these areas. WoLLoW provides a pioneering programme that addresses many of the fundamental problems evident in the delivery of languages. The approach allows constructive collaboration and the sharing of experience between schools in the state and private sectors. At the same time, by nurturing curiosity among learners and reinjecting fun into the classroom, WoLLoW encourages us to challenge monolingualism and harness the often untapped and undervalued linguistic resources of the UK itself.

I have often quoted Mary Louise Pratt’s description of our field as ‘knowing languages and knowing the world through languages’. This is an approach that WoLLoW purposefully nurtures. ​