We are delighted to announce that the second in our series of webinars will take place on Thursday, April 28th at 8pm.

WEBINAR PROGRAMME

8:00 Introduction. Tanya Flanagan, OVFL Chairperson

8:05 Presentation, Salvo Cacciato, Education Officer with PPLI

“Say Yes to Languages – the Primary Languages Sampler Module”

During the 2021/2022 school year, over 500 schools are involved in a sampler module introducing nearly 40,000 primary pupils to a new language. The Department of Education's “Say Yes to Languages” sampler module aims to facilitate schools to offer a Modern Foreign Language (MFL) of their choice or Irish Sign Language (ISL). The context for the Sampler Module is the NCCA Background Paper "Integrating modern foreign languages in a redeveloped primary curriculum" published in 2019, and the NCCA Draft Primary Curriculum Framework, which provides scope for including foreign languages education in a revised Curriculum. This webinar will report on the experience of the module this first year and discuss plans for a continuation of the module into the next school year. It will also present resources created by PPLI in line with the publication “Language and Languages in the Primary School” by Dr D. Little and Dr D. Kirwan, and with the work of the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML).

You can find more information on the Primary School Sampler Module at https://languagesconnect.ie/primary/

8:35 Q&A

8:50 Closing Remarks (TF)

OUR PRESENTER

Salvo Cacciato joined PPLI as an education officer in 2021. He is currently working as project leader in the context of the Say Yes to Languages Sampler Module for primary schools. He is a secondary school teacher of French and Italian, on secondment to PPLI after working for three years as an Advisor for Modern Foreign Languages with JCT. He has a passion for exploring the role of digital technologies in language learning and is an advocate for plurilingual education and early language learning. He is also a member of the Board of Directors at Mother Tongues and the Chairperson of the Association of Teachers of Italian in Ireland (ATI).

For more info, follow Salvo on Twitter @salvocacciato

OVFL

The One Voice for Languages Group aims to be a unified voice for various language networks and associations in Ireland.

For more info go to: http://www.onevoiceforlanguages.com/ or follow us on @OVFLanguages