USA: MLA predicts 20% fall in foreign language faculty positions

Literature Scholars Face Steepest Drop in Jobs in Decades

More job searches by language and literature scholars are coming up empty, because of the budget tightening and hiring freezes adopted at colleges in response to the battered economy. A new analysis of employment advertising conducted by the Modern Language Association, to be released today, projects a 21-percent drop in faculty positions advertised in the association’s electronic job list this academic year, compared to a year earlier.

Chronicle of Higher Education

December 2008 Sustainability e-newsletter published

We are pleased to announce that the latest issue of our e-Newsletter is now available... and, due to the high number of submissions we receive, we are moving from quarterly publication to bi-monthly! So the deadline for submitting articles (short paragraphs with links to more information) is February 1st for a February 15th publication date.


See below for the current issue's contents and read online at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/learning/sustainability/enewsletter

HOLIDAY NEWS ABOUT THE LINGUISTS AND IRONBOUND FILMS

* THE LINGUISTS educational DVD now available
* THE LINGUISTS screens worldwide
* THE LINGUISTS educational DVD now available

Universities, high schools, libraries, cultural centers: the educational DVD of Ironbound Films’ Sundance hit THE LINGUISTS is now available for purchase. Includes 30 minutes of DVD extras and discussion guide. DVDs will not ship until December 23, but preorder now to avoid the holiday rush: http://www.thelinguists.com/dvd.

* THE LINGUISTS screens worldwide

On Thursday, February 26, 2009, at 10 PM, THE LINGUISTS will air nationally on PBS (check local listings).

February 21 has been sanctioned by the UN “International Mother Language Day.” Refresh http://www.thelinguists.com/screenings.html as momentum builds to screen THE LINGUISTS worldwide. Stop by to see it this Sunday, December 7, at 3 PM, at the Peekskill Paramount Theater as part of Free Arts Day; or hop a flight to be part of its upcoming premiere in Mumbai, Paris, or Kathmandu.

If you can’t attend a screening, Google one. THE LINGUISTS was only the fifth film in the Filmmakers@Google series at Google HQ in Mountain View, CA. Watch 34 minutes of Q&A at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxI1MP3H92M.



For more information contact:

Ironbound Films, Inc.
PO Box 441
Garrison, NY 10524
T: 845.424.3700
F: 845.424.3753
http://www.ironboundfilms.com
http://www.thelinguists.com

Vice-chancellor calls for more language study and study abroad.

Malcolm McVicar, vice-chancellor of the University of Central Lancashire calls for more students to study abroad and learn languages.

Early Day Motion in the House of Commons- The study of foreign languages

New EDM 66 - Study of Foreign Languages
EDM 66 was first put down on 3rd December 2008 by Adrian Sanders

That this House notes with concern the continuing decline of uptake in foreign language GCSEs; recognises that language study beyond the age of 14 years is beneficial for individuals and the economy as well as a much wider range of human activities; regrets the lack of incentives for students to study modern languages at key stage 4 and beyond; and calls on the Government to provide additional incentives for such study and consider reinstating mandatory foreign language study for key stage 4.

Adrian Sanders
Andrew George
Peter Bottomley

House of Commons

'Turbulence' in school languages

The decline in language learning in England's secondary schools has been halted but the situation is "turbulent", a report suggests

Thursday 4 December 2008
BBC website

LLAS December 2008 e-bulletin

This month's ebulletin is now available on the subject centre website at:

http://www.llas.ac.uk/e-bulletin.aspx

We would be grateful if you would forward this bulletin to colleagues and relevant mailing lists. Please do not hesitate to contact the Subject Centre if you have any queries regarding this bulletin.

Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year from all the team at the Subject Centre.

Minister's surgeries en Francais

As a Home Office minister, Meg Hillier is keen to promote the value of English lessons for new arrivals to the UK.

But at a recent conference she told how she often finds it easier to speak to some of her constituents in their native tongue - French.

Wednesday 3 December 2008
BBC news

LLAS Area Studies Advisory Group chair Professor Dick Ellis on BBC Radio 4 Today programme

Professor Dick Ellis, chair of the LLAS Area Studies Advisory Group and Professor of American Studies at the University of Birmingham spoke on Radio 4 this morning conerning Kerouac's On the Road. The orginal scroll will visit Birmingham later this month and Professor Ellis will be curating the exhibition.

Today programme exert on Jack Kerouac
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7760000/7760097.stm

Barber Institute for the Fine Arts