Professor Eric Hawkins

With great sadness we learned recently of the death of our beloved friend and fellow trustee Eric Hawkins who joined the Board of the Mary Glasgow Language Trust soon after it was launched in 1978. Eric was already known to many us for his quite unique contribution to the teaching of modern languages in this country and each of us has personal memories of his disarming modesty and kindliness, his wide learning and intellectual energy, his courage and his dogged determination. He brought to our Trust a lifetime’s experience in education and his very special knowledge of and love for the language teaching world.

His advice to us was invaluable and always phrased in that quiet, unassuming voice of his which belied the Colossus he really was. Always mindful of the needs of teachers he helped the Trust to set up the annual Mary Glasgow Fellowship which aimed to give individual teachers a chance to take time off to pursue some relevant research in languages. The Fellowship for some years became our main activity and vehicle for our funding. We missed him enormously when he left the Board but we continued to hear that special voice of his pleading support for languages and his other great causes with his conference appearances and prolific writing. That voice is greatly missed today as languages face their bleakest days. Thank you Eric for being a model for us all and we draw strength from having known you.

We send our warmest thoughts to his family and our thanks to them for supporting this lovely man.

The Mary Glasgow 14-19 Curriculum Prize 2011

The Prizes are worth £5000 each.

We are now welcoming applications from schools and 16-19 colleges* for our 2011 Prizes.

If you are a school or college with an innovative and successful approach to teaching languages in the 14-19 age range, why not apply?

Applications

Let us have brief details of your project by 31 January 2011, by e-mailing us an Expression of Interest form. The closing date for an e-mailed full application is 31 March 2011.

Criteria

We are looking primarily for:

  • Flexible and imaginative approaches to incorporating a modern language, or languages, into wider learning programmes within the 14-19 sector;
  • More engaging and successful learning for young people who would otherwise be likely to stop learning a language at 14.
  • Opportunities for students to gain a recognised form of national accreditation in languages, or the use of an alternative model of accreditation that has the potential to be validated by an national awarding body;
  • Teaching approaches which could to be copied or adapted by other schools and colleges.


    • Go to the Application Form

    In addition, our Trustees will also be looking for some of the following features:

    • Outcomes which build on and go beyond language learning at KS3, with a focus on developing stronger communication skills. This might be in relation to putting skills into action to undertake practical tasks, developing greater fluency and confidence, extending language into new areas of experience, engaging with new aspects of culture and society, or increasing knowledge and understanding about language;
    • Links with other initiatives such as work on curriculum remodelling, behaviour and attendance, promoting inclusion, mentoring, creativity, active citizenship, the international dimension, use of digital media, extended projects, personalised learning, learning and thinking skills, or vocational learning;
    • Provision for effective progression across phases of education, or into work or future training;
    • Partnerships with other schools, colleges, higher education, training establishments and employers.

    The Mary Glasgow Trust presented with the Threlford Memorial Cup by the Chartered Institute of Linguists

    The Mary Glasgow Language Trust  is very pleased to have had  its work recognised by the Chartered Institute of Linguists.  In 2007, the CIL honoured  the Trust with its most prestigious prize, the Threlford  Memorial Cup, which is awarded annually to the person or organisation which has done the most to foster the study of languages.

    Threlford Cup Group Photo

    The assembled winners of the Chartered Institute of Linguists annual prizes in 2007. These include Edwin Glasgow, Chairman of the Mary Glasgow Trust (with the Threlford Memorial Cup) and Ann King, Hon. Secretary, on either side of Prince Michael of Kent who made the presentations.

    Photos: Olyden Johnson Photography
    http://www.olyden.com