FOHLC Europe 2023 Conference

3rd annual online conference for heritage language teachers, managers, and coalition leaders

Date

Friday and Saturday, November 10 & 11, 2023

Time

Location

Online (via Zoom)

Language

English

Cost

Registration

Organizers

FOHLC Europe 2023 is organized by Móðurmál – the Association on Bilingualism, Heritage Language Education Network, Association pour la Promotion et l'Avancement du Multilinguisme - A.P.A.M (Multilingual Café), Association for the Promotion of Polish Language Abroad (APPLA), the Czech and Slovak School Okénko in London, Agnieszka Pędrak, an independent researcher at Trinity College in Dublin, and Sabine Little, a researcher at the University of Sheffield. See www.hlenet.org/fohlc-europe or email fohlceurope@gmail.com for more information.

Event description

FOHLC Europe

FOHLC Europe is a collaboration between several groups involved with heritage language (HL) education with the purpose of organizing an annual conference and other regular online gatherings for the teachers and managers of HL programs in Europe, as well as for the leaders of coalitions and networks of HL programs. The goal is to provide a European platform for the exchange of ideas about how to promote HL education, improve the quality and professionalism of HL education, and to map the situation of HL programs in Europe.

FOHLC Europe offers professional development and networking opportunities to professionals in the field of HL education. The 2023 conference will take place online on Friday, November 10, and Saturday, November 11.

2023 theme

Harvesting support for HL education: How to seek and maximize resources

The theme of the 2023 conference is “Harvesting support for HL Education: How to seek and maximize resources.” By attending this conference, you will be equipped with new perspectives about how to seek and obtain resources for your HL program. We have invited experts and practitioners who will stimulate you to think creatively about how you can find funding, lesson materials, partners, volunteers, and other means of sustaining your educational program. Over two days, attendees will receive practical tips and examples of how to find what is needed to keep their educational programs running.

Audience

The conference program includes structured networking opportunities designed for professionals in the field of HL education: teachers, coordinators, and volunteers at HL programs as well as for leaders of HL umbrella associations, coalitions, and networks. Parents, academics, or policy makers interested in the topic of HL education are also welcome.

Program

Keynote speakers will be Prof. Yongcan Liu, Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education at the University of Cambridge and convener of Cambridge Research in Community Language Education (CRiCLE) Network and Lucie Slavíková-Boucher, chairwoman of the Czech School Without Borders. A pecha kucha presentation will include examples from ten different individuals from across Europe who are active in the field of HL education, in order to demonstrate a range of possibilities when it comes to tapping into resources within local and international communities.

In addition, professional development workshops will be run for heritage language teachers and for program managers. More information about the topics of these workshops will follow.

Every conference includes structured networking sessions for HL teachers, managers, and coalition leaders to connect and discuss questions related to the conference theme.

Keynote speakers

Yongcan Liu

Partnerships as a resource: Enabling heritage language maintenance through home-

community-school-university partnerships

Yongcan Liu is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education at the University of

Cambridge and convener of Cambridge Research in Community Language Education

(CRiCLE) Network. He has published widely on language of schooling and the knowledge

base of teaching in contexts of mobility and diversity. He is co-author of the Bell

Foundation’s EAL Assessment Framework for Schools and his most recent book (co-

authored) entitled Language development and social integration of students with EAL was

published with CUP in 2020. He recently served on the Academic Advisory Board for the

Cambridge/UNICEF/Microsoft Learning Passport project and involved in developing the

Global Curriculum Framework for refugee children.

Lucie Slavíková-Boucher

Coalitions as a resource

Lucie Slavíková-Boucher is chairwoman of the Czech School Without Borders civic association.