Annual Report 2023 Entire Book - Flipbook - Page 4
Foreword
I welcome this annual report by Post-Primary Languages Ireland, in the context of their ongoing role in
implementing key actions of Languages Connect – Ireland’s Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education. This
strategy aims to support better learning of foreign languages in the Irish education system and to increase the
diversity of provision for the inherent benefits to individuals, society, and the economy. I was delighted to publish
the Interim Review Report and Implementation Plan to 2026 recently and I look forward to seeing continued
progress by PPLI as they continue to support my department with the implementation of this.
I would like to congratulate PPLI on all the work that they did to host the Languages Connect Summit last year,
the largest gathering ever held for teachers of Modern Foreign Languages in Ireland. This was a wonderful
opportunity to celebrate all that has been achieved for modern foreign languages by the strategy so far as well
as to offer the opportunity for teachers of foreign languages to celebrate their profession, to be inspired, to share
their expertise and experience with each other, to be informed of supports and resources available that they
might be empowered and equipped to implement my department’s strategy. A significant body of innovative
practices were showcased including in key Languages Connect strategy areas such as Content and Language
Integrated Learning (CLIL), school exchanges, and a broad spectrum of digital technologies, and the important
message that both multilingualism and plurilingualism are crucial for a cohesive, integrated, and democratic
society was well delivered.
I was pleased to welcome Transition Year students from across the country to the Department of Education for
the final of the #ThinkLanguages competition which had taken place on #ThinkLanguages week in November
2023. From more than 180 schools and 15,000 TY students who took part, three teams were chosen as finalists.
They were given the opportunity to share their full #ThinkLanguages experience and what they had learned
about the many languages and cultures in their school community, locality and around the world. The students
who took part showed great enthusiasm for learning foreign languages and demonstrated the many benefits
they can bring to us all.
PPLI has been preparing the ground for the introduction of Modern Foreign Languages in the primary curriculum
supporting us with implementation of the ‘Say Yes to Languages’ primary sampler module. I am delighted that
we were able to fund a third year of implementation for the academic year 2023-24 with participation now at
1,200 schools and 80,000 pupils, and a diverse range of languages being offered to students. The diversity of
languages being taught as part of the module are evidence of the multicultural plurilingual society that we live
in, and the module provides a platform to raise awareness among pupils of the diversity of languages being used
by their peers in their schools and community. We are now looking at how ‘Say Yes to Languages’ can further
support implementation of the introduction of Modern Foreign Languages in primary.
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- PPLI ANNUAL REPORT 2023 -
