Joseph Ford

A syllabus may mention social equality but if it is organised by grammar rather than social equality the syllabus may be thin on social justice issues

Examples of how a theme of colonialism can integrate a focus on both social justice issues and grammar.

Thank you @drjoeford.bsky.social

Open Day: University of London MA Languages and Cultures Across Borders

📢 Open Day: University of London MA Languages and Cultures Across Borders
🗣️ Join us **Wednesday 4 March at 2-4pm** on campus in Senate House London to find out more about the programme and funding opportunities: ilcs.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
☕ Refreshments provided 🍰
🔗 Places limited register below

Organised Militarism in Interwar Britain - University of London Press While militaristic and patriotic organisations formed an important part of Edwardian political culture, 1918 often marks a terminus for histories of organised militarism in Britain. Taking the end of ...

👀 Looking ahead at some of the brilliant books we have coming up this year...

Organised Militarism in Interwar Britain by @rowan-thompson.bsky.social, part of our New Historical Perspectives series published with @ihr.bsky.social:

uolpress.co.uk/book/organis...

#Skystorians #History #OpenAccess

Thank you to the @ciol-linguists.bsky.social for sharing @drjoeford.bsky.social's recent article for @theconversation.com on the CIOL Voices blog.

"Learning languages promotes cross-cultural understanding and tolerance of ambiguity in an increasingly ambiguous world."

Read more: bit.ly/3XCKRIh

'Being provided with real-life examples & templates was very useful.' - Attendee feedback on our 'Revising your PhD Thesis for Publication' session.

Led by @drjoeford.bsky.social & @emmagallon.bsky.social.

8 Dec, 2-3:30pm

🔗https://www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/events/revising-phd-thesis-publication-3

WEEKEND READING: The future of languages in a multilingual Britain - HEPI This blog was kindly authored by John Claughton, Co-Founder of The World of Languages and Languages of the World and former Chief Master of King Edward’s School, Birmingham. The other day, there was a...

And World of Languages, Languages of the World (WoLLoW) - www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/11/09/w...

The Languages Crisis: Arresting Decline - HEPI A new report from the Higher Education Policy Institute, The Languages Crisis: Arresting decline by Megan Bowler (HEPI Report 192), sponsored by Duolingo, shows a big drop in formal language learning....

Megan Bowler's Higher Education Policy Institute report on languages - www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/the-... - @meganlbowler.bsky.social @hepi-news.bsky.social

1000 Words for Belonging - A podcast about languages and belonging in the classroom — The Space Between Podcast

featuring the brilliant work of Neela Doležalová and the 1000 Words for Belonging podcast - www.the-space-between.org/1000wordspod...

England’s national curriculum review misses opportunity to revitalise language learning Capitalising on children’s existing multilingualism would be beneficial.

**New article** on The Conversation UK about languages and the government's national curriculum review - theconversation.com/englands-nat... - @uk.theconversation.com @ilcs.bsky.social @sas-news.bsky.social

savenottinghamlanguages The University of Nottingham has suspended applications to all languages degree programmes, with a view to permanent closure of all of its undergraduate languages degrees. Under the proposals, it…

Colleagues and UCU members from UoN's Department of Modern Languages have put together this wonderful guide on supporting their programmes. A lot of what they suggest is also helpful in challenging the 48 courses at risk across the university

www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk

Open Day: University of London MA Languages and Cultures Across Borders

**Open Day next Weds 26th Nov, 2-4pm at Senate House** for the 2026-7 intake on the intercollegiate MA in Languages and Cultures Across Borders. Register your place: ilcs.sas.ac.uk/news-events/... @llc-rhul.bsky.social @qmul.bsky.social @uclselcs.bsky.social @uclssees.bsky.social @ilcs.bsky.social

A very insightful article on the recent threats to UK modern languages:

www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/late...

Support the petitions to stop the closures at Leicester and Nottingham, to sign click here:

www.change.org/p/save-moder...

www.change.org/p/stop-the-r...

#languages #mfl

Revising Your PhD Thesis for Publication

🪧A date for your diaries if you'd be interested in our training session, 'Revising your PhD Thesis for Publication', led by @drjoeford.bsky.social from @ilcs.bsky.social and our Publisher @emmagallon.bsky.social.

📅 Monday 8 December, 14:00–15:30

👉 www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

#AcademicPublishing

thanks so much for suggesting this, Michael!

This👇 and teaching materials are subject to intellectual property rights, not to be given to the chat bot billionaires for free

Take away our language and we will forget who we are: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and the language of conquest The long read: The late Kenyan novelist and activist believed erasing language was the most lasting weapon of oppression. Here, Aminatta Forna recalls the man and introduces his essay on decolonisatio...

Take away our language and we will forget who we are: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and the language of conquest www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @llc-rhul.bsky.social @ilcs.bsky.social @uclssees.bsky.social @uclselcs.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk @qmul.bsky.social

MA in Languages and Cultures Across Borders This interdisciplinary MA brings together teaching and resources from several University of London federation members, offering a unique breadth of expertise.

Tomorrow is the *final opportunity to apply for our MA in Languages, Cultures and Societies* - co-delivered with RHUL, UCL, QMUL, ULIP and KCL Language Centre! www.sas.ac.uk/postgraduate...

Our future may depend on the humanities For Peter Sutoris, the humanities hold the key to understanding and responding to the many civilisational crises we face

The humanities are not a luxury—they are where a society’s ethical and imaginative life takes shape. They won’t give us all the answers, but they keep us asking the right questions—and without that, no future worth having can be built.

wonkhe.com/blogs/our-fu...

What are we doing here? Seminar rooms as spaces for radical delight

Ce soir: ies.sas.ac.uk/events/what-...

How to respond to the EHRC consultation Good Law Project has taken advice from a leading public law King’s Counsel on how to respond to the EHRC’s consultation. What follows is a form which, after you complete it, will automatically be sent...

The EHRC Guidance is a wicked exercise in removing rights from trans people - and is bad too for employers and service providers, those outside gender norms, people with disabilities and the economy.

We've created a tool to make it easy to respond. Please use and share. goodlaw.social/9e59e9

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
So excited to release the programme for our upcoming conference on the Maghreb - June 19-21!! 🤗 We’ve made the event hybrid so make sure to register for the Zoom link (or to attend in person of course)! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/postcoloni... À bientôt! !أتطلع للقائكم 🇩🇿 🇲🇦 🇹🇳 🇱🇾

I agree with Elton

🎉 We’re delighted to present our new LSP series: Languages in UK Education, guest-edited by @cforsdick.bsky.social and Wendy Ayres-Bennett.

The series explores how the UK can better support linguistic diversity and respond to the languages crisis. 🌍📘

📖 Read more: lspjournal.com

Liberty defeats Government appeal as Court rules anti-protest laws are unlawful - Liberty

anti-protest regulations unlawful www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/libert...

Job Opportunity at University of Leeds: Lecturer in French & Francophone Studies (Teaching and Research) Are you an academic with proven abilities to carry out cutting-edge teaching and research in French and Francophone Studies? Could you deliver quality teaching in French and Francophone Studies in the...

I am so delighted to announce that we are #hiring! A two year full-time teaching and research post in French 🇫🇷 Come and join our big and beautiful School of Languages, Cultures and Societies in leafy Leeds! Please post to your networks. jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx... @lcsleeds.bsky.social

Very true. And it's a sector with high economic benefits. Universities UK report an economic impact of £158bn, or £265bn including the impact of international students. Every £1 of public money invested into UK universities generates £14 of economic benefit. www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/latest/news/...

The UK car industry contributes £22bn to the economy and employs c 35k people.

Universities contribute £265bn and employ nearly 400k, over 10x as much.

Yet he seems ok to let that sector implode.

Swahili? Mandarin? The UK is increasingly multilingual – yet our politicians won’t talk about it | Laura Spinney Even the census ignores them, but multilinguals could hold the key to Britain’s social and economic future, says science journalist Laura Spinney

Multilinguals could hold the key to Britain’s social and economic future www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We are disappointed but not surprised that Meta has used millions of pirated books to develop its AI systems.

As a matter of urgency, Meta needs to compensate the rightsholders of all the works it has been exploiting.

But what can authors do? Read here:
societyofauthors.org/2025/03/21/t...