TheConversation is an independent publication with many academics and commentators contributing both research-based and opinion articles. This one from 15 July on the topic of supporting bilingulism and acknowledging students’ language backgrounds is of particular interest to MLTAWA members as we develop Australian Curriculum courses with multiple entry points.

It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry every time (predominantly monolingual) politicians and policy makers lament the fact that we don’t have enough students in schools studying foreign languages, whilst they simultaneously ignore the fact that about a third of the school population already speaks a “foreign” language at home.

Read the full article here: http://theconversation.com/how-we-kill-languages-and-fail-our-cleverest-children-29137

Image credit: TheConversation (address above).