COVID-19

Dear all.

The unfolding corona virus (COVID-19) crisis has significantly affected all our lives in the past few weeks. As authorities work to contain the spread of the virus, many national and international events have been postponed. Due to continued uncertainties, the organizers of the conference, Future of Languages 2020, due to take place in Reykjavík, Iceland, this coming June, have decided to postpone the event until next summer.

The NBR/FIPLV biannual conference Future of Languages will therefore be held in Reykjavík, Iceland, June 10 and 11, 2021. The published program and registrations will be transferred to the 2021 event. 

By January 2021, the organizers will re-send the call for papers and request re-confirmation from registered participants who have already paid. Accepted papers will also be transferred to next year’s conference.

Should participants wish to withdraw from the conference, 75% of the registration fee will be refunded. The remaining 25% will cover expenses already incurred. For a refund, please write to foflanguages@hi.is before May 31, 2020.

We regret that it has come to this, but we must consider participants’ health and well-being. We look forward to welcoming you to Iceland in 2021.

With best regards.

Dr. Hólmfríður Garðarsdóttir
President of STÍL
Chair of the organizing committee

Call for Papers

The conference Future of Languages will take place in Reykjavík, Iceland, in 2020. The venue is at the University of Iceland, “Veröld – the home of Vigdís” building, named after Iceland´s former president, Madame Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the first and only UNESCO Ambassador of Languages. The program will be partly theoretical and partly practical as we join forces to learn from each other’s experiences and practices, while simultaneously gaining knowledge about future perspectives and challenges. Panels will be organized in different languages, even if English will be the main language of communication.

The daily program will open and close with a plenary lecture, while numerous parallel sessions will operate simultaneously within the same building. Suggestions for outstanding speakers are still welcomed (send to holmfr@hi.is).

On 7-8 June 2018 the international conference “Teaching and Learning Languages in the 21st Century: Linguistic, Educational and Cultural Aspects” organized jointly by the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Faculty of Philology (Vilnius University), Language Teachers‘ Association of Lithuania (LKPA) and the FIPLV Nordic-Baltic Region (NBR) took place in Vilnius. The event gathered about 150 participants from more than 20 countries. The aims of the conference were to bring language policymakers, teaching professionals and researchers together for discussions about the mission of teaching in the 21st century, the meaning of teaching quality, efficiency and effectiveness, as well as analyse the aims, needs and perspectives of teaching /learning languages in multicultural environment that could consequently enhance the promotion of democratic citizenship, social cohesion, and intercultural dialogue. The international scientific event was a venue to exchange information and knowledge, share best practices and experiences across national boundaries on teacher training and the enhancement of the development of teachers’ competences that would serve to acquire a better understanding of teaching the New Generation of students. The discussion focused not only about the international practice but also about Lithuania where Lithuanian researchers had opportunities to introduce themselves, share best practices and establish new connections with practitioners and scientists in the field from other countries.

Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL) of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) successfully carries out its mission to provide efficient foreign language teaching, offering the broadest range of languages in Lithuania (currently 30 languages on offer), and also to perform research in plurilingual competence development and disseminating the scientific research internationally.

The 4^th biennial international conference “Sustainable Multilingualism”, which was organized by IFL on 26-27 May 2017 (11^th conference of the Lithuanian Language Teachers’ Association, with VMU as one of its founders) rallied over one hundred of researchers and language teaching professionals from over twenty countries of the world for discussion on individual plurilingualism and societal multilingualism in higher education. This year’s conference was exceptional in its focus on language preservation, linguistic human rights, minority language teaching and learning, challenges for culture and identity and continuing discussions on major issues in higher education language policy and language education in multilingual and multicultural learning space.

Language Teachers’ Association of Lithuania the 10^th International Conference

LANGUAGES ACROSS SCHOOLS, CULTURES, BORDERS:

CREATIVITY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SOCIAL INCLUSION

26-27 September, 2016
Vilnius

Organizers:

• Language Teachers’ Association of Lithuania
• Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences
• Public Service Language Teaching Centre

Objectives:

1. To bring Lithuanian and foreign language teaching professionals, project managers, policy makers and businessmen together for a discussion about the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of different language teaching/learning in a changing world.
2. To boost synergy and cooperation among schools and the world of employment while sharing best practices and experiences, exchanging information and knowledge across national boundaries on the enhancement of creativity, entrepreneurship and social inclusion of university students and adults.
3. To disseminate best practices and experiences of Lithuanian teachers as well as of language teaching professionals from abroad in language teaching at all levels in all stages of life.

Language Teachers’ Association of Lithuania (LKPA)
and
VMU Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL)
invite you to participate in
the 9th LKPA and the 3rd VMU IFL international scientific conference

Sustainable Multilingualism: Language, Culture And Society

Kaunas
29-30 May 2015

The aim of the conference is to assemble general and higher education language professionals, researchers, experts, politicians and other stakeholders to discuss innovations in the field of sustainable multilingualism development in the society, language didactics and intercultural communication development.