The CILT Library collection is a national reference resource for language teachers and others working in the fields of language teaching and learning, including languages for special purposes such as in business and industry. The collection includes current teaching and learning resources, publications on language teaching methodology, periodicals and accreditation exemplars and materials. The collection includes publications produced both in the UK and overseas in the community languages field. Search the online Library catalogue to find out what is available in a particular language or sector.

The Languages ICT website offers support for teaching Non-Roman script languages to teachers in schools. The guidance on setting up computers to operate in a number of non-Roman scripts could be useful to colleagues in any sector.

See the Valuing community languages section for resources to support making the case for studying and using community languages.

Schools and colleges

The Curriculum Guides aimed at community language profile learners provide a flexible framework to support the design and delivery of courses in both mainstream and complementary sectors and recognise and value children's achievement. Available in Arabic, Cantonese, Gujarati, Mandarin Chinese, Panjabi, Somali, Tamil, Urdu and Yoruba, the guides map a clear linguistic progression across topics and suggest a variety of activities to develop both oracy and literacy. The guides embed the key elements of intercultural awareness, creativity, assessment, grammar and the development of learner independence and align with national developments such as the Key Stage 2 Framework, Key Stage 3 Strategy and Languages Ladder.

The guides can be purchased from the CILT shop and some materials can be downloaded free of charge from the Goldsmiths College Community.Gold website; you need to register first and then access the Community Languages Resource Base.

The Our Languages Resource File, produced by clusters of schools working with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, offers schemes of work, lesson plans preparing learners for Asset Languages tests and teaching resources in a range of community languages. These resources aimed at secondary age learners, as well as those in primary schools, are free to download from the Our Languages website. The online networks for teachers of Arabic, Community languages, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and Russian from the SSAT also offer some downloadable teaching resources, particularly relevant to the foreign language teaching context.

The Primary Languages Resourcing section on teaching community languages will be useful for those teaching younger learners in mainstream schools, including guidance on how to use video clips of classroom practice on the Primary Languages Training Zone. The Junior European Languages Portfolio is a resource used by a large number of primary schools to give learners a holistic awareness of their progress in any language learned at school or spoken at home; the Portfolio is ‘owned’ by the learner and goes with them to a new class or new school.

The Vocational Languages Resource Bank includes resources in community languages, as well as resources in other languages which can be adapted for teaching languages in a vocational context, including in the 14-19 sector. Created by teachers for teachers, you can search for resources based on the language, level, skill and vocational area of your choice.

See the Resources page in the Higher Education section to support colleagues teaching languages in the higher education sector.

Workplace

The National Language Standards are useful to employers as a resource for benchmarking language skills of employees. Likewise, the National Occupational Standards for Intercultural Working can be used to develop employees’ skills for working with others from different countries or diverse cultures. There are also National Occupational Standards available for interpreting and translation.

The European Languages Portfolio for Adult and Vocational Language Learners is a resource for adults who are learning languages for work or social purposes, to support the learning process and provide a single collection point for evidence of an individual’s linguistic and intercultural skills.

The Excellence Gateway is an online portal for staff in the further education and skills sector packed with resources to support teaching and learning and leadership and management, examples of effective practice and self-improvement, teaching and learning materials, and suppliers of improvement services. The Vocational Languages Resource Bank is a useful source of teaching resources across a wide range of languages. The National Network for Interpreting offers interactive resources, including a wide range of video clips, for young people and linguists considering studying for a career in interpreting.