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News Release
30 November 2001 Birmingham student to represent UK at European conference
Sophia Mohammed, a 22 year-old student from Sparkhill in Birmingham, has been nominated to join the UK delegation at the closing ceremony for the European Year of Languages. The conference will take place in Brussels on 7 & 8 December.
Multi-lingual Sophia, who speaks Urdu and Punjabi at home, was chosen by the Department for Education and Skills and the Centre for Information on Languages Teaching & Research (CILT) to be part of the UK delegation, following her successful participation in a youth panel at the European Year of Languages conference in Birmingham.
The conference, which took place in October 2001, featured a range of young people speaking about the importance of languages. Lid King, Director of CILT and head of the UK delegation said: ‘’Sophia spoke eloquently at the conference in Birmingham about her time in France, her hopes for the future and how multilingualism goes hand in hand with multiculturalism. Sophia embodies multi-lingual Europe and this made her the obvious choice when we were selecting a young person to join the delegation. We felt that she would make a valuable contribution to the event in Brussels.’’
The UK is one of 46 delegations from Member States of the European Commission and the Council of Europe expected to attend the closing conference, which is themed ‘Together in Diversity.’ The event aims to celebrate achievements of the European Year of Languages such as the wide-ranging participation of people from all walks of life and to look towards the future. It includes panel debates and workshops on linguistic diversity and languages for employment. There will be simultaneous interpretation into 11 languages.
Sophia Mohammed attended Swanshurst secondary school and King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls. In addition to speaking Urdu, Punjabi and English, Sophia speaks basic Arabic and GCSE German and is hoping to pursue a career in languages. A final year student at Aston University, studying for a BSc in French, Sophia has just returned from a year in France as a foreign language assistant at a secondary school in Paris. She was recruited to Aston through a Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) project to widen participation in higher education.
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For further press information telephone: (00) (44) (0)20 7379 5101 ext. 252
Notes for Editors
1.The European Year of Languages is a joint initiative between the Council of Europe and the European Union involving 45 countries across Europe. The Year has four principal aims: to raise awareness of the richness of Europe’s linguistic heritage; to make the widest possible public aware of the advantages of competence in another language; to encourage lifelong learning of languages and to publicise information about the teaching and learning of languages. Information about the Year in the UK, including the programme, is available at www.eyl2001.org.uk and via a newsletter which is published regularly throughout 2001.
2.CILT is the UK coordinator of the European Year of Languages 2001, the Government's recognised centre of expertise on language teaching. It was established in 1966 to promote a greater national capability in languages. CILT supports language teaching, training and research throughout the UK, across all sectors of education, and among employers.
For further press information or to interview Sophia Mohammed please contact:
DfES:
Siobhan Doherty or Scott Swinton
020 7808 1898 020 7925 5261
CILT:
Teresa Tinsley or Pat Semple
020 7379 5101 020 7379 5101
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CILT is the UK Co-ordinator of EYL2001 Last updated on 14th December 2001 |