Heritage Language Blog ~ by HL Global Think Tank and FOHLC Europe

Heritage language schools are set up to provide space to maintain a community ’ s language and culture. This was the aim of the educators who founded the Hungarian School of Pafos. Using their experience from teaching in a diaspora context, the two founding teachers developed an approach that allows the dominant language to be used when teaching the heritage language. In this blog post, one of the two teachers tells the story of how the Hungarian school was founded; how theory shaped their practice, and how the everyday practices and experiences from teaching such a heterogeneous group formed their policies. They do this by showcasing the school’s most recent Christmas event. Christmas 2025 celebration in The Hungarian School of Pafos. The Hungarian School of Pafos was established in 2023 in Cyprus, through two educators’ collaboration. Kinga Photiou is a ballet dancer and teacher. Bernadett Jani-Demetriou is a teacher and a researcher. Their different professional backgrounds and teac...

The Sydney Institute of Community Languages Education ( SICLE ) organised the “ Heritage / Community Languages education: New directions Online Conference ” which took place over several evenings in November 2025. The latest research in the field of Languages education, including Community / Heritage Languages and TESOL was shared.   Kati Varela opening the conference on November 4, 2025. There were presentations from new and experienced researchers who talked about a range of topics including assessment, inclusivity, leadership, bilingualism, online learning, teachers’ professional learning, intercultural understanding, entrepreneurship, learner engagement, and challenges in languages education. Each presenter had 30 minutes, including question time, and there were two presentations per evening. These presentations were free and will be available online. We asked our director, Ken Cruickshank, to talk about how the conference came about: Dr. Ken Cruickshank closing the conference...

By Renata Emilsson Peskova Each year on February 21, people around the world celebrate International Mother Language Day (IMLD), in memory of the fight of Bengali people for the recognition of their mother tongue Bangla in 1952. In 2026, IMLD symbolizes the fight for maintaining and encouraging linguistic diversity, closely linked to access to education in a language that children speak or understand (UNESCO, n.d.). This blog post aims to help inform parents and educators, to help them understand the linguistic human rights of children. A better understanding of linguistic rights may help decisions to be made that make schools and communities more welcoming and supportive of heritage languages – and multilingualism at large. Group picture from the FOHLC Café about linguistic rights on February 5, 2026. In honour of IMLD 2026, the Forum of Heritage Language Coalitions (FOHLC Europe) organized a FOHLC Café on February 5 to reflect on the concept of linguistic human rights. It was attend...