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

Authors: Dr Adeline Henry and Hannah Murphy A research team at Queen’s University Belfast  – led by Dr Emma Humphries and Professor Janice Carruthers –  is currently undertaking a project designed to make university admissions processes more equitable and inclusive with respect to home, heritage, and community languages (HHCLs). In this blog post, Dr Adeline Henry and Hannah Murphy (two members of the research team) demonstrate that tangible, practical measures can be implemented to address existing inequities and enhance the recognition and status of heritage languages.  These developments are especially relevant for heritage language programmes across the United Kingdom, which are well positioned to promote the Toolkit introduced in the project. Moreover, the initiative offers an instructive and inspiring model for institutions and policymakers in other global contexts. Across the UK, offers to study an undergraduate degree in a university are made on the basis of predi...

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...

Interview and text by Naoko Yamamoto, originally posted on HLE Network site “There just aren’t any good Japanese textbooks for kids living abroad!” That’s how the Ohisama Project , a team based in the Netherlands, began developing Ohisama , a Japanese language textbook designed specifically for heritage language learners. Since its release in 2018, the series — which now includes the Ohisama Workbook  — has sold over 20,000 copies worldwide and become a trusted resource for families and schools raising multilingual children. The project’s creators — Junko Ueno, Emi Yamamoto, and Yoshie Mera — talk about how they built this groundbreaking textbook series from scratch. Junko Ueno (left), Emi Yamamoto (center), and Yoshie Mera (right) of the Ohisama Project  team ~ Photo: Ohisama Project 　　 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Profile: The Ohisama Project The Ohisama Project promotes high-quality Japanese language education for multilingual childre...