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 Jim Anderso n,  Goldsmiths University of London, with schools and universities across the world Community based heritage language schools often experience difficulty in engaging students in studying the HL, especially once they go beyond primary age. There may be a feeling that the language does not connect with their lived experience or with real world issues. The link to culture may feel artificial and unchanging. There may be little opportunity for students to invest themselves emotionally in their learning or to feel the excitement of genuine meaning-making.   Addressing the needs of HL learners The international Critical Connections project, launched in 2012, seeks to address the above issue by involving young people in creating short bi/multi-lingual digital stories around issues which matter to them such as the environment.  It is innovative in bringing together learners of heritage as well as foreign languages in community based as well as mainstream sett...