News
Monday 14 May 2007
ALLEGRO wins top three European award
An award-winning European language learning programme has earned another accolade for Nottingham Trent University. ALLEGRO, a pan-European project led by Modern Languages staff in the School of Arts and Humanities, in conjunction with the Association for Language Learning, has been awarded one of only three European Lifelong Learning awards for language learning at a prestigious event hosted by the German EU Presidency and the European Commission.
Launched in 2002, ALLEGRO’s aim was to take language learning to the most disadvantaged sectors of society. Its innovative and inspiring work led it to be selected as one of the fifty best practices for the promotion of language learning in Europe.
ALLEGRO also won a European Language Award for work undertaken in Nottingham and the East Midlands. Here, the University organised language learning activities for those recovering from drug abuse, for prisoners, for mothers with under 5s in difficult social and economic circumstances, for those with mental illness and for young people with learning disabilities. Similar projects were run in five other countries – Denmark, France, Germany, Slovenia and Spain – through ALLEGRO’s partner organisations.
The initiative was completed in September 2005, but, encouraged by the European Commission, the University successfully applied for further funding to continue the good work. The programme’s successor, VIVACE, has recently been launched to offer a wide range of language learning activities from ‘taster’ days to short courses in any European language.
Partners in the UK, Slovenia and Spain have now been joined by the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Austria to deliver VIVACE, again to people who would otherwise have little opportunity to experience a foreign language.
Nottingham Trent University’s Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities and Project Director, Marianne Howarth, said: “It’s absolutely fantastic that ALLEGRO has been given a European Lifelong Learning award in recognition for its pioneering work. It’s a tribute to all those involved, who demonstrated real commitment and dedication, which contributed significantly to its success. We are very proud that a UK-led languages project has achieved such a high accolade.
“ALLEGRO has provided an excellent working template for VIVACE, and we hope this new programme will go on to achieve even more in terms of overcoming barriers to language learning.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
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