General resources

In this section:

British Council: Language Trends 2023

Language Trends is an annual survey of primary and secondary schools in England, designed to gather information about the situation for language teaching and learning. Its aims are: (i) to assess the impact of policy measures in relation to languages; and (ii) to analyse strengths and weaknesses based both on quantitative evidence and on views expressed by teachers.

Read the Language Trends 2023 report to find out more.

Towards a national languages strategy: education and skills

Proposals for the education and skills component of a UK-wide national languages strategy from the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Association of School and College Leaders, the British Council and Universities UK.

Primary and secondary resources

Visit our primary and key stages 3, 4 and 5 webpages for further information and resources.

Online language learning

Lawless French
This free website is packed with resources for students of all levels. If you’re just starting to learn French, go directly to French for beginners: a self-study checklist will guide you through lessons in a logical way. Alternatively, if you just want to learn some useful travel phrases, sign up for the 6-week travel French ecourse.

Lawless Spanish
This free website is packed with resources for students of all levels. If you’re just starting to learn Spanish, go directly to Spanish for beginners: a self-study checklist will guide you through lessons in a logical way. Alternatively, if you just want to learn some useful travel phrases, check out my travel Spanish lessons.

Language organisations

Association for Language Learning (ALL)

The Association for Language Learning (ALL) is an independent registered charity and the UK’s major subject association for those involved in the teaching of foreign languages at all levels.

British Council

The British Council is an organisation which supports peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. Visit the school and teacher section of the website to find amazing resources to support and promote language teaching and learning.

Goethe-Institut

The Goethe-Institut is the Federal Republic of Germany’s cultural institute, active worldwide. They promote the study of German abroad and encourage international cultural exchange.

“Our cultural and educational programmes offer an opportunity to engage with themes and questions relevant to contemporary German culture and society. Faced with the challenges of globalisation, we aim to strengthen intercultural dialogue and a global civil society.”

The Goethe-Institut London has been operating in South Kensington since 1962.

Institut Français

Part of a worldwide network, the Institut Français in London encourages cross-cultural exchange and presents the best of French culture. Enjoy the wide offer: French courses (online or at their venue), film screenings, library collections, children’s activities, festivals, talks and concerts.

Consejería de Educación in the United Kingdom

The Consejería de Educación is the office of the Department for Education of Spain in the United Kingdom. It intends to bring both Spanish language and culture closer to teachers, scholars, students and all those interested in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries.

The Consejería offers the following services in relation with education:

technical advice, information and support to the Spanish Diplomatic missions in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland,
promoting and strengthening existing relationships between the Spanish education community and those of the United Kingdom and Ireland,
gathering of information about educational policies in the United Kingdom and Ireland; and organizing teacher training activities.

Confucius Institute

Confucius Institutes are public educational and cultural promotion programmes, funded and arranged by the Chinese International Education Foundation.

The University of Southampton Confucius Institute (CI) was formally opened in October 2011 in collaboration with Chinese partners at Xiamen University, P.R. China. Since that date they have been working on a series of workshops and events to raise the profile of the Confucius Institute at the university and amongst the local community.

National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE)

The newly-established National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE) is led by IOE who will work with key stakeholders across the Languages subject community, including the Goethe-Institut and the British Council.

IOE, together with the Goethe-Institut and the British Council will lead a new nationwide hubs programme funded by the DfE up to £14.9 million over the next three years to re-energise language learning in state-maintained primary and secondary schools in England.

GIMAGINE promotes and supports the learning of German as a foreign language. NCLE provides resources and materials to teaching professionals in state-funded schools in England, including: