Wees actief! Leer Talen! (en)

CELEBRATE THE EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES 2012 IN WARSAW

'Be active - learn languages!' That is the motto for this year's European Day of Languages in Warsaw. In fact, an entire festival starting on 24 September is organised.

There will be language lessons and language teaching workshops in dozens of languages for teachers. Also on the agenda are an international conference, theatre classes, storytelling, street games in many languages, quizzes and a film festival.

Sports fans will find plenty to interest them. The festival is linked with Euro 2012 for football fans, and the Olympic Games are featured too.

The European Year of Active Ageing is another link that will be highlighted. Learning another language is a wonderful way for seniors to socialise and travel. There is something for everyone in the programme.

The international conference, entitled 'New Technologies and Social Media in Language Education’ will kick off the festival on 24 September, and the European Language Label Gala Awards will take place during its proceedings.

Cinema lovers can enjoy a week-long festival of films with subtitles, in Greek, Danish or Irish.

For children, there will be story-telling and music classes: ‘Sur le pont d’Avignon — music connects generations’.

Football fans will be able to practise their language and football skills at a workshop entitled: ‘Dribble with the experts -- in German'.

Small children and grandparents can try theatre workshops — a great opportunity to learn languages through music and movement.

Japanese, Chinese and Armenian are among the 70 languages in which there will be sample lessons. Foreigners living in Warsaw will be able to check their level in Polish. Sign language too will be showcased. Language teachers can attend methodology workshops at which they can pick up tips to enhance their teaching methods. Need information on European educational programmes? Go to the festival to find out what is available.

Grand contest: Win a free semester of language lessons at one of the language and culture institutes in Warsaw

Enter the contest, in which teams will become 'travel agents'. To win the game, they will have to make international contacts, organise a trip, help a lost tourist, and overcome all kinds of language barriers and other obstacles.

For more information about the festival, go to the webpage www.edj.waw.pl.

Looking forward to seeing you there!