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State-of-the-art facilities to boost language learning

6 February 2007

UCL President and Provost Professor Malcolm Grant and Professor Paul Webley, Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies, have opened state-of-the-art language teaching facilities at the new Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning of Languages of the Wider World, a joint project between the two institutions.

The Language Space

Professor Itesh Sachdev (Director of the Centre) explained that the new 'Language Space' has been designed to enhance language teaching and learning at UCL by fostering innovation and good practice, making the most of modern technologies. The centre focuses on languages that do not have a large presence in UK higher education - those taught at UCL are Dutch, Danish, Hebrew, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish and Yiddish, as well as Russian and the languages of Central and Eastern Europe.

The centre is located in rooms in Foster Court that were formerly occupied by UCL Anthropology. It is equipped with the latest PCs, headsets, audiovisual facilities and an interactive whiteboard. The software available allows users to edit images; play, record, edit and convert sound files; and create different types of language exercises and courses. Windows terminal server is also installed on all workstations, providing access to hundreds of other programs.

Jane Fenoulhet, Dean of the UCL Faculty of Arts and Humanities described the concept behind the Language Space and Cristina Ros i Solé, Principal Research Fellow at the Centre, spoke about its pedagogical and research possibilities. Sybille Nalezinksi, IT & Multimedia Support Officer, introduced a demonstration of technology available. The Director of the UCL Language Centre also attended the opening.

To find out more about using the Language Space, follow the link at the bottom of this article.

Image: The new facilities include specialist hardware, software and an interactive whiteboard