Business Language Champions Plus (BLC+) is a project which aims to demonstrate to students in secondary and further education the value of language skills in the world of work. It achieves this by bringing together employers and schools to work on project activity and offer mutual support.
The project runs from 2007 to 2011, and is delivered by RLN East on behalf of CiLT, the National Centre for Languages and Norfolk County Council. The project is funded by Norfolk County Council and the Department of Children, Schools & Families (DCSF). The project aims to form 35 employer-school partnerships, the majority of which are based in Norfolk.
Employers participating in the project work with schools on a variety of activities which demonstrate how languages are used in the world of work, in particular with reference to international trade. Each partnership develops an action plan which outlines the ways in which students can gain a better understanding of the practical ways in which business uses language skills, both verbal & written. Action plans are discussed at an initial meeting and then implemented either within the school or on employer premises. A total of 18 employers and 10 schools have taken part in the project so far.
Activities are planned at an initial meeting between partners and vary enormously depending on the resource of the employers and the languages taught in the schools. They range from translating pages from a competitor’s or customer’s website, through design of packaging with language content and development of presentations about the use of languages, to telephone conference calls, design of presentations, small-scale internet research projects and participation in meetings with overseas visitors.
A key facet of the project are the talks given by businesses to students about their own experience of using their language skills and the benefits these have brought to their company. On occasion, partnerships have opted to award prizes to students succeeding in project competitions. These have included book tokens, iPods, student designs incorporated into production runs, and a visit to Ford’s Cologne-Niehl Fiesta assembly plant in Germany.
All companies in Norfolk receive a grant of £500 towards the cost of staff time and resources involved in the project, and are entitled to use this grant to build their language & culture capacity. Such funding is designed to help improve the companies’ competitiveness on the global stage and help increase their turnover in overseas markets. It is also designed to motivate and encourage school students taking languages by giving them exposure to real-life work situations and to put their studies in context.
A range of resources are available to schools, most well-known of which are the Languages Work materials developed by CiLT. These include classroom presentations, activity guides and CD-ROMs, as well as free postcards, posters & fact sheets. A range of business language training materials and culture reports are also available through RLN East.
To find out more please contact us.
