We are proud to work with numerous partner organisations abroad to recruit and allocate the most suitable Modern Language Assistant to your institution. The language assistants join us from 15 countries all over the world, from Europe to Asia to the Americas.
This brings a great level of multiculturalism and internationalism to the programme and, most importantly, your modern languages classroom. Students have the opportunity to explore how multifaceted languages and the people who speak them are.
There is more to the German-speaking world than Berlin – not all French speakers have a Parisian accent – learning Spanish opens the doors to a whole new continent!
We are proud to celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity on our programme by recruiting and allocating Modern Language Assistants from the following parts of the world:
Every Modern Language Assistant on our programme is an ambassador for the unique culture they come from and the language they speak. As they share their stories, knowledge and experience with passion and enthusiasm, students grow in linguistic and intercultural awareness. By hosting these ambassadors, you bring language and culture to life in an authentic and real way.
With our Modern Language Assistants joining us from 14 countries and diverse linguistic backgrounds, students are given the opportunity to explore and discover first-hand how the modern languages they learn are just like English. They change over time, they are spoken in different parts of the world and there many versions of the same language. All this can provide invaluable insights into the diversity of the cultures and societies these languages are used in.
Below you can see feedback from host institutions who have told us about the benefits of hosting a language assistant in the 2019-20 academic year, particularly the learning potentials of hosting assistants from a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds:
‘We have benefitted greatly – our language assistant has helped to produce resources in the department and has given the pupils a valuable insight into what life is like in Austria - a country that some of them hadn't even heard of, let along knew spoke German! Our Year 11 pupils have benefitted greatly from the time she has spent with them, and the extra help she has provided for certain individuals has been fantastic!’
‘Our Canadian assistant offered speaking practice for more advanced pupils, support for bilingual students, and increased the status of French in the school (especially French from somewhere other than France).’
‘Our pupils have learned more about Mexico through what our assistant has taught the pupils. Our A-Level pupils have opened up more and speak Spanish with more confidence and fluency.’
‘Students enjoy the wide variety of cultural knowledge that they learn from the language assistants; for example, this year our Chilean assistant was able to give the Year 13 students a first-hand account of the education system in Chile which really engaged them in the topic.'
‘The language assistants have helped to build confidence in speaking skills, to expose students to native speakers and broaden their understanding of language spoken in countries rather than France and Spain, as our French-speaking assistant was from Switzerland and the Spanish-speaking assistant was from Argentina. They made an amazing contribution with Years 12 and 13, as students had the opportunity to have face-to-face speaking sessions with the assistants, who gave very detailed feedback
‘As our language assistant was from Mexico, he enriched the pupils' and teachers' cultural knowledge. He also made the sixth form aware of differences between the Spanish spoken in Spain and that spoken in Mexico. He produced interesting and creative resources – pupils made piñatas in the after-school club which they loved. He gave the pupils the chance to practise their oral skills in a fun way. He was invaluable to the department.
‘It was really positive for the students to have someone young and dynamic with the latest ideas on culture, nice to have someone from Switzerland to bring a different Francophone perspective, and great for the department to have extra energy. We have been delighted with the assistants; it was our first year with British Council Assistants and […] I am delighted to say that everyone was thoroughly convinced that they were an excellent addition!’