The Sir Robert Taylor Society has announced that the 2023 Language Teachers’ Conference will be held on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 September at St Anne’s College. The society is a network of teachers of Modern Foreign Languages in secondary schools, academics in the Medieval and Modern Languages Faculty at the University of Oxford, and others who have an interest in Modern Languages. The conference is named after the founder of the Taylor Institution, Sir Robert Taylor.

The programme for this year has been altered slightly in order to focus on the ever-growing issues facing the teaching and learning of languages, and to dedicate more time to the ways in which we might overcome these challenges. For example, the annual ‘Building Bridges’ session will involve a roundtable discussion with a panel of academics, students and teachers, as well as contributions from the floor. This will focus on a slate of issues of current interest and concern within language learning from Key Stage 3 to degree level. 

Other highlights of this year’s programme include spotlights on the increasing accessibility of beginners’ languages degrees at university, the wonderful and varied career opportunities experienced by languages graduates, and the exciting new and existing languages-focused outreach projects currently taking place across Oxford.

There will also be a taster lecture from an academic in the Faculty before a drinks reception and dinner. This will be followed by a chance to socialise and network with fellow MFL Teachers and colleagues from the Faculty in the College bar.

Saturday's events will begin with a literary session on ‘The Language of the Text’, where scholars in French, German and Spanish will discuss the ways in which an area of language teaching can be used as a starting point for textual analysis in a selection of texts on the A Level syllabus. 



After a coffee break, the annual admissions session will take place. There will be an introduction to the Oxford application process followed by a mock interview with a current student. Finally, we will finish with a Q&A discussion with Oxford tutors about applying for and studying Modern Languages at Oxford, including picking up beginners’ languages and studying languages in combination with other subjects.

The event programme can be found here.