Video transcript

Welcome to Understanding Languages

DR. DARREN PAFFEY: Hello, I'm Darren Paffey, a lecturer at the University of Southampton.
SARA PIERSON: I'm Sara Pierson, head of English for Education Systems with the British
Council. Welcome to this course.
DR. DARREN PAFFEY: We'll be your guides over the next four weeks as we explore together
some of the current issues in research looking at language learning and teaching. Each week,
we'll cover a different topic and give you a taster of some of the ideas from our joint online
master's in English language teaching.
We'll be asking some key questions. What exactly is language? How do we go about learning
a language? What does an effective language teaching classroom environment look like?
What about technology? How do we use that in language learning today? What about the
implications of the global spread of English? Now, some of the ideas we'll be looking at are
controversial. We'd like to hear your opinions on the current debates, too.
SARA PIERSON: We will hear from colleagues and friends who will share their expertise in
language research and teaching. A team of expert tutors from the University of Southampton
and the British Council will be available to join in the discussions and to answer your queries.
Darren and I will pop in from time to time to see how you're doing.
At key points in the course, there will be an opportunity for you to join live discussions and
debates with the educators to talk about some of the issues around language learning and
teaching.
DR. DARREN PAFFEY: Teaching a language is very exciting, and learning one can be incredibly
empowering. So, we really hope that you enjoy this course and we look forward to meeting
you in the discussion areas. Make sure that you tell us about yourself and your experiences of
learning a language and teaching one, too.

University of Southampton 2014

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Understanding Language