These links are based on those given in Multilingual UK with additions of our own. They are as much about culture as language and you will find many valuable links for following up multicultural issues. We know it is not comprehensive - please send us your suggestions.

An excellent range of links on many of the cultural and linguistic communities in the UK can be found on the Commission for Racial Equality website (look for the Ethnic Minorities and Diversity section) at: http://www.cre.gov.uk/navigate/links.html

General

European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages - an EU site for the Union’s minority languages http://www.eblul.org/

Community Languages - a major background resource from the Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research http://www.cilt.org.uk/commlangs/index.htm

Nuffield Languages Inquiry - “The Nuffield Languages Programme exists to support the development of languages in the UK by taking forward the messages of the Languages Inquiry” http://www.nuffield.org/language/index.html. Its report Languages: the next generation can be downloaded as a pdf file

Routes of English - an excellent BBC website on the history of the language. Includes samples of speech of different accents and dialects (if you have the software) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/routesofenglish/

Commission for Racial Equality  - set up “to tackle racial discrimination and promoteracial equality” http://www.cre.gov.uk/  (see our review in Website of the Month)

Friends, Families and Travellers Romani is one of the hidden dying languages of Britain - here you will find articles and links to their culture throughout Europe www.gypsy-traveller.org In addition http://www.patrin.com/ will give you some history and examples of the Romani language

Essential UK - for other multilingual classroom activities try the British Council Essential UK website where you will find activities and links on Multilingual UK, Diwali, Sport and Racism and Issues in a Multicultural Society.

‘Polish as a Foreign Language (PFL!)’ If you want to see the syllabus, exams, mark schemes etc for GCSE and A Level Polish available in the UK, try www.neab.ac.uk and type Polish in the Search engine (the NEAB is one of the UK exam boards and part of the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance - AQA). Culture and literature are not central. Mostly the exam work is done at Polish Saturday schools - a directory of these can be found at www.resourceunit.com/sch_directory/sch_directory.html. Further information on learning Polish can be found at www.polishcultureorg.uk among a variety of other aspects of Polish culture presented for the benefit of people living in the UK by the Polish Cultural Institute in London.

Media

Commission for Racial Equality - ethnic minority media pages - lists all publications in the UK http://www.cre.gov.uk/media/em_media.html

Deaf Broadcasting Council http://www.deafbroadcastingcouncil.org.uk/

Media in the lesser used languages of Europe - search facility for radio, TV newspapers and magazines http://mercator.inf.aber.ac.uk/ A Welsh site with a St George’s flag not a Union Jack for English!

Oral history

British Library National Sound Archive http://www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive

Twentieth Century Vox - audio clips from oral history programmes made by the BBC since 1997, including coverage of immigration from the Indian sub-continent and the Caribbean http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/20cvox/index.shtml

Schools and books

Resource Unit for Supplementary and Mother-Tongue Schools with a big directory of links - “an initiative for bridging gaps … “http://www.resourceunit.com/

‘Fabula’ project and software for children’s stories in the minority languages of Europe http://www.fabula.eu.org/

Lingua Language Services - how to produce webpages without the latin alphabet http://www.lingua-uk.com/

Mantra Publishing Ltd http://www.mantrapublishingcom/ and Milet Publishing Ltd http://www.milet.com/ - publishers of dual language books

Bilingualism

Bilingual Family Newsletter and an extensive list of publications - from the publisher Multilingual Matters - a significant publisher on a wide range of multilingual issues beyond bilingualism http://www.multilingualmatters.com/

Welsh and Wales

Welsh Language Board - promoting and developing the use of the Welsh Language http://www.bwrdd-yr-iaith.org.uk/

Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru (Welsh Books Council) http://www.wbc.org.uk/

Dragonmusic - a web site devoted to Welsh bands http://www.dragonmusic.co.uk/

Llangollen International Eisteddfod- a long-standing international folk festival http://www.llangollen.org.uk/

Welsh National Eisteddfod(Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru) - the major national cultural festival in Wales with prizes for poetry, music etc http://www.eisteddfod.org.uk/

Gaelic and Scotland

Sabhal Mór Ostaig - Gaelic-medium further education college (you will need to click on ‘English’ unless you understand Gaelic!) http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/

Gaelic in public life - a guide to Gaelic Scotland http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/cnag/failte/

The Fáilte project- encouraging cultural tourism in the Western Isles http://www.cnag.org.uk/beurla/failte_e.htm

Irish and Ireland

There are a number of articles on Ireland in World of English magazine www.woe.edu.pl/archives.html and the following on an island off the west coast considers writing in the Irish language Literature of the Great Blasket by Malgorzata Goraj-Bryll 

Music, poetry and theatre

Dub - music from the black community http://www.dubflash.com/

A Poet for the People - an article from the World of English about Benjamin Zephaniah a well-known and respected poet in the reggae and dub tradition originating from the Caribbean

Asian Dub Foundation http://www.asiandubfoundation.com/

British Council music pages - targeted at everyone with an interest in UK music http://music.britishcouncil.org/

Dragonmusic - a web site devoted to Welsh bands http://www.dragonmusic.co.uk/

Maroon Town - “an irresistible dance cocktail of ska, reggae, rap and funk” is their claim - a multi-racial band with Caribbean roots http://www.demon.co.uk/andys/maroon.html

WOMAD (World of Music and Dance) organisers of festivals in many countries http://www.womad.org/

Yellow Earth Theatre - a Chinese theatre company http://www.yellowearth.org/

Caribbean roots

Blacknet - a very good site things culturally black http://www.blacknet.co.uk/ Use its Blacksearch http://www.blacksearch.co.uk to find much more

Dub - music from the black community http://www.dubflash.com/

Maroon Town - “an irresistible dance cocktail of ska, reggae, rap and funk” is their claim - a multi-racial band with Caribbean roots http://www.demon.co.uk/andys/maroon.html

Jamaica - the heart of the Caribbean - a background article from the World of English archive by Steve Heighes

Getting High on Notting Hill - an article from the World of English on the famous carnival with its roots in the Caribbean

Asian roots

Clickwalla - a very large site “the UK’s leading Asian portal” dedicated to everything ’Asian’ in the UK of whatever religion or original language http://www.clickwalla.com/

Diwali - a great deal about the festival and links to similar Hindu and Sikh sites www.diwali.couk

Unmah.com - a big Muslim website with news from an Islamic angle and information on Ramadan, the Eid ul-Fitr and other Islamic festivals http://www.ummah.net/

Chinese roots

Chinatown Online - “a non-political, non-religious and non-partisan site which provides information about China, the Chinese community in the UK.” http://www.chinatown-online.co.uk/

Yellow Earth Theatre - a Chinese theatre company http://www.yellowearth.org/