Congratulations to Steven Fawkes, who has become a Knight of the Order of the Palmes Académiques, awarded by the French Prime Minister on behalf of France and their Ministry for Education, Youth and Sport. One of the oldest civil honours bestowed by the French Republic, this was originally established by Napoleon in 1808 and it recoginises outstanding contributions to education and culture.
Having not been to anything for the past year and a half, a trip to London for an in-person Erasmus+ project meeting in September was both exciting and slightly stressful! However, a trip to meet the new Attaché Culturel at the Institut français added an element of surprise!
As I entered the meeting room I was presented with an envelope containing the certificate in the photograph – completely out of the blue!
I am delighted to be joining others in the Languages World and from the North East region who have already received this award, which recognises the importance the French Government places on the work we all do.’
Steven Fawkes, Association of Language Learning and ALLNE
A richly deserved reward for Steven
Steven Fawkes is a powerhouse for promoting languages and cultures nationally and in the North East. He is a leading light in the national charity supporting teachers of Modern Foreign Languages at all levels, the Association of Language Learning (ALL) and it’s regional branch, ALL North East. Representing ALL, Steven has been a very important partner in our Newcastle City of Languages initiative, helping to guide our strategic approach and providing connections to resources, training, support and events for language teachers.
Steven also came up with the idea for Express Yourself North East Festival of Languages, which we ran for the first time in March 2021. He has been a key member of our festival steering group from the start and is currently helping us to prepare our next festival, a celebration of languages and cultures and our connections to the world, which will take place March 2022 across the region.
He does all this as a volunteer, which is even more impressive and his passion to promote and support language teaching learning is inspirational. Steven is always giving his time freely and always full of new ideas and ways to make language learning and teaching fun – and he does everything with good humour and humility.
I am absolutely thrilled to see Steven honoured in this way – so richly deserved.
Declan Baharini, Director of International Newcastle
