News
Videos and materials from CercleS2020 are online!
Dear participants of CercleS 2020,
you can find all videos and materials from our conference in the section "Practical Information" under Media. Thank you very much for your kind words and we hope to see you soon!
Greetings from LSP Focus Group, David Tual and Benoît Guilbaud
Language Learning in Higher Education, Journal of CercleS – Call for Papers
Dear speakers,
please see new information regarding publication of selected texts from the conference in Programme section of our website, under "Publication".
September Update
Dear XVI CercleS Conference Participants,
The XVI CercleS Conference is almost here. We would like to give you some information upfront.
You will receive daily information on how to access the conference sessions virtually. We will send out information twice a day from Wednesday until Saturday.
All sessions are streamed via YouTube. As a matter of fact, we have a dedicated stream for each conference meeting room.
If you attend virtually, it will be possible for you to post comments and ask questions if you set up a google account. For more information click HERE. Questions and comments will be dealt with by the moderator and speaker during the session. If you “just” want to watch the stream (without commenting), a google account is not required.
Additionally, certain round tables and workshops are organized via Zoom. If you like to participate in the peer discussion as a virtual attendee, you will need to access the relevant Zoom meeting and you will need to have access to Zoom. Click HERE for setting up Zoom. If you “just” want to watch the round table and workshops, you can do so via the stream on YouTube.
Please note that our daily detailed information (morning and afternoon) will include all information about the YouTube streaming and the Zoom meetings.
If you are a virtual speaker, you will additionally receive access to and information about your Zoom meeting on the day of your presentation.
If you attend physically (in person), you will receive all information in your conference bag at registration.
If you have any further questions, please address these to Cercles2020@cjv.muni.cz.
All the best and talk to you further on Wednesday,
Your conference organisers
Mid-August Update
Dear Colleagues,
We would like to send you some further details about the deadlines we communicated to you in our last email.
25th August: Please inform us by this day about any change in your attendance.
Please note that:
Changes from physical to virtual attendance: any changes after 25th August not connected to COVID-19 restrictions in traveling will not be refunded
Changes from virtual to physical attendance: it will not be possible to change after 25th August.
31st August: final deadline for paying the conference fee.
Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact cercles2020@cjv.muni.cz.
August programme updates
Dear colleagues,
You can find the updated programme online. We offer the online version and the downloadable "pdf" version on the Programme page.
Please notice that all schedules are displayed in CEST – Central European Summer Time, i.e. UTC +2:00).
Thank you.
Coronavirus - Information of Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic
Dear Colleagues,
here you can find all the current information about the coronavirus travel restrictions to and from the Czech Republic. This site has been regularly updated.
Coronavirus - Information of Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic
June update
Situation in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic continues to lift restrictions related to the corona virus pandemics as the country seems to be on an optimistic path. Most restrictions have been changed into recommendations, so, social distancing in potentially crowded areas is kept, compulsory mask-wearing is limited to the public transport and inside of buildings where strangers meet (e.g. shopping centres or state administration offices), all services are open, cultural and sport events for up to 1,000 people are allowed (sport events even with higher numbers if the audience can be divided into smaller groups). Hotels and accommodation services are fully open.
Foreigners may enter the Czech Republic based on regularly updated information of the Government. Currently, there are no issues with entering the country for most EU (+ Switzerland, Norway, Lichtenstein) citizens. People travelling from non-EU countries may need specific documents (e.g. proof of coming for business purposes, which includes a conference participation; negative COVID test, a written statement of non-infectivity, or a letter of invitation), if any of these are needed in the time of the conference, we are going to let you know and we are ready to provide you with all the support, including issuing some of the documents. Completely free access without restrictions to the country from all countries of low risk is being discussed.
Situation at Masaryk University. Masaryk University, the venue of the conference, is open to teaching for groups of up to 15 people in a class and to social events with different types of activities for up to 500 people. All rooms are able to accommodate “hybrid” presence for those who are present in person and those who can join virtually. The technical solutions have already been tested.
May update
Dear Colleagues,
Greetings from the XVI CercleS Conference organisers. We are getting in contact to give you an update and to thank you once again for all your support and encouragement of the past weeks. On 15 May, a Virtual Site Visit was organised for the CercleS Executive, where all the potential scenarios and ideas that could make the conference successful for everybody were discussed.
Recently, the situation regarding the corona virus has been following a seemingly optimistic path. We know that it can change one way or another in any country any day. This is why we stay vigilant with more scenarios at hand. We are ready to react swiftly when necessary, as maximum inclusiveness and everybody´s safety and comfort are our priorities.
This message is to confirm that preparations continue and inform you about the practicalities of the conference, namely about the current situation in the Czech Republic, conference fees, new web and some pre-conference activities.
1) Situation in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic has gone through a milder version of the corona crisis compared to some countries, the State of Emergency finished on Sunday 18 May and most restrictions have been already lifted. With some restrictions related to social distancing and compulsory mask-wearing, shops, restaurants, schools, cultural and sport events as well as transport have been re-opened, events for up to 300 people are allowed. Hotels open this week. Foreigners are allowed to enter the country for working/studying purposes with a written statement of non-infectivity. Completely free access without restrictions to the country is being discussed.
Masaryk University, the venue of the conference (where teaching went fully online but research and work activities continued without major restrictions during the term), has re-opened its premises for the exam period, potential teaching (up to 15 people in a class) and to social events up to 100 people. These numbers are expected to be increased soon.
2) Conference fees. Due to the uncertainty and potential changes, in order to make the conference conditions as clear and sustainable as possible for everybody, and in order to make everybody welcome in whatever form of presence, we have decided to introduce two major changes:
2.1. The early-bird fee is going be the only fee of the conference. There will be no higher fees for those who will pay after the current early-bird date, as we understand that some institutions will allow payments only later.
2.2. There will be a special rate for those who would like to join the conference virtually. Please, see the fees for the virtual presence on: http://cercles2020.cjv.muni.cz/dates
3) New web. You may have noticed our webpages have changed – mostly, it is design, not the information. Regarding the content, we would like to remind you that the English version is the only one with complete conference information. If some info cannot be found in your preferred language version, please, check the English one, it could be found there. In the HOME section, there is a new element NEWS, where we would like to inform you about the conference preparations. By the way, all three existing addresses will lead you to the new webpages now. (www.cjv.muni.cz/cercles2020/ , http://cercles2020.cjv.muni.cz/, www.old.cjv.muni.cz/cercles2020/ )
4) Pre-conference activities. As suggested in the last email, CercleS is about community and we would like to strengthen ties among our centres and colleagues and support one another in the times when it is impossible or difficult to meet physically. We would like to create a pre-conference collection of Stories from the Corona Times in written, audio or video form, so that we all know our community is alive and healthy and strong. If you would like to share your story, experience, anecdote, best practice, thought, idea, picture (or indeed a song) you can send it to: Cercles2020@cjv.muni.cz, add it to the conference event on Facebook or Twitter (use hashtag #cercles2020 and tag @CJVMU in your post) and it will become a part of this conference. Of course, the topic of corona times will form part of the conference academic programme, however, we feel that a human touch deserves to be present as well.
We are still looking forward to having you in Brno in September!
Kind regards,
The CercleS Conference Organisers
Covid-19 April update
Dear Colleagues,
Greetings from the XVI CercleS Conference organisers. We would like to thank you very much for all your support and kind words we have been receiving. All that has been strongly encouraging and we are extremely happy to be part of this fantastic community.
In consultation with the CercleS Executive, this message is to inform you about the preparations of the conference.
With belief that networking plays a vital role in our profession, with more than 200 abstracts from 25 countries and with the number of registered participants steadily growing, we continue to prepare the conference. We know that the coronavirus situation differs considerably country to country and region to region, and we would like to assure you that we monitor this complexity, we shape and re-shape diverse scenarios, and we are open to all feasible solutions in order to make the event as inclusive as possible. In this atmosphere, we would like to send three clear messages:
1) We care about the community of CercleS and language centres in general and we care about your individual needs. We would like to make the conference accessible to as many of you as possible under the given circumstances. Please, if you have any national, institutional or individual doubts, questions or enquiries, do not hesitate and ask (Cercles2020@cjv.muni.cz), we are flexible and ready to help with all types of specific issues that may arise from the challenging situation we are all in.
2) We plan responsibly. We are in constant contact with the CercleS Executive considering alternatives, which are, among others, (a) “run as planned” (if a miracle happens, and they do); (b) semi-virtual format (where those who can will come in person, those who cannot will be encouraged to join the conference virtually); (c) the same date but completely different programme format; (d) postponed conference within 2020; (e) postponed conference for September 2021; or (f) fully virtual format in planned dates. Careful planning is connected to effective communication, so, to make sure you get all the information needed, we have decided that apart from the information on the web (www.cjv.muni.cz/cercles2020/ ), we are also going to send regular updates. The organisational emails will be sent in mid-May, early June and on 26 June, when the main organisational decisions will be made. If you do not want to receive those emails, please, let us know at Cercles2020@cjv.muni.cz and we will exclude you from the mailing list.
3) We believe fun is an essential aspect of our work, too. We have been enjoying the conference preparations and being in contact with you enormously and we would like to share some of the fun with you. You have already heard the song, and there is more coming. At the moment, our webpages are undergoing a facelift, so, when that is ready, we´ll get back to you with some more activities that you could join.
We are still looking forward to having you in Brno in September!
Kind regards,
The CercleS Conference Organisers