Luxembourg’s national language training centre is to return to its newly renovated premises by the Glacis in 2018 Delano archive

Luxembourg’s national language training centre is to return to its newly renovated premises by the Glacis in 2018 Delano archive

The Institut National des Langues (INL) announced the timeframe at a press conference to launch a new Luxembourgish textbook on Tuesday 12 September.

For the past three years, the centre has hosted classes and exams in temporary classrooms in rue Léon Hengen, located next to the European School I in Kirchberg.

Renovations to the old building, next to the Glacis, are expected to finish in December 2017, with the move scheduled in two phases: the administration will move at the end of 2017 while classes will move for the second term, beginning in February 2018.

The renovated building, which formerly housed Luxembourg’s first European School, offers 39 classrooms, a mediathèque and exam hall.

Classes for the next school year will resume on 25 September, 2017, when learners will also be taught at two new centres in addition to Kirchberg (26 classrooms) and Mersch (5 classrooms). The INL will open an annex in Belval (10 classrooms) and at the Lycée Aline Mayrisch (12 classrooms).

The centre will also offer the 24-hour Luxembourgish course for residents of 20 or more years who wish to apply for nationality, as outlined in the national reform which entered into force on 1 April, 2017.

The expansion comes as demand for language learning, particularly Luxembourgish, reaches record highs in Luxembourg.

From autumn 2016 to 2017, the school offered 407 classes: 278 in Kirchberg, 31 in Mersch, 43 at Lycée Aline Mayrisch and 55 in Belval.

This year, 13,255 people have registered across the eight different language classes offered. The most popular languages courses are French (5,020), followed by Luxembourgish (3,814) and English (1,939). Registration for classes for the autumn term is open until September 15.

The new school year also coincides with the launch of a new Luxembourgish language text book for level A2. In what is essentially the third generation textbook for the school, the book material has been reworked and its activities are complemented with audiovisual material accessible online.

The book was co-written by Luxembourgish teachers Jackie Messerich and Angie Gaasch, who have over 30 years' teaching experience between them.