Leona Archer
@larcher.bsky.social
Senior lecturer in French at University of Surrey. Language teaching. Year Abroad. Medieval French literature and culture. Arthurian romance. SFF. Writing. Tennis. Misc. (she/her)
Reposted by Leona Archer
The University of Nottingham has announced the suspension of all Modern Languages and Cultures (MLC) programmes from September 2026.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
November 7, 2025 at 5:42 PM
The University of Nottingham has announced the suspension of all Modern Languages and Cultures (MLC) programmes from September 2026.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Leona Archer
We all know the difficulty the HE sector is in. But let’s work together to come up with solutions. The nuclear option damages our students & the reputation of our institutions. @ucflangs.bsky.social & @artsandhums.bsky.social
are supporting colleagues www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
are supporting colleagues www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
University of Nottingham students fight 'insane' cull of courses
Traitors composer Sam Watts is among those against plans to cut University of Nottingham courses.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 9:33 AM
We all know the difficulty the HE sector is in. But let’s work together to come up with solutions. The nuclear option damages our students & the reputation of our institutions. @ucflangs.bsky.social & @artsandhums.bsky.social
are supporting colleagues www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
are supporting colleagues www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Leona Archer
Well this is awful news: tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'
Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'
Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham
In a statement the institution also says it is
www.bbc.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Well this is awful news: tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'
Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'
Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
Reposted by Leona Archer
T o celebrate the forthcoming print publication of our Encyclopaedia and Palgrave’s 25th anniversary this year, four chapters are free-to-view throughout October. blogs.surrey.ac.uk/medievalwome...
October 1, 2025 at 8:59 AM
T o celebrate the forthcoming print publication of our Encyclopaedia and Palgrave’s 25th anniversary this year, four chapters are free-to-view throughout October. blogs.surrey.ac.uk/medievalwome...
Reposted by Leona Archer
Wow. The University of Chicago, a world-class institution whose humanities faculty in the past has included Homi Bhabha & Lauren Berlant & Ralph Ellison & Hannah freaking Arendt, is getting rid of basically every graduate department involving the acknowledgment that other cultures & languages exist.
August 13, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Wow. The University of Chicago, a world-class institution whose humanities faculty in the past has included Homi Bhabha & Lauren Berlant & Ralph Ellison & Hannah freaking Arendt, is getting rid of basically every graduate department involving the acknowledgment that other cultures & languages exist.
Reposted by Leona Archer
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Puts 490,000 High-Res Images Online & Makes Them Free to Use
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Puts 490,000 High-Res Images Online & Makes Them Free to Use
Update: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put online 492,000 high-resolution images of artistic works. Even better, the museum has placed the vast majority of these images into the public domain, mea...
www.openculture.com
July 17, 2025 at 10:39 PM
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Puts 490,000 High-Res Images Online & Makes Them Free to Use
Reposted by Leona Archer
(Minute autopromo #2)
Si vous vous demandez comment occuper votre ado politisé.e ou vous-même pendant les vacances, que lire à la plage ou ailleurs, (re)découvrez ces histoires de révolutionnairEs, de Théroigne de Méricourt pendant la Révolution française aux collectifs féministes contemporains.
Si vous vous demandez comment occuper votre ado politisé.e ou vous-même pendant les vacances, que lire à la plage ou ailleurs, (re)découvrez ces histoires de révolutionnairEs, de Théroigne de Méricourt pendant la Révolution française aux collectifs féministes contemporains.
July 13, 2025 at 1:36 PM
(Minute autopromo #2)
Si vous vous demandez comment occuper votre ado politisé.e ou vous-même pendant les vacances, que lire à la plage ou ailleurs, (re)découvrez ces histoires de révolutionnairEs, de Théroigne de Méricourt pendant la Révolution française aux collectifs féministes contemporains.
Si vous vous demandez comment occuper votre ado politisé.e ou vous-même pendant les vacances, que lire à la plage ou ailleurs, (re)découvrez ces histoires de révolutionnairEs, de Théroigne de Méricourt pendant la Révolution française aux collectifs féministes contemporains.
Petition to stop cuts to Modern Languages at Bangor University.
chng.it/pY54kCGbmD
chng.it/pY54kCGbmD
Stop cuts to Modern Languages at Bangor University
Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?
chng.it
June 3, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Petition to stop cuts to Modern Languages at Bangor University.
chng.it/pY54kCGbmD
chng.it/pY54kCGbmD
I read the ill-informed opinion piece to which this responds with dismay (especially since the author works in a humanities discipline also impacted by severe cuts across the sector). This is a thoughtful and necessary rebuttal:
‘Language is not an ancillary service. It is crucial for expanding understanding of key issues of our age beyond anglophone perspectives and assumptions.’ A response by @ilcs.bsky.social @ucflangs.bsky.social
and St. Andrews School of Modern Languages. www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/mode...
and St. Andrews School of Modern Languages. www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/mode...
Modern languages departments are neither colonial nor obsolete
Advanced linguistic and cultural skills remain essential for deep insight into how people see themselves in the world, say five modern languages academics
www.timeshighereducation.com
March 12, 2025 at 10:35 AM
I read the ill-informed opinion piece to which this responds with dismay (especially since the author works in a humanities discipline also impacted by severe cuts across the sector). This is a thoughtful and necessary rebuttal:
Reposted by Leona Archer
Hard-hitting and reflective piece. It would be a public service to higher education in the UK and internationally if @timeshighered.bsky.social made it free to read, even if only for 24 hours.
Kudos to the authors: Anonymous, Martin Mills (Aberdeen), Nick Megoran (Newcastle) & Les Back (Glasgow).
Kudos to the authors: Anonymous, Martin Mills (Aberdeen), Nick Megoran (Newcastle) & Les Back (Glasgow).
The UK’s redundancy crisis: four views from the front line
Higher education news feeds are currently dominated by near-daily announcements of large job cuts across the UK. But what effect is all this having on the atmosphere within the departments affected – ...
www.timeshighereducation.com
February 10, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Hard-hitting and reflective piece. It would be a public service to higher education in the UK and internationally if @timeshighered.bsky.social made it free to read, even if only for 24 hours.
Kudos to the authors: Anonymous, Martin Mills (Aberdeen), Nick Megoran (Newcastle) & Les Back (Glasgow).
Kudos to the authors: Anonymous, Martin Mills (Aberdeen), Nick Megoran (Newcastle) & Les Back (Glasgow).
Reposted by Leona Archer
Read now:
Cardiff’s closure of modern languages will tongue-tie its humanities
www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/card...
@emmacayley.bsky.social
Cardiff’s closure of modern languages will tongue-tie its humanities
www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/card...
@emmacayley.bsky.social
Cardiff’s closure of modern languages will tongue-tie its humanities
The global examination of culture is not possible without languages at degree level, say Wendy Ayres-Bennett, Charles Burdett and Emma Cayley
www.timeshighereducation.com
February 5, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Read now:
Cardiff’s closure of modern languages will tongue-tie its humanities
www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/card...
@emmacayley.bsky.social
Cardiff’s closure of modern languages will tongue-tie its humanities
www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/card...
@emmacayley.bsky.social
Reposted by Leona Archer
The Arts and Humanities Alliance have written an open letter to Bridget Philippson, Secretary of State for Education, on the recently announced cuts across the sector. We are concerned that these measures disproportionately affect our disciplines and call for an urgent government review.
February 3, 2025 at 2:05 PM
The Arts and Humanities Alliance have written an open letter to Bridget Philippson, Secretary of State for Education, on the recently announced cuts across the sector. We are concerned that these measures disproportionately affect our disciplines and call for an urgent government review.
Reposted by Leona Archer
Cardiff University has announced it will axe its teaching of modern languages and merge four of its schools, cutting staff numbers by 50%.
Please sign and share this petition in support of the wonderful School of Modern Languages at Cardiff!
www.change.org/p/save-mlang...
Please sign and share this petition in support of the wonderful School of Modern Languages at Cardiff!
www.change.org/p/save-mlang...
Sign the Petition
Save MLANG at Cardiff University!
www.change.org
January 29, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Cardiff University has announced it will axe its teaching of modern languages and merge four of its schools, cutting staff numbers by 50%.
Please sign and share this petition in support of the wonderful School of Modern Languages at Cardiff!
www.change.org/p/save-mlang...
Please sign and share this petition in support of the wonderful School of Modern Languages at Cardiff!
www.change.org/p/save-mlang...
Reposted by Leona Archer
Reposted by Leona Archer
This is real. I just turned it off. They track you everywhere, because they can.
UM, I had NO idea facebook was tracking everything I did on the internet. EVERYTHING. I have diligently blocked and followed all ways to try to stop this messed up social media from taking from me, but this is the final straw… THESE JERKS! AGH! [screenshots on how to do it in the comments]
January 20, 2025 at 8:57 AM
This is real. I just turned it off. They track you everywhere, because they can.
Reposted by Leona Archer
😕 Here we go again. timeshighereducation.com/news/deeply-...
📢 Follow us for updates about the ongoing situation at UEA. #SaveUEA #UCU
🦋 Please share this post with followers, to let them we're now also on Bluesky.
💪 UEA UCU Branch Meeting this morning at 10am. Check your inboxes for full details.
📢 Follow us for updates about the ongoing situation at UEA. #SaveUEA #UCU
🦋 Please share this post with followers, to let them we're now also on Bluesky.
💪 UEA UCU Branch Meeting this morning at 10am. Check your inboxes for full details.
Risk of compulsory redundancies as 170 staff face axe at UEA
Announcement follows the departure of 400 staff members last year as efforts to close budget black hole continue
timeshighereducation.com
November 22, 2024 at 9:04 AM
😕 Here we go again. timeshighereducation.com/news/deeply-...
📢 Follow us for updates about the ongoing situation at UEA. #SaveUEA #UCU
🦋 Please share this post with followers, to let them we're now also on Bluesky.
💪 UEA UCU Branch Meeting this morning at 10am. Check your inboxes for full details.
📢 Follow us for updates about the ongoing situation at UEA. #SaveUEA #UCU
🦋 Please share this post with followers, to let them we're now also on Bluesky.
💪 UEA UCU Branch Meeting this morning at 10am. Check your inboxes for full details.
Sad news of more cuts in languages, this time at Northumbria.
November 18, 2024 at 4:41 PM
Sad news of more cuts in languages, this time at Northumbria.
Reposted by Leona Archer
Thought-provoking rebuttal, particularly the final words. It's always worth reminding students that they are creative & intelligent, that our job is to help them accentuate that, & that the "hype cycle" around "AI" will rob them of that opportunity (as well as, you know, boiling the oceans)
In response to OpenAI’s recent ‘A Student’s Guide to Writing with ChatGPT’, Arthur Perret (maître de conferénces, Jean Moulin Lyon 3) writes a line-by-line rebuttal — A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT www.arthurperret.fr/blog/2024-11...
A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT
Site web d’Arthur Perret, enseignant-chercheur en SIC.
www.arthurperret.fr
November 15, 2024 at 8:49 AM
Thought-provoking rebuttal, particularly the final words. It's always worth reminding students that they are creative & intelligent, that our job is to help them accentuate that, & that the "hype cycle" around "AI" will rob them of that opportunity (as well as, you know, boiling the oceans)
Reposted by Leona Archer
I love Quiet Posters — can be pretty easy to miss friends or other infrequent posters in the following firehose, this does a great job of plucking them out for you. bsky.app/profile/did:...
November 12, 2024 at 9:37 PM
I love Quiet Posters — can be pretty easy to miss friends or other infrequent posters in the following firehose, this does a great job of plucking them out for you. bsky.app/profile/did:...
I really enjoyed the first episode of 'Wolf Hall: the Mirror and the Light', but thanks to watching too much Cbeebies these days, I can't hear Mark Rylance's voice without thinking of Flop.
"The dissolution of the monasteries... it's a Bing thing!"
"The dissolution of the monasteries... it's a Bing thing!"
November 12, 2024 at 1:05 PM
I really enjoyed the first episode of 'Wolf Hall: the Mirror and the Light', but thanks to watching too much Cbeebies these days, I can't hear Mark Rylance's voice without thinking of Flop.
"The dissolution of the monasteries... it's a Bing thing!"
"The dissolution of the monasteries... it's a Bing thing!"
Reposted by Leona Archer
You guys, my kid just discovered a *whole book* of poems in French that, when read in French, sound like mother goose rhymes in English (but said with a heavy French accent). They are grammatical in French! 😵💫 The one below is Humpty Dumpty. This is depraved and wonderful. I love/hate it.
Mon enfant vient de m’informer de la monstruosité qui est « Mots d'Heures: Gousses, Rames » 🫨 en me listant:
Un petit d'un petit
S'étonne aux Halles
Un petit d'un petit
Ah! degrés te fallent
Indolent qui ne sort cesse
Indolent qui ne se mène
Qu'importe un petit d'un petit
Tout Gai de Reguennes.
Un petit d'un petit
S'étonne aux Halles
Un petit d'un petit
Ah! degrés te fallent
Indolent qui ne sort cesse
Indolent qui ne se mène
Qu'importe un petit d'un petit
Tout Gai de Reguennes.
October 31, 2024 at 12:51 AM
You guys, my kid just discovered a *whole book* of poems in French that, when read in French, sound like mother goose rhymes in English (but said with a heavy French accent). They are grammatical in French! 😵💫 The one below is Humpty Dumpty. This is depraved and wonderful. I love/hate it.
Reposted by Leona Archer
📢New report on Modern Languages Closures & Restructurings
A recent survey conducted by Wendy Ayres Bennett, policy advisor for UCFL, provides evidence of worrying signs across the HE sector & the pressing need for support & curriculum innovation
university-council-for-languages.org/2024/07/08/r...
A recent survey conducted by Wendy Ayres Bennett, policy advisor for UCFL, provides evidence of worrying signs across the HE sector & the pressing need for support & curriculum innovation
university-council-for-languages.org/2024/07/08/r...
Report on Modern Languages Closures and Restructurings
A recent survey conducted for UCFL on closures and restructurings of modern languages degrees in Higher Education provides evidence about the decrease of the subject area over the last ten years. This...
university-council-for-languages.org
July 8, 2024 at 2:11 PM
📢New report on Modern Languages Closures & Restructurings
A recent survey conducted by Wendy Ayres Bennett, policy advisor for UCFL, provides evidence of worrying signs across the HE sector & the pressing need for support & curriculum innovation
university-council-for-languages.org/2024/07/08/r...
A recent survey conducted by Wendy Ayres Bennett, policy advisor for UCFL, provides evidence of worrying signs across the HE sector & the pressing need for support & curriculum innovation
university-council-for-languages.org/2024/07/08/r...
Reposted by Leona Archer
I’ve come to abandon the use case for LLMs to summarize text because the summaries usually miss vital parts and are disappointing when I look closer. Australian government now has proof this is the case.
Another proof that LLMs have more limitations we need to understand.
Another proof that LLMs have more limitations we need to understand.
September 9, 2024 at 7:12 AM
I’ve come to abandon the use case for LLMs to summarize text because the summaries usually miss vital parts and are disappointing when I look closer. Australian government now has proof this is the case.
Another proof that LLMs have more limitations we need to understand.
Another proof that LLMs have more limitations we need to understand.
Reposted by Leona Archer
I just did, as an experiment, a google scholar search on an important well-covered topic. It put an undergrad honors thesis as the #1 response. It's fine thesis (on a quick skim), but there are hundreds, thousands, of peer reviewed books and articles on this topic.
August 31, 2024 at 2:25 AM
I just did, as an experiment, a google scholar search on an important well-covered topic. It put an undergrad honors thesis as the #1 response. It's fine thesis (on a quick skim), but there are hundreds, thousands, of peer reviewed books and articles on this topic.
Reposted by Leona Archer
‘The twenty year decline in French and German appears to have turned a corner’
www.thetimes.com/article/b183...
www.thetimes.com/article/b183...
GCSE results 2024: French and German grades improve in languages boost
Girls continue lead over boys as pupils who suffered disruption from Covid and strikes find out how they did in their exams
www.thetimes.com
August 23, 2024 at 8:31 AM
‘The twenty year decline in French and German appears to have turned a corner’
www.thetimes.com/article/b183...
www.thetimes.com/article/b183...