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The Value of Reliable Transmission

“Radio Free Asia [RFA] broadcasts, like an educator, have brightened our hearts… They have opened our eyes. China always wants to keep the Uyghurs ignorant of the world. But now we understand democracy, human rights, and freedom. RFA broadcast means more than food, drink, and air to us because it gives us hope and inspiration. We hope RFA increases the broadcast time in the Uyghur language.”

The above quote and numerous supporting comments from other RFA listeners clearly prove the importance of international multilingual broadcasting. Although radio may seem anachronistic and government-funded international broadcasting can’t help but raise the specter of propaganda, unbiased multilingual broadcasting is now more important than ever. The current U.S. administration has made it clear that it no longer wishes to be the “world’s policeman,” chronic vacancies at the State Department are undermining longstanding U.S. diplomatic objectives, and worldwide abuses of human rights are on the rise, from China’s gulags to Venezuela’s repressions. In the absence of governmental initiatives to promote American values, broadcasters and other influencers should step up their efforts to promote freedom and democracy.


Radio Free Asia is funded through an annual grant from the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an independent U.S. agency. With a budget of $808 million, USAGM oversees all government-funded news organizations—five news networks with 3,500 journalists broadcasting on radio, television, and the internet in 61 languages—that together broadcast to 100 countries and reach an estimated audience of 345 million people. These news networks include VOA, which broadcasts in more than 40 languages; TV and Radio Marti, which broadcast to Cuba; Arabic-language networks Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; and Radio Free Asia. There is a legislative firewall that is intended to prevent interference by U.S. government officials in the work of these networks, and their mission is defined as “providing reliable journalism to audiences otherwise deprived of uncensored, accurate press.”


The 2020 federal budget would double the annual allocation for RFA’s Uighur-language service, from $2 million to $4 million, which looks like a bargain, especially when you consider that RFA’s annual budget is only $44 million of U.S. overseas aid spending of about $20 billion a year.


However, it’s only a bargain if the agency remains independent. The Senate has been considering the nomination of Michael Pack as USAGM CEO. Pack, a conservative filmmaker who worked closely with former Trump advisor and executive chairman of Breitbart News Steve Bannon, told senators during his nomination hearing that he would be able to resist pressure from the president to promote favorable coverage, but it may be prudent for the Senate to consider another, less partisan nominee.


In these times of isolationism, we need to reach out across borders even more and proudly flaunt the diversity of this nation. America’s popular culture and the will of its people have wielded enormous international influence, leading to increased global liberalism over the last 50 years. The perception of a nation is often determined by its leaders—think of how Putin has shaped international attitudes to Russia—but Americans are the experts of mass media, so it is up to us to communicate our values to the rest of the world in languages they understand, and without imposing our agenda on them.

Mississippi Approves Seal of Biliteracy

The Mississippi State Board of Education has voted to approve the state’s Seal of Biliteracy Policy and Mississippi Seal of Biliteracy Guidelines at the local level and guidance on the process of awarding and recognizing students who have attained proficiency in one or more World Languages and English by high school graduation.

“The Mississippi Foreign Language Association (MSFLA) has been strongly advocating for the importance of creating proficient language speakers to help increase international investment in our state, as well as increasing exports,” said Mr. Edgar Serrano, executive directorof the association. “Currently 21% of the jobs in MS are tied to trade, 12% of the state GDP is tied to exports to Canada, Mexico, and Panama. A second language is also crucial for our national security, social justice, and diplomacy.”

Dr. Bill Rivers, executive director of JNCL-NCLIS, collaborated with a panel of local, regional and national experts to establish the guidelines and example policies outlined in the final reports. “The initiative and passion behind the efforts of Mr. Serrano, MSFLA, the Board of Education and so many others demonstrate how this grassroots movement became a national tidal wave.”

The purpose of the Mississippi Seal of Biliteracy policy is to establish minimum criteria for Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in awarding Seals of Biliteracy. The purpose of the Mississippi Seal of Biliteracy Guidelines is to provide assistance, examples, and resources to local school districts on the process of awarding and recognizing students who are eligible to receive a Seal of Biliteracy. Participation in the Mississippi Department of Education’s Seal of Biliteracy shall be determined by each LEA and will begin during the 2019-2020 school year. Recognition for demonstrating a level of biliteracy shall be indicated on the final high school transcript for students.

Advocates say the Seal allows students to effectively demonstrate attainment of biliteracy to employers and postsecondary institutions, and it signals a student’s readiness for college and career and for engagement as a global citizen.

Under the current regulations. LEAs will not be reimbursed for participating in the program and the only federal resources available might be solicited from Title IV, Part A.

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Paul Simon Study Abroad Act Reintroduced to House

Representatives Cheri Bustos (IL-17) and John Katko (NY-24) recently reintroduced the bipartisan Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Program Act. The bill would establish a competitive grant program, run by the Department of Education, for colleges and universities to expand study abroad opportunities for undergraduate students. It is named after the late Illinois senator Paul Simon, who encouraged Congress to come together and prepare the next generation of Americans with the global knowledge and skills needed in an increasingly interconnected world.

“I’m proud to introduce legislation to honor the life and legacy of Senator Paul Simon who was such an important person in my life,” Congresswoman Bustos said.

“This bipartisan legislation carries out his commitment to creating new opportunities for our young people, upholds his tradition of working across the aisle, and will help our next generation of leaders be well-equipped to take on some of the most pressing challenges facing our global society.”

“I am pleased to join Representative Bustos in introducing legislation that upholds the bipartisan tradition of the late Illinois Senator Paul Simon while working to foster a globally competitive workforce through investment in educational experiences,” said Rep. Katko.

“The U.S. needs to vastly and rapidly increase the number and diversity of its students studying abroad. The Simon Act would help do exactly that,” said Association of Public and Land-grant Universities president Peter McPherson. “Study abroad experience is indispensable in today’s global economy. And crucially, the Simon bill would increase the number of students studying in nontraditional countries, especially in the developing world.”

The goals of the grant program are to do the following:

  • Increase the overall number of undergraduate students studying abroad annually to 1 million within ten years;
  • Increase the number of nontraditional and minority students studying abroad so that the demographics of study abroad participation reflect the demographics of the undergraduate population;
  • Increase the number of students who study abroad in nontraditional destina­tions, with an emphasis on study abroad in developing countries.

The bill is supported by more than 50 organizations including Language Magazine, Joint National Committee for Languages, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, NAFSA: Association of International Educators, Partners of the Americas, American Council on Education, Institute of International Education, American Association of Community Colleges, the Forum on Education Abroad, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and the American Councils for International Education. Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senators Dick Durbin (D-lllinois) and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi).

‘Home of Hispanic Cultures’ to Open in Los Angeles

Downtown Los Angeles skyline framed by palm trees at sunset.

Toward the end of next year, the Cervantes Institute will open its first center in Los Angeles, which will be “the home of Hispanic cultures,” according to Cervantes director Luis Garcia Montero. Announcing the project at the Los Angeles Central Library last week, Garcia Montero said that Los Angeles was a bilingual city “where Spanish has its role” and stressed the importance of the institute to reinforce the importance and prestige of Spanish and Hispanic culture.

The deputy mayor of the city and head of international relations, Nina Hachigian, recalled that Spanish was spoken in California before English and publicly conveyed the full support of the mayor of Los Angeles for the creation of the institute. The mission of the new center will be to teach Spanish to everyone who wants it to be part of their culture, to serve the future of the city.

Spain’s secretary of state for international cooperation and for Latin America and the Caribbean, Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, insisted that this was a “pan-Hispanic initiative,” that will help establish a common diplomacy among all Latin American countries. He stressed the importance of working closely with other Spanish-speaking nations: “You can’t speak Spanish in Los Angeles without being close to Mexico,” he said, adding that the new center will promote education, certification, and culture in Spanish in an area “where Spanish was never a foreign language.” The Mexican consul, Marcela Celorio, strongly criticized “policies that denigrate Spanish,” a language that in Los Angeles “not only serves as a means of communication, but is also a refuge, a way of belonging among those who speak it.” Spanish, in short, she said, is “a language that will always be ours.”

California is the state with the largest number of Hispanics, more than 15 million, in a country where almost 60 million Hispanics live and work.

Latin Consuls Support Dual-Language Education

Juan Pablo de Laiglesia and Luis Garcia Montero later met at the Mexican Consulate with representatives from eight Latin American countries to strengthen their collaboration.

The consuls of Mexico, Ecuador, El Salvador, Bolivia, Honduras, Paraguay, Chile, and Brazil stated in the meeting that Spanish is a shared heritage and a language of inclusion. They declared that, in the face of positions that undermine Spanish and the Hispanic community, they must promote a “dynamic of appreciation” for the contribution of the Spanish-speaking community to American society, of which historically it has always been a part.

All of them agreed to support dual-language education, as well as the status of the Spanish language in the U.S., and its teaching at all educational levels. The U.S. has the largest number of Spanish students in the world: about 8 million.

Funding for Endangered Archive Digitization

Deadline: November 15

Old papers in a vintage briefcase

The British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme is accepting applications for a new round of its annual grants, aiming to support field researchers working with vulnerable archives that need to be digitized for preservation and/or accessibility. 

The program offers approximately 30 grants each year to enable researchers to locate vulnerable archival collections, arrange their transfer wherever possible to a suitable local archival home, and deliver digital copies into the international research domain via the British Library. These grants are the primary means by which Arcadia contributes to the urgent task of identifying, preserving and making accessible such archival collections before they are lost forever.

There are four types of grant. With the exception of the Rapid Response grants, they are awarded in May/June and normally expected to start in August/September each year.

  • Pilot project grants can either involve investigating the potential for a major project through a survey, or they may be small digitization projects. These projects should last for no more than 12 months and have a budget limit of £15,000 ($18,750).
  • Major project grants are intended for digitization and cataloguing of a collection or collections. This type of grant may involve preservation necessary for digitization and may also relocate the material to a more secure location/institution within the country. These projects can last for up to 24 months and have a budget limit of £60,000 ($75,000).
  • Area grants are similar to a major grant, but larger in scale and ambition. Applicants must demonstrate an outstanding track record of archival preservation work and be associated with an institution that has the capacity to facilitate a large-scale project. The program will award a maximum of two area grants in each funding round. They can last for up to 24 months and have a budget limit of £150,000 ($187,500). Potential applicants must contact the EAP office before submitting an application for this type of grant.
  • Rapid Response grants will be introduced in late 2019. They are intended to safeguard an archive in immediate and severe danger. These grants are intended for the situations in which the time scale of the standard EAP decision process could result in extensive damage to the material. These grants will be accepted on a rolling basis. They should last for less than six months and have a budget limit of £10,000 ($12,500). 

The deadline for preliminary applications is November 11, 2019 at midday (GMT). Visit https://eap.bl.uk/grants for more information.

Accessibility and Inclusivity in Language Education

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Education, in general, is facing issues with providing students with accessibility options; likewise, that inevitably affects the field of language acquisition. What can educators do to assist people with hearing and/or vision impairments who are learning a new language?

While there are a number of resources for both language learners and educators, a vast majority of those are geared towards individuals who are sighted and hearing (i.e. without any visual or hearing impairments). Often times, the scarcity of resources, coupled with little to no formal training for educators could result in frustration and limited progress for the teacher and student(s) (Başaran, 2012 & Mayer, 2007).

Nevertheless, it is paramount for educators to keep in mind that those they interact with are students first, and students with special needs second. Furthermore, every challenge offers an opportunity to find solutions. Therefore, this article will outline not only several issues facing educators as well as policy makers, but will also outline options for language educators seeking to bridge the gap for those with visual or hearing impairments.

Challenges for Teachers of the Visually Impaired

As discussed in research by Başaran (2012), visually impaired students spend less time around sighted children, as well as engaging in less classroom interaction. Similarly, as indicated by a case study of English teachers in Turkish schools for blind or low sighted students, there was no formal training offered regarding special needs. While there were in-services and professional development opportunities available to the English teachers who participated in the research, all interviewed teachers felt that it was ineffective. These teachers reported a scarcity in resources, as well as time constraints.

Bridging the Gap for Visually Impaired Language Learners

In the 21st century, both language learners and educators are fortunate to have access to ICT (Information and Communication Technology) including PowerPoint with enlarged lettering, audio clips, and other multimedia language activities. The ADA (American Disability Association) recommends linking to WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliant websites which ensures compatibility with screen reading and text scaling software. Furthermore, while a Braille transcriber can be an expensive machine, this is something to discuss with the administration of your school. If this machine is not an option, some ingenuitive ideas may be used to emboss visual diagrams or charts such as cardboard or string glued over words and lines. Finally, a reader service should be implemented by recruiting volunteers to read to or record for visually impaired language learners.

Challenges for Teachers of the Hearing Impaired

Mayer (2007) reports that many deaf children don’t always reach high literacy in reading or writing. Additionally, if students are from a non-native English background, this might further complicate language development and acquisition. Even more disparities emerge from a lack of visually accessible media, particularly those which express complex, abstract concepts. While a majority of the research available involves deaf and hearing impaired individuals who use ASL (American Sign Language), there is certainly a need to accommodate other students who are familiar with another sign language isolate.

Bridging the Gap for Hearing Impaired Language Learners

Similar to working with visually impaired students, ICT can be quite useful, such as visually explanatory software. Likewise PowerPoints with pictures, diagrams, and visual aids may prove beneficial. Multimedia videos including signing could also assist in communication. Teachers must be sure to allow ample wait time after asking questions, and they should focus on their enunciation and mouth movements when working with students who lip read.

All in all, it is clear that much more research and development needs to occur in order to facilitate accessible language learning for every student that enters the classroom. However, it will be easier with reasonable support and adequate resources that are made available to both  teachers and learners.

Andrea Mehringer is an American English language educator living and working in Saudi Arabia.Email address: [email protected]

References

  1. https://academic.oup.com/jdsde/article/12/4/411/393882
  2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281780906_Teaching_English_to_visually_impaired_students_in_Turkey_A_case_study

https://skookum.com/blog/opening-the-web-to-everyone-building-ada-compliant-websites

Hungary Amends Language Requirements

From 2020, high school graduates in Hungary are required to possess at least one upper-intermediate language certificate or a higher-level Hungarian Matura from one language to be able to meet new university admission standards.

Until now, the system worked slightly differently—university students had been expected to submit their language certificates in order to be able to receive their degree. The only difference was that they had more time to reach that proficiency. The level and number of language qualifications were determined based on the attended course and the importance of the language presence in the chosen professional field.

Most of the courses required an upper-intermediate (B2) language certificate, although, it wasn’t rare to have higher requirements like taking an advanced (C1) and/or an intermediate professional or business language exam. Those directly affected had been struggling to get hold of their degree, even though all required university exam needs were satisfied. On many occasions, it took them years to be able to pass their language tests and finally take ownership of their HE awards.

Students have had different ideas about how they could meet these high conditions. Dora Szalai, an alumna of the University of Pannonia took the opportunity of attending a semester at University of Derby through the Erasmus Program, so she had passed the test in Liverpool before returning to Hungary. Others have chosen different routes like enrolling in a language school or taking private lessons from a tutor.

According to 24.hu, based on the data found on the parliament’s website, more than half of the 199 MPs would not be able to attend university from 2020 rest on their language skills:

  • 98 do not hold a language certificate
  • 7 only completed B1
  • 9 only passed part of the language exam, either written or oral exam

This means that 114 politicians wouldn’t be able to gain access to HE in the new system, which is 58% of all the MPs.

We cannot know for sure how this amendment will affect students’ chances in the future but the numbers that Milan Berenyi, chairman of the Professional Association of Language Schools, mentioned in an interview with Magyar Nemzet are not too promising. Berenyi claimed that only 45% of university applicants and 55% admitted students possessed language certification in recent years, therefore a decrease in the number of university attendees can be expected from 2020.

Sources:

: https://hungarytoday.hu/graduating-students-in-rush-to-learn-a-language-or-can-say-goodbye-to-university-plans/

https://www.parlament.hu/aktiv-kepviseloi-nevsor

https://24.hu/kozelet/2019/02/19/nyelvvizsga-felveteli-egyetem-felsooktatas-parlament-orszaggyules/

https://magyarnemzet.hu/belfold/a-felsooktatasban-jovore-mar-feltetel-a-kozepfoku-tudas-igazolasa-4244672/

Bio: Kitti Palmai is a UK-based freelance writer and translator whose byline has appeared in The Expat Magazine, Thrive Global, Elephant Journal, and many more. Email address: [email protected]

How to Train Your English Teacher

Teaching English online is exploding in popularity, which is great news for teachers and learners as it is much more flexible and opens up many opportunities for learning.
In the past, a popular path for people who wanted to teach English was to take the gap-year route, during which they would travel and teach English at the same time. While this is still very popular and a solid option for people who want to see the world, there is a new trend emerging: existing teachers who decide to make the switch to teaching English online. This offers much more flexibility for teachers who already have demanding lives, but it is not without its challenges, and suitable training needs to be put in place. To put it simply, teaching English face to face is not the same as teaching English online.

Last year we developed Teaching English Online—an award-wining course aimed at teachers who want to retrain for the online tutoring market. The course was a huge success and picked up an innovation award at ELTons, which is a big awards ceremony held in London every year. This ceremony is organized by the British Council and recognizes innovation in the English-teaching space.

I’ll talk more about the course and its content later, but I’d like to start by looking at how we approached the development of the course and what we learned along the way. We started by assembling a team of digital specialists and English language learning and teaching experts. This was an excellent mix of perspectives and gave us a good starting point. The first thing we did was look at the online tutoring market as a whole to identify what challenges were ahead. Here are a few insights we picked up along the way.

Firstly, the market is big and growing. This is largely driven by the fact that there are over a billion English language learners around the world today, and this is expected to grow. The huge increase in the number of learners and the rising competition for English proficiency for further education has led to a high demand from learners and parents for online tutoring.

Secondly, there is a great deal of catching up to do in terms of best practice in the online tutoring market. One area that springs to mind to highlight this is the native-speaking vs. nonnative-speaking teacher debate. Research shows that a teacher’s first language is not an indicator of his teaching quality and instead his experience, target-language proficiency, and training are what impact learning. This is starting to be accepted in the face-to-face market, but in online tutoring, there is still a huge demand for native-English-speaking tutors.

In face-to-face language teaching, there is now a steady shift from the idea that being a native speaker means one can teach the language to the idea that being a trained and qualified English teacher who understands, relates, and empathizes with the different contexts of learners means one is better equipped to teach.

This change in mentality is not present in the online tutoring space, with nearly all the largest online tutoring companies requiring their tutors to be native speakers or even to be from specific countries like the U.S. or UK. This mindset is partly born out of the idea many hiring organizations have that their learners demand native-English-speaking teachers. This issue can only be tackled by raising awareness of the effectiveness of trained tutors, regardless of where they are from or what their first languages are.

What About Quality Control?

The advent of the internet changed publishing overnight, as suddenly everyone became a publisher. I think YouTube is having a similar effect on the teaching sector, as regardless of qualifications or affiliations, anyone can now post an online lesson. While this has loads of benefits and creates a great deal of diversity in the sector, it does come with a bit of a health warning. There is a wild disparity in the quality of English teaching in online lessons. One can find examples of this by looking at videos of online lessons on YouTube. There are a few examples showing clear language skills being developed, but there are also a concerning number where there is no obvious focus on language development at all.

Although discussion in English is very important, often there is very little focus on language development in some of these online lessons, and as Marie Therese Swabey (lead educator on the Teaching English Online course) likes to say, “It turns into just chattin’.”

What Did the Course Contain?


As mentioned at the start of this article, we gathered a lot of this insight from developing Teaching English Online—our award-winning course. The course has already helped thousands of English language teachers to transfer their skills to the online environment. We developed it with Europe’s leading online social learning platform, FutureLearn, and it covers the skills, knowledge, and digital tools needed to deliver effective online English lessons. Over the three runs of the course, so far 50,000 people have joined it. It is split into four sections:

  • The context of English language teaching online—this covers strategies for building rapport and creating engagement with learners, how to exploit the different digital features, and the key skills needed to be an effective online tutor.
  • How to plan and deliver online skills lessons—we help teachers deliver skills lessons and effectively error correct in an online context.
  • How to plan and deliver online language lessons—this section covers clarifying and practicing language and dealing with pronunciation.
  • How to continue professional development as an online teacher—we look at ways of gathering feedback and how to evaluate and reflect on teaching.

So, Can You Teach Teachers to Teach English Online?

The short answer is yes, you can retrain teachers for the online environment, but professional development has to be done properly. The three lessons we learned were: get the focus right, don’t forget about the importance of the personal touch, and lastly, listen to feedback. Let’s look at these in more detail.

Get the focus right: Development should focus on helping teachers build and transfer skills into the online environment. Online lessons should consider the needs of learners, have clear aims and focuses, and incorporate best practice in methodology.

It’s essential that teachers see concrete examples of how online teaching can work in practice, so they can try out new ideas. It’s also very important to empower teachers to use the technology available to them effectively and highlight the differences and similarities between face-to-face and online environments.

The personal touch: Because teachers can miss speaking and sharing with colleagues when teaching online, online social learning platforms, such as FutureLearn, can help fill the gap. Over the previous runs of the course, the rich discussions between teachers, both experienced and new, have been one of the most important factors in its success and have led to teachers on the course creating communities on other platforms to continue their discussions.

Listen to feedback: It’s important to listen to feedback from participants and iterate each course based on that feedback. Over three runs, the course has changed dramatically and now includes more lessons, increased course length, and a new section on setting up a business as an online tutor. The technology and the needs of teachers are constantly changing, so any professional development in this area needs to be updated frequently.
For more about Teaching English Online, you can find the course at https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/online-tutoring.

Tariq Harris is part of the new product development team at Cambridge Assessment English.

10 Best Foreign Language Horror Movies for Halloween

Some say love is the universal language of humanity, but fear can work just as well. We’ve compiled a list of foreign language movies to both expose viewers to foreign languages and scare their pants off. While it may be difficult to find foreign language horror films in theaters, thanks to streaming services like Netflix and online rentals on Amazon, watching previously hard-to-find films are easier than ever. While it’s fun to watch classics like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer come October, foreign-language horror flicks offer different perspectives and tropes that offer surprise scares and new imagery. From Japan to Mexico, these films offer a worldwide tour of the scope of terror.

1. Train to Busan (Korean)

This horror zombie flick takes the medium and amps it up to 100. Imagine being stuck on a train, and slowly each and every person becomes infected as a zombie. Chase scenes, betrayal, and catastrophic situations ensue, and you better bet that a cheering fest will break out when the film says the title.

2. Audition (Japanese)

When a widower decides to date again, he decides to use create a fake production company to use as a dating service. He becomes enamored with a beautiful young girl, and thinks he has struck the jackpot. However, he isn’t the only one being deceptive. Part morality tale about power structures between men and women, part shock-horror gross out, Audition is much more than a horror flick.

3. Raw (French)

When a vegetarian has her first taste of meat for a hazing ritual at a veterinary school, she begins to have a strange itchy reaction that turns into a definitive and very real craving for the taste of flesh. She doesn’t want only animal flesh, she wants to eat human flesh. Met with controversy over its extremely graphic content, this slow-moving and beautifully shot movie both delights and disgusts.

4. Let the Right One In (Swedish)

A bullied 12 year old boy makes friends with a young girl in a small town in Blackeberg who turns out to be a vampire in this bleak, romantic tale. Instead of jump-scares and loud music, the movie focuses on the darker side of humanity to have a deeper spooky effect.

5. Funny Games (German)

Funny Games is a literal home-invasion nightmare about two sadistic men who decide to tease and torture their victims. This movie is difficult to watch and difficult to look away from, and is a prime example of a psychological thriller.

6. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Persian)

Part comedy, part horror, this movie is a fresh take on the genre and turns it on its head. An empowering tale of a lonely vampire who uses her power to fight men trying to take advantage of her in a patriarchal culture.

7. Pan’s Labyrinth (Spanish)

Suitable for children, yet still totally creepy, this fantastical movie shows what happens when a child enters a labyrinth into the underworld. Dubbed an Alice in Wonderland for adults, the movie uses animatronics, CGI, and impressive makeup to present a spooky, spellbinding fable.

8. Dumplings (Chinese)

The infamous Aunt Mei, a former gynecologist, makes dumplings that are known to have miraculous youth regenerating properties. If diners were to know what’s inside of the dumplings, though, they may not be so keen on eating it. A social commentary on the dark depths that people will do on the quest for eternal youth.

9. Dogtooth (Greek)

A manipulative father wants to protect his daughters, but ends up going too far. The compound that the girls live in appears idyllic at first, but upon closer inspection it appears more and more like a prison. This movie shows that no matter how good intentions are, you can still end up hurting people in the end.

10. Black Sunday (Italian)

This one is for fans of vintage horror movies. Made in 1960, the movie is shot in beautiful black and white, and follows a witch that was being burnt at the stake who comes back to seek her revenge.

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