Hannah O’Brien-Møller, the European Commission’s Clear Language Training Coordinator, recently spent a study week with the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA). During the week, Hannah attended NALA events, met plain language champions across the public sector and spent time with adult literacy tutors to see the amazing work they do. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect, and we thank everyone who helped make Hannah’s visit a success.

You can read Hannah’s blog on the visit below.

If you’d like to start on your way to becoming a plain language champion, consider doing the 10 June NALA Open Training

The week began with a sunny spring day – perfect conditions for meeting the lovely team at NALA and learning about all the different aspects of their work. I already knew about their plain English services, having attended a good few training sessions over the years, but I also got to learn a lot from the people in charge of resources, events, research and outreach. I’ll be taking lots of ideas back to my team at the European Commission!

Then I was off around Dublin to meet some of NALA’s close collaborators, plain language champions across the Arts Council, Courts Service, Adult Literacy for Life Office. I also waved a quick hello to my colleagues at Europe House, just off of Grafton Street. They were all very busy gearing up for the Irish presidency of the EU.

On the Wednesday, I was delighted to be able to join NALA’s Sean Driver and the Citizens Information Digital Content team at one of their ‘content critiques’ as they applied plain language principles to their online content.

I also got to tell the team about the work we do to encourage the use of plain language across the EU institutions. It’s quite the task when you consider the fact that there are 24 official languages in the EU and most people in the European Commission are writing in their second, third, or even fourth language!

My study visit also happened to coincide with NALA’s National Forum for Adult Literacy Tutors. After a warm welcome from the South City Singers (I wish more conferences started with a singsong!), there was a lively discussion about dyslexia, and some great tips for getting creative in the classroom.

The week rounded off beautifully with a chance to meet the wonderful folks at Dublin College, sitting in on a thematic literacy class, and learning a great deal myself! One of the learners in the class told me why she thinks using plain language is important, because if you don’t understand, you don’t have a voice.

Spending a week with people working hard to make sure everyone can understand and can have a voice left me feeling hopeful and inspired.

Thank you to NALA for having me and to everyone I spoke to:

• Cathy Gerrard and Grace McGettigan in Citizens Information
• Tony Higgins and Hannah Gordis in the Arts Council
• Maura Howe in the Courts Service
• Helene Browner and Caro Neville and the learners in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown ETB

Hannah O’Brien-Møller, Clear Language Training Coordinator at the European Commission