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Aramaic-Online Project
Start date: Sep 1, 2014, End date: Aug 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The principal aim of this project is to develop an online course and new language learning materials in Turoyo-Aramaic (also known as Surayt), which is today spoken by approximately 250,000 people in Europe. Turoyo is missing in the language courses offered by the Erasmus+ Program countries. The courses provided by community organizations and the Syriac Orthodox Church teach Classical Syriac (liturgy language) instead of people’s everyday spoken language, Turoyo. Due to the lack of courses and language learning materials in Turoyo, both native and non-native speakers have difficulty in learning Turoyo or improving their knowledge of this language. Turoyo has predominantly been a vernacular language and therefore it suffers from the problem that it lacks standardization when writing it, both when using the Syriac and Latin alphabets. In order to address the aforementioned problems and fill in the gap of Turoyo language courses, the Consortium (University of Bergen, Free University of Berlin, Leipzig University, University of Cambridge and the St Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Monastery in the Netherlands) has formulated the following aims and objectives in line with Erasmus+ Program’s (Key Action 2) specific objectives and priorities that promote the teaching and learning of foreign languages: • Develop an online course for Turoyo at A1, A2 and B1 levels. A strong element of intercultural awareness will be integrated in the course syllabus and methodology. Besides, Europe’s linguistic diversity will be respected by making the course available in English, German, Swedish and Dutch to address both the needs of native and non-native learners of this language; • Promote the strategic use of ICT and OER in teaching and learning Turoyo and develop new language-learning materials for Turoyo; • Standardise the writing of Turoyo by developing a new orthography; • Develop new curricula for teaching Turoyo at tertiary institutions; • Increase the professionalisation of the Turoyo language teachers by providing them with a training workshop; • Organise the first international conference on Turoyo to address the challenges which Turoyo encounters in the European diaspora context and to establish an international network among scholars and experts working on Turoyo. • Organise a summer school on Turoyo for the youth to promote and disseminate the online course; • Improve the teaching capacities of organizations (including the consortium partners) active in the field of Turoyo. • Increase the employability of Turoyo language speakers in areas where a high concentration of Syriacs live. The project results, especially the online course will be a new opportunity for all interested native and non-native learners of this language to improve their Turoyo language skills and increase learners’ intercultural awareness. It will fill in a gap in the spectrum of European languages by offering a new and unique language course. Overall, the project results are expected to have a remarkable impact on the future viability and vitality of this endangered language.

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