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European Task-based Activities for Language Learning; a good practice exchange
Start date: Dec 1, 2009,

The reason for this projectFor many foreign and second language teachers it is a challenge to shift from traditional language instruction (grammar and vocabulary teaching) to a task-based approach, to implement the Common European Framework for Languages (CEF) and to use new technology. The last problem was addressed in a number of projects (e.g. International Modules in ICT and Language Learning (LINGUA) and European Curricula in New Technologies and Language Teaching (Comenius)), in which modules and curricula were developed, which are now delivered in several countries and several languages.ProductsWe wish to build on the achievements of these projects to address the first two challenges. We hope to do this by collecting, re-designing, adapting and disseminating samples of good practice of ICT based language learning tasks for the four levels of the CEF (A1: Breakthrough, A2: Waystage, B1: Threshold and B2: Vantage), which are most relevant for primary and secondary foreign language education and by producing in-service teacher training courses with a value of 1 European credit in which teachers are trained to adapt these samples to their own classroom situation.Each partner will collect samples of good practice (learning tasks accompanied by rationales and learning materials, where possible ICT based); the collection of samples of good practice will be made available through a multilingual website to teachers in all the languages which are represented in the project consortium. We will develop one international in service course, to be delivered as a Comenius-Grundtvig summer course; and 8 courses in the national languages will be adapted to the needs at national levels. The courses will be tried out during the project. The needs of language teachers who are speakers and/or teachers of less widely used and taught languages will be served.The collection of Language Learning Tasks and the development of the IS courses will be done in close collaboration: each partner will work in a tandem of a teacher education institute and a school so that innovation (Task based approach, CEF and ICT) will have its impact on primary and secondary teachers in the schools. Moreover, the tasks will be tried out in actual language learning classrooms before being delivered in the Etalage-repository. The quality of the products (the tasks and the course-design) will be monitored through the use of formats for the description of the samples of good practice and the trialing of the tasks and IS courses, through evaluation by means of questionnaires to be filled by participants in the try-outs and by independent experts in language teaching methodology in each of the participating countries.ImpactDuring the project some 25 student teachers, 5 educators and 5 language teachers in each tandem will be involved in the design and trialing of the samples of Language Learning Tasks. In the trialing of the 9 In Service courses we expect to train some 10 language teachers per tandem. In the course of the project dissemination to a wider audience of language teachers and teacher educators will take place through the project website. This will be supplemented with dissemination at national conferences for language teachers and at international conferences; papers will be published in the proceedings. Moreover, the final meeting will have the character of a conference, papers read at which will be published.In the past, the 4 international courses based on our previous European projects have attracted well over 400 language teachers – among whom there were teachers of many different languages - from ALL the (candidate) member states of the EU. The samples of good practice and the courses will be available in no fewer than 8 languages: Dutch, English, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish.The composition of the consortium will guarantee that the impact will be on teacher training as well as on school education.

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