Pools-m is a TOI
(transfer of innovation)
project based on the
original BP-BLTM
project,
which selected five
communicative language
teaching methods
suitable for VET
teachers and their
students, especially
those preparing for or
in the midst of work
placement in other
countries. For each
method the project
developed sets of
materials and
instructions for
exemplary lessons.
To help the training of
the less experienced
teachers the use of the
methods and materials
are demonstrated through
instructional video
recordings of exemplary
lessons.
The main outputs to be
translated, adapted and
transferred during the
pools-m project period
are:
-A video library with
subtitled commented
recordings of the five
methods used in real
classes.
-A manual with five
method descriptions,
instructions and ready
to copy and use
materials
-An International Work
Placement Guide
-This website.
This project will
transfer the BP-BLTM
results to Italy,
Lithuania, and Turkey by
adapting and translating
the guide, the methods
manuals, the ready to
use in classes
materials, and the
subtitles for the
project videos.
The
Italian team has
prepared a teachers'
guide for a board game
preparing students for
International Work
Placement.
Download the guide
here to order
the board game, please
contact: Stefano Tirati:
stefano@cscs.it
+39057350444 Website:
http://www.cscs.it
Recent research and
improvements in language
teaching methods have
not been fully applied
in VET in IT, LT, and TR
especially not in the
LWUTL (Less Widely Used
and Taught Languages).
This is found in the
Eurydice Studies
"Foreign Language
Teaching in Schools in
Europe" 2001) and in the
European Language
Learning Materials
Survey" (December 2000)
According to a
Eurobarometer survey
carried out in 1997,
Difficulty with foreign
languages is by far the
most feared problem when
young Europeans
contemplate working or
studying abroad.
Language proficiency is
a key instrument for a
common understanding
between citizens of
Europe and for
exploiting the rich
cultural heritage of
Europe (European Report
On Quality Of School
Education, May 2000).
Teachers in technical
colleges in IT, LT, and
TR teaching the less
taught languages are
often not educated as
language teachers;
research and
improvements in language
teaching methods have
not been applied. This
is based on our own
experiences as well as
the Eurydice Studies
"Foreign Language
Teaching in Schools in
Europe" 2001 ) and as
stated in "The European
Language Learning
Materials Survey"
(December 2000) "Many
felt that lower level
course materials for
LWUTL were rarely
communicative in nature
(which they attributed
to the fact that
teachers of LWUTL have
little pedagogical and
methodological
training), and
emphasised the need for
improvement in this
area. In the same vein,
the lack of a "learning
to learn" approach in
LWUTL materials was
mentioned «.
POOLS-M deals
substantially with use
of ICT in languages
teaching methods, in
2005 the Uteacher
project found that 45%
of teachers in IT
declared “to have little
knowledge of this
issue”. Another research
paper “ICT Development
In Education In the
Baltic Countries – 2005”
(see www.emokykla.lt)
shows that in LT
computers are mainly use
for teaching ICT and
that “in other subjects
IT technologies are used
‘passively’ (writing
texts), and not
‘actively’ (forming
presentations,
demonstrating
simulations etc.).”
Computers are now widely
used by teachers in TR,
"however, this wide use
of computers has not yet
been observed in the
instructional activities
– either using a
presentation tool during
class or using computers
for experiments (Usluel
& Askar, 2002)." Also in
Turkey "Studies pointed
out that teachers’ use
of ICT for instructional
purposes is insufficient
(Martins, Steil, &
Todesco, 2004; Askar &
Usluel, 2003; Szabo &
Suen, 1998; Proulx &
Campbell, 1997)."
The TOI project targets
the above needs in IT,
LT, and TR through
communicative language
teaching methods and
materials with an
emphasis on cultural
diversities and
promoting learning LWUTL.
The use of ICT in
several methods (for
instructional purposes)
also work for promoting
ICT among language
teachers and learners.
For each
teaching method the
project teams
will develop
sets of
materials
and
instructions
for
exemplary
lessons in
Italian, Lithuanian, and
Turkish. Such
materials
are also ready for use in
Basque, Danish, Dutch, Gaelic, Romanian and they have been
translated
into
English,
German and
Spanish to
facilitate
later use in
other
languages.
To help the
training of
the less
experienced
teachers the
use of the
methods and
materials
are
demonstrated
through
instructional
video
recordings
of exemplary
lessons with
subtitles in the
project partnership
languages.
The Italian team has prepared a teachers' guide for the board
game preparing students for International Work Placement.
Download the guide here to order the board game,
please contact: Stefano Tirati:
stefano@cscs.it
+39057350444 Website:
http://www.cscs.it
A new version of the PhyEmoC manual can now be downloaded in
English (.doc format) The manual is based on the work
done by the Turkish and Danish teams
A new version of the pools-m coursebook for Computer Assisted
Language Learning
can be downloaded in .pdf format here, or in
Word format here. The teams are now
preparing translations into German, Italian, Lithuanian, and
Maltese
eTandem
(Pending
final
approval
before
translations
begin)
The teams have
started preparing new
exercises to go with the
methods, the materials
will be presented in
Istanbul in May. After
the Istanbul workshop
the material will be
online from here
The project teams have now been joined by a Swiss partner: The
University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI)
is one of the 8 Universities of Applied Sciences in
Switzerland. A warm welcome to SUPSI:-)
The Danish coordinators have had a local meeting,
read the minutes.
Jolita from the Lithuanian project team has finished the
adaptation and updating of the "Simulations Manual".
Download it here
Theproject
newsletter issue 24
(January - March 2010)
can be downloaded
here
News from a pools-m
project friend: EU
grants for course on WEB
2.0 and Language
Education.
'Designing activities
for the 2.0 Language
Classroom' (A Comenius
professional development
course)
In conjunction with the
Utrecht University
Summer School the
Faculties of Education
of Heidelberg and
Utrecht Universities of
Applied Sciences offer a
7-day, international
course exploring WEB 2.0
applications such as
Wiki
and Web-logging,
real-time communication
(Videoconferencing and
3D Virtual Worlds) and
the Language Quest
format for integrating
the World Wide Web into
classroom teaching.
Besides, the course
location in the
brand-new building of
the Faculty of Education
in Utrecht, the
Netherlands, allows for
demonstration of good
practices of and
personal training in the
use of Interactive
Whiteboards.
Intended participants
are practising (student)
language teachers,
teacher trainers and
materials developers.
Dates: 10-07-2010 -
16-07-2010
More information and
registration at:
http://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl/index.php?type=courses&code=S5
Persons eligible for EU
Comenius Grants can
apply at their National
Agency for compensation
of costs for travel,
accommodation and fees
for this course. <b>The
deadline for grant
applications is January
15</b>, 2010, but please
confirm with your
National Agency for
country-specific
deadlines.
N.B. Participants who
would like to extend
their visit to the
Netherlands can apply
for an additional period
of campus accommodation
at 135 Euro per week.
Ton Koenraad, MA,
ICT-E consultant,
Hogeschool Utrecht
University of Applied
Sciences
http://www.koenraad.info
http://www.niflar.eu
The kick-off workshop in Brussels was a success where the
teams worked together learning each others languages through
selected language teaching methods.
Read the meeting evaluation. This worked both as team
building and gave us the experience being learners "again".
Watch the teams learning:
Exercise for learning Danish; a video with text linked to an
English dictionary,
or an Italian
dictionary The exercise is the post task after a
task based lesson in Brussels.
Pools-m has started the
funded period. First
meeting is in Brussels
on December 7th to 11th.
Read the agenda here.
A first project
brochure has been
produced to be used as
handouts at conferences
and meeting,Download here
The pools-m project blog has been set up, we still experiment
with layout and functions. Click on "Project blog" from the
main menu in this page, or
go directly to the
blog from here
A pools-m section has been set up in the "Project documents"
area with all project documents, and reports (e.g. the
application, meeting agendas and minutes, reporting
documents, etc.). Click on "Project Documents" from the main
menu in this page, or
go directly to the document area from here
The newsletters below cover the period from the first methods
project BP-BLTM to now. After the funded project period the
Newsletters will bve continued (as has been the case since
BP-BLTM:-)
During Eurocall 2009 Dr Caoimhín Ó Dónaill gave an
inspiring presentation titled "Integrating computer assisted
task-based learning into the language curriculum". Caoimhín
has allowed pools to share his presentation with our users.
Click here to download his PowerPoint presentation:-)
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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