From one of the pools friends (Jane Vinther) we have received this: We would like to invite language teachers worldwide to fill in this Two-Minute Survey on Open Language Learning: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DPJ689W.
This survey is part of a research project by Jozef Colpaert, University of Antwerp, and Glenn Stockwell, Waseda University, Tokyo, aiming at identifying factors which might impact on the use of Open Educational Resources in the Language Learning and Teaching Community worldwide.
Open Educational Resources (OER) can be defined as “digital materials that can be re-used for teaching, learning, research and more, made available for free through open licenses, which allow uses of the materials that would not be easily permitted under copyright alone” (www.wikipedia.org).
The results of this survey will be sent to all participants who provide their email address. They will also be presented at the EuroCall SIG meeting on Open Educational Resources in Bologna (29-30 March 2012), the XVth International CALL Research Conference in Taiwan (25-27 May 2012), the CALICO 2012 conference at Notre Dame University, and will be published in Computer Assisted Language Learning. The data will also be made available as Open Research Data for researchers worldwide.
This new facility
means that, once you
download a particular
video to your computer,
you won’t need to go
online every time you
want to watch it. This
may be especially useful
if there are some
particular clips you
want to use on a regular
basis, or if you’re
taking your laptop
somewhere where there
isn’t a good internet
connection.
The page also gives
links to the transcripts
for downloading in Word
format, as well as to
the original YouTube
locations (already
available through the
Series One and Series
Two pages on this site,
which also give links to
detailed pdf catalogues
for each series).
SUPSI has added two
more methods to the
already popular video on
language teaching
methods. The final video demonstrates the five
communicative language teaching methods (PhyEmoC, Task Based Learning,
eTandem learning,
Simulations, and
Computer Assisted
Language Learning). Go to the video and
supporting materials
The POOLS-M
partnership has decided
to open the online
evaluation areas. These
areas will remain open
for the next two years
so we can collect data
on the courses. Please
user the online forms so
you can assist us in the
work after the funded
period:
Pools-2 may have
finished the funded
period, but the teams
are still actively
adding new content, e.g. try a Portuguese unit
here. Or use
your Smartphone / tablet
QR reader here:
The pools-m teams are
preparing for the final
project meeting in
Vilnius. Read the agenda here.
Download the website
statistics covering
October here.
October 2011
Try an impressive
lesson for learning
Greek: Click here.
The page with video and
text linked word by word
to +100 dictionaries was
created in less than one
minute. The resource to
do so will be open for
your testing in January
2012.
The pools-2 course has been used in
Larissa, Greece as part
of a Romanian TOI
project pilot course. At
the course participants
learned to develop
online resources like
crossword puzzles and
drag and drop exercises
and the very first
prototype from the tools project (to
start activities in
2012) was also used and
tested.
The statistics for the
website covering
September 2011 can be
downloaded here.
Pools-2 has finished
the funded project
period, read the
evaluation report from
the external evaluators here.
The aims of the
upcoming TOOLS project
was presented during
Eurocall 2011 in
Nottingham by Caoimhín o
Donnaille and Kent
Andersen with an
exhibition stand. The
project was also
presented by Ana Gimeno,
the Eurocall president
at the AGM.
Tools now has a
FaceBook account where
you can assist with
comments and
suggestions, meet the
participants at www.facebook.com/tools4clil
All the pools-2 DIY
videos are now available
with French subtitles. Watch them here
Great jubilation:
TOOLS has been approved
for funding:. The TOOLS
project will deliver a
free online service
which can be accessed
with tablets like iPads
to create multimedia
rich webpages where all
words are linked
directly to Multidict
(+120 dictionaries), the
resulting pages
automatically become
online ready to be used
by your students and the
rest of the world - all
of it for free:-)
TOOLS is scheduled to
start on January 1st
2012, but we'll present
the ideas and objectives
with an exhibition stand
during the Eurocall
conference in September: www.eurocall-languages.org Download the first TOOLS brochure
A Romanian pools
sister project CX has
prepared a new brochure. Download from here the project is a
transfer of innovation
project coordinated by
the university of
Piteste. Visit the CX website.
Pools-cx has added
subtitles in Turkish to
the pools-t and pools
videos. Watch the videos here
SUPSI, the Swiss
pools-m partner has
collected the electronic
evaluations from the
past pools-m pilot
courses. The evaluation
results from teachers
and their students can
be downloaded here: archive/pools-m/evaluation/survey_responses.docx
The work on improving
the access to
dictionaries (Multidict)
has been continued since
pools-t finished in
September 2010. Right
now Caomhín O Donnaile
is investigating how to
include Kalaallisut
(Greenlandic)
Pools members have
compiled a video with
several languages. If
you recognize all the
languages in the video
then email the list of
languages to ka@sde.dk the first
ten to do so will
receive a pools t-shirt.
To watch the video click here
The twenty Greek
videos have now been
completed with summary,
cultural notes, language
notes, transcript, and
translation. Go to the Greek
videos
A book of reference
(based on the work of
BP-BLTM, POOLS, POOLS-2,
and POOLS-M) for
Computer Assisted
Language Learning can
now be downloaded in English, Greek, Italian, and Turkish
The Pools-m project
teams run a free
training course on
teaching methods in
Bodrum, Turkey. The
course is between
11/07/2011 - 14/07/2011
(11th July and 14th July
are travelling dates).
To participate please
contact Burak Demirkazýk: demirbur@yahoo.com
Pools-m will be
presented during the
EfVET 2011 conference in
Malta with round table
presentations: Download the proposal
here
May 2011
Pools-m: The
Swiss partner SUPSI has
prepared a video
demonstrating three of
the language teaching
methods.
Watch the video here.
The
team met in Istanbul to
fine tune the materials,
plans and ideas for the
last half year of the
project.
The student travel
preparation guide has
now been updated with a
new layout:
Download the guide in
English,
Lithuanian,
Turkish, or
Italian
April 2011
Two of the pools
friends Svetlana and
Artem from Volodymyr
Dahl East-Ukraine
National University want
to share with you their
ready to use English
lessons complete with
video, work sheets, and
Hot Potatoes exercises.
Download the zipped
exercises (60Mb data)
Tools: While
we have our fingers
crossed for the tools
application you can read
the
submitted file here
I have just received a
message through Youtube
demonstrating the need
for tools!-:
"Please! Help! The
TextBlender does not
work with the Russian
language. I have already
tried everything! I have
written in openoffice,
copied the text to pad
and pasted it agyin to
textblender. it does not
work! I tried to change
fonts, it does not help!
please! How to paste a
russian text? Thank
you!"
Pools-t: The
project received a 9 out
of 10 in the final
evaluation.
Read the report here
The project
newsletter issue 29 is
ready for
downloading.
Tools: The tools
application has been
submitted six weeks
before the KA2
deadline:-) Tools
proposes to develop a
fully online
application, which will
allow authoring of
language learning
materials to and from
mobile devices (e.g.
iPads and smart phones)
where the results
automatically become
online. The online
service will combine the
functions of the pools-t
results: Wordlink,
Multidict, and
TextBlender so the
multimedia rich learning
output is linked word by
word to online
dictionaries. Tools will
support all languages
e.g. Arabic texts and
will work on all
operating systems.
Pools-2 has
delivered the final
versions of the course
book / manual in:
Conference
announcements: The
1st International
Conference on Language
Testing and Assessment.
June 3-5, 2011
(preconference workshops
June 3) Venue:
Department of English
Studies, University of
Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
http://www.iclta2011.com
September, 28-30,
2011 the Language
Teaching Centre of
Freiburg University will
host an International
Conference on LANGUAGE
POLICY AND LANGUAGE
TEACHING:
"Multilingualism in
Society, the World of
Work, and
Politics. New
Challenges for Teaching
at
Institutes of Higher
Education/Universities".
For further information
please click directly on
the conference homepage:
www.sli-konferenz-mehrsprachigkeit.de
or check our website:
www.sli.uni-freiburg.de
The pools partners
recommend you to join
the European Schoolnet (EUN),
which is open for new
members. EUN is more
than 10 years old, and
we are growing from
strength to strength.
With 31 Ministries of
Education now members,
European Schoolnet looks
set to develop even more
in the future, with more
countries in the process
of joining. What's more,
a recent decision by the
Steering Committee will
open membership of
European Schoolnet
Partnership to the wider
educational community,
including regions,
non-governmental
organisations
organisations and
educational institutions
such as universities and
schools.
Download the EUN
brochure
Pools-m: The Danish
layout artist Lone
Olstrup has created the
final versions of the
pools-m method manuals.
After moving the
website to a new hosting
service we can get more
reliable information on
the activity:
Statistics covering
January 2011
During the move to a
new web hosting service
some files may have been
lost. If you experience
a link which is not
working then please mail
ka@sde.dk with a
description of the
missing link.
The students' corner
has been restructured.
Watch videos produced by
students from
www.languages.dk/students
Pools and pools-2: Enterprise, the third and final section in the series of Guthan nan Eilean/Island Voices videos, is now complete and online. Click here to get to the menu page.
Completion of this section brings the total number of videos between the first and second series to 150. It’s a tribute to these island communities that so many individuals and organisations were prepared to make important contributions to a body of work that will be a very useful resource for local learners of both languages, and perhaps of wider interest still.
As the Enterprise catalogue explains, the amount and level of material in this section pose a new order of challenge for learners. Good luck!
Pools-m: We
have received the
evaluation report
covering the first 12
months of the project
from our external
evaluators.
Click here to download
and read
Pools-2: More
videos have been added
to the Portuguese video
area. There are now 23
Portuguese videos.
Click here to watch
the videos
The feedback to the
Interim Report from the
Spanish National Agency
has arrived and can be
downloaded here
This website has just
moved to another host.
Uploading all the files
may have caused some to
be lost (I may have
forgotten a file).
Please mail
ka@sde.dk if you
find a file or page is
missing.
Pools-2: Four
new Maltese videos can
now be watched complete
with texts and notes.
Go to the Maltese
video area.
The
Interim report has been
submitted, the report
reflects the results
from the first project
year.
The Portuguese team
has started the pilot
courses, as a result
from one of the courses
a new unit for learning
Portuguese "Quem somos
nós?" is now online.
Test it here
Also the Cyprus
team has had the first
pilot course with 20
participants. One of the
results is an online
unit in Greek
"The Tombs of the
Kings" or "Οι Τάφοι των
Βασιλέων". The
unit has been saved in a
Dropbox folder.
Pools-t:
After the funded period
the Scottish team has
improved the Wordlink
software even furthers,
new functions are: The
last word that has been
clicked in a text is
highlighted and a user
can click Esc to return
to the "normal" webpage.
The project, which
finished in September,
has prepared the Final
Report. Download the
Final Report
confidential part
and
public part.
One of the last outputs
from pools-t was the
compilation of the
Exploitation Report.
Pools-m: The
Demonstration videos
showing five teaching
methods are now
available with Italian
subtitles.
Watch the here.
The
project teams met in
Pistoia, Italy for a one
week workshop, which
included a pilot course
with presentation of
language teaching
methods and tools.
The Lithuanian
version of the CALL
course book is ready for
download.
The Italian team has
developed a board game
for students preparing
for a work placement
period. Download the
board in
low resolution
or in
high resolution,
Notes/manual for the
teacher can be
downloaded here.
Pools-2: The
External evaluation
report covering the
first project year is
ready for
download.
Several new videos
have been added to the
Portuguse video
collection.
Watch the videos here
The Portuguese team
has made two new
exercises with videos
and texts:
Pools-m:
Download the agenda
for the project workshop
and pilot course in
November.
Two
days teacher course on
language teaching
methods in Italy
November 2nd and 3rd
2010. Quick registration
needed.
Download brochure
here
The project teams
have started the process
of preparing subtitles
for videos showing the
language teaching and
learning methods in real
classes. The subtitles
are now ready in
The meeting minutes
from the September
meeting in Malta can be
downloaded here.
Download the
evaluation form to be
used for the pilot
courses in:
English,
Greek,
Maltese
Pools-t:
Caoimhín has made yet
another breakthrough
with the Wordlink tools.
Pages that until this
week misbehaved now work
well, e.g. the BBC
website -
Try BBC in a
Wordlinked format.
The Swiss team has
prepared 10 new units
using the TextBlender: Health Care and
Social Work Knee ligament anatomy Embrace
Gordon
Wells has prepared 20
units for learning
English and 20 units for
learning Gaelic making use of a Wordpress blog combined
with linking words to
dictionaries through
Wordlink. Try the
40 Wordlinked texts:
http://guthan.wordpress.com/series-one/
Pools-2: The
teams have prepared a
course evaluation form
for course participants
to ensure adaptation of
and fine tuning the
courses. Download the
form in
English, or
Greek.
Two
French videos has been
added to the video
portfolio of pools-2
outcomes:
Watch them here
Pools-t: The final quality
report from the
evaluators Angelica
Bucur and Gareth Long
has been received with
pleasure. It is for the
partnership a very
pleasant read:-)
Download from here
Pools-CX Centres of
Excellence a Transfer of
Innovation project based
on the original pools
project with a Romanian
coordinator has been
approved for funding
Pools-2:
The Maltese pools-2 team
has developed / adapted
six WebQuests into
Maltese, test them here:
The
Maltese team has
finished adapting and
translating the Course
Book.
Download it from here
Also the Course Guide
has been adapted and is
now ready in Maltase.
Download it from here.
The
Cyprus team has finished
the adaptation of the
course guide into Greek.
Download it
here
The
teams are preparing for
the workshop and pilot
courses in September.
Download the agenda
here
Pools-m: The
Danish team has had a
meeting preparing the
pilot course for the
workshop in Pistoia in
November.
A document in Danish
forms the base for
continued development
August 2010
Pools-m: The
Italian team has
finished
translating and adapting
the five method manuals
read their
Pools-t: The
project teams have
finished the work with
DIY videos
demonstrating what
the TextBlender can
do for you
(temptation), how to
make the webpages
available on the
Internet, how to use
the TextBlender, and
some case stories
with the TextBlender,
we have also updated
some DIY videos with
subtitles for Hot
Potatoes:
The
Cyprus team has prepared
a ready to use WebQuest
in Greek. Ξέρετε με ποιο
τρόπο ένα καγκουρό που
δεν ζει στην Αυστραλία
να μπορεί να φτάσει εκεί;
Ο Mικές Τρικοίλης του
5ου Δημοτικού Σχολείου
Καλύμνου γνωρίζει την
απάντηση. Εσείς την
γνωρίζετε:
Click here to
download
The
Portuguese team has made
three new WebQuests for
learning Portuguese,
each of them has support
texts in English,
download and test them
here:
Pools-t: Try
some of our units that
have just been updated
and now make use of the
TextBlender engine and
calls to dictionaries
through the Multidict
tool. This means that
all words are linked to
90 different
languages!-)
Gordon Wells has
created another English
unit with exercises all
based on a Wordpress
blog
try it here
All POOLS: Newsletter issue 26
is ready for
downloading here.
The newsletter is a
combined newsletter for
pools, pools-2, pools-t,
and pools-m
Pools-m: 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
Pools-t:
The TextBlender has been
updated (an error with
use of embedded Youtube
videos has
been corrected) can now
be downloaded in its
"final" version. It
makes full use of the Multidict dictionary,
some problems with use
of local videos in .wmv
format have been solved.
Go to the tools
area and download the
software
Pools-t: The
manual on how to make
use of the tools
produced by the project
in a CLIL based context
can now be
downloaded in English
.pdf format, in
Word format
and
in Danish.
The procedure of
translating it into
Greek, Dutch,
and Italian has started.
On Thursday 27th May,
POOLS-2 was presented in
Arezzo (Italy) to the
workshop “An update on
the Lifelong Learning
Programme 2007-2013”,
organised by the
Education and Training
Department of Arezzo
Province. Read more
about the presentation
in the next newsletter
(July 1st)
Gordon Wells has
prepared a guide on
"Using Ipadio to create
webpages with embedded
audio". Many language
teachers and learners
appreciate teaching
materials that
incorporate both written
and spoken language.
However, it has always
seemed to be a more
complex task to create
sound files than text
files. In recent times a
number of attempts have
been made to harness
digital telephone
technology to the
purpose.
Download his guide
here
Dedicated domain for the
new dictionary system "Multidict".
In the near future the
databases running the
Multidict and Wordlink
tools will be moved to
www.multidict.net
the site is already
operational (now using a
redirect) so you can
start pointing your
favourite dictionary
link/bookmark to it:-)
The Dutch team from
Horizon college has
presented the pools
outcomes at a conference
on CLIL invited by the
European Platform.
Watch their
presentation here
The TextBlender has
(March 16th 2010) been released in
version 3.02. After
recommendations from
many users the webpages
produced by the
TextBlender now make
use of the online
dictionary, Multidict.
The Multidict (128
dictionaries) is opened
in a frame so the
student can see both
text and dictionary at
the same time. The
student can also easily
change dictionary or
target language:
TextBlender output.
N.B. If you enable
cookies in your browser
you can select another
dictionary so when
clicking on a word after
changing the dictionary
the lookup is done with
that dictionary.
Try the example
output yourself
Multidict is now a
combination of +128
dictionaries. Multidict
has been developed by
Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle at
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig as
part of the European
funded POOLS-T project.
Try you new favourite
dictionary here
POOLS-M:
The project has been
presented by Serhat Tuna
on Turkish national
television
The video with Serhat
Tuna has been divided
into three parts, watch
part two
here
and part three
here
POOLS-M: The
Lithuanian project team
has finished the
adaptation and updating
of the "Simulations
Manual".
Download it here
POOLS-2: The
Portuguese team member
Ana Silva has prepared
an online exercise with
music for learning
Portuguese,
Try it here
The minutes from the
pools-2 kick-off
workshop in Madrid
(January) can be
downloaded here
Pools-t: The
Dutch team are preparing
for a CLIL workshop, and
have therefore started
preparing examples of
TextBlender and Wordlink
outputs: Here are some
examples of the web
pages they are working
on:
The second video
shows examples of
output produced with
the TextBlender. The
purpose is to show
"the cake" before
following the
"baking" recipes in
the following
videos.
Click here to
watch the
demonstration video
A new version of the
TextBlender is now ready
for download.
The February version is
close to a final version
with regards to
functions and
appearance. Future
versions will mainly be
improving outputs as
well as removing
reported bugs
Each of
the project teams have
planned to produce
sample CLIL based
lessons making use of
the TextBlender and the
Wordlink tools. The
Danish team has made a
case story telling how
the material was found
and developed together
with a lesson plan.
To read the text
click here.
Jan Hardie from the Swiss
team has prepared three
online exercises
suitable for CLIL,
try them out here
The
two main tools, i.e. the TextBlender and
Wordlink have been
improved. To follow the
development of Wordlink
please click here.
The TextBlender can be
accessed from the
Tools area.
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.
POOLS-2
Project brochure can be
downloaded in
English. It is
now being translated
into all the project
languages.
POOLS-M (Pools
of language teaching
Methods) has started the
funded period. First
meeting is in Brussels
on December 7th to 11th.
Go to the POOLS-M
main website.
POOLS-T A new
version of the
TextBlender software is
available for download
from
the Tools area.
The version now has
interfaces in the six
project languages.
POOLS-2:
(Producing Open Online
Learning Systems - 2)
has been approved for an
EU grant in the period
2009-2011. POOLS-2 is
coordinated by
Confederación Española
de Centros de Enseñanza
(CECE), the teams come
from Cyprus, Denmark,
Malta, Portugal,
Scotland, and Spain.
EfVET is a
dissemination partner
with access to thousands
of vocational colleges
across Europe.
Pools-2 is a Transfer
of Innovation (TOI)
project which will
exploit the results from
the "original" pools
project and transfer the
core outputs of pools to
three new languages:
Greek, Maltese, and
Portuguese
POOLS-T: The pools-t interim
report has been
submitted to EACEA. The
report comprises a
public and a
"confidential" part, but
in line with the policy
of pools-t both files
can be downloaded from
the website:
Download the
"confidential" file
and
Download the public
file
POOLS-T: An up-to-date copy of
the Wordlink and
Multidict program source
online is available at:
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/~caoimhin/obair/pools-t/wl/
It includes for the
first time dictpage.php,
the program which allows
lookup of words in
page-image dictionaries,
such as those available
on the Web Archive, and
also a complete sql dump
of the database,
including the parameters
needed to for about 100
different online
dictionaries, and the
indexes to several
page-image dictionaries.
It isn't recommended
reading! It is simply to
ensure that the project
is "open source" as
promised in the POOLS-T
application
After a full project
year the external
quality evaluators
(subcontracted) has
submitted their
assessment of the
pools-t partnership and
achievements.
Download and read it
here:-)
The project blog (a
Wordpress blog) has
problems with Internet
Explorer v.8. For now
please use another
browser when you visit
the blog. OR email
ka@sde.dk with
advice on how to solve
the problem:-)
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:-)
We have just finished
the first version of a
manual for the
TextBlender, the version
has been compiled by
Frans van Schaik and
Kent Andersen with
Gordon Wells as the
proof reader. The manual
is a step by step guide
through the software and
also gives ideas for
application in classes.
Download the manual here
as a .pdf file (12Mb)
or
as a .docx file (11Mb)
A new feedback form
is available for sending
us feedback so we may
improve the tools:
Download the feedback
form
POOLS-T to be
presented in a workshop
at the Eurocall
conference in Gandia,
Spain on September 12th
with the title "Tools
for producing CLIL
(content and language
integrated learning)
materials" by Kent
Andersen. Read the
abstract
here or find
more in the Eurocall
website
www.eurocall-languages.org
A new version of the
TextBlender v.1.0 (which
replaces the older
versions like WPTB 15)
has been compiled based
on feedback from our end
users. The software has
been constructed in a
step by step approach
towards generation of
web pages with graphics
and texts where all
words have been linked
to an online dictionary
The current version
(1.0) can include up to
five graphic images.
Copying of media files
like video is now
automatic. Go to the
Tools area to test the
new version either
as an online tool
or as a
stand alone software
POOLS and POOLS-T was
presented in Prague at
the the Innovation and
Creativity in the
Lifelong Learning
Programme conference.
POOLS was awarded the
silver medal in the
category of "innovative
outstanding European
projects or actions
which will serve as a
good motivating example
to wide public.”
Roberta (pools-t project
officer), Kent Andersen,
and Alison Dix with the
Leonardo da Vinci silver
medal
SUPSI the Swiss
POOLS-T member has
translated the project
brochure into German and
Italian. The brochures
were handed out in 50
copies during the the
Innovation and
Creativity in the
Lifelong Learning
Programme conference in
Prague.
Download the Italian
version or
the German version
Jubilation, POOLS has
been chosen to be
awarded during the
Innovation and
Creativity in the
Lifelong Learning
Programme conference in
Prague. The awards will
be given by the Czech
Minister of Education,
Youth and Sports Ondřej
Liška and the European
Commissioner Ján Figel’.
www.llp-conference.eu/
“Part of the conference
will be dedicated to
awarding outstanding
European projects or
actions which will serve
as a good motivating
example to wide public.”
New member of the
pools-t project
consortium: SUPSI, the
University of Applied
Sciences of Southern
Switzerland (one of the
8 Universities of
Applied Sciences in
Switzerland) has now
joined the POOLS-T
project, in order to
test the tools developed
and to create its own
CLIL materials (texts
and videos), which will
also be used for tool
testing. SUPSI will
enrich our language
collection with Italian
and German:-) SUPSI
participation in the
project has been funded
by the State Secretariat
for Education and
Research in Bern
Some extra logic has
been added to the
program to better detect
character encodings, and
most pages now seem to
be working with
Wordlink4 including
those with iso-8859-7
and windows-1253
encoding.
The projects teams are
now preparing for the
second project workshop.
This time in Brussels.
Main issues for the
workshop are:
-Dissemination
-Quality control and monitoring
-Development evaluation
The workshop / project
meeting has been divided
into two separate parts
starting with a
pre-meeting workshop
(March 23rd and 24th )
with participation of
the software development
partners, i.e. Caoimhín
and Kent supported with
catering by Gordon and
Stefan. The main
workshop with
participation from all
teams (excepting EfVET)
is from March 24th to
March 27th
Read the first report
from the external
quality evaluators. The
report reflects the
project quality system
and compares our efforts
to the planned
milestones and outputs:
Download report here
New browser based
versions of the Text
Blender are now
available including a
Greek font version (only
Arial ISO fonts).
Try the tool
here
The number of grass
root members has just
reached 75. You too can
become a member of the
pools teams and exchange
views and ideas with
other members.
Go to the membership
area.
A summary of the
first three months
project period is now
available online.
The summary is part of
the project quality
monitoring and
management system.
New version of the
Web Page Text Blender
(the desktop tool) now
supports Youtube videos.
Remember to find the url
for such videos by
clicking "Share" and
select e-mail then the
url can be copied into
the Text Blender:-) Try
the Text Blender in
either
online version
(Neuron plugin required)
or
installed as a desktop
version
The CLIL Cascade Network
- CCN -
(133377-LLP-1-2007-1-FI-KA2-KA2NW)
is organizing a pilot
course on CLIL Materials
Production in Eichstätt,
Germany , 1-4 April
2009. The course is
jointly planned and
organized by Lapin
kesäyliopisto, FI,
University of Jyväskylä,
FI and Bayerisches
Staatsministerium für
Unterricht and Kultus,
DE.
Download program with
information on how to
participate
Learn about CLIL through
a presentation compiled
by the Dutch team for
the kick-off workshop in
Hoorn.
Download the
presentation
We are looking into the
possibility of
extending the POOLS-T
partnership with one or
two Swiss partners from
The University of
Applied Sciences of
Southern Switzerland (SUPSI
–
www.supsi.ch ) and
USI (Universita’ della
Svizzera Italiana,
www.unisi.ch
). USI’s expertise about
usability evaluation and
about testing and
analyzing the impact of
ICT onto given contexts
is expected to strongly
enhance/improve the
project outcomes. SUPSI
will be a major benefit
for the project and its
European dimension; the
inclusion of one more
language as well as the
extensive testing and
piloting of the project
outputs will further
enhance the project
outcomes..
The pools collection
of languages is now
increasing;. Jean-Marie
Nau from Luxembourg has
offered us +300 five
minutes radio programmes
in Luxembourgish,
broadcasted over seven
years and even better
they are complete with
transcriptions :-)
Have a look
Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle,
SMO is working on a
browserbased tool "Wordlink"
with functionality like
"Babelfish" i.e. a web
based application which
can convert web pages to
pages where all words
are linked to online
dictionaries.
Go to the tools area
to test his work
The desk top software
tools the "Web Page Text
Blender" is CopyLeft and
may be improved,
modified, reprogrammed,
distributed, and used in
any way you find
suitable as long as new
versions and derivates
from the original are
also CopyLeft.
Download the
algorithm with
description of functions
etc. (only suitable for
programmers:-)
Please comment on the
algorithm and assist
with further
development.
The project blog has
been opened for online
registration so you can
comment on the project
outcomes etc.
We have started
experimenting with a
plug-in browser version
of the Text Blender
software. Go to the tools
section to test it, please comment to ka@ots.dk with suggestions for
improvements and error
reports.
POOLS-T, which will
develop
tools for the CLIL
methodology
(Content and Language
Integrated Learning)
as well as a
guide on how to apply
the tools in a CLIL
context has been
approved for funding.
The project development
teams come from Denmark,
Greece, the Netherlands,
and Scotland. EfVET has
been chosen as
dissemination partner
with access to thousands
of vocational colleges
across Europe
The course material for deaf students from
the carpenter and
cabinetmaker sectors (or
other interested in
technical English as a
third language) can now
be tested with
dictionaries in eleven
languages. To test the
system please click on
the photo below:
The new project POOLS-T has passed
the first phase in
Brussels with flying
colours. The teams now
look forward to making
tools for the CLIL
(Content and Language
Integrated Learning)
methodology as well as a
guide on how to apply
the tools in a CLIL
context. Read more about the
project in the March
2008 news
POOLS to be presented
in Istanbul on June 27th
at a workshop for the
European national
Leonardo Agencies
A new course material
for deaf students
learning English as a
third language is being
prepared, have a pre-look here
The first version has
all words linked to an
English Danish
dictionary and signing
of all sentences.
An in-service course
based on POOLS course
materials (Hot Potatoes
primer and sequence)
will take place in
Odense Tekniske Skole on
Monday June 23rd. The
onsite course will be
followed by an online
course period with final
delivery of tasks by
August 11th.
Participation is free,
but there may be a minor
fee for sandwiches and
coffee. To register for
the course please e-mail ka@ots.dk
Jubilation, we have just
received the final
evaluation of our
project from the UK
national agency, ECOTEC. Please have a read:-)
The number of new POOLS members has now reached 40
covering a multitude of
countries - also outside
Europe:-) You too can
become an active member
by registering here
The dissemination of
our online ESOL
materials is of
importance to the grass
root POOLS members,
Gordon Wells has
therefore placed several
teaching units on the Scottish national
ESOL website
Odense Technical
College has submitted a new Leonardo project
proposal with
partners from the new
POOLS membership area.
The partners come from
Denmark, Belgium,
Greece, the Netherlands,
and Scotland
The project proposes
to develop software
tools that can support
teachers and their
students working with
CLIL (content and
language integrated
learning) including the
LWUTL (less widely used
and taught languages).
The tools will convert
texts and web pages to
html pages where all
words are hyperlinked to
free online dictionaries
covering many
combinations of European
languages. The
application will have
support for audio, video
and graphics to enrich /
support the text
content.
CLIL and LWUTL teachers
depend on developing own
resources (EURYDICE 2005
report "Key Data on
Teaching Languages at
School in Europe"). The
proposed application
will automate part of
this process and will
also enable students to
convert authentic
technical materials into
language learning /
supporting units.
The need for a free tool
is based on EURYDICE
2006 "Content and
Language Integrated
Learning (CLIL) at
School in Europe".
The need is also
documented in the ICC
report (2003) "The
Impact of New
Information Technologies
and Internet on the
Teaching of Foreign
Languages.." concludes:
"There will be a shift
from passive consumption
of ready-made programmes
to independent building
of content, tailor made
for specifics groups or
individuals"
The project results and
outputs will be used by
individual language
learners, subject
teachers using CLIL, and
language teachers
preparing online
teaching materials.
In the latest of "NDLR
Modern Languages’
Community of Practice"
podcast series Gordon
Wells talks about the
Scottish Island Voices
project. Gordon talks
about the project, his
role in the project, and
the benefits to those
involved in the project
and he encourages anyone
interested in following
a similar model to
develop such materials
to make contact with
him. Go to the podcast
The Scottish Island
voices English series
with video, text, and
exercises has now been
extended with a unit
about the Re-Store
Furniture Recycling
Project in Bornish,
South Uist. Go to watch, listen,
read, and learn or chose one of the
other units from Island voices.
Scottish Island
Voices. A
new set of exercises
containing four units is
being prepared. The
first unit is now ready
for you use:-)
Self-teach and self-test
materials for learners
of English. The
materials are designed
to help English learners
teach and test
themselves. They are
based on real
situations, and reflect
aspects of life and work
in the Hebrides.
The Danish Safety
Regulation Body "Sikkerhedsstyrelsen" www.sikkerhedsstyrelsen.dk has permitted pools to
make use of a safety
video targeting
electricians working
with live installations.
The video demonstrates
how to work with live
installation using PPE -
Personal Protective
Equipment. Cultural
notes: In Denmark all
electricians and
personnel working with
live installations etc.
must every year attend a
L-Aus course (Law on
Working with live
equipment and
installations).The video
can be downloaded from
the Digital Area
The Final Report
(submitted for
evaluation) can now be
downloaded from the Archive area
In "edUKation" (edUKation
– newsletter for the
Leonardo, Grundtvig and
Transversal programmes)
you can read about the
European Languages Award
that was awarded to
Gordon Wells (download
the full newsletter):
An improved version of
the Web Page Text
Blender is ready for
download. The new
version writes code that
ensures that also users
of e.g. “Mozilla Firefox”
can use audio and video
in the resulting web
pages. The new version
also has support for
English Finnish and
English-Turkish
dictionaries. More information and
download
POOLS membership is
now open to language
teachers, teacher
students, and
researchers. You may now
become a member of the
POOLS team; like all
materials in the POOLS
website the membership
is free. To enrol as a member
please click here.
The EU funded period
of the POOLS project
finished with a
clustering conference in
Alkmaar September 27th
and 28th 2007. It was a
pleasure to welcome
other projects and watch
and listen to their
results and ideas.
The presentation
papers and materials are
/ will be available from
the POOLS archive area
Before the Alkmaar
conference the POOLS
teams went through the
originally planned
outputs / results as
part of the EFQM control
and concluded that all
deliveries as planned
are available from the
website:
The project
dissemination and
exploitation strategies
end visions were
presented at a TQ3
conference in Birmingham
hosted by ECOTEC. More
than 100 DVDs and
CD-ROMs were handed out
as well as newsletters
and brochures. Download the
presentation here or from the POOLS
Archieve
The programme for the Alkmaar Foreign Language Conference can now be downloaded.
More than 150
participants have
registered for the
clustering conference
including several
kindred projects
The project outcomes
were presented in Coleraine, Northern
Ireland at the
Eurocall-2007
conference. Brochures,
Newsletters and 200 DVDs
and CDs were handed out
during and after the
Show and Tell
presentation by Kent
Andersen
Twenty Spanish videos online for download. The
Spanish team has
re-edited the 20 videos
and these can now be
downloaded complete with
descriptions,
transcriptions, and
translations into
English from the Digital Area
POOLS to be
disseminated in
Birmingham on September
25th 2007
The POOLS partnership
has been invited by
ECOTEC to present a
workshop on “How to
disseminate and exploit
Leonardo project
results”.
ECOTEC is organizing the
event with participation
from the EU national
agencies, approximately
100 participants are
expected.
The POOLS presentation
will seek to give an
insight into the
dissemination and
exploitation strategies
applied by the POOLS
project teams. We’ll
exemplify what has
worked well as well as
difficulties that we
have met.
POOLS is approaching
the end of the EU funded
period (September 31st
2007), but we intend to
continue our work beyond
the funded period, this
also includes support to
other projects. We have
just heard about a new
project called BeCult
planned to start in
September 2007. BeCult
is an online multimedia
learning tool for young
people in vocational
training in the hotel
and gastronomy sector.
Pilot courses are
taking place in all the
POOLS membership
countries; E.g. in
Lithuania where language
teachers from different
vocational schools
participated in the
workshop Task based
learning with CALL: Hot
Potatoes primer. For
most participants it was
a great challenge and a
wonderful chance to
learn a new skill.
Another workshop took
part on 20 June and
covered two modules -
Using video with
language learners and
How to set up and use (Web)Blogs.
Pools digital funds and
project blog served as
great illustrations of
CALL in practice and
brought some fun into
our course.
The Basque team and the
Danish team have just
finished a Hot Potatoes
pilot course in Donostia. Experience the
results here
The POOLS project still
seeks to cooperate with
like language projects
with the purpose of
enhancing mutual results
and achieve a better
impact of these. We have
just started cooperating
with e-tridem.net, which
is a project based on EU
educational Policy that
every citizen should
develop competence in at
least two European
languages. A further
project aim is to foster
'intercultural learning
through new media' and
thus contribute to
enriched cross-cultural
exchanges. Read more about the
e-tridem.net here
More new
videos available
from the digital area.
The total number of
videos that can be
downloaded is now 325
videos
The conference fee of
190 € includes lunches,
evening meals and drinks
on both days and
entertainment on
Thursday evening 27th.
The AMRATH hotel in
Alkmaar has kindly
offered its luxurious
accommodation and
breakfast for only 55 €
per person per night
(when two share a room)
or 85 Euro for single
room.
Nearly 100 rooms can be
booked up until 1 June
for this special price
on a first come, first
serve basis. The Golden
Tulip in Alkmaar offers
the same arrangement
The courses and related
materials are free for
our registered users.
Each user is offered two
course modules in the
pilot phase. To become a
registered user please
go to: http://www.languages.dk/methods/registration.htm
To register for a course
please e-mail ka@ots.dk
with contact details.
Deadline for registering
for an online pilot
course is June 17th
The actual courses will
be run with an
introduction phase in
June and exercises /
hand-ins in July and
August. Final feedback
and recommendations will
take place in August.
The duration of the
course modules and time
and efforts to put in by
the participants are
flexible, but a rule of
the thumb is one to two
days per module.
During the Kaunas
workshop the teams
agreed on an evaluation
document to be used
after all course modules
please send us your
comments /
recommendations. The
evaluation form can be
downloaded in: English, German, Romanian, Danish, Spanish, Lithuanian, Basque
Slices of
Contemporary Hebridean
Life and Work in 40
English and Gaelic
videos presented for
language learners.
Short online films with
transcripts and
translations, suitable
for pre-intermediate to
post-intermediate
learners, totalling 3
hours of listening
material divided evenly
between the two
languages Download the Scottish
Island Voices Catalogue Or watch the videos from
the digital area
A new set of example
units has been added
to the POOLS website.
The units are based on
original texts from
Siemens.com dealing with
PLC (Programmable Logic
Control). The units
contain Technical
English and are suitable
for e.g. electricians
and engineers.
It is the aim of the
materials development
course modules to enable
language teachers to
produce similar units
Each unit starts with
audio and texts where
all words are linked to
online dictionaries in
Basque, Danish, Dutch,
English, French, German,
Italian, Romanian,
Spanish, and Turkish. Please test the units and send your comments
to ka@ots.dk
Nine new Lithuanian
videos have been added
to the digital area.
The videos are CopyLeft
and ready to use
complete with summaries,
transriptions etc.
During the New Year
break 52 Dutch videos have
been added to the digital area.
The videos, showing
everyday situations for
young people, are the
results of cooperation
between "ENTER", a Dutch
project and the Dutch
POOLS team. Each video
is accompanied with
transcription and also
tasks for using them in
a class
New edition of the
Materials Development
Course Modules, now with
18 modules. Download in .doc format or in .pdf format
The 13th pools
Newsletter is ready for download Among the news you can
read that POOLS together
with other projects are
planning a language
teaching conference in
Alkmaar in September
2007. You are welcome to
present your project at
the conference and of
course also to be a
participant:-)
Evaluation of the pools
project and results
are open. Please spend
10 minutes on the online
valuation form and show
us your interest in the
project by helping us
know how you feel about
the results. Go to the evaluation
The DIY DVD with a step
by step introduction to
how to use Hot Potatoes
and the Web Page Text
Blender is now ready in
the first edition. Next
editions are planned to
contain subtitles in the
nine project languages.
The videos can be downloaded in .wmv
versions from the
materials area
An American English
video and text demonstrating a
high tech lawnmower has
been added to the digital area
Exercises based on the
above video and text can
now be tested at http://www.languages.dk/online/lawnmower/index.htm The text is linked work
by word to online
dictionaries in ten
languages the exercises
are developed through
Hot Potatoes - total
time used for preparing
texts and exercises was
less than 2½ hours
To assist our users
we have decided to start
providing the website
with RSS feeds. To make
use of the facility you
need an RSS reader /
aggregator, e.g. the
free feedreader v. 3.5
which can be downloaded
from: http://www.feedreader.com/download
20 Danish videos
dealing with what is
going on in Digital
North Denmark has been
added to the digital
area. The videos are
made available with
permission from
Fyrtårnscentret ·
Vesterbro 102 · DK-9000
Aalborg The videos are
copyrighted, but may be
used for language
teaching. Go to the digital
area
19 videos in English
dealing with what is
going on in Digital
North Denmark has been
added to the digital
area. The videos are
made available with
permission from
Fyrtårnscentret ·
Vesterbro 102 · DK-9000
Aalborg The videos are
copyrighted, but may be
used for language
teaching. Go to the digital
area
First two Lithuanian
videos have been added
to the digital pools as
the results of the video
workshop in Kaunas.
Several videos and
texts have been added to
the digital area A total of 75 different
videos to be used for
development of online
materials can be
downloaded with
transcriptions and
English translations.
The main part of the
videos are CopyLeft.
Several of the videos
can be downloaded in
different compression
rates (small or large
files).
Meeting minutes from
the 2nd workshop can be downloaded here
Pools disseminated
with brochures (100 handed
out) in Honolulu
during the CALICO
conference, with a blog
of the presentation and
reactions available
(with a link).
Results from the
Project workshop in
Pitesti are being
inserted on a daily
basis. Among the first
results available (more
to come in the coming
weeks) are:
Gaelic learning
unit with video, text
with all words
linked to
Gaelic-English
dictionary and
exercises
The pools teams wearing
the new pools T-shirts.
You too can win a pools
T-shirt if you come to
Eurocall 2006 in
Granada:-)
English, German, and
Danish videos have been
added to the digital
area. The videos are
copyright Energinet.dk
but pools has been
granted permission to
make them available for
language learning.
March 21st: Kent
Andersen from the Danish
pools team was invited
to present the Danish
VET (vocational
educational and
training) system at a
conference in Pistoia,
Italy dealing with the
new Italian VET system
(arranged by Stefano
Tirato, EfVET).
The conference had 60
participants among these
were teachers, managers,
decision makers and
local authority
representatives. As
usual during
presentations Kent
Andersen took the
opportunity to present
pools to the audience
and hand out pools
newsletters and
brochures. This resulted
in much positive
feedback as well as new
contacts.
March 23th: Kent
Andersen presented the
pools project with
brochures and
newsletters at a
technical college in
Postoia, Tuscany. It was
agreed to exchange
further information and
exercises.
The Web Page Text
Blender can now be
downloaded from the materials area the program can convert
texts into HTML
documents where all
words are automatically
linked to online
dictionaries
N.B. the downloadable version is from
February 2006 and is
an Alpha version!
It seems stable, but
lots of facilities need
to be programmed /
improved in future (e.g.
insertion of media
files).
The second pools project
Newsletter (10th
BP-BLTM) can now be
downloaded here
After the video
workshops in the
Netherlands and in
Romania new videos are
ready for downloads.
To
download right click the
video and select "save
as". The videos are
available in three
qualities:
A practical joke - two
birthday cakes a real
one and a polenta in
disguise
The video shows a family
preparing for and
celebrating the Danish "jul"
(yule or Christmas). The
celebration is typically
Danish with no or very
little religious
content. Watch the video
here:
Several units found
in the materials area have now been updated
with English audio
recordings. A
warm thanks to Rupert
Dale (the speaker)
An example is a text
demonstrating
some advantages
of Electrical
Intelligent
House
Installations (DOMOTICS).
The text has
automatic lookup
of all words in
nine languages -
more to come.
The hyperlinking
has been done
automatically
through a
program written
by Kent Andersen
(The
Web Page Text
Blender).
The text is
followed by
exercises
created with Hot
Potatoes.
Choose between
the languages
(dictionaries)
below:
A new area has been
set up for the digital
pools of videos, audio,
graphics, and texts that
may be used for
development of online
exercises etc. There are
now six Danish and two
English videos available
for download The files
are available in: http://www.languages.dk/digital/index.html
In the coming months
we'll record videos in
English, German,
Spanish, Dutch,
Romanian, Basque,
Gaelic, and Lithuanian
(and continue adding
more Danish videos as
well)
To watch the videos
below please right-click the
link and select "Save
Target As"
English video: FITCH
- a case study on
marketing and product
branding
The software "Web
Page Text Blender" which
can convert any text
into an HTML document
where all words are
automatically linked to
an online dictionary is
now available in
versions linking from
English to online
dictionaries in Spanish,
French, Italian, German,
Danish, and English.
Watch a video
containing:
The partnership is
working on development
of a suitable
methodology for the
needed gaps analyses.
Two sample documents may
give an insight into the
work; from the Basque
team Marijo suggested
possible use of a
previous questionnaire (download
it here), the
idea was supported by
the Danish team and the
Scottish team made
several comments,
especially one from
Màrtainn illustrates the
fruitful discussion and
exchanges of ideas
between the partners (download
from here)
The project partners
have started the process
of describing a likely
methodology course, but
the work is very
preliminary, read the first skeleton
for the course
POOLS was presented at
the annual conference
“Teaching and Learning
Foreign Languages at a
College: Peculiarities
and Problems”. The
conference was held on
18 November 2005 at
Kaunas College,
Lithuania: Read more
We have started the
process of finding
cooperation and
clustering partners. One
of the first to joins us
is EUROVOLT. Read about the project
here
To make use of pools as
a free dissemination
partner of your project
just e-mail ka@ots.dk with a
project description. But
please also consider
other ways we can
cluster our efforts like
joint conferences etc.
To assist the content
development a common
core of interview ideas
and scenarios was
discussed during the
Brussels workshop. The first list can be
downloaded here.
Pools was presented at the EfVET
2005 conference in
Budapest through roundtable presentations
(By Sean Mehan and Frans
van Schaik), see PowerPoint
presentation.
The brochures for the conference are now
available in
In the project archive you find samples of work
in progress used during
the first workshop (click from
menu). Some documents
(like the minutes) are
being prepared, but by
the end of this week all
are planned to be
online.
The EU supported
period has started. The
counter for unique
visitors up to the start
was 56694. The counter
is used for monitoring
the website. You can
also click on the CQ
Counter at the bottom of
this page to read the
web statistics since
September 30th 2005.
This webpage - home
of the pools project and
portal to other language
projects is in the
process of being set up
- work is going on to
have everything up and
running by October 12th.
You can help with
comments and
suggestions, please
e-mail advice etc. to
the webmaster Kent
Andersen ka@ots.dk
EuroCall, August 24th
to 27th: Brochures
telling about the pools
project were handed out
during the EuroCall 2005
conference in Cracow.Click here to download a
brochureBack
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] 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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