Cooperation with the European Commission
Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning

Local organiser: Anastasia Panagiotidou, Directorate of Secondary Education of Evros

ECML experts: Catherine Carré-Karlinger (Austria), Katja Schnitzer (Germany)

Participants: 32 (foreign language teachers, teachers of the language of schooling, principals of school units, school advisers, regional education quality supervisor)

The Secondary Education Directorate of Evros, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports and the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) of the Council of Europe, successfully organised the two-day training workshop entitled Supporting Multilingual Classrooms, which took place on 17 and 18 October 2024 in Alexandroupolis, Greece. 

• improve their language teaching
• develop multilingual and intercultural skills 
• address the diversity of the student population 
• create collaborative networks 

Local organiser: Fauve Van den Berghe and Wouter Cambré, Department of Education & Training, Ministry of Education, Government of Flanders

ECML experts: Rita Jukneviciene, Lithuania; Jana Beresova, Slovak Republic

Participants: 37 (language testers and examiners, item writers, teachers and teacher trainers, curriculum developers)

On October 16 and 17, 2024, an enthusiastic group of teachers, pedagogical supervisors, test developers and teacher educators participated in the inspiring two-day workshop “Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (RELANG)” of the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML). Participants were introduced to the principles of valid and reliable language testing based on the CEFR. In the workshop, they learned about the construction of different item types, the stages of test development and test-taking, the collection and analysis of test data and also about ways to link tests and exams to (the levels in) the CEFR.

You can find more information on the theme RELANG here, as well as a number of interesting ECML materials. Subscribe to ECML’s European Language Gazette for interesting facts and activities on language teaching.

Fauve Van den Berghe and Wouter Cambré, local coordinators, 29 October 2024

ECML project website: RELANG, ECML-EC cooperation agreement 2024 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"

Twenty-one teachers of English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian (some of them, also, teacher trainers, curriculum authors, professional development advisor) in primary and secondary schools from throughout the country participated in the two-day workshop Using ICT in support of language teaching and learning, organized by the Bureau for Education Services and European Centre for Modern Languages.

The training was facilitated by Ursula Stickler, Jackie Robbins and Sarah Heiser, members of ICT REV team. In preparation for the workshop the participants filled in an online questionnaire and completed some tasks on a Moodle workspace.

The facilitators introduced participants to various online tools, platforms and materials they can use in their everyday work in classroom, such as Padlet, Moodle, Clasroomscreen, Mentimeter, Clickchamp, Audacity, Makebelief, Genially, Pixabey. The participants had plenty of opportunities to discuss and share their experiences of working with these tools and apps.

The participants worked together on creating new teaching activities which they recorded and uploaded on the Padlet as “Tools I had used”.

At the end of the workshop both the trainers and the participants presented their best materials they had recorded before the workshop while contemplating possibility of introducing newly acquired tools.

The training showed that most of the participants are already active users of various tools and apps for use of ICT in teaching and learning modern languages. So the overall tone of the training was motivating and fertile as a result of both inspiring and enthusiastic support of the trainers and dedicated i motivated work of the participants.

Montenegrin version:

21 nastavnice engleskog, italijanskog, njemačkog, španskog, rusko (a neke od njih, istovremeno, treneri, autorke programa, savjetnica za profesionalni razvoj) u osnovnim I srednjim školama širom zemlje učestvovale su u dvodnevnoj obuci za Upotrebu IKT u nastavi i učenju stranih jezika, koju su organizovali Zavod za školstvo i Evropski centar za moderne jezike.

Obuku su vodile Ursula Stickler, Jackie Robbins i Sarah Heiser, članice ICT REV tima. Kao pripremu za ovu obuku učesnice su ispunile online upitnik i odradile zadatke na Moodle platformi.

Voditeljke obuke su upoznale učesnice sa različtim online alatima, platformama i materijalima koje mogu koristiti u svakodnevnom radu u učionici, npr. Padlet, Moodle, Clasroomscreen, Mentimeter, Clickchamp, Audacity, Makebelief, Genially, Pixabey. Učesnice su imale priliku da diskutuju i podijele svoja iskustva u radu sa ovim alatima i aplikacijama. 

Učesnice su zajedno radile na izradi novih nastavnih aktivnosti koje su snimile i postavile na Padlet kao “Alati koje sam koristila”.

Obuka je pokazala da većina učesnica već aktivno koristi razne alate i aplikacije za korišćenje IKT u nastavi/učenju stranih jezika. Tako je opšta atmosfera obuke bila motivišuća i plodna kao rezultat, s jedne strane, inspirativne podrške i entuzijazma voditeljki obuke, a s druge, posvećenog i motivisanog rada učesnica.

Jasmina Djordjevic, local coordinator