Germany: experts involved in ECML activities

Date: 8 September 2022 and 9 May 2023, Germany
ECML experts: Matilde Grünhage-Monetti, Alexander Braddell and Christophe Portefin, Language for Work website, network and insights
Local organiser: Matthias von Gehlen, Goethe-Institut
Participants: 24 (8 September 2022) and 49 (9 May 2023)

“Developing the language of the immigration country (L2) for adult migrants for and at work is teamwork.” This could be the motto of the Language for Work (LfW) National Support for Germany 2022/23. This was split into two events: a face-to-face round table, during the 25^th Metropolis Conference, Berlin on 8 September 2022 and an online Workshop on 9 May 2023.

The round table (Fair Migration section) presented the point of view of L2 practitioners, researchers and providers, as well of employers and trade unions, stressing the need for partnership and joint action. The audience welcomed this systemic approach. The Clavis magazine for Labour Market and Integration reported on it along with other nine workshops in a special edition dedicated to the conference (www.bmas.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/Topics/Labour-Market/imcb-2022-voices-and-insights.pdf? __blob=publicationFile&v=2).

The second event brought together L2 research and practice, business, trade unions, workers’ councils, labour administration and BAMF (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees). They discussed structures and conditions for fair, effective and sustainable ways to support migrant workers learning German for and at work.

In both events language was discussed as instrument for action in the context of work, constructing and giving meaning to ones’ own activities and enabling the speakers to act upon their world. Such an understanding requires approaches embedding language learning in the context in which it is used and gets its meaning: the workplace.

Matilde Grünhage-Monetti

• Online-Zukunftswerkstatt (available in German) 
• Programme (available in German) 
• ECML resource website: Language for work – Tools for professional development (available in English and French) 
• ECML training and consultancy offer “Language for work: how to support work-related language learning for adult migrants”

Date and venue of the event: 28-29 June 2023, Zentrum für Sprachbildung, Berlin, Germany
Local organiser: Mr Mehmet Fatih Özcan (Senate Department for Education, Youth and Families, II D 5.2, Advisor for multilingualism / Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Familie Berlin, II D 5.2, Referent für Mehrsprachigkeit
ECML experts: Sophie Babault (France) and Selin Öndül (Switzerland)
Participants: 25 headmasters, (heritage & foreign language) teachers, language development coordinators, subject unit managers, senate administration’s project and programme coordinators and support

The two-day ROADMAP Training and Consultancy workshop, together with the development teams within the framework of the quality label project "Multilingual School" and the expert group II D 5 of the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family, highlighted areas with high potential for implementing multilingual projects.

The participants discussed and visualised the overlaps between multilingual and intercultural education in terms of content and subject matter, in particular in ensuring awareness and equality of the languages of the students and the school.  In this context, the participants developed methods to reflect on the promotion of multilingualism in school development processes and lesson development. The varied application possibilities offered by the ROADMAP self-evaluation tool and database clearly demonstrated that the ambitious quality label project "Multilingual School" can draw on already established and freely accessible resources of the European Centre for Modern  Languages (ECML) as a sold basis for a piloting exercise in the 2023/2024 school year at 7 participating schools

Participants emphasized that the tools provided by the ECML would both simplify processes to determine potential developmental areas and provide abundant data and examples of reporting and evaluation.They also mentioned that it was necessary to include both Berlin-specific school structures and, in particular, multilingual questionnaires in the self-evaluation tool.

In summary, the participants received extensive training and became fully acquainted in the use of the ECML tools - in particular in the self-assessment tool, as well as in conceptualization of a customised roadmap to implement development modules  within the framework of the  “Multilingual School” quality seal.

Mehmet Fatih Özcan

• Resource website “A roadmap for schools to support the language(s) of schooling” (available in English, Finnish, French, German and Swedish)
• ECML training and consultancy offer for member states: “Supporting the language(s) of schooling: The ROADMAP – a web-based, user-friendly and customised self-assessment tool to foster school development”

*****

(Deutsch)

Der zweitägige Training and Consultancy ROADMAP Workshop hat gemeinsam mit den Entwicklungsteams im Rahmen des Gütesiegel-Vorhabens „Mehrsprachige Schule“ und der Fachgruppe II D 5 der Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Familie potenzielle Schwerpunkte in der Einrichtung von mehrsprachigen Angeboten sichtbar gemacht.

Die Teilnehmer:innen diskutierten und visualisierten die inhaltlichen und fachlichen Überschneidungen zwischen mehrsprachiger und interkultureller Bildung, insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund des Bewusstseins über, der Gleichwertigkeit von und der Haltung gegenüber der sprachlichen Vielfalt in der Berliner Schule und in der Lebenswelt der Berliner Schülerinnen und Schüler.

Die Teilnehmer:innen entwickelten in diesem Zusammenhang Methoden, um die Förderung der Mehrsprachigkeit in Schulentwicklungsprozessen und zur Unterrichtsentwicklung zu reflektieren. Das vielfältigen Anwendungsmöglichkeiten des Selbstevaluationstools und der Projektdatenbank des Wegweiser-Programms verdeutlichten, dass das ambitionierte Gütesiegel-Vorhaben „Mehrsprachige Schule“ auf bereits gefestigte und freizugängliche Angebote des Europäischen Fremdsprachenzentrums (EFSZ) zurückgreifen kann, um im Schuljahr 2023/2024 an 7 teilnehmenden Schulen pilotiert werden zu können.

Die Teilnehmenden bestätigten, dass die bereitgestellten Tools des EFSZ und die damit zur Verfügung stehenden Daten sowohl die Ermittlung der Weiterentwicklungspotenziale der schulischen Mehrsprachigkeitsförderung als auch die Berichtserstellung und Evaluation deutlich vereinfachen würden. Die Teilnehmer:innen fügten an, dass es notwendig sei, sowohl die berlinspezifischen Schulstrukturen und insbesondere mehrsprachige Fragebögen im Selbstevaluationstool einzubeziehen.

Zusammenfassend kann gesagt werden, dass die Teilnehmer:innen im Umgang mit den EFSZ-Tools und ihre Einbindung in das Gütesiegel-Vorhaben umfangreich geschult und weiterqualifiziert werden konnten.

Mehmet Fatih Özcan

• ROADMAP Webseite “Ein Wegweiser für Schulen zur Förderung der Schulsprache(n)” (Deutsch, Englisch, Finnisch, Französisch, Schwedisch)
• Angebot für EFSZ-Mitgliedsstaaten: Training & Consultancy “Supporting the language(s) of schooling: The ROADMAP – a web-based, user-friendly and customised self-assessment tool to foster school development”

The European Language Gazette, the ECML's e-newsletter, provides up-to-date news about the ECML (events, projects, resources) and other relevant sectors of the Council of Europe as well as of our partners. It focuses on national developments in the field of language education in the member states and beyond.

Enjoy the latest issue: English – French

European Language Gazette no. 63 (January – March 2023)

Table of contents:

“A new Council of Europe Recommendation on language education: the importance of teacher education”

ECML programme developments 2020-2023 – “Inspiring innovation in language education: changing contexts, evolving competences”

• Save the dates!
  - Launch event of the ECML Call for proposals for the 2024-27 programme, 15 May 2023
  - ECML Summer Academy, Graz, 3-7 July 2023
• “Enhancing language education in cross-border vocational education education (initial/in-service)”: a critical topic all over Europe

ECML national support event

• “Diving into deep learning” – Vlaamse CLIL-studiedag (Brussels, Belgium, 6 March 2023)

Recent ECML resources

• Selected ECML flyers in German
• Selection of ECML resources and projects in German
• Publication translations
• Inventory of ICT tools and OERs: discover the latest resources!

Publications quoting the work of the ECML

• Related ECML work on language awareness, the language of schooling, subject classes, mediation, learning environments

European Day of Languages: EDL t-shirt contest

• EDL t-shirt 2023
• EDL t-shirt contest 2024

Training and consultancy activities

• Launch of a series of 48 language education workshops in member states

National developments

• Austria: competition for the European Language Label in Austria 2023
• France
  - LISEO highlights the work and resources of the ECML and national language policies in Europe
  - World Language Barometer 2022 – launch of the 4th edition
• Germany: MitSprache Deutsch4U - a programme for non-profit organisations to foster learning environments where diversity flourishes
• Ireland
  - Erasmus+ School Education: The impact of mobility projects on the professional development of staff
  - #ThinkLanguages Week 2023 (27 November – 1 December 2023)
• Canada: 2020-2021 Annual Report of the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI)

Professional Network Forum of the ECML

• Forthcoming events of the Forum members
• Eaquals webinar series 2023
• ECSPM: International Symposium “The social role of higher education: Developing the civil society’s awareness and impacting policies on the role of multilingualism in education” (Strasbourg, France, 22-24 March 2023)
• 10th EDiLiC conference (University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 28-30 June 2023)
• ICC – the International Language Association: conference, articles, new YouTube channel
• “Future of languages”: FIPLV Nordic-Baltic Region Conference (Reykjavik, Iceland, 8-9 June 2023)

In memoriam – Evangelia Moussouri and Tony Fitzpatrick

Council of Europe developments

• Towards the 26th session of the Council of Europe Standing Conference of Ministers of Education: a series of consultations
• CEFR online workshop series
• The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
  - The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is celebrating its 25th anniversary
  - Recent reports: Netherlands, Sweden
• Council of Europe online bookshop: recent publications

News from other organisations

• International Colloquium “Plurensa-2023: Multilingualism/plurilingualism, teaching and learning, complexity and integrity: epistemological, pedagogical and political perspectives” (7-10 June 2023, Montpellier, France)
• EU: European Year of Skills 2023, recent EU resources
• OECD: recent resources
• International Mother Language Day – UNESCO event “Multilingual education – a necessity to transform education” (21 February 2023)
• Global Citizenship and Multilingual Competences: new teaching module
• The European Wergeland Centre: recent resources
  - New handbook “31 basic activities”
  - “How does Artificial Intelligence influence the way teachers teach and students learn to live in a democracy?” – Webinar recorded on 7 February 2023
• Journal of International Mobility: special issue on Interculturality, intercultural skills and mobility in adult education – Call for paper until 28 April 2023
• Journal Education Sciences: special issue on Multiculturalism in higher education: current trends, challenges, and practices – Call for papers until 31 July 2023
• Babylonia, the Swiss Journal of Language Education: latest issue

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