With the beginning of the year comes a new ECML programme Languages at the heart of learning (2016-2019) and with it a new Language for Work Project: Tools for professional development.  Bridging two of the ECML’s  thematic web portals, Migration and Language Education and Employment and Languages, this new project builds on the previous project Developing migrants' language competences at work.

The focus of the new project is on the professional development of practitioners involved in work‐related language learning for adult migrants including refugees and ethnic minorities, who are often facing language difficulties by the integration into the labour market. The project creates tools and resources to support teachers, teacher educators, providers and other actors in the field.

The language for work website, developed in the first project, consists of a

• a resource bank with practical materials and links to other relevant sites

• a community section for sharing news and expertise as well as for promoting  communication among the network members

 The website will be further developed to make tools for professional development widely available to practitioners and those involved in developing policy relevant to this area, e.g. civil servants, local authority officers, people attached to government and other development agencies, trade unions, etc. across Europe. 

The coordinating team starts the year with a number of international engagements to present the project, its work and insights, including

• Workshop with panel discussion on the role of language(s) for employment Hizkuntzen Faktorea, Enpleguaren Orientazioan/ El Factor de los Idiomas en la Orientacion al Empleo, organised by  the Association Banaiz Bagaram and the Regional Agency for Development  Oarsoalde Garatzen, Donostia, 22.01.2016

• Séminaire: « Apprentissage de la langue du pays d’accueil à des fins professionnelles: un enjeu  pour l’intégration », organised by La  Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France, Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (Sociétés Plurielles) et Accentonic, in cooperation with the Centre international d’études pédagogiques and the ECML, Sèvres 01.-02.02. 2016.

• LIAM symposium The linguistic integration of adult migrants: lessons from research, Strasburg, 30.03-01.04.2016
  

  
  Updates on these events and the learning they generate both for participants and the language for work project will be available in the course of the project.
  

  
  Why don’t you become part of the international network of professionals involved in second language development for work-related purposes? All you need to do is
  visit the LfW website  and join . It’s free and just takes a moment.