The 8th International Conference on the teaching of FLE "Share to enrich" took place on 16 April 2016 in Iasi, Romania. The event was organised by the School Inspectorate of Iasi and the Romanian Association of Teachers of French with the support of the Wallonia-Brussels Delegation and the Embassy of France in Romania.

The varied programme included conferences, keynote presentations and brainstorming workshops  on didactics. Special focus was given to the use of the Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (FREPA/CARAP) during two sessions for different target groups  – a plenary intervention involving 195 participants and a workshop on the setting up of interlinguistic and interdisciplinary projects (which brought together 24 highly motivated participants).

The two ECML experts structured their input around two core topics ("How to create bridges between the languages of one’s own repertoire in schools" and "Setting-up a plurilingual project by enhancing the synergies of learning languages") which highlighted the relevance and richness of the FREPA/CARAP project at a time when the issue of diversity is at the heart of European education policies.

This represented the third FREPA/CARAP training and consultancy event focusing on the professional development of didactic competences of teachers of Romance languages in Romania: the educational resources database developed within the FREPA/CARAP project and the intercomprehensive methodology were showcased in Iasi in April and June 2015 respectively.

In 2016, taking advantage  of FREPA/CARAP’s tools for describing plurilingual and intercultural competence, particular attention was given to the cognitive benefits of pluralistic approaches, and in particular to the benefits of integrated modern languages pedagogy. This provided an excellent basis for lively exchanges on the need for an integrated curriculum for modern languages, notably on repositioning the teaching of French in the context of plurilingual education.

Author: Dan Ion Nasta, Institute of educational sciences, Bucharest

Related resources:

• Press article: "Conferinţe în limba franceză, la Iași - Partager pour s’enrichir", Buna Ziua Iasi, Edition a VIII-a, 16 April 2016) (available in Romanian)
• Training and consultancy offer of the ECML for the member states on "Plurilingual and intercultural competences: descriptors and teaching materials (FREPA)" (available in English and French)
• Website "A framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures" (available in English, French and German)
• Publication CARAP/FREPA - A Framework of reference for pluralistic approaches (available in Arabic, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish)
• ECML thematic collection on plurilingual education