The EOL ECML project “Learning environments where modern languages flourish” has already succeeded in recruiting 99 partner schools and teachers in ten different countries; we will continue to accept new partner schools until the end of July 2017.
The partner schools are asked to register on the website of the project’s working platform:
This European network of project partner schools will not only support one another in developing innovative approaches to establishing language friendly learning environments through an exchange of relevant resources, research and practice, but will have dedicated support from the project team throughout the lifespan of their school projects.
Schools that haven’t yet chosen a project topic may draw inspiration from the synopsis provided of other partner schools’ project topics; a certain number of French schools, for example, are already starting to share their project ideas and are willing to network with other schools from all around Europe to go even further in the development and implementation of their projects.
The “action plan” is an important tool which will be completed by the teachers involved in the project: it will give a handy summary of the different phases of their projects. The schools involved will be able to monitor all the activities which they are expected to carry out. Moreover, all the resources developed by the partner schools will be made available to the entire network. And of course, our partner schools will play a key role in piloting the matrix that has been developed by the project team.
All project outputs such as the synopsis, the action plan, the glossary and the matrix are available on the dedicated project website. The third expert meeting at the ECML in Graz during February 2017 had a packed agenda as so many different tools for partner schools had to be discussed and finalised. This is a truly multilingual project with all documentation available in French, German and English. This, of course, brings its challenges but as a result of the motivating driving force of the coordinator, Jonas Erin from France and the dedicated team members, everything seems to be possible!
At the last expert meeting not only the four team members were present (Jonas Erin from France, Silvia Minardi from Italy, Kristin Brogan from Ireland and Lea Štiberc from Slovenia), but Cécile Sabatier from Canada was also present and actively involved and her input was very much appreciated by the team. Another important “guest” was Monika Klamminger from the Seebacher Gymnasium in Graz. It was a real pleasure to discuss ideas of collaboration with her, as she is representative of our stakeholders.
As always the project team very much appreciated all the support and feedback it received from ECML colleagues, from technical support to constructive evaluation of results. It is nice to know that we all share the belief that this project will make a difference in the learning and teaching of languages.
Presently the team is looking forward to the launch of an online discussion forum for all partner schools in June and is working on preparing an international Webinar on the 24th of May 2017 (10am - 11.30am CET) with the partner schools. This will be the perfect platform for a question and answer session and to get to know some partners as well as clarify expectations. Some schools will also be invited to join the project Network meeting in March 2018 at the ECML in Graz.
Links