The ECML project "Developing language awareness in subject classes" had a 2-day long network meeting in Graz 18-19 October 2018. It was preceded by a preparatory meeting for the team members where the aim was to finalize the materials for the upcoming meeting.
The network participants came from nine different countries. They represented various school subjects, such as history, biology, geography, mathematics, chemistry, physical education, and social sciences. The aim of the meeting was to get from the participants feedback on the first versions of the tools that the team had developed for subject teachers. With the help of the tools, subject teachers should become more aware of the language component in their subject to be able to scaffold those students who struggle with the subject-specific language. For example, in history, what does it mean to be able to produce a historical recount on different proficiency levels (A2, B1)? What are the different steps of the historical recount and what linguistic elements are necessary to compile the task?
The feedback from the participants was encouraging. The next step for the project team is to make the suggested modifications to the tools and, thereafter, give instructions to the network meeting participants to pilot the tools in their schools.
The project team:
Marita Härmälä, (project coordinator), Artashes Barkhanajyan, Jérôme Béliard, Elie Moe