The origins of the publication lie in a workshop in 1995 organised jointly by the Modern Languages Division of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and the ECML in Graz. The subject of the book is the introduction of a cultural dimension into foreign language teaching, in particular, to develop learners' intercultural competence. The book demonstrates how teachers can realise these aims in the classroom and how teacher trainers can develop training modules to ensure teachers are well prepared for the task. During an interim meeting of the coordination team in Strasbourg in July 1996, two research groups were formed- one francophone and the other anglophone. The francophone group concentrated on the concept of social identity, in particular European identity. They were then asked to analyse and reflect on the common values, which they consider to share with other young people in Europe. The anglophone group focused on the concept of national identity. The results of these projects were presented in a workshop in May 1997 and were used in the development of modules for in-service teacher training regarding the area of social identity. The modules consisted of a number of discussions, brainstorming sessions and written exercises, which were designed to challenge learners to evaluate their own identity on both a national and European scale. The results provided teacher trainers with many valuable insights and helped them to establish guidelines for teachers to follow when integrating this concept into the students' curricula.

Target group(s): teachersteacher educators

Publication year: 1999

Author(s): Michael Byram, Manuel Tost Planet

EN

FR

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