Minutes from the kick-off workshop in Brussels November 25th - 29th 2013

Participants:

Hugues Pradel, (MdML / Mairie de Morne à l’Eau, Guadeloupe)Cecilia Leboeuf (SDE College, Denmark)Kent Andersen (SDE College, Denmark)Sandra Attard-Montalto (ETI Malta)Franco De Bono (ETI Malta)Jason Masini (MCAST Malta)John Sciberras (MCAST Malta) Ines Senica Rudnik (SSGT, Slovenia)Darja Štiherl Valentina Chanina (SSGT, Slovenia)Valentina Chanina (EfVET)

Absent: LGA, Guadeloupe

November 25th

The teams arrived early, eager to get started EfVET had arranged for us to use the great facilities of the Tirol representation in Brussels. Kent Andersen checked on the ICT setup, network, beamer etc. and everything was ready by 11.00 so we could have an early start.

Hugues Pradel, who is now the official contact person at the Mairie de Morne à l’Eau, and Cecilia Leboeuf welcomed the participants and explained that one of the partners from Guadeloupe, LGA, due to a late approval from the steering council had not been able to participate in the kick-off meeting.

Cecilia informed the teams that it had been agreed to run a separate kick-off meeting in Guadeloupe for the LGA team so they too can experience the methods and get the needed information so they can participate fully in the transnational work ahead. Cecilia will together with Mads Nielsen-Gravholt from SDE run the Guadeloupe workshop for LGA.

12.00 The teams (SDE, SSGT, MCAST, and ETI) presented themselves and told about their experiences with different language teaching methods. 14.00 In the afternoon following the lunch break Kent Andersen, supported by Hugues Pradel presented the project administrative procedures including the biannual content reports, biannual financial reports and the EC financial rules/regulations.

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The presentation and following debate/questions focused on the importance of understanding the categories “Direct, indirect, and other costs”. It was emphasized that all direct costs/expenses must be justified, documented and submitted with either original or verified signed copies. No document NO pay!

Travel costs and the rules for per diems were discussed in details: Travel costs must be based on economy flight tickets and the Per diem (hotels and subsistence) rules: Use whichever is the lowest, i.e. national rules, EC ceilings, or the per diems from the original budget. NB Boarding passes are part of documentation.

15.30 Demonstration of the project website www.languages.dk: Kent Andersen

16.45 IPR agreement: Kent presented the history and rationale behind the CopyLeft licensing of the BP-BLTM and the following POOLS projects outcomes. All materials produced as part of the Methods project are CopyLeft. CopyLeft is in this project understood as a way to license a work so that unrestricted redistribution, copying, and modification is permitted, provided that all copies and derivates retain the exact same licensing. Each partner is responsible for ensuring that all resources produced in the pools-m project are CopyLeft. This includes resources produced by third parts, e.g. student produced materials.

All participants signed the CopyLeft contract regarding materials to be developed during the Methods project.

The rationale behind the peer-review feedback system was presented by Kent and Cecilia. During the project we are all responsible for giving feedback to teams presenting ongoing work for commenting, as this is part and parcel of the transnational dimension needed in a ToI project and it will ensure best possible outcomes of the Methods project.

November 26th

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09.00 Cecilia and Kent presentation of the materials from BP-BLTM with a step-by-step walk through of the website where the original results can be downloaded.

10.30 The Danish team presented the PhyEmoC language teaching method and the history behind it (partly inspired by Dr John D Rassias). After the presentation Cecilia taught the other participants beginners Danish based on a PhyEmoC approach

12.00 Kent made a presentation of walkthrough of the project communication systems; the project dissemination blog, Facebook, e-mail lists, newsletter lists, etc. We discussed the participant responsibilities and all agreed to have an active presence in the social medias, these will be animated by the SSGT group.

After the lunch The Maltese teams (ETI and MCAST) presented the ideas behind Computer Assisted Language Learning in a Context. Sandra had prepared an exemplary presentation the form of blog entries with lots of humour ensuring the right spirit http://www.maltesemethods.blogspot.com/ Jason presented the development of CALL and gave a general overview of up-to-date CALL: http://prezi.com/fuvn9yef4hp5/overview-on-call

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Following the presentations we all learned beginners Maltese (a few practical phrases/words) based on Computer Assisted Language Learning in a Context, e.g. the Maltese alphabet: http://www.maltesemethods.blogspot.com/p/l-alfabet.html We finished the 2nd workshop day with Valentina from EfVET presenting the project dissemination plan. The plan is supported by forms that will facilitate the filling in of information to be used in the Interim and Final Reports.

November 27th

09.00 We continued the work on dissemination strategies with each partner presenting a list of future dissemination events:

ETI teacher training courses with handouts and exploitation of the materials, website links, other projects.

MCAST EXPO, Introduction week at university (Freshmen course), foundation day, website links, language courses (private and government), students and interns, courses for teachers of Maltese, MCAST Link magazine, posters

SDE: Eurocall, EfVET, Other ongoing projects, regional courses, social media

SSGT: Slovenian national education institute, national competition in foreign languages for catering and tourism schools, national agency meetings and seminars, networks of past and present project partnership consortia, LinkedIn

MdML: Municipality Facebook page, articles in newspaper, newsletter from the mayor, city website, interviews with media, social media, EDU-World, PIXEL,

We agreed to move the Methods FaceBook presence from a group to a “page”. The resulting page can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/Pools.methods

It was decided that we all invite our contacts to the new FaceBook page.

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After the debate about dissemination strategies the Slovenian team presented the Simulation method

Following the theoretical walk-through of simulations the teams learned useful Slovenian phrases like: Zanima me, Oprostite, Kje je?, Pojdite naravnost, Pojdite po X ulici, Pojdite mimo, Zavijte prvo ulico , Zavijte drugo ulico, Zavijte drugo. Visit https://www.facebook.com/Pools.methods to listen to samples.

November 28th

9.00 Kent gave instructions on how to adapt the materials from BP-BLTM, we opened each of the five method manuals to grade the needed time for preparing selection and adaptation of the texts, the course guide, and the Student Preparation Travel guide.

Cecilia presented the adaptation tasks and responsibilities for each partner as well as deadlines for deliveries:

Task Deadline ResponsibleSubtitles DVD Maltese

7/12/13 MCAST

Subtitles E-tandem DVD French

7/12/13 LGA

DVD final creation 20/12/13 SDE (KA)Social MediaTwitter, Blog

20/12/13 SSGT

Dissemination Plan Done EfVETWork Placement guide- Adaptation

1/5/14 SSGT

CALL-Adaptation 1/5/14 ETI

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PhyEmoC-Adaptation

1/2/14 SDE

Task based learning-Adaptation

1/3/14 LGA

Simulations- Adaptation

1/4/14 SSGT

E-Tandem- Adaptation

15/3/14 MCAST

Course Guide outline- Adaptation

1/5/14 ETI

Selection of supporting exercises for the 5 methods

1/5/14 SDE (KA)

Newsletter; one small article each! With photos!!

13/12/13, 14/3/14

LGA, SSGT, SDE, ETI, MCAST

We looked into project exploitation plans and made a first estimate for the target numbers of pilot course participants in the 2nd project year:MT: MCAST 60 participants 5-10 courses in total

ETI 20-30 participants FR: MdML 15 participants SI: 10-12 per group/course a total of 50 participants

Following a debate on strengths and weaknesses in the methods presented during the kick-off workshop, the list below only reflects the debate and viewpoints raised:SimulationsStrengths

-real life experiences-(task based) outcomes-possiblity to “be you” / be creative i.e. not a role play-fosters communication strategies-higher order thinking-competition strategies-student centered

Weaknesses-unclear instructions * can cause failure-choice of media / props needs to fir the purpose-not ideal for absolute beginners (but it worked for the Slovenian!-)-need for feedback

Task BasedStrengths

-Natural way of learning-for real-true communication-learning by doing / using

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Weaknesses-risk of error learning-dependant on teacher follow-up and evaluation

PhyEmoCStrengths

-fun-suitable for real beginners-kenestetic learning-not text dependant-integration of cultural elements-holistic approach-maximise creativity

Weaknesses-need for visual prompts-limited number of students in a class

CALLStrenghts

-access to huge resources of authentic materials-multimedia-outside classroom-portfolios and easy feedback-motivation as many VET students like technology-asyncronous learning / self taught-Real communication-structured approacj-active participation

Weaknesse-technology may fail-rely on availability of devices-some teachers have ICT-fobia-insufficient training of teachers-dynamic-Plan B often needed-ICT staff lack of cooperation with teachers-problems with different types of devices in the classroom-distractions

We checked on the workshop milestones and items and concluded we had covered all proposed items for the kick-off workshop.

Part of the quality control pointed at some errors to be corrected a.s.a.p.:

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In the first brochures there is a spelling error in the MT and English versions Brochure “Leaching” and a wrong character to indicate thousands in large numbers 100,000 / 100.000

The subcontracted external quality evaluator Angelica Bucur presented her company and proposed quality plan for the project. We had a good debate of the QM feedback on the evaluation from Penelope (The French national agency).

The meeting and workshop finished with a written meeting evaluation and a summary of the project plan, responsibilities, and schedule.

Next five days workshop is in Malta with arrival on May 4th (a Sunday) and departure on May 9th)

2014Malta (5 days) May  5th-9th  Slovenia (4 days) November 10th-13th

2015Malta (5 days) May 4th-8th

Guadeloupe (5 days)  June 29th to July 3rd

We stick to the original work plan dates!

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