WeR1

Association PELICAN is a partner of the We Are One project, whose target group is foreign nationals who come to Europe from other parts of the world. These people are often unable to find their way into the labor market, despite the growing need of workforce and good economic situation of most European countries. Their efforts to establish themselves in the European environment are limited by the lack of knowledge of the environment they have come to, as well as by the language handicap.

The aim of this project is to connect teaching of a foreign language with the acquisition  of information about legal, economic, social and cultural environment of the countries they are entering. The tools that project partners, led by the Portuguese organization Serviço Jesuíta aos Refugiados are developing, use a combination of two methods:  

 

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) – using of the taught language as a means of obtaining information and solving the tasks that the participants are really interested in. In our case it will be about providing information from the area of ​​local legal, economic and social system to newly arrived foreigners in the language of the host country, eventually. in combination of both languages. As a result, course participants deepen their knowledge of the language and the system they are in.  

 

Task-based learning (TBL) – solving real tasks in a group that speaks the language they are learning. In this way, groups of students will, for example, jointly compile a model budget, search for information on the labor market situation or deal with legal issues in a new country.

 

The advantage of combining these methods is the greater motivation of the participants, given that, in addition to linguistic progress, they will deepen their knowledge on important issues of their stay. Working together to solve real problems provides participants with immediate feedback on the ability to arrange or analyze text, and also pushes their self-confidence in the given language through the experience they gain.

Outputs of the project

The key output of the project will be a Toolkit available on-line and designed to be printed and distributed in a group of students. Their content will be adjusted according to the main areas of interest of incoming foreign nationals. Preliminary considerations are: life skills, workplace culture, language skills in restaurant and hotel operations, language skills in car traffic (car driver, bus, taxi, mechanic), language skills in construction, self-assessment of skills. In addition to the toolkit, the project will create a guide to overcoming negative stereotypes and intercultural understanding, a guide for educators to compile a course, and video materials presenting individual activities.

All materials produced within the project are freely available for download at the website we.areone.org.

 

As part of the project, Spolek PELICAN will organize workshops in the South Moravian Region aimed at testing the possibility of teaching Czech language using CLIL and TBL. We will be happy to visit your school or workplace and present the project and its results. The working version of the Toolkit will be handed over to workshop participants for practical review. Suggestions, recommendations, and other insights from these people are invaluable feedback for the solver and will be a determining factor for finalizing the outcomes before the project ends.


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