During the first half of 2006 considerable work and effort has been invested in the restructuring of the ECML website. The first section to be reworked was the "Involvement" section. This section answers the question "How can I get involved in the ECML activities". ECML trainees 2005 Jessica Samuel and Reetta Honkanen drafted the content and structure.
Second in line was the "About Us" section. The ECML structures were extended to include the National Contact Points, National Nominating Authorities and EFSZ Verein. Also, pictures of Bureau members and a page about the Council of Europe were added. Two complete new sub-sections, "Press and Information" and "Milestones" were added. Created for the 10th Anniversary website, the "Milestones" provide a chronological description about the origins, activities and development of the ECML. The "Press and Information" page provides standardised information material on the ECML. It also features a picture gallery, showing the premises and the ECML "at work".
In addition, the complete EDL website has benefited from a face-lift!

Involvement
About us/Milestones
About us/Press and Information

This year we have been concentrating on restructuring the EDL website. Each year, new materials and features have been added. Now, after 6 years, it was time to refresh and rationalise the contents and structure of the website.
The EDL event database will naturally continue to be the focal point of the site. A new "EDL News"-section has been added to the first page of the site. In addition to the general information, the “About the Day”-section highlights the key developments for each year. Under “Information materials” you can find useful background information about the Day. Especially for the EDL 2006 celebrations, the "How to learn languages" -guide has been revised and a new electronic postcard with the 'Talk to me' stickers created.
The ECML and the LPD already contacted the national EDL relays to offer them to provide Council of Europe promotional material to be disseminated at national level. If you wish to order EDL stickers or posters, please get in touch with your national relay. As in the past, we encourage everyone to post planned activities on the EDL events database! Please do not forget to send us photos and reports from your event. These will be included in the new EDL photo gallery which we will put online shortly after the Day.

European Day of Languages website
EDL event database
National relays
EDL stickers
EDL poster

The ECML will be issuing the Call for proposals for its third medium-term programme (2008-2011) in October 2006. The Secretariat is already busy with the drafting of the document and with the process of consulting the Centre's various partners and statutory organs.
The publication of the Call will be announced in a special issue of the Gazette and on the Centre's website, where a section devoted to the Call will give details of the new programme structure and instructions on how to prepare and submit an application.
The deadline for proposals to reach the Centre is expected to be May 2007.

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During the first half of 2006 the Secretariat of the ECML benefited from solid back-up from its three trainees. Whilst Sylwia Frankowska (Poland) devoted all her energy into the cataloguing the contents of the John Trim Collection, Nadja Maček (Slovenia) provided great help in the logistics of ECML meetings (it was her luck that 2/3 of the ECML workshops took place during the first 4 months of 2006!). Due to the substantial restructuring of the ECML website, we are grateful to Kaloyan Zhelev (Bulgaria) for his support and his IT-skills. The ECML staff would like to say a big thank you and offer their best to wishes Sylwia, Nadja and Kaloyan.

Web pages on ECML traineeships

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To follow progress of the various projects in the ECML's current medium-term programme (2004-2007), visit the relevant project websites. These provide access to the project description (background, objectives, expected results, action plan) and the materials produced and give news on latest developments.

Medium-term programme of activities 2004-2007  
Overview of the project websites
Annual calendar of activities 2006

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The general aim of the project is to provide training in group facilitation for key professionals working in language teacher education and to produce a training kit providing materials for reflection and development for teacher trainers in the area of group facilitation.

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This project deals with the development and use of LanguageQuests. LanguageQuests are web-based materials designed to promote an integrated approach to communicative, realistic and functional second-language acquisition. The work of this project focuses on the implementation and dissemination of this concept, covering methodology as well as ICT aspects, materials development and course design. It particularly aims at exploiting the potential of ICT and new forms of collaborative work in language education.

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A portfolio for student teachers of languages
This project is developing a "European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages" listing the competences and knowledge required by language teachers in their daily work. The portfolio aims to provide an effective tool for students in their initial teacher education.

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The aim of the project is to improve language teaching at secondary and university level by introducing a task-oriented approach through the use of case studies in language teaching, as well as to develop teacher training modules including piloted teaching material for use in class.

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A former ECML project "Neighbouring languages in border regions" run in co-operation with the Dutch-based coordination centre CICERO has shown how the particular linguistic situation existing in border regions can be used as an incentive for the learning and teaching of these languages. Such mutual language learning contributes in turn to strengthening social cohesion by promoting mutual understanding and interaction, increased mobility and economic growth.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has underlined the importance of learning the languages of the neighbours in a recent recommendation. The Adria-Alpe-Pannonia European Region surrounding Graz is an example of one such region, where various languages exist within a relatively small area across several national borders.

At the initiative of the Styrian EU-project "EUGEM - EuropaGEmeinde" and with the assistance of the Austrian Association of the ECML, a planning workshop took place at the ECML on 29 May 2006 to which interested partners from neighbouring provinces in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Italy and Austria were invited.

Contact
Website of the Austrian Association of the ECML
Council of Europe recommendation on teaching neighbouring languages
REC(2005)3
EUGEM - EuropaGemeinde

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An entirely revamped version of this multilingual centre for language learning has just been launched. The website now focuses primarily on adult-learners and offers access to over 3 500 resources via a user-friendly interface in 20 languages!

As well as attracting learners, the site remains a highly relevant point of reference for educators and teachers of all languages. The ECML believes that the project both adds value to its own resource function and offers a valuable means of dissemination for the results and products of the ECML.

The Centre has been involved in the Lingu@net project since its original launch in 1998. The Socrates-sponsored project Lingu@net Europa PLUS, with a total of 24 organisations involved, has managed to build upon the successes of the original project by extending its services to offer advice and guidance to adult learners to help them find and make the most of resources relevant to their needs.

But don't just take our word for it - have a look for yourself!

Lingu@net Europa
ECML contact

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This catalogue presents a short description and bibliographic details of all ECML publications produced since 1999.

Specifically, it provides the following information for each product: title, author(s), thematic focus, programme of activities concerned, editor, publication year, ISBN, available languages, format, abstract(s) (in the publication languages), web location of the book and/or - if available - of the project website and the leaflet describing the activity.

ECML publications catalogue  

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Project A1 - VALEUR - Valuing all languages in Europe: Report of Central Workshop 2/2006 (Graz, Austria, 9-11 March 2006)  

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New titles acquired between March and June 2006   

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The Language Policy Division has launched its new website offering improved functionality and new features.

Website
Contact

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A scheme to assist authorities
The Language Policy Division offers assistance with policy development to member states in analysing and planning their national and local language education policies. The aim is to help authorities design coherent and holistic policies that apply to all languages - whether national / official, foreign or minority languages. The activity does not involve an external evaluation, but assistance with a self-evaluation process leading to the production of a 'Profile' that helps to define the future policy priorities of the state, region / province or city concerned.
A 'Profile' comprises several consecutive stages: the drafting of a National Report by the authorities; a study visit by a group of Council of Europe experts and the preparation of an experts' report; a Round Table discussion resulting in a Language Education Policy Profile written by the Council of Europe experts in consultation with the authorities.

Results
The Language Education Policy Profile for Slovenia has just been published, following the 'Profiles' for Hungary, Norway, Cyprus and Luxembourg (in chronological order).
The process is under way for Lithuania, the Slovak Republic, Lombardy, Ireland and Poland. The activity is in its first phase in Austria and Val d'Aosta, and will be launched in Armenia in the Autumn.
Since the offer was launched in 2003, twelve states and one region have requested the Council of Europe's expertise, and other applications are being prepared.

The reports made by the national or local authorities and the 'Profiles' themselves are available on the Language Policy Division's website.

Website
Contact

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Intergovernmental Conference for all member states
The Division is currently making preparations for the first intergovernmental conference ever organised by the Council of Europe on the language(s) of education, to be held in Strasbourg from 16 to 18 October 2006.
A working group has been set up to develop a first outline of elements for a Framework of reference for languages of education and to help the Division prepare the conference.
Studies on the content and objectives of teaching languages of education, as well as on the evaluation of competences, have been commissioned, taking into account the needs of migrant children and those in socially disadvantaged contexts in line with the Action Plan and follow-up to the Third Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Council of Europe (Warsaw, May 2005)


Academic Conference in Kraków
A conference with INGOs and experts working in the field of mother tongue education was held in Kraków in April in co-operation with Jagiellonnian University. The purpose of the conference, which was very successful, was organised to help the Language Policy Division to identify the issues to be taken into consideration in the possible development of a Reference Framework for Language(s) of Education / Mother tongue.

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Intergovernmental Policy Forum
The French and Dutch authorities confirmed their support for an intergovernmental Policy Forum on the impact of the CEFR (and its use in drawing up plurilingual profiles for learners) beyond language competence standards. This Forum will be held in Strasbourg in early February 2007.
In preparation for this Forum, a survey at ministerial level on the use of the CEFR is currently being conducted in member states.


Validation of the process of linking language examinations to the CEFR
The important question of the validation of processes linking examinations to the CEFR is frequently raised with the Language Policy Division. Following the discussion at the Steering Committee for Education (CDED) on this subject in September 2005, the Secretariat is currently preparing an outline of the issues and problems involved, which will form the basis of a Recommendation.

Website
Contact

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38 institutions from 20 countries are currently piloting the draft of the Manual. The first interim reports were examined at a meeting of a group of experts in March and revision of the Manual will begin in 2007. The meeting also provided an opportunity to discuss the calibration seminars to produce illustrative material for German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian.
The Language Policy Division - in conjunction with the DGLFLF (Délégation à la langue française et aux langues de France) and the CIEP (Centre international d'études pédagogiques) - is planning to co-produce a DVD of examples of oral and written production by adult migrants, calibrated with the first levels of the CEFR. This DVD will be part of the series that the Division is producing for different languages and will be particularly useful in projects for the integration of migrants.
As a result of co-operation with ALTE (Association of Language Testers in Europe, having consultative status with the Council of Europe), grids for analysing samples of oral and written production have been designed and made available on the European Language Portfolio website.
The language proficiency standards of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) are a major contribution by the Council of Europe to the Lisbon Strategy; they constitute the basis of the indicator designed to measure the language proficiency of young citisens at a specific age and at regular intervals in the EU member States.

Website
Contact

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European Validation Committee (EVC)
The European Validation Committee (under the aegis of the CDED) for the European Language Portfolio held its 13th meeting in Strasbourg on 11 and 12 May. The Committee examined the ELP models submitted for validation and discussed current and future developments connected with the ELP project, including contributions from the European Centre for Modern Languages in Graz. Particular attention was paid to the preparation of templates for Language Passports for young learners, which are to be presented at the 7th International Seminar on the ELP in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 28 to 30 September. The seminar will also focus on the use of the ELP in various learning contexts.

European Language Portfolio (ELP)
Contact


Europass
Since the Language Passport (one of the three parts of the ELP) was included in Europass in February 2005, 34 000 Language Passports have been created on line, with 12 000 being created between January and May 2006.

Europass
Contact

Autobiography of key intercultural experiences
The Language Policy Division held a meeting in May on the development of an Autobiography of Key Intercultural Experiences with experts in the fields of languages, inter-religious dialogue and citizenship education. The aim is to develop a tool to help young people reflect upon and learn from their intercultural experiences based on encounters with different social groups (religious, ethnic, linguistic etc.). Piloting of a draft Autobiography will begin later this year.

Contact

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The Division is addressing the issue of language requirements for residence, work or citizenship. After an initial seminar examined the situation in seven countries in Autumn 2004, an ad hoc group was established to extend the project and to develop a transversal approach to this issue at European level.
Consultations have been held with the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe, and the European Committee on Migration. A motion for a Recommendation on the linguistic aspects of the integration of migrants has been prepared by the Parliamentary Assembly. Possible links with a project involving a network of cities are being explored with the Congress. A survey of the situation in member states is being carried out in co-operation with ALTE and the European Committee on Migration is ready to provide support for this.

Curriculum framework for teaching Romani
The project aims to elaborate a common framework of reference for the development of curricula, drawing as far as possible on those used in member states and, where appropriate, adapting the structure of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
After exploratory work, the development descriptors is now under way and the first draft of 'can do' descriptors completed for several themes will now be expanded with new descriptors covering further themes.
A proposal of options for a European Language Portfolio model as well as a Guide for teachers will be developed at a later stage.

Website
Contact

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In April 2006, the Education Newsletter dedicated a special issue on Citizenship through education.

Special issue  
All issues of the Education Newsletter

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This European Portfolio is a Council of Europe initiative aiming at increasing the recognition of non-formal education / learning and competences acquired in this type of environnement, through youth work.

European Portfolio
Website  

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The new All Different - All Equal campaign was launched in June 2006. This campaign aims to highlight diversity - celebrating the richness of our differences.


Speech by Terry Davis
Speech by René van der Linden
Euronews report
Photo Gallery
Website of the Campaign
Special file  

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The Council of Europe has launched a three-year programme called "Europe for and with children".


Website  

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