A poster presentation by ECML expert Catherine Carré-Karlinger at the international conference “Articulations of Democracy Education” highlighted the Centre’s role and its vast pool of resources promoting innovative language education for a culture of democracy. The conference took place on 15 and 16 May 2025 in Vienna and was organised by the University of Vienna.  

The aim of the conference was to scrutinise the relationship between language, democracy and education from an interdisciplinary perspective. Conceptual issues were analysed in a series of stimulating presentations. Current research findings were presented on panels and in workshops and pedagogical scenarios for promoting a culture of democracy through language and political education were discussed.

Democracy needs to be learnt, shaped and cultivated: it is a central pedagogical task. Consequently, schools play a key role as an institutionalised place of learning where individual life plans and social requirements are to be harmonised. Schools have the potential to enable all children and young people to experience democracy as a way of life at close quarters. This in turn requires the consistent professionalisation of all educational staff. The importance of an interdisciplinary approach between language and political education in our multilingual society was emphasised several times at the conference. In this respect, the ECML is proving to be an important point of reference.

 

Find out more at: 
https://www.ecml.at/en/ECML-Programme/Poster-Sprachenbildung 
Author: Catherine Carré-Karlinger

Moderators: Barbara Schrammel-Leber and Jelena Filipović

 

The language and culture of the Roma still today is a field that is hardly touched upon in teacher training in Austria. Austria has both an autochthonous and an allochthonous Roma minority, although Roma children in Austrian schools are often not recognised as such. 

This workshop brought together 25 newly qualified teachers of primary and secondary schools in Austria - many of them teaching German as a second language to children with a migrant background  – and future teachers from the University College of Teacher Education Styria.

The event provided an overview of the different groups of Roma living in Austria and about the history and structure of Romani as a European minority language that has only very recently been codified. It also served to  introduce the outcomes of the Qualirom project, both the teaching materials as well as the teacher training module developed in the project, to Austrian teacher trainers, teachers and students. In addition, the event provided the participants with an overview of  the models and methods for the integration of minority languages into formal schooling, a topic that is highly relevant for Romani as well as other European regional, minority and migrant languages.

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The QualiRom initiative (2011-2013), carried out under the European Commission’s Key Actions 2 programme, made extensive use of the Council of Europe’s Curriculum Framework for Romani (CFR) and two European Language Portfolio models. The initiative sought to promote the inclusion of Romani in education systems and to contribute to the integration of speakers of the language by improving the educational situation of Roma children, raising the self-esteem of Romani speakers, contributing to the emancipation of people with a Roma background, and promoting equality of opportunity as a basic human right. 

Training and consultancy  events offered by the ECML, based on the QualiRom results, aim to provide  participants from interested member states with:

a. basic information about Romani as a European minority language (language history, language structure, sociolinguistics, dialectology, language education policies);

b. basic guidelines about possible ways of including Romani as a minority language into mainstream classrooms; and 

c. introductory training in CLIL (content and language integrated learning) and its relevance for Romani teaching. The activities also make use of an extensive databank of teaching and learning materials for teachers of Romani (http://qualirom.uni-graz.at).

 

Websites:

• Qualirom - Quality education in Romani for Europe (website available in Czech, English, Finnish, German, Serbian, Slovak)
• ECML training and consultancy services for member states "Romani | Quality education in Romani for Europe" (website available in English and French)
• Council of Europe web page dedicated to the learning and teaching of Romani (website available in English)

 

Photo credit: Barbara Schrammel-Leber

 

This issue focuses on the European Day of Languages ​​on 26 September, refugee children in Austrian schools, the European Language Label, language sensitive subject teaching, tips for learning English easily, minority education in the province of Burgenland, PUMA - a game supporting multilingualism in the everyday life of children, and the fair Interpädagogica.

ÖSZ-Sprachbox (only in German)

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The Austrian Centre for Language Competence (ÖSZ) is the national Contact Point for the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) in Austria.

Web pages dedicated to the Austrian expertise in the ECML work

 

Language acquisition is the most relevant aspect of school-based learning. It is the task of every school with diverse language backgrounds to get the most  from their educational setting for their students. Not only the individual teachers' efforts but also a systemic, well-planned whole-school strategy is necessary. During the event, school-teams (head teacher and one or two teachers) from the provinces of Oberösterreich, Salzburg and Burgenland with the help of professional support reflected on the possibilities to further develop their schools. They were introduced to the data-based school development tool, Roadmap. They planned the next steps and could network with each other and also with school consultants from their region.
 

Selin Öndül, team member of the ECML Training and consultancy activity “A roadmap for schools to support the language(s) of schooling“
 

• Roadmap - Self-assessment tool: available in English, Finnish, French, German and Swedish

On Thursday, 29 November 2018 Achim Braun, Field Officer and liaison person for languages at the EU representation in Vienna, visited the ECML to say good-bye after 6 years of excellent cooperation with the ECML. Achim Braun returns to the European Commission in Brussels. His successor, Claudia Kropf,  also used this occasion to familiarize herself with the work of the ECML and introduce herself to ECML staff. She emphasised that she will continue to foster good cooperation with the ECML, in particular with regard to the activities organized on the occasion of the European Day of Languages taking place every year on 26 September. ECML staff thanked Achim Braun for his open-minded approach to cooperation, wished him a good start in Brussels and welcomed Ms. Kropf as a new partner representing the EU in Vienna.

 https://ec.europa.eu/austria

https://www.facebook.com/translatingforeurope/

This year the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe has been again involved in organising today's 6th edition of the language festival. 

The Graz Museum and its surrounding area have been transformed for the day into a language hub. 

All age groups are invited to the festival which offers a wide range of activities highlighting the linguistic and cultural diversity of the city of Graz. The event features a lively mix of language workshops, games, quizzes and international theatre, music and dance. 

Council of Europe Director General of democracy, Snežana Samardžić-Marković, has honoured us today with her presence and opening speech at the Graz Sprachenfest and her visit at the premises of the ECML.

We hope to attract over 2000 participants to the language festival this year!

 

First photo impressions of this exciting day

 

ECML experts: Do Coyle, Kevin Schuck, Susanne Staschen-Dielmann, Fred Taveau
Experts invited by the coordinator: Dunja Chamberlain, Letizia Cinganotto

 

On 4 and 5 December 2017 the Pluriliteracies team met with national representatives from Armenia, Austria, Montenegro and Norway who had applied for an ECML training and consultancy event to be held in their respective countries.

The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the Pluriliteracies Framework for Deeper Learning to the national representatives, to find ways of adapting the content and methods of our training offer to the specific needs of the target countries and to schedule dates for the trainings to be held in 2018.

The meeting also gave our team the invaluable opportunity to discuss the latest developments of our model, especially the Revised Pluriliteracies Framework for Deeper Learning which was introduced in a number of recent publications and has already found its way into CLIL teacher training curricula e.g. in Germany (Berlin) and Finland. The team also seized the opportunity to share best practice dissemination activities based on previous training experience in the ECML member states and to improve the exchange of materials by establishing a digital platform.

• More information about the ECML training and consultancy offer “A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning”

Oliver Meyer,
former coordinator of the ECML training and consultancy offer

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German version

„Pluriliterales Lernen im Sachfach“ : Fortbildungs- und Beratungsangebot des EFSZ in Armenien, Montenegro, Norwegen und Österreich Netzwerktreffen (Graz, Österreich, 4.-5. Dezember 2017)

EFSZ-ExpertInnen: Do Coyle, Kevin Schuck, Susanne Staschen-Dielmann, Fred Taveau
Gastexpertinnen auf Einladung des Koordinators: Dunja Chamberlain, Letizia Cinganotto

 

Am 4.-5. Dezember 2018 traf sich das Pluriliteracies-Team mit VertreterInnen aus Armenien, Montenegro, Norwegen und Österreich, die sich für Lehrerfortbildungen im Rahmen des Fortbildungs- und Beratungsprogramms des Europäischen Fremdsprachenzentrums (EFSZ) beworben hatten.

Der Zweck des Treffens bestand darin, die Kontaktpersonen in den Bewerberländern und deren spezifische Situationen und Erfordernisse kennenzulernen, ihnen neue Entwicklungen in Bezug auf unser Pluriliterales Lehr-/Lernmodell vorzustellen und ein Fortbildungsangebot zu entwickeln, das auf die speziellen Bedürfnisse der Lehrenden in den jeweiligen Ländern zugeschnitten ist sowie konkrete Termine für die Fortbildungen zu vereinbaren.

Das Treffen war für uns auch eine wertvolle Gelegenheit, uns persönlich über Neuentwicklungen sowie aktuelle und geplante Veröffentlichungen der Teammitglieder auszutauschen. Die Relevanz unseres Modells zeigt sich unter anderem darin, dass es mittlerweile Einzug in Lehr- und Ausbildungspläne z.B. in Deutschland (Berlin) und Finnland gefunden hat.

Ein weiteres Ergebnis des Treffens bestand darin, dass sich die Teammitglieder über die bisher durchgeführten Fortbildungen ausgetauscht und best practice-Aktivitäten zusammengestellt haben, die nun allen Teammitgliedern auf einer internen digitalen Plattform zur Verfügung stehen.

• Für weitere Informationen zum Fortbildungs- und Beratungsangebot des EFSZ „Pluriliterales Lernen im Sachfach“ (verfügbar auf Englisch und Französisch)

 

Oliver Meyer, Koordinator
des Fortbildungs- und Beratungsangebot des EFSZ

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French version: available here

On the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Council of Europe", 75 women, whose work significantly shaped the Council of Europe, were honoured at an official ceremony in the Palais de l’Europe in June.

Dagmar Heindler,  former director of the Österreichisches Sprachen-Kompetenzzentrum (ÖSZ) – the Austrian Language Competence Centre who played an integral role in the establishment of the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) in Graz some 30 years ago, was among those whose achievements were honoured. In addition to her involvement with the ECML, she was the Austrian representative in the Council of Europe’s Modern Languages Project Group which was formed in the mid-1970s to support and improve the learning and teaching of modern languages in Member States. Following the creation of the ECML as an Enlarged Partial Agreement of the Council of Europe, initially with 8 Member States, she was elected chairperson of the Governing board, a position she held for 10 years, assuring stability and continuity in the Centre’s development. Today the ECML which also celebrates its 30th anniversary has grown to 36 members.

More information on the Council of Europe’s website.

 

In a recent interview with Anna Gazdik (Österreichisches Sprachen-Kompetenzzentrum, ÖSZ), Dagmar Heindler talks about her strong commitment in the Council of Europe's language policy work and the creation of the ECML. The article is available in German.

 

Photos: © Gerhard Peinsipp

The European Language Gazette, the ECML's e-newsletter, provides up-to-date news about the ECML (events, projects, resources) and other relevant sectors of the Council of Europe as well as of our partners. It focuses on national developments in the field of language education in the member states and beyond.

Enjoy the latest issue: English – French

 

European Language Gazette no. 63 (January – March 2023)

Table of contents:

“A new Council of Europe Recommendation on language education: the importance of teacher education”

ECML programme developments 2020-2023 – “Inspiring innovation in language education: changing contexts, evolving competences”

• Save the dates!
  - Launch event of the ECML Call for proposals for the 2024-27 programme, 15 May 2023
  - ECML Summer Academy, Graz, 3-7 July 2023
• “Enhancing language education in cross-border vocational education education (initial/in-service)”: a critical topic all over Europe

ECML national support event

• “Diving into deep learning” – Vlaamse CLIL-studiedag (Brussels, Belgium, 6 March 2023)

Recent ECML resources

• Selected ECML flyers in German
• Selection of ECML resources and projects in German
• Publication translations
• Inventory of ICT tools and OERs: discover the latest resources!

Publications quoting the work of the ECML

• Related ECML work on language awareness, the language of schooling, subject classes, mediation, learning environments

European Day of Languages: EDL t-shirt contest

• EDL t-shirt 2023
• EDL t-shirt contest 2024

Training and consultancy activities

• Launch of a series of 48 language education workshops in member states

National developments

• Austria: competition for the European Language Label in Austria 2023
• France
  - LISEO highlights the work and resources of the ECML and national language policies in Europe
  - World Language Barometer 2022 – launch of the 4th edition
• Germany: MitSprache Deutsch4U - a programme for non-profit organisations to foster learning environments where diversity flourishes
• Ireland
  - Erasmus+ School Education: The impact of mobility projects on the professional development of staff
  - #ThinkLanguages Week 2023 (27 November – 1 December 2023)
• Canada: 2020-2021 Annual Report of the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI)

Professional Network Forum of the ECML

• Forthcoming events of the Forum members
• Eaquals webinar series 2023
• ECSPM: International Symposium “The social role of higher education: Developing the civil society’s awareness and impacting policies on the role of multilingualism in education” (Strasbourg, France, 22-24 March 2023)
• 10th EDiLiC conference (University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 28-30 June 2023)
• ICC – the International Language Association: conference, articles, new YouTube channel
• “Future of languages”: FIPLV Nordic-Baltic Region Conference (Reykjavik, Iceland, 8-9 June 2023)

In memoriam – Evangelia Moussouri and Tony Fitzpatrick

Council of Europe developments

• Towards the 26th session of the Council of Europe Standing Conference of Ministers of Education: a series of consultations
• CEFR online workshop series
• The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
  - The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is celebrating its 25th anniversary
  - Recent reports: Netherlands, Sweden
• Council of Europe online bookshop: recent publications

News from other organisations

• International Colloquium “Plurensa-2023: Multilingualism/plurilingualism, teaching and learning, complexity and integrity: epistemological, pedagogical and political perspectives” (7-10 June 2023, Montpellier, France)
• EU: European Year of Skills 2023, recent EU resources
• OECD: recent resources
• International Mother Language Day – UNESCO event “Multilingual education – a necessity to transform education” (21 February 2023)
• Global Citizenship and Multilingual Competences: new teaching module
• The European Wergeland Centre: recent resources
  - New handbook “31 basic activities”
  - “How does Artificial Intelligence influence the way teachers teach and students learn to live in a democracy?” – Webinar recorded on 7 February 2023
• Journal of International Mobility: special issue on Interculturality, intercultural skills and mobility in adult education – Call for paper until 28 April 2023
• Journal Education Sciences: special issue on Multiculturalism in higher education: current trends, challenges, and practices – Call for papers until 31 July 2023
• Babylonia, the Swiss Journal of Language Education: latest issue

Quick links

From 15-20 August 2022, 2 800 participants from 110 countries met at the University of Vienna for the conference entitled “mit.sprache.teil.haben”. The host associations ÖDaF (Austrian Association for German as a Foreign and Second Language) and IDV (International Association of Teachers of German), in close cooperation with the Goethe-Institut, offered a rich programme to stimulate discussion on both academic and practical aspects of teaching and learning German.

In her video greeting at the opening of the IDT, the ECML director Sarah Breslin responded to the conference motto on the role of languages for active participation in society –  (mit.sprache.teil.haben) – by emphasising the vital role of plurilingualism and intercultural competences for a democratic culture in Europe.

The initiatives and resources offered by the ECML to teachers and other language professionals were presented at a well-attended ECML information stand. On the opening day itself, two members of the ECML Governing Board were welcomed there: Claudia Petiti from Switzerland and Steinar Nybøle from Norway.

Two ECML events were offered as part of the conference programme: a presentation of an ECML project: “CLIL in German: Transitions between educational levels” offered by Petra Daryai-Hansen, Beate Lindemann and Aina Būdvytytė (see the report of this team below), and a workshop on the ECML resource “A roadmap for schools to support the language(s) of schooling”. Participants highlighted the practical relevance and innovative potential of the presented ECML approaches for innovative language education in their feedback.

The ECML was also present at a book presentation organised by the Vienna Chamber of Labour. The new publication “Fokus Mehrsprachigkeit. 14 Thesen zu Sprache und Sprachenpolitik. Beiträge aus Österreich und Europa” (Focus Multilingualism. 14 theses on language and language policy. Contributions from Austria and Europe) exemplifies how multilingualism can strengthen the sustainability of a society. It includes an article by Susanna Slivensky (ECML) entitled “Mobilität und Sprachenlernen für Demokratie in Europa. Perspektiven des Europäischen Fremdsprachenzentrums des Europarates” (Mobility and Language Learning for Democracy in Europe. Perspectives of the European Centre for Foreign Languages of the Council of Europe). This is complemented by a contribution from the perspective of the European Commission/Kristina Cunningham and Claudia Kropf: “Vom Binnenmarkt zum Europäischen Bildungsraum: Mehrsprachigkeit und Mobilität als Motor für Integration, Wachstum und Beschäftigung in der Europäischen Union” (From the Single Market to the European Education Area: Multilingualism and Mobility as an Engine for Integration, Growth and Employment in the European Union).

Further encouraging language policy priorities were set at the IDT closing event, with a plenary lecture by Hans-Jürgen Krumm on the topic of “Sprachengerechtigkeit” (language justice) and the “Wiener Thesen zur Sprachenpolitik – 11+1 Forderungen zur Stärkung gesellschaftlicher Teilhabe” (Vienna Theses on Language Policy – 11+1 Demands for Strengthening Social Participation). Set against the backdrop of the new recommendation of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education, these are welcome synergies to strengthen innovation in language education.

• “Ein Wegweiser für Schulen zur Förderung der Schulsprache(n)”: presentation offered by Susanna Slivensky on 18 August 2022

 

“CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions between educational stages”: report of the ECML team

The ECML project “CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions between educational stages” was presented at the IDT in Vienna on Thursday, 18 August 2022. First, main results of a comprehensive questionnaire survey, which was answered by 38 experts from 29 countries, were put forward. The results show that CLIL is only found to a very limited extent in languages other than English in the European countries. Furthermore, CLIL is almost never linked to plurilingual education and transitions between levels of education are given very little attention. Then, some key results from two of the eight working groups of the project were presented. On the one hand, an example from the working group for curricula: the renewed Lithuanian curriculum for DaF, taking transitions between educational levels in CLILiG into account. On the other hand, some main points of the working group for teacher education were presented, pointing out that a further development of CLILiG initiatives in teacher education is necessary, that CLIL LOTE should be integrated into teacher education for all school subjects and that an intensive collaboration between teachers and teacher students for non-language and language subjects at different educational levels is necessary.

• “CLILiG – Übergänge zwischen den Bildungsstufen: PowerPoint presentation (18 August 2022)

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Local organiser: Klaus-Börge Boeckmann, University College of Teacher Education (UCTE) Styria, Austria

ECML experts: Anna Schröder-Sura (University of Teacher Education St. Gallen, Switzerland / University of Rostock, Germany) and Lukas Bleichenbacher (University of Teacher Education St. Gallen, Switzerland)

Number of participants: 23 teacher educators, mainly from UCTEs in Austria, but also from South Tyrol

At this event, funded by the ECML and organised by the NCoC BIMM* in cooperation with the University of Teacher Education Styria, teacher educators, who are constantly faced with the task of describing the competences of teachers, e.g. when drawing up curricula or competence grids, were informed by Anna Schröder-Sura (University of Teacher Education St. Gallen/ University of Rostock) and Lukas Bleichenbacher (University of Teacher Education St. Gallen) about important results of the ECML project “Teacher competences for languages in education”. This project has gained important insights from the analysis of a large number of competence descriptions in the field of language education about how they are structured, which competences they contain and which system they follow. The participants were impressed by the variety of existing description models and extremely interested in the results of the analysis. The findings from this event were seen by them as valuable support for the creation of high-quality descriptions of teaching competences and will subsequently be integrated into the current and future curriculum revisions in the area of teacher education. The further development of national competence models such as the DaZKompP (German as a Second Language – Competence Profile for Teachers) will certainly also benefit from the information conveyed in this event.

* The NCoC BIMM (BIMM) is an Austria open network of universities of teacher education and experts and institutions which focuses on education in the context of migration and multilingualism.

Klaus-Börge Boeckmann, UCTE Styria, Graz, Austria

• Related resources and more information about the ECML Training and Consultancy offer on “Teacher competences for languages in education”

 

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Lehrkompetenzen in der sprachlichen Bildung beschreiben – Lehrerbildner*innen aus Österreich und Südtirol werden von europäischen Expert*innen beraten

Bei dieser vom EFSZ geförderten und vom NCoC BIMM in Kooperation mit der PH Steiermark durchgeführten Veranstaltung wurden die Lehrerbildner*innen, die immer wieder vor der Aufgabe stehen, die Kompetenzen von Lehrkräften zu beschreiben, z.B. bei der Erstellung von Studienplänen oder Kompetenzrastern, von Anna Schröder-Sura (PH St. Gallen/ Universität Rostock) und Lukas Bleichenbacher (PH St. Gallen) über wichtige Ergebnisse des EFSZ-Projekts „Teacher competences“ informiert. Dieses Projekt hat aus der Analyse einer Vielzahl von Kompetenzbeschreibungen im Bereich der sprachlichen Bildung wichtige Erkenntnisse darüber gewonnen, wie diese strukturiert sind, welche Kompetenzen sie enthalten und welche Systematik sie verfolgen. Die Teilnehmenden waren beeindruckt von der Vielfalt der bestehenden Beschreibungsmodellen und äußerst interessiert an den Ergebnissen der Analyse. Die Erkenntnisse aus dieser Veranstaltung wurden von ihnen als wertvolle Unterstützung für die Erstellung qualitativ hochwertiger Lehrkompetenzbeschreibungen gesehen und werden in der Folge in die aktuell laufenden bzw. in Zukunft anstehenden Studienplanüberarbeitungen im Bereich der Lehramtsstudien einfließen. Auch die Weiterentwicklung nationaler Kompetenzmodelle wie des DaZKompP (Deutsch als Zweitsprache – Kompetenzprofil für PädagogInnen) wird sicher von den in dieser Veranstaltung vermittelten Informationen profitieren.

Klaus-Börge Boeckmann, PH Steiermark, Österreich

 

• Training & Consultancy Angebot des EFSZ “Teacher competences for languages in education”

 

Local organiser: Gabriele Isak, PH Kärnten

ECML experts: Brigitte Gerber, Switzerland; Chantal Muller, Belgium

Participants: 19 (foreign language teachers, students in the teacher training programme, policymakers)

 

“Supporting Multilingual Classrooms offered excellent opportunities for raising awareness for the needs of multilingual learners, for developing plurilingual competences and for promoting a positive attitude to linguistic and cultural diversity. The practical examples, plurilingual activities, digital tools and intercultural approaches showed a variety of methods and materials that can actually be used in the classroom. The two very competent ECML representatives, Brigitte Gerber and Chantal Muller, gave insight into various ECML projects and materials, they provided links to the projects and created a detailed PowerPoint presentation and a Padlet with further information and activities that participants can also use in the future.

The participants (mainly university and college of education lecturers and students) were very interested in the materials, methods and approaches and took part actively in the activities. All in all, the workshop gave the participants a whole range of ideas, materials and approaches that they can put into practice in the classroom.”

Gabriele Isak, local organiser, 28 October 2021

 

ECML project website: Supporting multilingual classrooms – EU-ECML cooperation agreement 2020-2021 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"

The ECML expert team of the activity “A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning” discussed details of their 2019 training workshops with local organisers from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Greece, and Poland at the ECML in Graz.

More information on the individual training sessions will soon be available on the dedicated website.

As the name suggests, the aim of the SWITCH-competition is to encourage the development of skills in switching between different languages.

The competition on 26 February was organised by the Province of Styria and the local school authorities and hosted at the European Centre for Modern Languages. Nearly 100 students between the ages of 16 and 18 from various Styrian secondary schools took part in this popular annual event in Graz in two categories 

• The “language of schooling” category included students who have acquired their knowledge of the competition language in an Austrian school (or in a school in a non-English/French/Italian/Spanish/Russian speaking country); whose competition language was neither their mother tongue nor their cultural language; who have not attended a school in which this language is the main language of instruction, nor a bilingual school with this language as a second language; and who have not spent more than 2 months per school year (including holidays) in an environment in which the competition language is the national language or cultural language since they were 4 years old.

• The “Native Speaker” category encompassed all those persons who do not correspond to the first category and who have English as their language of schooling at their school.

In an interview situation with a panel of native speakers the students switched between English and a second language of their choice (French, Italian, Spanish, Russian). Examiners and the jury members evaluated them according to a series of criteria such as

• language used: scope and appropriateness of structures and vocabulary, flexibility and fluency, pronunciation;
  
  
• content: relevance, creativity and independence, coherence of generating ideas;
  
  
• social competence: initiative taking, responding to interlocutors, identification with a situation and a role.

 

 

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On the 19 May 2017 Christine Lechner and Renata Scaratti-Zanin had the opportunity to attend the Symposium to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Austrian Society for Languages Didactics and to present the ARC project ("Action research communities for language teachers") there. The lively and very intensive symposium hosted by the University of Vienna was attended by over 80 researchers, teachers and teacher educators as well as representatives from educational authorities and publishing houses from Austria, Germany, Italy and Hungary. The long abstract (*) on the ARC project (pp. 60-64) is included in the conference proceedings and describes the project framework, steps taken so far as well as the results from the workshop projects and ongoing developments.

(*) Available in German

Christine Lechner, project coordinator

The European Language Gazette, the ECML's e-newsletter, provides up-to-date news about the ECML (events, projects, resources), the Language Policy Unit and other relevant sectors of the Council of Europe, as well as our partners. It focuses on national developments in the field of language education in the member states and beyond.

Read the latest issue: English - French

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Issue no. 36 – Contents

Focus on ECML programme developments – "Languages at the heart of learning" (2016-2019)

Latest project developments

"Language awareness in subject classes": participate in an online survey

"Towards a Common European Framework for Language Teachers": latest news

e-lang project in 2016: laying the foundations for a digital literacy in the language teaching and learning context

"Promoting excellence in sign language instruction (PRO-Sign2)": ECML workshop (Graz, Austria, 1-2 March 2017) – cooperation partnership with Moscow State Linguistic University

"A quality matrix for CEFR use": ECML workshop (Graz, Austria, 15-16 November 2016) – Interview with Denis Vigneron, French participant

ECML training and consultancy for member states

Network meeting of local organisers and ECML consultants (Graz, Austria, 7-8 March 2017) and upcoming national training workshops

National training workshop "Supporting multilingual classes" in Slovenia (Koper, 2-3 March 2017)

National workshops "A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning" in Malta (Floriana, 2-3 March 2017) and Latvia (Riga, 6-7 March 2017) 

Forthcoming events

Recent ECML publication: Language skills for successful subject learning – CEFR linked descriptors for mathematics and history/civics

European Day of Languages

National developments in Armenia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland

Professional Network Forum of the ECML: upcoming events

Council of Europe developments

The linguistic integration of adult migrants: some lessons from research

Council of Europe Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Roma and Traveller Issues (CAHROM) (ECML, Graz, Austria, 29-31 March 2017)

International Roma Day – 8 April

Pestalozzi programme: creating an online community of action researchers – summer school 2017

Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: developments in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Kosovo*, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"

Urban policies for inclusive integration and diversity advantage: join the Intercultural Cities 2017 Milestone Event (Lisbon, Portugal, 28-29 November 2017)

Cyprus Chairmanship Conference in Nicosia: "Securing Democracy through Education"

Recent publication

Editorial news from other organisations: Eurostat, Eurydice, OECD, Unesco, Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning, Babylonia

Quick links

The ECML's e-newsletter provides up-to-date news about the ECML (events, projects, resources), its partners and other relevant sectors of the Council of Europe. It focuses on language education and national developments in the member states and beyond.

Enjoy the latest issue (December 2016) : English - French

Members of the Action Research Communities for language teachers ran a workshop for teachers of German in Hermannstadt/Sibiu from 20^th to 22^nd of October, 2016. The aim was to introduce teachers to an action research way of thinking, to understand the benefits of action research for the enhancement of their classroom practice.

The content theme of the seminar was “Teaching about the culture of a target-country language in the language classroom: Austria”. The workshop opened with activities to exchange and compare knowledge, beliefs and opinions about Austria. The next stage was an analytic discourse based on posters made by the teachers to visualise a typical lesson on a cultural aspect in their German class.

The first day was concluded by general information about the “Action Research Communities for language teachers” and also by showing what the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) can offer to teachers of languages. It was important to ask for the participant feedback on what they had found interesting on the first day and what their hopes were for the continuation. Clearly, the teachers were keen to get concrete input that they could use at school. We were very pleased that they had found the exchange and getting to know each other professionally at some depth through the analytic discourse useful.

The second day opened with input on action research followed by an opportunity for the teachers to look at materials on Austria and approaches that they might use. They worked in groups moving from station to station. At the end of the second day, the teachers started to think about themes that they might work on and appropriate groups.

The third day opened with input on Learning Study as a co-operative form of action research and on an activity to generate shared visions for lessons on aspects of culture. The participating teachers planned in groups to hold lessons in their own classrooms and to write a joint report following individual experiences. The plans were shared through short presentations showing intentions and expectations.

We ended the workshop with a “crumple-paper” evaluation: “Lots of fun - using the methods presented will be worthwhile – we will carry on working together”.

The European Language Gazette, the ECML's e-newsletter, provides up-to-date news about the ECML (events, projects, resources), the Language Policy Unit and other relevant sectors of the Council of Europe, as well as our partners. It focuses on national developments in the field of language education in the member states and beyond.

Issue no. 33 (September - October 2016): available in English and in French. 

 

 

After the tragic events of Saturday afternoon, where three people died and many were seriously injured in the city centre of Graz, we would like to express our deepest sympathy to the victims and family members of all those who were caught up in a senseless act of violence.  

The series of attacks which started close to the ECML’s premises took place at one of  the busiest times of the week  and has shocked the population of a city known for its peaceful and welcoming character. 

A book of condolences has been opened by the Graz  city authorities.

Joint declaration by the city government of Graz (in German, 22 June 2015)

The latest issue of the newsletter of the Austrian Centre for Language Competence (ÖSZ), the Contact Point for the ECML in Austria, has just been released. 

This issue includes an article dedicated to the ECML workshop held in Graz from 26 to 28 March 2014 within the framework of the project "ECML publications for practical use in multilingual and intercultal education".

Read the newsletter: ÖSZ-Sprachbox (German)