Call for the ECML-EC joint action "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning" 2025 – now open until 10 January 2025

The European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe together with the European Commission are launching a new round of workshops within the joint action on Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning focusing on the following initiatives:

• RELANG – Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference
• Supporting Multilingual Classrooms
• ICT-REV – Using ICT in support of language teaching and learning

The activities are scheduled to take place between end of February and mid-December 2025, the three initiatives offering up to 18 national workshops during this period.

The call is open to current European Union member states and the additional member states of the ECML until 10 January 2025.

For further information, please contact Adelina Rosca-Birnstingl (adelina.rosca@ecml.at), the ECML-EC cooperation agreement coordinator.

Local organiser: Vanessa Monika Isenmann, project manager at Mímir - símenntun
ECML experts: Matilde Grünhage-Monetti (Germany, Alexander Braddell (UK)
Participants: 22 Icelandic teachers as well as project managers at Mímir – símenntun

Thanks to the ECML, Mímir, a lifelong learning centre in Reykjavík (Iceland), had the opportunity to host a workshop on work-related L2-Icelandic teaching for teachers and project managers. Led by two ECML experts from the Language for Work network, the workshop provided new insights and ideas regarding the design and planning of more effective L2-courses at the workplace, as well as fresh perspectives and methods for the development of course curricula, lesson structures, and course materials.

The workshop featured inputs from Language for Work partners across Europe, showcasing innovative practices and principles from various contexts. The participants were able to relate these examples to their own settings, identifying opportunities to enhance local practices. This collaborative effort fostered a shared understanding between the participants on how to better support work-related language learning.

The event significantly impacted the participants, offering a clearer vision of effective language teaching for the labour market. This knowledge will enable us to better plan and organize Icelandic courses at workplaces and to promote improved collaboration between our teachers and project managers.

Overall, the workshop achieved both didactic-methodological and strategic goals, marking a transformative step in enhancing adult language education in Iceland.

Why a Language for Work TaC activity is relevant for Iceland

Over the past three decades, immigration has grown profoundly in Iceland. While in 1993 less than 2% of Iceland’s population had foreign nationality, in 2023 more than 17% were non-Icelandic citizens according to Statistics Iceland. At the same time, unemployment is very low in Iceland and the Icelandic labour market depends increasingly on skilled workers from abroad, for example in the health system, childcare, construction, and in the hospitality sector. As a result of this, the demand for Icelandic courses, not least with regard job-related language training, has grown immensely in recent years and with it the need for skilled teachers of Icelandic. However, courses and training opportunities for (future) teachers of Icelandic as a foreign language are rare in Iceland. Especially when it comes to specialized job-related Icelandic courses, training opportunities for teachers are few and far between. Therefore, our Icelandic teachers greatly benefit from  well-structured and established teacher education regarding job-related language teaching.

Vanessa Monika Isenmann, project manager at Mímir - símenntun

Related links (available in English and French)

• ECML resource website: Language for work – Tools for professional development 
• ECML training and consultancy offer “Language for work: how to support work-related language learning for adult migrants”

Local organiser: Anastasia Panagiotidou, Directorate of Secondary Education of Evros

ECML experts: Catherine Carré-Karlinger (Austria), Katja Schnitzer (Germany)

Participants: 32 (foreign language teachers, teachers of the language of schooling, principals of school units, school advisers, regional education quality supervisor)

The Secondary Education Directorate of Evros, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports and the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) of the Council of Europe, successfully organised the two-day training workshop entitled Supporting Multilingual Classrooms, which took place on 17 and 18 October 2024 in Alexandroupolis, Greece. 

• improve their language teaching
• develop multilingual and intercultural skills 
• address the diversity of the student population 
• create collaborative networks 

Local organiser: Fauve Van den Berghe and Wouter Cambré, Department of Education & Training, Ministry of Education, Government of Flanders

ECML experts: Rita Jukneviciene, Lithuania; Jana Beresova, Slovak Republic

Participants: 37 (language testers and examiners, item writers, teachers and teacher trainers, curriculum developers)

On October 16 and 17, 2024, an enthusiastic group of teachers, pedagogical supervisors, test developers and teacher educators participated in the inspiring two-day workshop “Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (RELANG)” of the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML). Participants were introduced to the principles of valid and reliable language testing based on the CEFR. In the workshop, they learned about the construction of different item types, the stages of test development and test-taking, the collection and analysis of test data and also about ways to link tests and exams to (the levels in) the CEFR.

You can find more information on the theme RELANG here, as well as a number of interesting ECML materials. Subscribe to ECML’s European Language Gazette for interesting facts and activities on language teaching.

Fauve Van den Berghe and Wouter Cambré, local coordinators, 29 October 2024

ECML project website: RELANG, ECML-EC cooperation agreement 2024 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"

Twenty-one teachers of English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian (some of them, also, teacher trainers, curriculum authors, professional development advisor) in primary and secondary schools from throughout the country participated in the two-day workshop Using ICT in support of language teaching and learning, organized by the Bureau for Education Services and European Centre for Modern Languages.

The training was facilitated by Ursula Stickler, Jackie Robbins and Sarah Heiser, members of ICT REV team. In preparation for the workshop the participants filled in an online questionnaire and completed some tasks on a Moodle workspace.

The facilitators introduced participants to various online tools, platforms and materials they can use in their everyday work in classroom, such as Padlet, Moodle, Clasroomscreen, Mentimeter, Clickchamp, Audacity, Makebelief, Genially, Pixabey. The participants had plenty of opportunities to discuss and share their experiences of working with these tools and apps.

The participants worked together on creating new teaching activities which they recorded and uploaded on the Padlet as “Tools I had used”.

At the end of the workshop both the trainers and the participants presented their best materials they had recorded before the workshop while contemplating possibility of introducing newly acquired tools.

The training showed that most of the participants are already active users of various tools and apps for use of ICT in teaching and learning modern languages. So the overall tone of the training was motivating and fertile as a result of both inspiring and enthusiastic support of the trainers and dedicated i motivated work of the participants.

Montenegrin version:

21 nastavnice engleskog, italijanskog, njemačkog, španskog, rusko (a neke od njih, istovremeno, treneri, autorke programa, savjetnica za profesionalni razvoj) u osnovnim I srednjim školama širom zemlje učestvovale su u dvodnevnoj obuci za Upotrebu IKT u nastavi i učenju stranih jezika, koju su organizovali Zavod za školstvo i Evropski centar za moderne jezike.

Obuku su vodile Ursula Stickler, Jackie Robbins i Sarah Heiser, članice ICT REV tima. Kao pripremu za ovu obuku učesnice su ispunile online upitnik i odradile zadatke na Moodle platformi.

Voditeljke obuke su upoznale učesnice sa različtim online alatima, platformama i materijalima koje mogu koristiti u svakodnevnom radu u učionici, npr. Padlet, Moodle, Clasroomscreen, Mentimeter, Clickchamp, Audacity, Makebelief, Genially, Pixabey. Učesnice su imale priliku da diskutuju i podijele svoja iskustva u radu sa ovim alatima i aplikacijama. 

Učesnice su zajedno radile na izradi novih nastavnih aktivnosti koje su snimile i postavile na Padlet kao “Alati koje sam koristila”.

Obuka je pokazala da većina učesnica već aktivno koristi razne alate i aplikacije za korišćenje IKT u nastavi/učenju stranih jezika. Tako je opšta atmosfera obuke bila motivišuća i plodna kao rezultat, s jedne strane, inspirativne podrške i entuzijazma voditeljki obuke, a s druge, posvećenog i motivisanog rada učesnica.

Jasmina Djordjevic, local coordinator

The Directorate-General for Education (DGE) of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) organized a workshop entitled Using Information and Communication Technology in support of language teaching and learning (ICT-REV) on the 10th and 11th of October 2024 at Padre António Vieira Secondary School in Lisbon.

This was an international training activity, resulting from a partnership between the Council of Europe's European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) and the European Commission, aimed at developing a joint action called Innovative Methodologies and Assessment in Language Learning.

In this initiative, which is of great importance for the national context of primary and secondary education, participants, professionals involved in language teaching, had the opportunity to deepen their scientific and technological literacy in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

The teachers replicate their knowledge in the short term, contributing to the promotion of innovative pedagogical practices, which will provide more dynamic and varied first language/second language/foreign language classes, aligned with the needs and competencies of students in an increasingly demanding digital context.

Portugal, represented by the DGE/MECI, is, for the sixth year, one of the European countries conducting training workshops promoted by the CELV.

Portuguese version:

A Direção-Geral da Educação (DGE), do Ministério da Educação, Ciência e Inovação (MECI), promoveu, nos dias 10 e 11 de outubro de 2024, na Escola Secundária Padre António Vieira, em Lisboa, a realização de um workshop intitulado Using Information and communication Technology in support of language teaching and learning (ICT-REV).

Tratou-se de uma atividade de formação internacional, resultante de uma parceria entre o Centro Europeu de Línguas Vivas (CELV), do Conselho da Europa, e a Comissão Europeia, com o objetivo de desenvolver uma ação conjunta denominada Innovative Methodologies and Assessment in Language Learning.

Nesta iniciativa, de grande importância para o contexto nacional dos ensinos básico e secundário, os participantes, profissionais ligados ao ensino das línguas, tiveram oportunidade de aprofundar a sua literacia científica e tecnológica em Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC).

Os docentes replicarão, a curto prazo, o seu conhecimento, contribuindo para a promoção de práticas pedagógicas inovadoras, que propiciarão aulas de língua materna/não materna/estrangeira mais dinâmicas e variadas, alinhadas com as necessidades e competências dos alunos, num contexto digital cada vez mais exigente.

Portugal, representado pela DGE/MECI, é, pelo sexto ano, um dos países europeus que realizam oficinas de formação promovidas pelo CELV.

Ana Filipa Morais, local coordinator