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anD collaborative lEarning for upskilling Migrants
What have we been working on?
Since our last newsletter, we have been working on organising the piloting of the MOOC on TBLT with people who have a migrant background, and the organisation of language cafes, which are language and cultural exchanges between migrants and locals. And of course, we also had our regular project meetings. In our latest, on January 28th 2022, the TANDEM partners met online to discuss the progress made by each country on the piloting phase of the project. So let’s see how each country is doing!
Italy
During the last few months, CSC Danilo Dolci has successfully completed the first TANDEM training cycle. The piloting was divided in two parts for the participants who alternated between autonomous study on the MOOC platform through videos and activities, and practical face-to-face sessions.
The cycle began on October 22nd and finished on December 22nd 2021. During the last two sessions, learners had the chance to plan and carry out their own class using the newly-learnt TBLT methodology.
The first “mock class” took place at Centro Astalli, a refugee centre, organised by two participants who co-planned it together. The third participant organised a mock class in Spanish in a completely autonomous way. Both classes have been extremely well-structured and the students involved really enjoyed and learnt from them, meaning that they have both been very successful.
Moreover, on December 13th CSC organised a language cafe at Ciwara, an African restaurant; it was an occasion to exchange languages such as Bambara, Arabic, English, Italian and Pula, as well as to present the TANDEM project to new possible participants.
Austria
Although all restrictions (the lockdown for 20 days and restrictions for those who haven’t been vaccinated) in Austria, Compass could finalise the first cycle of piloting of the MOOC on Task Based Language Teaching with 11 participants. This was done through a blended learning concept: The participants had to finalise the theoretical part, completed the tasks and watched the videos on the MOOC platform before coming to the face-to-face session.
In this way, they could further enhance their knowledge given on the MOOC platform through the activities implemented in face-to-face sessions. The training was implemented by an expert trainer in Basic education and has experience in working with migrants, and one person from the project team (occasionally) got involved in some of the online sessions.
Cyprus
TANDEM’s training in Cyprus is going well! All sessions are face-to-face and combine both the theory of language teaching and TBLT methodology, as well as practical activities during the face-to-face sessions. During the sessions participants also complete the quizzes included in the MOOC platform. Currently, the training in Cyprus has covered Module 4 which gave the participants the chance to move from theory into practice – and start thinking like an actual language teacher. The next step is to cover Module 5 and after that, run MOCK classes and the language cafes.
Germany
Last autumn the piloting of the MOOC started - a chance for trial and error. Involved in iberikas program was a very international group of 21 participants with migrant backgrounds willing to take upon a new challenge and learn how to teach their mother tongue using the TBLT method.
The training was held in an online setting and consisted of two parts:
- Series of workshops filled with both theoretical know-how of the TBLT-methodology and practical exercises
- Self-motivated learning using the MOOC platform, where plenty of materials on the TBLT and related topics were made available.
Participants were given the opportunity to share opinions throughout the process, as well as at the end through group discussions, surveys, and self-evaluations. The received feedback helps us to troubleshoot issues that came up during the pilot program. The first taking is that the Tandem-project can be also adaptable to a different target group, namely teachers who would like to expand their pedagogical knowledge and include the TBLT-Method in their curriculum. It’s a great result, as nothing kills the project faster than low user adaptation. As the most enjoyable part of the piloting program was creating lesson plans and teaching itself, we decided to continue with this type of exercise during our Language Cafes. Teaching others using non-formal digital tools, being creative without feeling the pressure to face grammar problems has proven to be very enjoyable and efficient. Needless to say, we are looking forward to making TBLT an inherent part of our language lessons for migrants and future teachers’ training.
Greece
The language cafes in Greece were held with great success. The facilitators carried out five (5) sessions of 2 hours duration each for straight four weeks. The meetings took place twice per week in a classroom in the refugee camp of Eleonas, located in Athens, Greece.
The participants were more than excited to start up a “Greek course” (as the participants themselves prefer to call it!). When they entered the room for the first time and got information about the project and the language café sessions, once they realised what they were going to do, the engagement was tremendous.
The participants felt excited that they would learn how to start up a discussion in the Greek language and will be able to debate about crucial issues affecting their daily lives; such topics covered the field of:
- public services, health (either visiting the doctor, the gym, their eating habits, talking for sports, or even discussing with the trainers, etc.),
- geography (to plan a trip and to visit new places in Greece, revising their knowledge in months & seasons)
- the job sector (participators was supposed to look for a new job),
- cultural issues (debating about national holidays).
Based on the feedback we received, participants cherished the pre-tasks activities, including the icebreaker activities. The facilitators managed to engage the participants in the session with activities through KAHOOT or similar apps and by asking their prior knowledge on a specific topic each time or even how they felt that day. As a result, people should recall appropriate vocabulary. For the facilitators, this was a methodological way to detect the actual language level of the participants and adjust the training curriculum where needed before the piloting of the MOOC on TBLT.
What’s next?
In the upcoming months, the TANDEM partners will continue to organise activities in their respective countries regarding the piloting of the MOOC on TLBT or language cafès. Do you also want to take part in a course on TBLT or a language exchange? The MOOC is also available for language teachers and volunteers. You can always join online, or contact your local TANDEM organisation to inform yourself about running activities.
You can contact us here:
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The partnership of the TANDEM project is composed by:
- Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo “Danilo Dolci” - Itali - danilodolci.org
- Active Citizens Partnership - Greece - www.activecitizens.eu
- Compass GmbH - Austria - www.compass4you.at
- CSI Center for Social Innovation LTD - Cyprus - csicy.com
- Iberika Education Group GGMBH - Germany - www.iberika.de
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The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
© TANDEM – Newsletter developed by Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo Danilo Dolci
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