Alternative Ways to Learn a Second Language Erasmus Project

Project Title

Alternative Ways to Learn a Second Language

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Migrants’ issues; Integration of refugees

Project Summary

lternative Ways to Learn a Second Language
Strategic partnership between: Storytelling Centre (NL), Arbeit und Leben (D), GO! (B), Elan Interculturel (FR) and De Talentenschool (NL)
Timeframe: September 2018 – August 2020

Main objective:
Developing new, alternative and innovative methodologies to learn a second language using storytelling and other non-formal learning tools for students that have difficulties acquiring language skills through the existing formal learning methods.

Main tangible outputs
– a toolkit with guidelines for languange teachers and educators who are active in the field of language teaching to refugees (and other migrants) who have difficulties learning a language using the formal methods. Since many language teachers/coaches work as volunteers, we want to design a toolkit that is accesible and easy to use by people that are not professionally involved in this work as well;
– a portal (IO8) via which information gathered during the project (like the Foundation Bricks, reports on the case studies and relevant literature and reseach results) and the final results (toolkit and guidelines) will be available.

Besides we train 40 language teachers/coaches/educators in using the toolkit in the course of the project.

Rationale:
Many mainly Northern European countries are busy taking care of creating the possibilities for language learning and many organisations, both non-profit and commercial, discovered the market and offer courses. Of course, there are also companies developing these courses, working with experts on language and culture. Many new-comers benefit from this and learn the language and the culture more or less easy. They reach a reasonable level within a year (B2 or even B1), which serves as a base for further development.

However, for a certain group this is no solution. They are not able to study using the methods that are offered to them. The reasons are various, but often we are dealing with people who did not learn to learn, mostly because they only finished primary school (or not even that), who are illiterate of who are used to read and write in a different script (Somalian, Arabic or even Chinese). For this group the existing, often formal learning methods are not beneficial at all and they keep on failing for their exams with the result that they are lagging behind in their integration process.

The partners in this project have the experience in working with this group. Based on that we can state that it is often not the intelligence of the students that blocks them. It is a mismatch between their learning skills and the existing learning methods. Although different partners already developed some alternative learning methods, we notice a need of high quality, structured language learning methods for this group with fewer opportunities. That is why we decided to join forces and start a project in which we share knowledge and design a new method together. Non-formal learning is the starting point.
We involve tools coming from our experience, like storytelling tools, games and dialogue tools. In order to assure high quality output, we collaborate with an experienced organisation in developing methods to acquire language skills (mainly focusing on people dealing with a second language), de Talentenschool.

In order to start this development at the right level, we made a need analysis, in which we looked at our own experience and at the needs of the group we would like to serve. This need analysis is attached. One of the outcomes of this need analysis is that the use of the method should not be limited to ‘new’ refugees. Many people living in the partner countries for a longer time, can benefit from this method as well. They often did not learn the language properly (also because 20/30 years ago it was not obligatory to learn the language in some countries) and still have difficulties in reading and writing. Though our focus is on refugees, we do not solely focus on this target group and explore which other groups can benefit from it as well.

Target groups

Primary target group: language teachers and educators. (It is important to note that many people within this target group will work as volunteers and we will keep that in mind in the final design of the outputs)
Secondary target group: People who want to/have to learn a new, second language but who lack the learning skills to acquire the language through existing formal learning methods. The main focus is on refugees, but the methods can be used for the language acquisition of other migrants as well.

Project Website

http://www.alternativeways.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 237178,75 Eur

Project Coordinator

Storytelling Centre & Country: NL

Project Partners

• Arbeit und Leben DGB/VHS NRW e.V.
• ELAN INTERCULTUREL
• HET GEMEENSCHAPSONDERWIJS
• Stichting De Talentenschool