Creation of a Language Centres network in the Greater Region as a model for a structured language learning system Erasmus Project

General information for the Creation of a Language Centres network in the Greater Region as a model for a structured language learning system Erasmus Project

Creation of a Language Centres network in the Greater Region as a model for a structured language learning system Erasmus Project
July 7, 2020 12:00 am
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Project Title

Creation of a Language Centres network in the Greater Region as a model for a structured language learning system

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 higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Pedagogy and didactics; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

A study carried out in early 2017 by the universities of the Greater Region (Luxembourg, Lorraine, Liège, Saarland, Trier and Kaiserslautern) revealed that students regret the lack of preparation for their university exchange and the absence of contact between exchange students – especially given that the exchanges take place within a small geographical area. Between October 2017 and December 2019, the six language centres at the universities of the Greater Region therefore worked together to develop a hybrid (online and instructor-led) course offering linguistic and intercultural preparation for student exchanges to meet this need. The course is composed of two parts. A first online section hosted on the University of Luxembourg’s Moodle platform, based on a lesson plan available in French and German, invites future exchange students to simulate an exchange at their future host university/city by exploring five main themes: preparation before the exchange, preparation on arrival, life as an exchange student, studying, and coping with exams. Students explore these topics through a variety of linguistic and cultural activities. The course was initially developed with six different “city” versions (one version for each city/university in the consortium), with specific destination-related content for each version. Since some students choose to study at a broader range of destinations, two new “country” versions of the course, one for France and one for Germany, are currently being developed. Partners at the University of Liège have also developed a separate version of their “city” course aimed at Erasmus students, since the university is a popular Erasmus destination. In addition to the course, again via the platform, students were put into contact with a student at the university – or at the least in the country – where they were planning to carry out their exchange. The students worked together remotely to complete a set number of tasks related to cultural issues and/or academic situations. Finally, two two-day exchanges were organised so that the students could meet before and after their exchange and strengthen the links developed during the tandem work via the platform, thereby fostering a community of students within the Greater Region. All the consortium partners were involved in different aspects of the development of the course according to their specific expertise: some contributed more to the technical side, some to the teaching and learning materials, and others to the production of aids and guides for users of the tool. By late December 2019, a total of 80 students had completed the LCGR course.
At the same time, the partners at the six language centres in the Greater Region achieved their aim of creating a new network, having developed effective methods for working and producing resources together. They met ten times all together and on several other occasions in French-German pairs to produce educational outputs over the 27 months of the project.
In September 2019, a three-day training course was held for teachers at the six language centres so that they could familiarise themselves with the principles of the LCGR course. The aim of these three days was to ensure the long-term viability of the course by creating a community of “LCGR teachers” responsible for monitoring students and updating the course as needed each semester.
The research community and political leaders in the Greater Region also met at two dissemination events in Luxembourg and in Pau, France. Following these two events and a presentation of the LCGR project at the Ranacles conference for language centre professionals in France in November 2019, we received proposals from international relations managers (Grenoble and Pau) and Spanish lecturers (Lorraine and Pau) to join our group with the aim of developing a course for France, a course for Germany and a new course for Spain. These new partners are also keen for their students to make use of the joint course and the tandem created on Moodle.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 170375 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITE DU LUXEMBOURG & Country: LU

Project Partners

  • Verein zur allgemeinen Förderung von Völkerverständigung, Kultur und Bildung an der TU Kaiserslautern e.V.
  • TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET KAISERSLAUTERN
  • UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE
  • UNIVERSITAT TRIER
  • UNIVERSITE DE LORRAINE
  • UNIVERSITAT DES SAARLANDES