language learning digital Erasmus Project

Project Title

language learning digital

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 : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Cooperation between educational institutions and business; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Cooperative Language Learning in Digital Tandem

The objective of the project is to strengthen and deepen numerous areas of student competencies and skills, i.e.
• intercultural competence
• language competence
• expertise in the use of digital media
• vocational guidance in system comparison

Participants in the project are upper secondary level students who have been selected through an application procedure and take part in language and culture learning in tandem with Finnish upper secondary students by means of digital learning platforms, and they will subsequently engage in concrete interaction and exchange.
In the course of 2 years an overall of 20 German students together with 20 Finnish learning partners will take part in the project monitored by 6 teachers in all.

The organization of the project is implemented by the two headmasters of the respective schools and by two project coordinators from both schools respectively. They are accountable for the preparation and digitalization, for methodological and professional assignments, for the organization and close-knit cooperation with the German-Finish Society, for planning and running of mobilities, and for the support and monitoring of the students’ learning progress. The ensuing quality control with measuring instruments to be created (project LA1, see below) will be carried out by further, specialized teachers.

As an anticipated objective it is expected that students will have been trained in the aforementioned areas of competencies and skills and the outcome can be identified in the evaluation as well. The students will have a visual overview of their progress to date at any time during the project and the final outcome will be documented on a learning platform, viz. the digital dictionary will have been compiled, the assignments for tandem language learning will have been completed and an e-portfolio will have been developed by the end of the project.

As an additional learning objective, the Finish school is to stimulate and reinforce student interest by means of in digital and sustainable work in order to offer an incentive for students to choose German as a foreign language on upper secondary level. Thus, the exchange between the partner schools in Germany and in Finland respectively can be enriched with new and sustainable content, to be applied in subsequent years and be implemented in the respective curricula.

For this purpose German and Finish students collaborate on the learning platform Mahara to create and share a project-related digital dictionary in Finish and German. Speech recordings, short messages and further additional didactic methods can be digitally explored and tested and are tailored to the needs of the participants. In addition to the digital preliminary work an exchange will take place to succeed in promoting the European idea and fostering cultural learning through personal contact. The German-Finish Society will ensure the participants’ familiarizing with the language and culture of the host country.

The project will run for a total of 12 months including two mobilities for 10 students respectively. The project will be accompanied by a quality management system that is being developed during the current programming period and is funded by A1 project resources. Finish and German teachers establish evaluation tools which are to be applied in the project.

“Foreign Language Teaching and Learning” reflects the associated learning objective “Language Learning”. “IKT – new technologies – digital competencies” has priority and will be achieved in all its sub-goals. That is why it is documented as a well-defined associated objective when students do language learning in digital tandem and when they create e-portfolios they can continue and expand throughout life.

Participants will profit from all associated objectives of the project because every sub-goal has been assigned to a specific competency or skill. Students will profit in relation to the Hessian secondary school curriculum (in all areas of the aforementioned competencies/skills) and they can profit with regard to lifelong learning. Students will be involved with all areas of competencies which will facilitate their work in academic studies and/or vocational training. It will enable participants of the project to become more confident in terms of maturity and autonomy.

Consequently, there are specific short-term objectives as well as long-term or sustainable goals referring to different spheres of competence. That is why the project works at two different didactic levels: It is learning objective-oriented with regard to a specific outcome and cumulative relating to competence development.

The students will
• approach foreign language learning autonomously as they have learnt in tandem in a cooperative way,
• get an adequate understanding of the foreign culture and learn to respect it,
• deal with digital media, learn the language and create specific portfolios,
• gain some insight into spheres of international occupational orientation.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 46160 Eur

Project Coordinator

Georg-August-Zinn-Schule Reichelsheim & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Kuusamon lukio