World in words Erasmus Project

Project Title

World in words

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 youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

On one hand, entrepreneurship can constitute an important element with regards to the autonomy, personal development and wellbeing of young people. Entrepreneurship can be seen as one of the solutions to combat youth unemployment. Cultures, that value and reward entrepreneurial behavior such as calculated risk taking and independent thinking promote a propensity to develop new solutions to social challenges. In this regard, entrepreneurship education needs to be increased and underrepresented groups need to get special attention and be given help in order to start, run or grow a business or enterprise. On the other hand, the harmonious co-existence of many languages in Europe is a powerful symbol of the EU’s aspiration to be united in diversity, one of the cornerstones of the European project. Languages define personal identities, but are also part of a shared inheritance. They can serve as a bridge to other people and open access to other countries and cultures, promoting mutual understanding. A successful multilingualism policy can strengthen the life chances of citizens: it may increase their employability, facilitate access to services and rights, and contribute to solidarity through enhanced intercultural dialogue and social cohesion. The EU now has 500 million citizens, 28 Member States, 3 alphabets and 24 official languages, some of them with a worldwide coverage. Some 60 other languages are also part of the EU’s heritage and are spoken in specific regions or by specific groups. In addition, immigrants have brought a wide range of languages with them; it is estimated that at least 175 nationalities are now present within the EU’s borders.

Objectives:
The project promotes the world@words results as tool to work with young people, promote their foreign language skills (business English) and foster entrepreneurial mind-set, particularly for youth.

Number and profile of participants:
7 partners from 6 EU countries (UK, GR, ES, IR, BG and BE) – Schools, NGOs, Consultants, European Youth Centre, Platform of Pan-European organisations and research centre have come together to develop “world@words”, an innovative online Business English vocabulary tool targeting youth who wish to fortify their competitive advantage, learn business English as well as promote their entrepreneurial mind-sets and acquire skills and competences that will help them. The tools target also teachers of Business English that are looking for an efficient, interactive way to teach Business English Vocabulary online. In world@words, youth can learn and enhance their vocabulary skills, according to their level in English, using both/either their mother tongue (Greek, Spanish, French & Bulgarian) or just the English language, either by personally exercising and monitoring their progress or by connecting and interacting with their physical English teachers. They can also entertain themselves, while simultaneously further enhancing their knowledge, with real-time on-line vocabulary gaming.

Description of activities:
During the 28 months of the project’s implementation, the partners carried out 4 Intellectual Outputs together with the management and implementation phases. During these IOs, there were many activities, such as studies, researches, development of world@words system, translations (En/Gr/En, En/Bg/En, En/Sp/En, En/Fr/En), various activities regarding dissemination & use of world@words and pilots in 6 EU countries.

Methodology used in carrying out the project:
The methodology was based on research, testing and validation of the whole system.

The long-term benefits are to:
• enable more people to study and/or work abroad, and improve their job prospects;
• help people from different cultures understand one another – essential in a multilingual, multicultural Europe;
• trade effectively across Europe, businesses need multilingual staff and
• promote entrepreneurial mind-sets to enhance employability prospects of youth, and other groups of youth i.e NEETs, students
• the language industry – translation and interpretation, language teaching, language technologies, etc. – is among the fastest growing areas of the economy.

Thus, our project will contribute to the improve achievement in basic and transversal competences (entrepreneurship and 2nd language / Business English) in lifelong learning through non-formal education provision.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 288663,29 Eur

Project Coordinator

I.KORMA & Country: EL

Project Partners

• Studio Profectus Ltd
• Almond Vocational Link Ltd
• EUROPEAN CONFEDERATION OF YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS AISBL
• LAWTON SCHOOL S.L.
• PATTAKOS NIKOLAOS & SIA IKE
• Marathon Group