Official Call of participation

Research Centre for Language Teaching, Testing and Assessment Faculty of English Studies National & Kapodistrian University of Athens

Κέντρο Έρευνας για τη Διδασκαλία Ξένων Γλωσσών & Αξιολόγηση της Γλωσσομάθειας Τμήμα Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών

http://rcel.enl.uoa.gr

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE VIRTUAL E-CLASS PROJECT©!

TheVirtual e-Class© project

Virtual

European

E-Class©

The Framework of the Programme Virtual e-Class ©: The directors of the Research Centre for Language Teaching, Testing and Assessment (RCeL), of the University of Athens, which is responsible for implementing a number of projects in foreign language education (see http://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/flane), have developed the Integrated Curriculum for Foreign Languages (ICFL) and the accompanying Teacher Guide (http://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/xenesglosses).

As part of the piloting implementation of the ICFL and other projects for foreign language education, the directors of the Research Centre, Prof. B. Dendrinou and Asst.

Prof. E. Karavas, along with the research associates of the Research Center have designed small-scale projects, such as the European programme for learning English, French and German in classes that cooperate through the internet. To this end, they cooperate with Mrs. Sofia Argyropoulou, a French teacher, who specializes in electronic communication, European Programs and school exchanges. The RCeL is responsible for supervising the programme, while the online programme is coordinated by Mrs. Argyropoulou, who also supports and guides both the Greek and the foreign teachers that participate in it.

The aim of the programme is to train teachers in developing partnerships with schools in other European countries, where students study the same foreign language as Greek students. The partnership will be organized around specific thematic areas in a way that motivates the participant students to understand and produce written and spoken discourse in the target language, drawing on their own socio-cultural reality, with the ultimate goal of developing linguistic and intercultural awareness.

For more information: https://sites.google.com/site/virtualeclasscommunity/home

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OFFICIAL INVITATION Foreign language teachers of French, English and German who teach in public schools (elementary or junior high schools) interested in the Virtual e-class programme are invited to register online by Monday, 19/10/2012, addressing Sofia Argyropoulou at: virtualeclass@windowslive.com Implementation of the programme:   

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Groups of collaborating classes between Greek public schools and their counterparts from other European countries will be formed.

Only the last two grades of Greek primary schools (5th and 6th) and the three grades of junior high schools (1st, 2nd and 3rd) can be involved in the project.

Students will have to work on one of the five thematic areas of the programme (see right sidebar), according to their interests, in order to produce a written text (e.g. a “book”, a brochure etc.) in the target-language, in which their mother-tongue will appear, as well (namely through glossaries, charts and captions) The rationale behind the class pairing will be made public as soon as the schools have been selected. The programme will last from 01/11/2012 to 15/4/2013.

ATTENTION: If possible, the choice of the school should be made through exploratory procedures on the part of the teacher; otherwise the school that will participate will be selected by the programme coordinator. Please note that the schools and the teachers who have relevant experience and have been proven cooperative in the past will be preferred over others.

The classes that will participate and will complete their projects successfully will be awarded certificates. The final products will be assessed on the basis of specific criteria and the work of the winning schools will be published on the website of the RCeL. For more effective communication among the teachers, a facebook group has been created (www.facebook.com/groups/virtualclass/), whereby the members will be able to share experiences and discuss their progress in the programme. The administrator of the group is Mrs. Argyropoulou.

For more information, teachers may visit the official webpage of the project, where they can find information about the schools that participated in the programme the year before as well as their work https://sites.google.com/site/virtualeclasscommunity/hom e.

THEMATIC AREAS: GR: «Οι θησαυροί της τέχνης μας: Μια γέφυρα που ενώνει τους πολιτισμούς μας» EΝ: «Our art treasures: A bridge to connect our cultures» FR « Les trésors de notre art: un pont qui unit nos cultures » DE «Der Schatz unserer Kunst: Die Brücke die unsere Kulturen verbindet» GR «Οι μύθοι, τα παραμύθια και οι παραμυθάδες του τόπου μου» ΕΝ: «Τhe myths, stories and storytellers of our country» FR « Mythes, contes et les conteurs de mon pays » DE « Die Sagen, die Märchen und die Fabeldichter meines Heimatortes» GR «Οι μουσικές - ή λέξεις - που μας ενώνουν» ΕΝ: «Music and words that connect our cultures» FR « La musique - ou les mots qui nous unit » DE «Die Musik - die Wörter - die uns verbindet» GR «Ας γιατρέψουμε τον κόσμο! Αθλητισμός χωρίς σύνορα» ΕΝ: «Let’s make our world better with sports» FR «Guérissons le monde ! Sport sans frontières » DE «Heilen wir die Welt, Sport ohne Grenzen» GR «Παίζοντας με τον πολιτισμό» ΕΝ: «Having fun with culture» FR «En jouant avec la culture» DE «Wir spielen mit der Kultur»

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Participation Requirements   

The headmaster’s approval of the school’s participation in the programme by signing both the Application Form and the Collaboration Protocol that will be sent officially to the school.

The school should have a multimedia lab as well as the necessary equipment to be used in online communication (video camera, video projector, teleconference tools etc).

The participant teachers should have a full tenure, computer literacy and should have a personal e-mail account.

Duties of the participant teachers    

Implementing and completing the projects within the time limits set by the program.

Designing materials that will successfully reflect the work done by the classes.

Writing a report on the experiences gained while being involved in the programme and on the evaluation of the programme by themselves and their students.

Cooperating with local or regional directories of Primary and Secondary Education.

Duties of the project’s coordinating team:  Providing support and guidance to the cooperating classes.  Creating a secure, virtual cooperation platform for the classes, where students will have the opportunity to communicate with their peers from abroad.  Disseminating the material produced in the Greek educational community through the official program website as well as through blogs and newsletters which are regularly distributed in the Greek and European academic community.  Creating a database of Greek and foreign schools which are interested in educational exchanges, twinning, correspondence, European programs, seminars and individual mobility.  Compiling a database including the material produced to promote and disseminate it.  Upgrading the programme website and newsgroup, disseminating regularly updated material, which will be available to everyone (teachers, students, etc.)  Creating a ‘Guide Book’ for the participants of the program, written in four languages, in a electronic and printed form.  Compiling a "Guide" for all teachers who wish to engage in EU programs.

Expected outcomes and the outreach of the programme:  One of the program’s objectives is the creation of learning communities aiming at exchanging

information and offering support, feedback and, by extension, improving the learning process as well as promoting the use of online teleconferences and tools pertinent to synchronous and asynchronous teaching. The learning communities will be supported through a communication network which will be developed and they will help in the dissemination of good practices and in enhancing teachers’ professional development.  The programme aspires to help students function effectively in various social environments, situational and communication contexts. It also aims at promoting the students’ autonomy in using the target-language according to their interests, so as to participate in international community actions. In addition, the learners will be engaged in negotiating the newly-acquired and their prior linguistic, social and cultural concepts. They will also exploit the knowledge, experiences and strategies they have acquired in order either to communicate with others—by respecting Otherness—or to solve potential problems. Finally, the programme will give a new dimension to foreign language teaching through game-like, fun and interactive tools, which will inspire and motivate the learners.

4  The programme should be established as a nation-wide, online cooperation project for foreign language teaching and should serve as a benchmark for teachers and students alike. It should also be considered as a model of good practice that will be followed and a mediator for potential European partnerships through a valid database including the participant schools and the information material (both electronic and printed). The information about the European partnership practices will be accessible to all teachers (regardless of their area of specialization) who are interested in implementing European Projects –either funded or not—at their schools in the future.

Name of the coordinator: Sofia Argyropoulou Tel : 0030 6951 848872 Email: virtualeclass@windowslive.com Facebook group : http://www.facebook.com/groups/virtualclass/ Website / ιστοσελίδα “Virtual e-Class“ : https://sites.google.com/site/virtualeclasscommunity/home