EuroEd: pathway

1. EuroEd: pathway Dr. Anca Colibaba President, EuroEd Foundation

2. MISSION STATEMENT Our motto: AD ASTRA PER VALOREM! (Towards the stars through value!) Our mission is to positively contribute to the development of the Romanian civil society and of an active European citizenship in Romania. Within this framework, our aim is to apply the quality standards of the European Union specifically designed for education, civil society, public policies, justice, culture, mass media and regional development. Furthermore, we take the role of catalyst in the exchange of ideas and experience regarding education, democracy and European integration through local, regional, national and trans-national projects.

3. SHORT HISTORY We are a not-for-profit non-governmental organisation set up in 1992 with logistic support from the Soros Foundation and expertise from the British Council. Until 1995 our name was International House and our efforts were concentrated on offering language courses In 1995 we became the International Language Centre and expanded our portfolio by founding the Kindergarten (1995) and the Primary School (1997). In 1998, also as a result of constantly growing services and addressability, we founded two more departments: the Regional Centre for Education and Communication, and the Centre for European Integration. Since 2000 our name is EuroEd Foundation.

4. STRUCTURE AND SERVICES Organisational Structure: The Regional Centre for Education and Communication (life long learning - adult education: local, regional, national and international professional training) (1998) The International Language Centre (foreign language course and Romanian as a foreign language) (1992) The Regional Centre for European Integration (the implementation of local, regional, national and international projects) (2000) The EuroEd Kindergarten and Primary School(1995 and 1997 respectively) Services: a vast array of foreign language courses (as well as Romanian as a foreign language) and accredited professional training courses; our partnership in educational and socially oriented projects at local, national and trans-national level; the education of children in kindergarten and primary school towards a European citizenship based on communication, initiative and creativity

5. ACCREDITATION AND AFFILIATION accredited by the Ministry of Education and Research (part of the national education system, the section Life Long Learning - MO no. 4685/28.09.1998 and 2133/4.02.2000) accredited by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Equal Opportunities (MO no. 594/29.11.2006) founder member of QUEST Romania (the Romanian Association for Quality Language Services); QUEST is an associate member of EAQUALS (the European Association for Quality Language Services) founder member of FocusEd (an International Association that promotes Excellence, Diversity and Innovation in education) founder member of ELAN (a pan-European Association that promotes LWULT languages)

6. AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS 2001: "WorldAware Business Award", an international prize offered by the British Council for the successful transfer of language teaching competencies to other areas of education. 2002: "European Label”, distinction offered by the European Commission for the successful implementation of the project "Steps to the World". 2004: "European Label”, distinction offered by the European Commission for the successful implementation of the project "eLancenet” (Lingua 1 project) 2007: "European Label”, distinction offered by the European Commission for the successful implementation of the project “Interact” (Leonardo project) 2008: “European School”, distinction awarded by the Ministry of Education, Research Innovation

7. Chain stories (2006 – 2009) Target group: School children aged 7- 11 improve the motivation rates towards the knowledge of the LWULTlanguages, inside the same linguistic family a chain story: creative and enhancing activity 5 to 10 chains 1st school 2nd school 3rd school 4thschool 5th school Website: http://www.chainstories.eu/

8. No Child Left Behind (2007 – 2009) Partner countries: Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Spain and Bulgaria 1. Promote study support activities study support = key tool in a child’s formal curriculum learning 2. Devise a training programme for teachers and trainers of study support witha structure containing imaginative and flexible methodologies: • ICT technologies • in-built quality assurance mechanisms 3. Motivate teachers and trainers into producing an enriched and more stimulating study support curriculum for their own school. 4. Appreciate the European dimension of culture.

9. EAT Eating Abroad Together(2007- 2009) target group: children aged 7-12 (20 committed primary schools ) in Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Netherlands ,the UK The project focuses on : the acquisition of language , exchange of cultural experiences, healthy eating aims at : promoting language learning and linguistic diversity improving the quality, attractiveness and accessibility of language learning by developing and promoting methodologies that are innovative and fun developing materials for teaching language and cultural awareness promoting multilingual comprehension through effective dissemination activities

10. “Office InterActors Developing Basic and Professional Skills for International Office Work through Internet-based Problem-solving Role-play” • InterAct: European Label 2007 • target group: office managers, secretaries, clerks • Learning objectives: • communication in a foreign language (English + French, Spanish, Dutch, Lithuanian, Bulgarian and/or Romanian) • negotiation and team work (including for international cooperation) • ICT skills • knowledge and awareness of different office practices in other countries

11. ELSTI European Languages for Secretaries – Transfer of Innovation (2008- 2010) Target group: Office staff (A2/ B1) Objective: developing the communication skills ( linguistic + cultural) in four languages: English, Italian, French and Spanish Products: (available on the online platform) 1. Business language courses (2 levels, 4 languages) 2. training package aiming at facilitating personal development 3. business culture modules (9 +1 European cultures) 4. Student motivation module Transfer of Innovation: ELS (European Label in 2005) Experience New module: increasing student motivation Improvement • http://www.business-languages.net/

12. TOOL2 Tool for Online and Offline Language Learning (2006– 2009) Target group : learners of Dutch, Estonian, Hungarian, Maltese and Slovene (basic A2 level courses) for work/ study/ leisure mobility purposes Learners in need of flexibility Objectives: make the learning LWULT European languages available at a larger scale Use new methodologies: blended learning Activities: research into transferable existing models; course design; five Blended Learning basic A2 level courses with a strong cultural component to be set up by teachers and language centres across Europe; piloting; highly demonstrative dissemination events; Sister project: Autonomous Language Learning - ALL (Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Romanian and Turkish) http://www.toolproject.eu/

13. ALL Autonomous Language Learning (2006 – 2008) Target groups: Learners interested in foreign languages for work/study/leisure mobility purposes Objectives: 1. to create materials at Level A2 for 4 LWULT languages: Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Romanian and Turkish 2. to apply the Common European Framework to Level A2 where the descriptors do not already exist; 3. to use online technologies in a blended learning course 4. to transfer the methodology of blended learning to other providers in the four target language countries. 5.to create courses which are flexible for online activities, so that the course can be updated and adapted to the needs of different users; 6. to develop learner autonomy www.allproject.info

14. VIVACE (2006 – 2009) • Target groups: • Adults categories of learners in various (and any) risk situations • Aim: • to identify alternative methodologies to teach / learn foreign languages especially designed for the use of this specific target group • Results: • mini-projects developed by partners institutions together with the representatives of the target groupd addressed to various categories of disadvantaged learners

15. LIS (Language and Integration through Singing) • Grundtvig Learning Partnership: Producing, testing and evaluating teaching material for IT, RU and RO explicitly using music • Objectives: • to develop innovative ICT-based content, techniques and practice • to transfer the methodological approach of the project • to strengthen the capacity for teacher training and development; • to improve quality and co-operation among organisations involved in adult education • to raise cultural awareness • to promote integration of migrants

16. EFLN European Family Learning Network(2006 -2009) Objective: address language, literacy, and numeracy needs of adults with low level skills through their wish to support their children’s development. create the infrastructure for sharing European good practice exchanging expertise sharing information. Activities: Establishment of a European FL Network Identification of new priorities and raise the profile of Family Learning across Europe, by consolidating informal networks, contributing to the basic skills debate, influencing policy makers, disseminating and mainstreaming FL developments. • www.efln.eu

17. CCN CLIL Cascade Network (2007 - 2010) CLIL : a dual-focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language CCN aims at: addressing development needs regionally/nationally consolidating resources and expertise providing a network platform which will enable transfer of good practice from one environment to another enable expert dialogue on a pan-European level creating the structures for informed development of teachers, schools, and educational administration at local, regional, and European levels

18. (2007 – 2009) Objectives: • improving the quality and attractiveness of pre-school and primary school education by adapting the ‘The Adventures of Hocus and Lotus’ • instructing currently practising teachers in the necessary linguistic and methodological skills for teaching a foreign language Key words: • Stories • Cartoons • Songs • Mimic • Acting • Magic teacher!!! Innovation!!! • the teacher is not expected to know the foreign language • The training allows even those teachers with no previous knowledge of the new language to go on and teach it

19. No. Title of the project and programme Coordinator 1. Leonardo da Vinci – Transfer of Innovation: In-CLASS EuroEd Foundation, Romania 2. Grundtvig – Learning Partnerships: Art as the identity of a country and as a universal pattern which all the European countries can share Università dell' età libera “Enzo Ficai”, Arezzo, Italy 3. Leonardo da Vinci – Transfer of Innovation: Lets Go! Istituto di Istruzione Superiore (IIS) Leonardo da Vinci, Florence, Italy 4. Leonardo da Vinci – Transfer of Innovation: TOOL - TIPLS Soros International House, Lithuania 5. KA2: Lingu@net World Wide Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain New projects (2009) … plus: • partners of the Romanian Ministry of Education in a national strategic project aimed at implementing nationwide a mentoring programme for newly qualified teachers