Training teachers to use the European Language Portfolio

2. Training teachers to use the European Language Portfolio Short-term project 2008-2009 ELP_TT2 Ülle Türk, Estonia

3. Introducing the ELP to our students Based on the materials by David Little and Radka Perclová

4. The ELPinfluence on language learning • Learners are more motivated and more creative • Learners become more self-confident • Learners reflect more on what they do • Teachers can be more creative • Keeps parents informed about their child’sprogress • Focussed on communication rather than onminor grammar mistakes • Learners can develop their own languageabilities • Learners realize that they can extend theirEnglish language out of school as well

5. Why use the ELP with our students? • Working individually (Handout 1) • Make a list of reasons why you might want to use the ELP with your students. • Move into groups of 3 or 4: • Discuss with your partners your aims • Make a poster with the aims that you as a group agree on.

6. How to introduce the ELP to our students? • Little, David & Perclová, Radka 2001. European Language Portfolio Guide for Teachers and Teacher Trainers.Strasbourg: Council of Europe, Modern Language Division. (pp 22-23)

7. Raising your learners’ self-esteem • Initiate a discussion with your learners about I can do statements. Emphasize the need to think positively. • Ask your learners to imagine that they are among native speakers of the target language. Help them to recognize what they are able to do in the target language. • Elicit from them as many I can do statements as possible (e.g. I can introduce myself; I can ask people how they are and react to their response; I can understand simple directions; I can understand short, simple messages on postcards). • Provide them with the target language expressions they need in order to perform this task; alternatively, allow them to use their mother tongue.

8. What are the qualities of a good dossier? • Discuss with your learners what a good dossier should look like. • Ask themwhat evidence of their language proficiency they can show (e.g., postcardsthey have written, letters, essays, projects, audio or video recordings, lists ofbooks they have read, certificates, diplomas, etc.). • What are the learnersgoing to put into their dossier? Encourage them to suggest guidelines forselecting material.

9. Introducing one of the functions of the ELP’s biography component • Discuss with your learners ways in which they can improve their foreign languageproficiency. • What intercultural learning experiences have they had? • Where could they encounter the foreign language outside the classroom? • How could they learn from such encounters? • Explain that they can recordthe encounters in the biography component of the ELP, where they can alsorecord events that they find especially important for their language learning.

10. Carrying language learning beyond the classroom • Arrange for your learners to meet and interview a native speaker of their target language and then make his/her coat of arms. • Tell them to divide the coat of arms into four fields: e.g. family, school, hobbies, ambitions. • Then ask them to use the coat of arms to talk about the native speaker to the rest of the class. • Learners can add the coat of arms they produced to their dossier, together with any notes they made when interviewing the native speaker and/ or preparing their presentation.

11. A homework task: thinking about learning with the ELP • Ask your learners to go through the ELP at home and think of ways in whichthey can use it to support their language learning. • Encourage an exchange ofideas in class. Be open to learners’ suggestions. • Make a poster displaying goodsuggestions.

12. How would you start portfolio work with your learners ? • Working individually, decide which activities you would use to introduce the ELP to your students (Handout 2). • Working in groups, compare each other’s suggestions. • Present two possibilities on a poster.