T raining of E ducators of A dults in an I ntercultural M odule

1. European Commission – SOCRATES Programme GRUNDTVIG 2 ACTION Training of Educators of Adults in an Intercultural Module TEAM

2. "TEAM" GROUP

3. The basic aim of the project is to promote intercultural awareness by developing competences in a global context for adult educators. In order to achieve this basic aim, the partnership has set a number of objectives to fulfill:  To exchange experiences in adult education and pedagogical and didactic approaches to intercultural training in order to improve the quality of teaching; OBJECTIVES To identify and exchange best practices in order to motivate learners; Group learning and its bearing on adult motivation/learning. Preparation of a methodological guide for group management in learning that fosters intercultural awareness from the linguistic viewpoint. To find valid practices in order to learn how to learn as for teachers and students.

4. The three-year project falls into a typology of “Learning Partnership”. Therefore it focuses on the process more than on the result and its aim is to establish cooperation among organisations working in the field of adult education informal and informal sectors. The main activities are addressed to teachers to adults and their students. They include and are: needs analysis explained in a report on adult education preparation of a methodological guide for teachers that fosters intercultural awareness from the linguistic point of view; MAIN ACTIVITIES processing of a manual of good teaching practices in adult education transnational meetings of partners to establish the working methodology, to exchange experiences, to analyze and to evaluate the work done; to develop Grundtvig 3 courses and seminars to introduce other teachers in the practice of adult training and of new methodologies in languages teaching.

5. EXPECTED OUTCOMES • A report on adults education published in the website of each institution; • A manual/guide of good teaching practices in adult education published in the website of each institution; • A CD-Rom containing the report and the guide of good teaching practices in adult education; • A new larger project within Socrates Programme whose aim is to help trainers in Adult Education.

6. THINGS ACHIEVED WITHIN ONE PROJECT YEAR Our activities started with the first project meeting held in Naples - Italy (26 – 30 November 2005). In the first meeting the representatives of the five organizations introduced themselves to each other and decided the activities each partner would carry out.

7. After revising the objectives, they made up their minds about the main activities and the expected outcomes of the Project. This Project meeting activity was very significant for the setting up of the partnership. All partners agreed that every partner would find good examples of reading , writing , speaking and listening- the four basic skills in language learning. Each partner tookover a skill.

8. A second Project meeting was held in Bursa Uludağ University(Turkey) in February in order to analyse the work done in each institution and to define the next steps. During the meeting the five representatives of the partners discussed the contents of the application form for the following year.

9. During the third meeting held in Aksaray (Turkey) in April, the 3 partners present - from Naples, Bursa and Aksaray- presented their exercises (i.e. reading and writing activities with a guideline) designed according to the worksheet and criteria approved in the first meeting. The complete activities in particular were discussed. For example, successful and unsuccessful parts were defined and reported. They wrote a questionnaire to be used in order to evaluate the project effects on the learners involved by each partner’s organization. • During Aksaray meeting a public conferenceand local press conferencewere organized by the host partner in order to present the aim of the project TEAM and to make a comparison through the different education systems in Italy and Turkey.

10. As planned, each partner organised activities to train various language skills; after a search of new tools in language training including a cross-cultural dimension, examples of good practices were found and the partners established factors to take into account when designing the activities on those four skills: • presentation of the activity, • duration, • instruments, • number of students, • language used, • evaluation of the activity, • defining also the level (beginners, intermediate or advanced) in which these practices were carried out. These activities were completed by all the partners in May and June.

11. In this way the partnership contributed to reach the objective: “To gather information and to create a database of the know-how and good practices of language learning through teaching methods and materials” Each partner was supposed to test the tools sent by the other partners. These tests will be held at the beginning of next year, as the pedagogical process in the groups did not allow an immediate testing.

12. The main output of these activities was a booklet with exercises written in order to improve students’ skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening. • The partnership used a worksheet for the activities proposed by GIP Formation (French Partner). Each partner wrote four exercises, used them with their own learners and evaluated the results. The partners took notes about the used method, the difficulties they came across and the rate of success.

13. PARTNER ACHIEVEMENTS • The partner GIP (FRANCE) made • a visit of the most important French national exhibition in Paris, • a work with 2 trainers in one of their training centres, • a selection of tools for the “listening” skill including a cross-cultural dimension. These tools were used with two groups, one beginner, one low intermediate AND • selected tools for some speaking activities. They wrote the exercises and the instructions and asked a translator to translate them into English • translated FENICE web pages from English into French; • wrote a presentation of the project in its magazine “Information Continue”, that is sent to 5000 decision makers in the field of training, human resources, employment, etc, in Lorraine; • made a presentation of the GRUNDTVIG program in its regional net (one GRETA decided to apply for a GRUNDTVIG 2 project).

14. The partner OYDDER (Aksaray-Turkey) : • prepared a CD with a nice story explaining the work done during the three transnational meetings with all the pictures of the participants and the local authorities. • prepared reading activities. Some learners were involved in this activity. This activity was done with two groups. • organised a meeting to discuss the teaching methods and difficulties found during teaching practice in adult education in its institution . Almost twenty teachers attended this meeting. Every participant expressed his/her ideas about the topic.

15. The partner Uludağ University (Bursa-TURKEY)made • a selection of tools for the “reading” skill including a cross-cultural dimension and a specific level (beginner-intermediate-advanced). These tools were used with a group of beginners. • a selection of tools for the “speaking” skills, asked by the coordinator. • on 24 May 2006 held a seminar with the participation of nearly 35 colleagues (foreign language lecturers). During the seminar, EU projects, Team Project and the progress of work were mentioned and during the second half of the seminar, they discussed teaching methods and difficulties in teaching practice since these points would be included in project activities. • formed an official International Relations and EU projects Committee (14 members from University lecturers who have successful EU projects) with the permission of the Rectorate in order to disseminate and promote European projects and be in contact with other institutions.

16. The coordinating institution FENICE (Naples-ITALY): • proposed the calendar to be carried out by the learning partnership; • organised the meetings related to the project; • prepared writing activities and tested them with learners in a secondary school; • asked a translator to help them turn into Italian the Grundtvig Learning Partnerships Navigator and to translate the project in English and also presentation to be included in its website and the articles to be included in its newsletters so that they could be sent to schools and institutions in Europe • monitored constantly the respect of time limits and the completion of the tasks distributed among the partners. • has ensured the diffusion and dissemination of the results through its website, its newspaper Scuol@Europa was sent to 3500 secondary schools of Italy and its newsletter sent three times a year to 2200 relevant institutions and educational policy-makers all around Europe.

17.   Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Murcia(SPAIN) : • selected tools for “speaking” skills to be tested and carried out the examples of good practice using their own students. • Representatives of the partner Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Murcia (Spain) met the French partner in Nancy on January 14, 2006. They discussed the specific question of distance learning, as the Spanish partner had an interesting experience in this field. • announced its withdrawal from the project in Februrary due to demanding tasks of other EU projects.

18. AND NOW TEAM Group is looking forward to continue 2nd year project activities in October Meeting in France…

19. Prepared by Emel ADAMIŞ English Language Lecturer