Lifelong Learning Programme

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basic information

Title of the Project
LPACK
Brief description
The “L-Pack: Citizenship Language Pack for Migrants in Europe” project focuses on the development of “a pack” of colloquial language learning exercises (L-PACK) for adult migrants in 6 European languages: the three languages of the EU countries that attract the highest number of migrants not speaking the national language: German, Italian and Spanish; plus three other less widely used and taught languages: modern Greek, Czech and Lithuanian.
Country
Germany
Year
2012
Target Language
Czech, German, Greek, Italian, Lithuanian, Spanish
Sector
Adult Education
Further Information

THE INITIATIVE PROMOTER’S PERSPECTIVE

Background

How this project idea came out
ASEV (Italy), VHS (Germany), IFI (Spain) are adult training organizations routinely teaching their national languages to migrants. Some L2 teachers of ASEV have signalled no specific materials for teaching /learning national language to migrants were available. This has been shared and discussed with the other partners that confirmed almost all the available materials for teaching their language as L2 are addressed to wealthy / cultured people that travel for leisure or study. A desk research carried out showed the 10 colloquial L2 courses we examined (5 for teaching IT, 2 ES, 2 DE, 1 EL) focus mostly on leisure activities: going out to a pub or restaurant, shopping, visiting museums and monuments, travelling in the country, dating. On the contrary the typical situations faced by migrants (to settle in a new country, to look for a stable accommodation, to look for a job, to cooperate with employer and co-workers in a foreign country) are ignored or marginal. The partners decided to submit this project to produce materials to make L2 learning by migrants more effective. The materials will be used directly, but also made known and shared with other organizations working with migrants.
Contents

According to Eurostat (2008) there are nearly 4 million people migrating every year in the EU. About 2 million of these come from outside the EU and 1,5 million are EU citizens migrating in a different Member state. The EU policy on integration of not EU citizens has been agreed in the European Council’s meetings in Tampere (1999) and Le Hague (2004) and is based on a set of 11 Common Basic Principles for Immigrant Integration Policy in The European Union (CBPs). CBP 4 states ‘basic knowledge of the host society’s language, history, and institutions is indispensable to integration; enabling immigrants to acquire this basic knowledge is essential to successful integration’ and CBP 3 stresses ‘employment is a key part of the integration process.

Objectives

The “L-Pack: Citizenship Language Pack for Migrants in Europe” project focuses on the development of “a pack” of colloquial language learning exercises (L-PACK) for adult migrants in 6 European languages: the three languages of the EU countries that attract the highest number of migrants not speaking the national language German, Italian and Spanish plus three other less widely used and taught languages modern Greek, Czech and Lithuanian. The project content is specifically developed to cover the needs of adult migrants that have only basic knowledge of national language and wish to further develop their language skills, according to level A2 set by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Approach

The project content is specifically developed to cover the needs of adult migrants that have only basic knowledge of national language and wish to further develop their language skills, according to level A2 set by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
L-PACK consists of the following language learning products: 60 short videos with dialogues related to everyday life, audio-files and exercises available through Wikibooks, YouTube and Mypodcast, as well as language and country information with vocabulary for each language.
The products are focused on themes such as settling in a new country, entering the local labour market and communicating in the workplace in 6 countries, namely Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, the Czech Republic and Lithuania, thus providing a way to ease migrants’ social and labour market integration and to reflect the cultural context of the destination countries.
The full list of topics covered by L-PACK is:
• Authorities
• Communication
• Family and Socialising
• Health
• Job Hunting
• Leisure Time
• Looking for Accommodation
• School
• Self Education
• Shopping
• Travelling
• Working Life

Results

Moreover, the project partnership will produce two short guides for teachers and migrants on how to use L-PACK, train teachers and disseminate L-PACK through Wikibooks, YouTube and Mypodcast as well as create a channel on YouTube collecting videos for language learning addressed to migrants.
There are six courses in Italian Spanish, Greek, Lithuanian, Czech and German

Why the European Language Label?

As a reward for an innovative project

Activities following the award of the European Language Label

n order to adapt the first version of the L-Pack teaching material to the special needs of migrants, from January until May 2012 the pilot courses were accomplished by all partners of the project in their countries. For evaluation and improving the manuals, at the end of the pilot courses special questionnaires was distributed and analysed on a national basis. The results were reassumed in a global report and were valuable for the final adaptations which are now included in the second improved version of the L-Pack Manual.

The users of the L-Pack manual, both self-learners and teachers, are asked to fill in the exploitation questionnaires to leave their feedback concerning the material, now available on the project website

Assessment of the Impact of the European Language Label

The material has been found very useful and the Language Label is a good way of making it more available

THE NELLIP NETWORK’S PERSPECTIVE

Consistency with European Policies in the field of Language Learning

It meets the general need to promote plurilingualism, and contributes to mobility by providing concrete help to migrants. The L-Pack is practical, simple, could be relicatd for other languages.

Consistency with European, National and yearly priorities

It fits in with the 2012 priority of using modern technology in an imaginative way - You Tube, Facebook etc.

THE NATIONAL AGENCY’S PERSPECTIVE

Motivations

The project impressed by its breadth of applicaibility, covering a range of languages and a diverse variety of media with video and aduio and a very useful manual. In this way it caters for diverse user groups and is both practical and pragmatic.
In den Materialien sticht die sehr pragmatische Herangehensweise heraus, die vor allem auf die praktische Wirksamkeit und Handlungsorientierung der Lernübungen setzt – ohne auf ein Grundgerüst von grammatischen Strukturen zu verzichten.

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Comments on this Case Studies

Your comments are welcome


Date: 2014.09.30

Posted by Richard Rossner (UK)

Message: This EU-funded project focuses on an important area of migrant integration, citizenship and language training. Many countries now require migrants from outside the EU to undergo this kind of training and, in some cases, to take examinations, to ensure that they are properly prepared to apply for citizenship. The materials available in various languages at http://www.l-pack.eu/?page_id=402, which combine with a u-Tube channel, seem to be well planned and useful.

21 December 2014

Audio- video presentation of the NELLIP project

An audio- video presentation of the NELLIP project has been created and made available in the Information section of the NELLIP portal. To access the presentation please click here: http://nellip.pixel-online.org/IF_intro.php.