FENICE is the acronym for the Federazione Nazionale Insegnanti Centro di iniziativa per l’Europa, a professional association which takes Salvemini's ideas about school's secularism and the protection and promotion of public schools as its point of reference, with the aim of contributing to the construction of a common European educational space. This is why the Association wants to support all those initiatives which favour the integration of the intellectual resources of schools in the cultural growth of society, help to change educational systems and professional or vocational training and increase the chances for young people to be trained according to the needs of modern society.
In this perspective, the Association promotes and develops initiatives, training projects and cultural and professional updating for the development of teachers, as well as research and experimentation in the field of methodology and didactics. FENICE also researches and experiments innovative ways aimed at paving the way for a wider participation in education and training for citizens of all ages and / or belonging to socially disadvantaged groups.
Our newsletter “Fenice Scuol@Europa News”
describes the projects FENICE is involved in as a promoter or
partner and the products developed by transnational partnerships,
with the support of the European Commission, within the framework of
the Lifelong Learning Programme. It addresses anyone who is
interested in European Projects, but in particular those people who
are interested in the themes these projects deal with. The
newsletter has the aim to promote these results, materials and
methods to a wider audience, and to encourage the exchange of ideas
and experiences as well. FENICE publishes also an Italian magazine
called Scuol@Europa, issued in paper and electronic version. This
newsletter is published, instead, in three/four languages and sent
as an html-formatted e-mail, displaying news in short with links to
the FENICE website and to the relating project websites, where full
access to the relevant articles or documents is provided. All issues
of the newsletter are available on our website.
Romance languages for Slavic-speaking university students
Erasmus + Cooperation partnerships in higher education
Objectives
The LMOOC4Slav project
proposes the creation of a learning path to promote the
academic success of mobility students, having as its
target audience, although not exclusively,
Slavic-speaking students learning Romance languages,
specifically Italian and Portuguese. Slavic languages
are spoken by over 315 million people living in Eastern,
Central Eastern and Balkan Europe, as well as by a large
group of immigrants around the world and the learning of
a Romance language by Slavic speakers presents several
difficulties, including, for some Slavic languages, the
need to acquire a different writing system. Furthermore,
unlike for other languages, not much work has been done
in the context of producing innovative and open access
quality pedagogical resources and materials for teaching
Italian and Portuguese for academic purposes. The
Project proposes 2 MOOCs, 1 for Italian and 1 for
Portuguese, organised into 6 modules that provide the
student access to authentic academic situations as well
as learning tools to enhance his/her ability to learn
how to learn.
International Conference on
"Language MOOCs and OERs: new trends and challenges"
Erasmus + Cooperation partnerships in higher education
An International Conference
on
"Language MOOCs and OERs: new trends and
challenges"
organized by FENICE and the University of Naples
“L’Orientale” will take place on
28-29 September 2023
in the Rectorate of the University, located in
Palazzo Du Mesnil, via Chiatamone, 61 Naples, near
Castel dell'Ovo. The conference aims to bring
together higher education professionals, applied
linguists, and language technologists working on
issues related to language learning and teaching,
namely: MOOCs, OERs, new approaches in language
teaching and learning, academic mobility, linguistic
description of languages, linguistic diversity,
language for specific purposes, digital
transformation in Education and new educational
technologies, new collaboration projects,
multiculturalism, and initiatives and developments
related to these areas supported by European and
national programmes. Call for Abstracts (deadline:
June 17th, 2023)
Interested parties are invited to
submit an abstract for a 20-minute presentation or
poster. The submitted contributions will be selected
through a double-blind review based on their
originality, technical quality and correspondence.
Abstracts may be submitted in English, Italian or
Portuguese.
Participation is free
of charge for all
participants, with or without communication, but
registration on the conference is mandatory for all.
More information about the call for proposals, the
conference topics, the conference team, the
submission guidelines, the contribution template and
the conference venue, can be found in the website in
three languages (EN, IT, PT) at:
https://www.lmooc4slav.eu/conferences.php Publication of the Proceedings The works selected by
the Scientific Committee will be considered for
publication in the Proceedings of the Conferences
LMOOC4Slav, to be published at the Perugia
Foreigners University Press
(https://www.unistrapg.it/node/463) in an open
access volume equipped with an ISBN.
The volume is
valid as a scientific publication
for all authors.
LMOOCs for university students on the move
Erasmus + Strategic Partnerships for higher education
Objectives
Each year, thanks to the Erasmus programme, thousands of students in Europe take part of their studies in another country using a second language they know with a proficiency level B1 / B2. As many studies on the subject have shown, and as the analysis of the needs of students on the move conducted in partner universities has confirmed, skills needed for using common and general language differ from the skills and knowledge required for communication in academic contexts. This can have a negative effect on the completion of a cycle of study and on learners’ ability to improve language skills in the long term, impeding them in their quest to achieve high levels of multilingualism.
The project MOOC2move therefore aims at creating a learning path, which will facilitate the development of linguistic fluency in academic contexts, supporting the student in acquiring this fluency by proposing methods and support in applying these methods. The “learning how to learn” approach is assumed to be both multidisciplinary (the project will concentrate on methods which can be applied in many domains, like note-taking, performing a short oral presentation supported by slides, interpreting figures, writing a summary, etc.), and more effective than just giving exercises.
The project will centre on the production of two MOOCs (1 for Spanish, 1 for French) in order to make it accessible to the largest number of students on the move. They will be designed for self-study, to make them accessible even while attending other language courses or while studying abroad. The development of language skills will take place together with the acquisition of the ability to learn how to learn. This will allow students to acquire greater autonomy in learning, which in turn leads to better results and lays the foundation for lifelong learning of other languages.
MOOCs for University Students on the Move in Europe
Erasmus + Strategic Partnerships for higher education
Objectives
European third level education is characterized by the huge phenomenon of student mobility, which is bound to increase exponentially as market globalization and internationalization of education become more and more established.
Students on mobility programmes usually have a B1/B2 level of language competence and they enrol in courses where they are required to negotiate the considerable difficulties of academic language and also organize learning autonomously and independently. However competences necessary for everyday standard use of a language differ considerably from those required for communication in academic contexts. This has a negative effect on the timing of the conclusion of their study and the ability to improve their language skills in the long term, achieving high levels of Multilingualism enabling European citizens to move around on a territory and in the labour market now without frontiers.
he main objective of the project is to facilitate the integration of students in academic mobility, enhancing their ability to function in academic and specialized contexts and developing their ability of learning to learn. The MOVE-ME project will create a learning path specifically designed for students in mobility programmes, supporting learners in the acquisition of the competences and skills necessary for understanding texts, written and oral, relating to specific disciplines, developing the ability to produce academic texts of various kinds (notes, summary, essay, interview) on topics under study. The learning path will be done as a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) in order to make it accessible to the largest number of students on the move and designed for self-study, carried out in two languages, English and Italian, and divided into 6 modules, turned more towards communication and academic interaction than to master the formal resources of the language.
The Second International conference on "MOOCs, Language Learning and Mobility" organized by FENICE and the University of Naples L’Orientale will take place on 13 - 14 October 2017 in Naples (Italy) at Palazzo Du Mesnil, via Chiatamone, 61 in a central zone, near the Castel dell’Ovo and the sea. As in the 2016 edition held at the Open University in Milton Keynes (UK), this second international conference aims to bring together higher education professionals, linguists and language technologists from around the world to debate issues relating to MOOCs, language teaching/learning and student mobility, by providing a forum for exchanging ideas, research outcomes and technical achievements.
Conference attendance is FREE for presenters and non-presenting attendees but, given the limited number of places, it is requested a registration. Download the registration form from the conference website
www.movemeconference.eu and email the completed form to
fenice.eu@gmail.com.
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
We are now calling for abstracts for your research-related papers, presentations of case studies, work-in-progress and results of EU-financed projects. The closing date for submitting your proposals is 17 June 2017. Details on how to submit an abstract can be found in the section Abstract submission of the conference website. The authors are invited for a 20-minute presentation.
For more information on the event, the keynote speakers and the call for proposals please visit the conference website. Stay tuned for updates to the conference program. If you have any enquiries, or wish to be added to the mailing list, please write an email to fenice.eu@gmail.com
Lifelong Learning Programme
Key Activity 2 Languages
Objectives
‘Creativity in language learning' is a project aimed at valorising the importance of the intercultural and creativity dimension in language learning and at promoting and encouraging linguistic and cultural diversity. Emotions and feelings are often kept out of language courses, as if learning involved only the rational part of an individual. As a consequence, the learner does not feel involved and often has only a passive role in the learning process
The project is based on the assumption that creative and less conventional devices such as drama, songs and video clips are very effective methodological tools in language teaching and that they can target different audiences, from children to adults, being thus consistent with the objectives of the transversal programme.
The CREALLE project mission is thus: collecting and defining a series of methodological tools that show the effectiveness of creativity learning both for junior and adult learners and at the same time spreading these to a maximum target group of language teachers and trainers.
Our main objectives are:
- To show the effectiveness of theatre, songs, video clips and other creative approaches in addressing and resolving typical language learning difficulties (e.g. shyness in oral expression), providing learners with lively teaching sessions adaptable to individual needs; - To enhance learners' creative and intercultural skills; - To create a network of teachers that share this 'creative approach' for future collaboration and students’ exchanges; - To show the usefulness of creative tools in the language learning of disadvantaged categories such as immigrants and illiterate adults; - To create a website able to show and disseminate the best practices; - To organise a course for teachers/trainers interested in exploring creative approaches to language teaching.
The idea of this project comes from the awareness that it is more and more important to promote plurilinguism in intercultural communication and the integration of all European citizens both in schools and in lifelong learning courses.
In order to encourage innovation in education, to give suitable methodological and technological answers right for the target groups ( teachers of IT, FR, ES, PT, RO, RU as L2 and their students – no matter the age- and people from various age groups learning one of the aforesaid languages as L2, but also people wishing to learn one of the languages for work, tourism or immigration, the project wants to disseminate new ways to teach a foreign language, linking the use of songs (particularly useful to build up communicative skills in a foreign language and intercultural learning) to the use of karaoke and audio visual materials put in the web. This approach overcomes the problems caused by age and different types of learners and allows the use of new technologies based on Internet, YouTube and interactive multimedia whiteboards.
In order to disseminate this method throughout Europe, the partners will write the program of a five-day course to put in the Comenius Grundtvig Catalogue. Thus it will be possible to create a network among teachers, both trainers and trainees, who, in their turn, will spread the method, developing it and changing it according to their needs and teaching practices.
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Competences in e-Learning and
Certification In Tourism Grundtvig 2 Action E-Quality label
Grundtvig 2009 winner
Objectives
The project aims to develop the European dimension of the training the trainers and to reduce the gap between the school education and the work market in particular in tourist sector. The learning partnership forecast working groups and meetings of trainers in order to:
-identify training needs and exchange work experience necessary for developing a new professional role, namely that of "tourism development agent", and for ensuring training in giving worth and safeguarding cultural and environmental assets;
-specify a common frame of reference on which to structure the legal recognition of qualifications founded on well identified competencies;
-define the contents of an e-learning course that allows to get the competences of "tourism development agent";
-enrich the professional and methodological competences of the adult educators in training in tourist sector to update to EU standard through the knowledge of new cultures and different didactic training methodologies;
-identify and customize a web platform and insert in it the contents of the e-learning course;
Learning languages is becoming increasingly important in the European Union and there is a need for sustained efforts to improve the linguistic competences of the European population both in the official languages of the EU and the languages of global communication. Russian language is one of the six official and working languages of the United Nations and according to the published statistics takes the 5th place in the world as it is spoken by 285 million people. Among them 160 million people consider Russian their native language putting it at the 7th place in the world by the number of native speakers. In Europe teaching Russian is primarily offered by the formal education system (schools and universities) while the opportunities to learn Russian within non-formal education or adult training system are very few.
Taking into consideration that the flow of Russian speaking people (tourists or frequent business visitors), including inhabitants of new EU members, is constantly growing, this project seeks to make its contribution through the development of a basic online training in Russian.
Broad Sweeps of Imagination: a new method to teach a foreign language
LLP Comenius Multilateral Project
Objectives
The aim of the BSI project is to prepare, test-implement and refine a Teacher Training Course for in-service teachers in foreign languages that wants to speak up the effectiveness of an innovative method which we call Broad Sweeps of Imagination (BSI) and to disseminate it in a wider European context. The course will be placed in the Comenius Catalogue and offered as an opportunity for qualification enhancement to the teachers all over Europe.
The method combines different approaches and techniques for learning new information and for foreign language teaching that, combined in an integrated set, has proven effective in improving learners communicative skills. The BSI method combines visual elements ('clumsy pictures') and approaches that give learners the opportunity to harmonize their previous learning with the recent ones. Moreover, the BSI method fosters multicultural awareness, intercultural competences and respect towards the values of the other cultures, integrated in the foreign language learning process.
The main aim of the project is to create a set of innovative tools to promote and facilitate the acquisition of basic competences in the Arabic language, as well as a better knowledge of Arab culture, among European citizens, with the main objectives of promoting understanding among different cultures, promoting the carry out of shared projects, increasing the competitiveness of European companies when doing business, facilitating communication and understanding with Arab people living in EU.
In order to achieve the main aim of the project, different particular objectives have been defined:
To research and produce a report on the multimedia courses and materials for Arabic language available on the Internet and in CD-ROM format suitable to be used by European languages speakers.
To produce a Website that will be used for dissemination, to hold the course and which will include a version of the dialogs of the course to be used in Ipod/MP3 and a forum of discussion about Arabic language learning.
Initiative for innovative concepts
to prevent early school leaving
Joint Actions
Objectives
Education is the key for a successful integration since it gives young people the chance to integrate into the labour market and society in general. The prevention of early school leaving is a common European problem that all countries are facing. This implies that solutions should be European.
Plenty of best practice examples already exist, but still many teachers face difficulties in addressing the additional educational needs of their less-favoured students. Only a small percentage of schools, vocational training sites and youth centres is cooperating with local partners specialised in integrating those young less-favoured ones. Furthermore, good practice are often not easily transferable from one school to the other and from one country to another.
Anyway the prevention of drop outs is a task which not only concerns schools but all the players in their environment. Schools have to become community schools and reach out to institutions and associations (e.g. teacher associations, parent associations, youth services, immigrant associations, etc.) to work with them.
Join your grandchildren in learning
a
foreign language
Socrates
Action Lingua 1
Objectives
The overall objective of the project is to raise citizens' awareness of the advantages of lifelong learning of foreign language by motivating and practically engaging a certain group of society in particular retired people or parents looking their young children in learning foreign languages. Countries such as Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Spain share the same type of large variations of language skills and abilities to hold conservation in a foreign language between different groups of society. Retired people are much less likely, if at all, to speak foreign languages. Retired people and people above 50 are the least likely to speak a foreign language due to similar reasons in these countries. There is also a specific social feature that these countries share: it is a tradition in the family that grandparents look after their grandchildren and lots of them do help in their learning activities as well.
In an age of dynamic development of information and communication technologies and growing gap between generations due to that factor that may be one of the rare opportunities for grandparents to join their grandchildren in studying.
This project aims at experimenting innovating techniques which may help improve teaching systems and have a positive influence on learning.
Though it is linked to foreign language (French both for Italian and Romanian students) this project aims at selecting models which may be used in the teaching of other subjects as well, as they study and experience integrated forms of communication (words, gestures, emotional involvement and multimedia).
The basic notion behind this project is that communication is involved in the changes characterising our society much more than anything else, it conditions behaviour and is behind the socio-economic development of the so called “global village”.
School, therefore, must understand the characteristics of communication, elaborate and integrate them into the formative and teaching dimension.
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