Let the pools website
serve as a portal to
your results. From the
website you also have
access to copyleft
language teaching
materials and methods
manuals that you may
include in your own
projects.
The
pools partnership
recommends you to become
a member of / join:
You may now become a
member of the POOLS
team; like all materials
in the POOLS website the
membership is free.
Enrol as a POOLS member
e-mail [email protected]
TOOLS is developing a free
online service / tool,
which will enable
language teachers from
LdV, Erasmus, and
Grundtvig sectors to
create multimedia
webpages for language
learning with all words
automatically linked to
online dictionaries in
+100 languages.
The advantage of a fully
online tool is that it
will work from all
existing and future
operating systems it
will also enable
creation of language
learning multimedia
webpages from and to
mobile devices like
tablets (e.g. iPads).
The users will have
options of making the
resulting webpages
immediately online for
free through the
developed system (or
other systems like
dropbox.com) or
downloading them for
uploads to their own
websites.
The resulting webpages
will support all
characters (UTF8) so it
may be usefor languages like
Lithuanian and Arabic.
The project teams
will demonstrate the
system strengths and
make exemplary language
learning materials for
Arabic, Danish, Gaelic
(Irish), Gaelic
(Scottish), Lithuanian,
Portuguese, and Spanish
The Clil4U project will assist implementation of CLIL in primary schools and in vocational colleges through:
- 6 promotional videos showing CLIL used in classes
- 48 ready to use CLIL scenarios complete with instructions and materials
- Online collection of materials and commented links to resources
- Advisory materials to be used for including parents of primary school children in the CLIL process.
To prepare content and language teachers for implementation of CLIL the project will:
- Develop a teacher course on application of CLIL
- Develop online language courses for content teachers (to ensure the needed language level)
- Offer the content teachers a placement test and certification of language level according to CEF.
Methods is a TOI (transfer of innovation) project based on the original BP-BLTM and later the Pools-m projects, which selected five communicative language teaching methods suitable for VET teachers and their students, especially those preparing for or in the midst of work placement in other countries. For each method the project developed sets of materials and instructions for exemplary lessons.
To help the training of the less experienced teachers the use of the methods and materials are demonstrated through instructional video recordings of exemplary lessons.
The main outputs to be translated, adapted and transferred during the Methods project period are:
-A video library with subtitled commented recordings of the five methods used in real classes.
-A manual with five method descriptions, instructions and ready to copy and use materials
-An International Work Placement Guide
-This website.
The project will transfer the BP-BLTM and pools-m results toFrance (Guadeloupe), Malta, and Slovenia by adapting and translating the guide, the methods manuals, the ready to use in classes materials, and the subtitles for the project videos. Back to Top
Pools-3 (Producing Open Online Learning Systems -3) has been approved for an EU grant in the period 2013-2015. POOLS-3 is coordinated by Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (SMO), the teams come from Belgium, Catalunya, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Éire, and Scotland. EfVET has been chosen as dissemination partner with access to thousands of vocational colleges across Europe.
Pools-3 is a Transfer of Innovation (TOI) project which will exploit the results from the "original" pools project and pools-2, which developed materials for language teaching and learning as well as teacher training courses.
Pools-3 will transfer the core outputs of pools and pools-2 to three new languages: Catalan, Czech, and Irish
The Pools-3 project target group is teachers of the LWUTL (Less Widely Used and Taught Languages) in technical colleges. Due to the limited range of ICT materials for these languages the teachers often have to develop materials themselves if they want to exploit the many advantages of eLearning.
The final products are:
1. Pools of online Copyleft symbol copyleft materials to be used during in-service teacher training courses and in teaching.
2. Flexible competence based language teacher course modules on ICT methodologies and development of ICT based teaching resources.
3. A DVD with step by step instructions and examples on how to create multimedia online material.
4. A course book (downloadable .pdf file) with description of language teaching eLearning materials and methodologies
Pools-t (Producing
Open Online
Learning
System - Tools)
was approved for an EU
grant in the period
2008-2010. POOLS-T was
coordinated by "Syddansk
Erhvervsskole Odense-Vejle",
the development
teams came from Denmark,
Greece, the Netherlands, Scotland,
and Switzerland.
The project developed tools for the CLIL
methodology
(Content and Language
Integrated Learning)
as well as a
guide on how to apply
the tools in a CLIL
context.
The tools convert
texts and web pages to
html pages where all
words are hyperlinked to
free online dictionaries
covering many
combinations of European
languages. The
application has
support for audio, video
and graphics to enrich /
support the text
content.
Target groups:
The project results and
outputs are used by
individual language
learners, subject
teachers using CLIL, and
language teachers
preparing online
teaching materials.
Pools-2 (Producing Open Online Learning Systems - 2) was approved for an EU grant in the period
2009-2011. POOLS-2 was
coordinated by Confederación Española
de Centros de Enseñanza
(CECE),
the teams came from
Cyprus, Denmark,
Malta, Portugal,
Scotland, and Spain. EfVET was a
dissemination partner
with access to thousands
of vocational colleges
across Europe.
Pools-2 was a Transfer of
Innovation (TOI) project
which exploited the
results from the "original" pools
project, which
developed materials for
language teaching and
learning as well as
teacher training
courses. Pools-2
transferred the core
outputs of pools to
three new languages:
Greek, Maltese, and
Portuguese
The POOLS-2 project target
group is teachers of
the LWUTL (Less Widely
Used and Taught
Languages) in technical
colleges. Due to the
limited range of ICT
materials for these
languages the teachers
often have to develop
materials themselves if
they want to exploit the
many advantages of
eLearning.
The final
products are:
1. Pools of online copyleft materials to be
used during in-service
teacher training courses
and in teaching.
2. Flexible competence
based language teacher
course modules on ICT
methodologies and
development of ICT based
teaching resources.
3. A DVD with step by
step instructions and
examples on how to
create multimedia online
material.
4. A course book (downloadable
.pdf file) with
description of language
teaching eLearning
materials and
methodologies
Pools-m
(Pools of language
teaching methods) was an
EU supported two years
project, which started on
December 1st 2009. The
project transferred the result of a
previous project BP-BLTM
which portrayed five
communicative language
teaching methods in
manuals and with
instruction videos, for
each method there are
ready to use materials
in Basque, Danish,
Dutch, English, German,
Romania, and Spanish.
Pools-m
translated and adapted
the existing materials
into Italian,
Lithuanian, and
Portuguese as well as
prepare new materials
for the methods
The Video for ALL project will bring together all current methodologies, ideas and innovative practices to teach and learn languages using digital video.
Pools-3 and Tools: NEW additon to Clilstore functions prepared by the Pools-3 teams: You can now upload files like Hot Potatoes exercises or Word documents directly into Clilstore. Read how to do it in this guide: Download How to Upload and Link to Files
TOOLS: We are preparing a guide on how to upload files into Clilstore so these can be used as additional exercises or students assignments. It is now possible to upload a series of exercises prepared in Hot Potatoes. Please return to this page soon to read the guide (it is now being proof read)
Pools-3: The teams met in Brno and produced a number of online units in Clilstore using the new Clilstore facility where one can upload exercises:
Learn Irish through a sequence of video with text linked word by word to +100 languages and language exercises lige fill-in the bland, mixed words, crossword puzzles, and more: http://multidict.net/cs/2248
Learn Catalan through a sequence of video with text linked word by word to +100 languages and language exercises lige fill-in the bland, mixed words, crossword puzzles, and more: http://multidict.net/cs/2247
Learn Ccech through a sequence of video with text linked word by word to +100 languages and language exercises lige fill-in the bland, mixed words, crossword puzzles, and more: http://multidict.net/cs/2246
Tools: The project teams are still at work supported by ideas from our end users (teachers and students). Most development right now is dealing with dictionaries, lemmatization and especially how to better serve the Arabic language. Read more about Tools News here.
Pools-3: The project teams will meet in Brno in the 2nd week of September. After almost a full project year the teams are now preparing for running teacher courses in the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, and Catalonea. Read the workshop agenda.
Clil4U: The teams are in the process of writing a CLIL guide which will promote CLIL. Read the outline here.
Clil4U: Two of the Clil4U teachers from Kroggaardskolen (Lise Klems Knattrup and Rikke Lohmann Vestergaard) were invited to write an article on CLIL in Denmark, the article will be published in the next issue of "Liv i Skolen" which will deal exclusively with CLIL in Denmark: http://www.viauc.dk/hoejskoler/vok/liv-i-skolen/Sider/Liv-i-skolen.aspx.
Tools: The project was presented at the Eurocall 2014 conference in Groningen by Ana Gimeno, Caoimhín O Donaill, and Kent Andersen with a presentation "Supporting CLIL through Technology".Download the Powerpoint presentation here.
The text for publication in the Eurocall proceedings can be downloaded here
Tools, Pools-3, Methods, and Clil4U materials on display during Eurocall 2014 in Groningen
Tools: The project finished the EU co-funded period on June 30th, but the efforts and exploitation of the outcomes continue. We have also received the final external evaluation report from the subcontracted evaluator (Angelic Bucur). Download the report here.
Watch a Danish primary school class work with a CLIL scenario which was prepared by a Spanish Clil4U partner.
The Clil4U project will in August be presented by William William Wernay Lynge with a presentation/paper at the "Think CLIL Conference" in Venice: http://thinkclil2014.unive.it/en/index.php.
Clil4U: Three new scenarios have been put online with ready to use materials:
The Domotics (House Automation Systems) Module is suitable for students of level B1 and upwards, it is part of the vocational training of electricians, but it is also of value to other disciplines. Go to the Domotics scenario
The IHC Programming module is suitable for students of level A2 (absolute minimum) and upwards, it is part of the vocational training of electricians and deals with how to program and test an IHC DOMOTICS system. Students should have worked with the DOMITICS scenario prior to the IHC programming. Go to the IHC Programming scenario
The Web Page Task scenario makes use of "task based learning", the studentswill need to be at language level A2-B1 and upwards. The class will be divided into four groups, each group is given a task brief covering
• How to get a free website with email accounts.
• How to send files to the website using FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Demands for netiquette (rules for proper email behaviour)
• How to write a webpage using HTML and CSS coding
• Where to get free graphics for your website including how to reduce the file size so the pages load quickly and the copyright rules for texts and graphics. Go to the Web Page Task scenario
Pools-3: Watch two videos from the 2nd workshop where Gordon Wells presents: Creating Audio/Video source materials and Kent Andersen's demonstrates and talks about: Clilstore, Wordlink, Multidict, and Webquests: http://languages.dk/pools-3/index.html#Course_materials
Registration for EUROCALL2014 is open. Almost 200 papers from presenters all over the world have been accepted, so we are looking forward to offering you an attractive and varied programme in our lively university city of Groningen. Please register in time. You will find all the registration details, including accommodation, on: http://www.eurocall2014.nl/?page_id=103
Please note that early-bird rate ends on 31 May. If you are not a member of EUROCALL or one of the affiliated associations, allow for a few days for the registration to be completed.
Clil4U: We have uploaded a new scenario "Plants" for primary schools. The scenario will give the learners understanding of plants as living things. It will be an introduction to the parts of a plant and their functions: roots, leaf / leaves, stem and flower. Plants is suitable for learners from level A1: http://languages.dk/clil4u/scenarios/sc8/
Another scenario titled the Solar System targets pupils from level A1 with the aim to learn the names and some charasteristics of the planets that form the Solar System and to understand the Sun and the Earth as a part of the Solar System: http://languages.dk/clil4u/scenarios/sc9
Tools: The TOOLS partnership now offers free online courses on how to
-make multimedia rich webpage units with Clilstore where all words are linked to +100 languages and a plethora of online dictionaries
-make best use of Clilstore units in the class room including CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) pedagogy
The participants will be given tasks to submit to the TOOLS teachers, who will give advice and feedback directly through email.
The duration of the course will be one month through which the participants will have to put in the equivalent of two workdays.
The target groups are content and language teachers with an interest in CLIL. All languages are welcome, there will, however, be a dedicated group for teachers of Arabic and Lithuanian.
Deadline for enrolling in the courses is May 15th 2014.
To enrol in the courses email [email protected] with the text “TOOLS online courses” and a brief description of yourself (student/teacher of …)
Tools: Major improvements to the online service a.k.a. Clilstore. Clilstore now features a "click count" which shows how many words users have clicked on in each unit (starting from April 2014), just click on "Unit info".
Pools-3: During the 2nd project meeting the tems prepared three videos, two of these have been deployed in Clilstore so all words are linked to online dictionaries, try:
Tools: The Danish project team ran a Tools course in Aalborg at Aalborg Handelsskole (A commercial college). The feedback from the 19 participants gave us valuable insight that will be used for restructuring the upcoming teacher courses in Denmark (One more in Aalborg, Roskilde, Copenhagen, Odense, and a larger scale course in Fredericia targeting teachers from vocational colleges in Southern Denmark. The Aalborg course resulted in 16 Clilstore units, nine of them ready to use and seven marked as "under construction"
BABELIUM, a project dealing with innovative ICT-based learning methodology and content for second-language oral expression is one of the Pools kindred projects, learn more from their website: http://www.babelium-project.eu
Erasmus+ courses in Malta: In February, Methods and CLIL4U were disseminated to teachers from the Netherlands, Romania, France, Poland, Sweden, Slovenia, Hungary, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Denmark. Other teachers from different countries will also be visiting ETI over March and the Easter period.
ETI is currently receiving several enquiries about the new grant, and how teachers can apply for funding. For more information on Erasmus + Grants, go to: www.etimalta.com or contact: [email protected]
EU fundable summercourses for professionals in Language Education In collaboration with the Universities of Antwerp, Nice, Valencia and Catalunya (OU) TELLconsult is coordinating summercourses on effective Interactive Whiteboards use and WEB 2.0 technologies to develop oral proficiency and telecollaboration based on the results of related, 2-year EU projects
These courses may qualify for European Key Action 1 grant assistance under the new Erasmus+ funding framework, the more since they can support the realization of internationalization ambitions of educational organisations.
More information about the course descriptions, day-to-day programmes and international teams of animators involved is available at: http://www.koenraad.info/content/current-courses
Tools: A smal Wordlink trick: If you want your students to work with e.g. cnn.com then try to add cnn.com to the following link "http://multidict.net/wordlink/?navsize=1&sl=en&url=", i.e. the resulting link will be: http://multidict.net/wordlink/?navsize=1&sl=en&url=cnn.com
Pools-3: The teams are preparing the 2nd workshop, which will take place in Barcelona. Read the agenda here.
Clil4U: The project has now set up accounts for Facebook and Twitter
One of the possible scenarios in Clil4U is "Marketing". We have therefore prepared an online sequence of units: http://multidict.net/cs/1603 The units are based onoutcomes from a project from 1999, which is still very much in use.
Clil4U: The project funded period has been started. The teams are now preparing for the kick-off meeting in Madrid at the end of the month. The project consortium has secured Davis Marsh for external quality control. Read more about the project from www.languages.dk/clil4u
Pools-3: The Catalan team has finished producing a DIY video for teachers with voice over in Catalan. The video demonstrates how to produce online materials where all words are linked to +100 languages. Watch the video
TOOLS: The TOOLS book also known as the "Clilstore Guidebook" is now available as .pdf .epub (for tablets like iPads) and as .azw3 (for Kindle readers) in all the project languages: Click here to download
Methods: The teams have nowadapted the five videos from BP-BLTM that demonstrate
language teaching methods in real classes. The online videos can now be watched with
subtitles in
EUROCALL: Submission of abstracts is now open for EUROCALL2014. The 21st EUROCALL conference will be held at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands from 20th to 23rd August 2014.
The program will include individual papers, symposia, workshops, presentations on EU-funded projects, and posters. More information: http://www.eurocall2014.nl/
TOOLS: The Clilstore Guidebook is now also available (in the ePub versions for tablet readers etc.) in Lithuanian and Portuguese
One of the projects kindred to POOLS "EuroTraffic Language Training (ETRALT)" run by an international project team from Croatia, Finland, Ireland and Slovenia have just finished the project period and have developed a free online language course for the traffic sector (professional drivers, policemen, students/teachers of traffic schools). The materials are now avilable in 4 languages : EN, FI, HR and SI (any combination of these 4 languages can be used for learning): Go to http://www.languagesforwork.eu/en
TOOLS: The CLIL Guidebook showing how to exploit the online service (Clilstore) in a CLIL context is/will be available in different formats; eBooks with integrated media (.epub) suitable for tablets, .azw3 versions (for Kindle readers), and .pdf versions
Pools-3: DIY videos will be produced in the three core project languages. The videos cover how to produce online language learning materials. Watch the first set of videos
with subtitles in:
Technology in Teaching: Principles in Practice is a free online conference on October 12 hosted jointly by TESOL CALL-IS (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, USA - Computer Assisted Language Learning Interest Section) and IATEFL LTSIG (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language, UK - Learning Technologies Special Interest Group). Guest speakers include: Christel Broady, Carol Chapelle, Gavin Dudeney, Deborah Healey, Nicky Hockly, Phil Hubbard, Sophia Ioannou-Georgiou, Paige Ware, and Shaun Wilden.
The topics are designed to provide a grounding for classroom practice in principled application of technology. Attendees will be able to use the chat box to ask questions and share information with other attendees during each talk as well as during a Q&A session during the last 10-15 minutes of each talk. The closing session will allow presenters to wrap up ideas and answer more questions from the audience. Each session will be approximately 45 minutes long.
The schedule is as follows:
Saturday, October 12, 2013
7am Pacific, 3pm London
Opening plenary: The case for technology and language learning - Carol Chapelle (CALL-IS)
8am Pacific, 4pm London
The role of online tools in teacher development - Shaun Wilden (LTSIG)
9am Pacific, 5pm London
Classroom pedagogies - Nicky Hockly (LTSIG)
10am Pacific, 6pm London
TESOL Technology Standards: Why, how, and for whom - Deborah Healey, Phil Hubbard, Sophie Ioannou-Georgiou, and Paige Ware, with help from Elizabeth Hanson-Smith (CALL-IS)
11am Pacific, 7pm London
Digital literacies - Gavin Dudeney (LTSIG)
12 noon Pacific, 8pm London
The sky is not the limit: Connecting with elementary makers in the cloud - Christel Broady (CALL-IS)
1pm Pacific, 9pm London
Joint closing session - all presenters; open Q&A session
This online conference will take place in Adobe Connect, at http://iatefl.adobeconnect.com/iateflltsig-tesolcallis. Please check the webpage below for Adobe Connect login information and to verify the link to the room.
The meeting room will be open half an hour before the webinar begins. It will not be possible to log in earlier. Interested participants can drop in at any time during the conference.
Please log in using the format: Name - Location. For example, Bruce Wayne - Gotham City.
Sessions will be recorded and available for later viewing. You do not need to be a member of IATEFL or TESOL to participate in the online conference or to view the recordings. This is a free session.
We hope to see you there!
Helle Lykke Nielsen, a Tools member, delivered a presentation during Eurocall on how to the the ides of "curation" (based on Phil Hubbard) one step further to "nudging". Download her PowerPoint presentation.
Two new projects in the Pools family have started on October 1st: Pools-3, a ToI project transferring the Pools and Pools-2 results to three new languages. Learn more Methods, a ToI project transferring the results from BP-BLTM and Pools-m to three new countrie. Learn more
The eBook versions of the Tools project handbook "Clilstore Guidebook" have been taken offline while the teams prepare updated versions (to prevent the dissemination of the not finished book)
September 2013
The project Newsletter October-December 2013 is now ready for download. Click here.
The Tools teams have prepared an eBook demonstrating how to make use of the Tools outcomes in a pedagogical context. The first versions of the book have been compiled in the .epub format, which is supported by most eBook readers (e.g. iPads and iPhones) and incorporate video. Download the book in (temporarily offline):
Danish N.B. New version will be available by end October
English N.B. New version will be available by end October
The Pools project portfolio is growing. SDE College has together with a consortium of new and old friends submitted a KA2 proposal titled Clil4U. The proposal has now been approved for EC co-funding.
The Clil4U project will assist implementation of CLIL in primary schools and in vocational colleges through:
- 6 promotional videos showing CLIL used in classes
- 48 ready to use CLIL scenarios complete with instructions and materials
- Online collection of materials and commented links to resources
- Advisory materials to be used for including parents of primary school children in the CLIL process.
To prepare content and language teachers for implementation of CLIL the project will:
- Develop a teacher course on application of CLIL
- Develop online language courses for content teachers (to ensure the needed language level)
- Offer the content teachers a placement test and certification of language level according to CEF.
The Clil4U project will start on January 1st 2014
We have (helped by Joel Josephson:-) found a kindred project "Ed2.0Work" which has made a sequence of instruction videos demonstrating how to use Skype, WizIQ, Voicethread, Voxopop, Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr, Posterous, AudioBoo, Slideshare, Prezi, Google Drive, Wikispaces, PBWorks, Diigo, Delicious, Reddit and the EU project Web20ERC. Watch the videos here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApqFu7jULts&list=PLC70D56D2BB7EF8E6&feature=view_all
One of the core outcomes of the TOOLS project is a CLIL Guidebook showing how to exploit the online service (Clilstore) in a CLIL context. The book will be available in Danish, English, Irish, Lithuanian, Portuguese, and Spanish. The guidebook titled "Clilstore Guidebook" will be finalized by a graphics designer and undergo design changes so it can be used as an eBook with integrated media. Click here to download the English version
The July-September version of the Pools/Tools project newsletter is now online. Click here to download.
The TOOLS teams have now finished the DIY videos for students and teachers (authors), the videos are available in seven languages: Danish, English, Irish, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Scottish Gaelice, and Spanish. N.B this is two more languages than promised in the TOOLS application. You can access the videos by clicking here
To support an introduction of best use of the online Clilstore units we have produced seven units demonstrationg the multidict interface, wordlink and Clilstore:
The team are busy preparing the language version of the TOOLS DIY (Do It Yourself) videos that demonstrate how to produce online materials and for the learners hor to make best use of the online units. You can access the videos by clicking here The videos will soon be availble in seven languages: Danish, English, Irish, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Scottish Gaelice, and Spanish.
The two TOOLS videos with a Portuguse speaker are now online. Watch them from here.
The two TOOLS videos with a Lithuanian speaker are now online. Watch them from here.
The Irish version of the student do it yourself videos demonstrating how to make best use of the TOOLS outcomes can be watched at: http://youtu.be/bzyFWvvXtw8
The English version of the student do it yourself videos demonstrating how to make best use of the TOOLS outcomes can be watched at:http://youtu.be/WjGt5d4AXBs
The Danish version of the student do it yourself videos demonstrating how to make best use of the TOOLS outcomes can be watched at: http://youtu.be/wbpiaBd2imc
The Spanish version of the student do it yourself videos demonstrating how to make best use of the TOOLS outcomes can be watched at: http://youtu.be/Mp_aFDC4o24
The TOOLS teams have started the final parts of the Do It Yourself vides demonstrating how teachers and language learners can benefit from the project online services. Two of the videos are now online in Spanish and in Danish. Watch the Spanish version here: http://youtu.be/Mp_aFDC4o24 or the Danish version here: http://youtu.be/wbpiaBd2imc
We have just received the feedback from EACEA about the TOOLS Progress Report covering the first 15 months project period. We are very please with the feedback where we have been graded an overall "9" (max score is 10). Read the feedback here
TheTools teams met in Valencia for their third workshop during the project period. One of the main items decided during the workshop was the design/outlook of the Tools online service a.k.a. Clilstore. You can follow the implementation of the design during the coming weeks from the main entry to Clilstore (and two other important services) here: http://multidict.net We also noticed that we used the wrong icon with the mandatory disclaimer, also that will be corected shortly in all our outcomes. Download the meeting minutes
The TOOLS project makes use of external quality control. We have just received the 2nd quality report. Download it here.
14 months into the TOOLS project the teams have prepared a progress report. The progress report contains two parts a confidential one and the public part. But the TOOLS partnership believes in transparency so you can download and read the two parts from: http://languages.dk/archive.html#Official_documents_(application,_reports_etc.)
Visit the Eurocall 2013 website https://sites.google.com/site/eurocallpt/ and learn all about the event where also the TOOLS teams will run a half-day workshop on how to apply CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) with the support of the free software service, which we are developing http://multidict.net/clilstore
We have started the task of updating the Clilstore service with designs and functions that target students and teachers. This may result in short periods where the service is offline. Please visit multidict.net
Call for Papers for Eurocall 2013, University of Evora, Portugal 11-14 September 2013: Like the TOOLS project you too can present projects, research, experience, and ideas at Eurocall 2013.Download the Call for Paper here
The languages.dk website has had 117,346 visitors since February 2012. You can read the statisticshere
The Clilstore "Guided tour" manual has been translated into Greek, Italian, and Turkish by friends in another EU Co-funded project pools-cx:
The CALL Interest Section of the international TESOL professional association is pleased to offer the opportunity to participate in the Electronic Village Online (EVO) 2013 sessions.
This project is a virtual extension of the TESOL 2013 Convention in Dallas in which educators around the globe will have the chance to enhance their professional development, network, collaborate, share and learn with like-minded professionals in wonderful online sessions that were carefully designed by our moderators.
You do not need to be a TESOL member to participate in a FREE, five-week, online session of the EVO, January 14 - February 17, 2013.
One of the new POOLS partners, ETI Malta will be running a series of Teacher Training course programmes in Malta over 2013. The participation on these 1 or 2 week in-service training courses are held at the ETI in Malta and are all eligible for full funding under the EU Life Long Learning Programme. The courses address the Comenius, Leonardo and Grundtvig audiences and most are run in cooperation with SDE (Denmark) and exploit the results of past POOLS projects mainly the BP-BLTM (Best Practice Best Language Teaching Methodologies) and POOLS-T. Download more information here.
The Portuguese TOOLS team is running a pilit course for teachers to test a Portuguese version of guide/manual on how to author a unit in Clilstore. The guide will be put online after the course and possible edits resulted by evaluations and feedback.
In Odense, Denmak, the two Danish teams meet for a minit teacher course. Main item is how to embed different audio formats in Clilstore.
A class of 19 students (electricians' apprentices tested the Clilstore outputs after a one week course. Read their evaluations here or open a summary here.
The first "manual" for the online Clilstore service is now available in Irish: Download the Irish version
During the EUROCALL Conference the TOOLS teams had a meeting with Phil Hubbard from Stanford University. Phil Hubbard gave a very interesting presentation on “Autonomous learning with authentic content -- systemized and curated” we have decided in the near future to prepare pages with “curated” units from Clilstore in different languages. Download Phil Hubbard’s presentation
The TOOLS teams can offer a half das workshop on August 22nd from 10.00-13.00More information here: http://www.eurocall2012.eu
Workshop Leaders: Ana Gimeno, Caoimhín O’Dónnaile, Caoimhín Ó Dónaill, Kent Andersen, and Helle Lykke Nielsen. Intended Audience: Language teachers (also those of the LWUTL) who would like to develop online multimedia-rich resources where all of the words in a text are linked automatically to a plethora of languages and dictionaries.
The July-September issue of the pools newsletter describes the project exploitation across Europe. Click here to download.
A kindred project Ed2.Work has prepared a set of 17 videos demonstrating Web2.0 tools (includes Skype, WiZiq, Voicethread, Voxopop, Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr, Posterous, Audioboo, Slideshare, Prezi, Google Docs, Wikispaces, PBworks, Diigo, Delicious, Reddit) To watch the videos click here
At the SDE College, we have tested some Clilstore ourputs with two classes of students at elementary level (Most of them below CEFR level A1 in reading skills), the results shows that some student can benefit from the wordlinked outputs, but also that elementary students may find the reading of texts less beneficial;-) Read evaluation results here.
A Romanian project Pools-CX has developed teacher courses that make use of the TOOLS project outcomes. An inservice teacher course in Istanbul tested the online service Clilstore and gave us valuable feedback. Read the teacher evaluations here.
The Web2LLP project funded under the Lifelong learning Programme (KA4) is organising free courses on web strategies and social media for LLP projects , both face-to-face and online, for managers and members of LLP projects. The week long face-to-face course will take place in Leuven, Belgium on 18 – 23 February 2013 and you can apply to your LLP national agency for funding until September 2012.
The online courses will be held during the period February – July 2013. These 10 hour courses, organised in 5 modules of 2 hours each, are available in English, French or Italian and will be backed up by an online help desk and support service.
If you would like to be kept up-to-date on these training courses please email: j[email protected]
Furthermore, to give us a better understanding of your training needs in respect of social media,please complete this very short questionnaire by July 5, which will take no more than 5 minutes of your time.
From Lisette Toetenel we have received this: I am a PhD student at Oxford Brookes and I am researching the effect of direct instruction in the use of the informal register in the (English) second language classroom through the use of social networking sites. I am currently looking for teachers/lecturers and institutions that might be interested to participate in my project.
The project will run for ten weeks from January 2013 to March 2013. The social network and all teaching materials will be provided. The role of the teacher/lecturer is to ensure that the students can access the material in class and assist the students when necessary.
If you are interested in the use of the informal register or social networking sites - this project might be of interest to you!
More information is provided in this Powerpoint presentation. Please contact me for any more information or if you are interested. In order to participate, I would require a letter from your institution to confirm participation.
A Romanian Transfer of Innovation project (developing Centres of Excellence in Greece, Italy, Romania, and Turkey) makes use of the Clilstore from TOOLS as a key element in their teacher training courses. Read a presentation of the Greek teacher courses.
“It’s excellent, give us more!”, that was the overwhelming response from Year 1 and Year 2 students of Irish at the University of Ulster following a recent trial of Clilstore. The units created for the purpose of this trial: http://alturl.com/w6bao & http://alturl.com/s5jjhwere based on sample materials from the new Third Level Syllabus for Irish (see http://www.teagascnagaeilge.ie) which is based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Read more in the project blog.
It is inspiring to learn the many new ways the Clilstore service cane be used by different language teachers. An example is a unit called "Car Diagnostics for Dummies" where the learners listen to seven sound files that demonstrate typical car problems and then have to select the cause for the fault. After listening the students download a small written assignment by clicking "exercise". Try it here: http://alturl.com/tbjnb
We are keeping fingers crossed for a new proposal titled POOLS-C. The project will develop a CLIL teacher training course for language teachers and content teachers who want to teach content and language at the same time. The content teachers will be offered language courses and a certification of language skills. The project will develop 48 exemplary CLIL teaching scenarios complete with materials and supported by a guide plus videos showing how to work with Content and Language Integrated Learning in primary schools and vocational colleges. Download and read the detailed applicating.
The Executive Training Institure, ETI Malta is now a member of the pools consortium. offering a range of the pools courses in 2012 1nd 2013 (pools-m and pools-2). Participation in the courses is supported by EU grants. For more information visit the ETI homepage www.etimalta.com or email [email protected] (the pools webmaster)
We have just received the results from the national agenc of the pools-m final evaluation: We received a 9 (maximum is 10:-)
Pools-m is still going strong:-) On March 6th the Turkish coordinator received the official national accreditation this means that Pools-M in-service training programmes have gained FORMAL RECOGNITION from the biggest national education body across Turkeyand will now be offered on a wide scale:-)
After the move back to Europe from a US-based hosting service in mid-February the statistics for the website visitors have been very promising: Read the statistics covering the February period: Statistics February 2012
One of the core results in the Tools project is the online service where you can create webbased units with all words linked to online dictionaries. The Tools teams would like you to assist us with a name for the service. Please vote for a name here
In first week of February a consortium of new and old POOLS partners submitted a proposal for a Life Long Learning – Key Action 2 project (transversal language projects).
The project title became POOLS-C (POOLS for Clil teachers), as is suggested by the title the project aims at implementing CLIL (Content and language integrated learning) with a 360 degrees approach (holistic): We intend to develop 48 ready to use scenarios for CLIL in primary schools and vocational colleges, demonstration videos of exemplary CLIL teaching based on the scenarios, Language teacher courses on CLIL methods, information materials for parents to include these in the CLIL teaching in primary school, research/interview framework for getting advice from local enterprises regarding the subject related content, AND language certification courses for content/subject teachers.
From one of the pools friends (Jane Vinther) we have received this: We would like to invite language teachers worldwide to fill in this Two-Minute Survey on Open Language Learning: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DPJ689W.
This survey is part of a research project by Jozef Colpaert, University of Antwerp, and Glenn Stockwell, Waseda University, Tokyo, aiming at identifying factors which might impact on the use of Open Educational Resources in the Language Learning and Teaching Community worldwide.
Open Educational Resources (OER) can be defined as “digital materials that can be re-used for teaching, learning, research and more, made available for free through open licenses, which allow uses of the materials that would not be easily permitted under copyright alone” (www.wikipedia.org).
The results of this survey will be sent to all participants who provide their email address. They will also be presented at the EuroCall SIG meeting on Open Educational Resources in Bologna (29-30 March 2012), the XVth International CALL Research Conference in Taiwan (25-27 May 2012), the CALICO 2012 conference at Notre Dame University, and will be published in Computer Assisted Language Learning. The data will also be made available as Open Research Data for researchers worldwide.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.