PROJECT “The Testing of the European Language Portfolio”

1. PROJECT “The Testing of the European Language Portfolio” Consists of: A number of courses along with the implementation of the ELP in the classroom to see the conditions and possibilities required for its later spread. • Members: • Carmen Alburquerque (Coordinator) • Carmen de Haro • María Ros • Fco. Javier García

2. LINKS BETWEEN BOTH THE GUNDTVIG AND ELPFOR ADULTS PROJECTS • BOTH AIM AT: • A more flexible society where mobility and multiculturalism are normalised. • A better quality and self-control of our students learning process which results in a greater personal motivation.

3. We work on political and economic cooperation and development, but what about culture orlanguages? Plurilingualism, that is, two or three languages apart from our L1, is needed.

4. What’s the ELP? • Document promoted by the European Council for the students to register their • cultural and linguistic experiences and to reflect on them. • It’s based on The Common European Framework and on its descriptors (A1-C2). • for a further organisation and public recognition of the learning of foreign languages. • AIMS AT: • Promoting the linguistic variety and the learning of (at least) 2 European languages other than the L1. • Promoting the methodological practice in the linguistic competence of our students to: • a) Improve the teaching-learning of a language with the ELP as a basic tool to enhance their motivation to learn other languages and their capacity of communication. • b) Use the LEP as a self-assessment instrument to reflect on their learning objectives, the planning of their learning practice and encouragement to autonomous learning. • Boosting the rise of plurilingual and intercultural experiences from a very young age. • Pushing for a homogeneous description of courses and degrees thanks to the CEF descriptors (good for pupils, teachers and degrees).

5. What’s it not? • Not a new methodology • Not extra load of work • (but extra time needed first)

6. TITLE OF THE ACTIVITY Trapped in NY Web OBJETIVE/S Programming a 4 days school trip to NY LEVEL Years 4 and 5

7. ELP SECTION Dossier (Selection of works developed on a multimedia format or the Internet).

8. STEPS • We introduce the topic. • Brainstorming • We negotiate the final activity • The making of a programme. • Their project is displayed and evaluated by themselves. • Resources: www.guiadenuevayork.com orwww.Wikipedia.org.

9. TIMING Two days. EXAMPLES OF THE MATERIAL CREATED The leaflets are collected and projected on the whiteboard. Later they are compiled and placed at their disposal.

10. FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY This could be a song or a film or TV series EVALUATION Our students are assigned the creation of CAN DO descriptors and asked to reflect on the practicality of the activity in order to match their expectation in the use of the L2 and therefore to include it in their dossier. EXTRA MATERIAL Documentary on NY, PowerPoint with their picture after the trip.

11. RÉSUMÉ OF A YEAR EXPERIENCE • October and November- First approach to the Portfolio: contents and structure. • December- Simulation activity for a deeper knowledge of the Portfolio. • January- Vocabulary/Web search activity. Dialang activity. Blog. • February- “The Estate Agency”: Reading/writing adverts to buy/sell properties. • March and April- Introduction and further practice with control scales for descriptors. Jokes. • Final report.

12. FINAL IDEA As the world gets closer, we need to make and teach how to make good use of the tools that can help us feel closer without losing our identity. For that purpose we can’t forget the key role of languages and the promotion of multiculturalism. Let’s just IMAGINE.