IPALE Second Project Meeting

21st to 22nd MAY 2010: SECOND PROJECT MEETING
Venue: Bucharest, Romania

PARTICIPANTS:
Coordinator AJŠ ČR o.s.:
Andrea Křížková (Chair), Kateřina Topinková (board member), Michaela Vrátná (member school)

Project partners: Julia SIPOS NYESZE Secretary General
                        David ABONYI NYESZE
                        Varbinka HADJIMITROVA OPTIMA Board Member
                        Yordanka ANGELOVA OPTIMA, Chair of Asec
                        Nina KRUMOVA OPTIMA member school
                        Boryana KOSTOVA OPTIMA, Varna Free University
                        Jacek CZLONKOWSKI PASE Chair
                        Magda KIDYBINSKA PASE Vice Chair
                        Laura MURESAN QUEST
                        Radadiana CALCIU QUEST
                        Anca COLIBABA QUEST
                        and many other QUEST members
Special guests: Andy HOCKLEY Miercurea-Ciuc Edu management expert
                        Harry NIKOLAIDES Tessaloniki Greece
                        Anisoara Pop Targu Mures
                       
Languages as a Lifeskill - New Perspectives on LSP Teaching and Learning
Bucuresti, Romania, 21-22 May 2010
jointly organized by 

The Department of English and German for Business Communication and Economics,
Academy of Economic Studies - ASE, Bucuresti,
QUEST Romania - The Romanian Association for Quality Language Services
The Grundtvig Project "Innovative Practice in Adult Language Education" (GRU-09-P-LP-82-B-CZ)
Venue: Academia de Studii Economice, Bucuresti

MAIN THEMES:
1. New approaches in applied research and education
e.g. in linguistics, cultural studies, literary studies, education research, interdisciplinary studies
2. Integrated language and intercultural competencies for career development
3.  Teacher Development and Lifelonglearning- a forum for sharing ideas, expertise and project outcomes
4. Innovative practices in LSP teaching and learning
e.g. language teaching methodology, using on-line resources for greater learner autonomy, CEFR-inspired course design and (self-)evaluation, incl. LWULT-languages (e.g. BG, CZ, HU, PL, RO)
5.  Quality Management in language education
Quality Assurance in Higher Education - implementing European projects, e.g. QualiTraining (ECML Project)National and European quality assurance systems - learning from each other

In line with the  partners´ expectations sent prior to the meeting, there were presentations given by each project partner, as well as discussions on topics of interest to all the participants in the project, e.g.:

Implementing self-assessment and the European Language Portfolio - with special reference to the EAQUALS-ALTE version of the ELP for adult language learners:

• The Bulgarian partners presented their experience with implementing the European Language Portfolio which helps students improve their awareness of their role in the process of teaching and learning and helps them set specific and achievable  goals in their learning (presenter: Yordanka Angelova); all Optima schools use it;
• Harry Nikolaides (QLS, Greece) illustrated how they introduce in Greece; 
• Laura Muresan shared the experience of introducing the ELP in Romania;
• Suggestion: a task for the nat associations to popularise it among the state schools, to work towards the development of a state policy/strategy for its implementation on a wide scale;

Innovative projects and the relevance of the valorisation process to IPALE:

• the Romanian partners (with Anca Colibaba and Cezar Vranceanu as main contributors) presented outcomes of successful projects they coordinated or participated in such as LeTS GO, OfficeInterActors, LaProf, InClass, ELSTI. TOOL TIPLD (www.eurobusinesslanguageskills.net); they gave examples of how projects can be joined in various forms and can be linked with IPALE objectives and activities
• On behalf of QUEST, Laura Muresan, the local organiser of the event, offered all the IPALE project partners the CD ROM For a Better Quality of Intercultural Dialogue - Highlights of Quest Romania International Conferences, which comprises a variety of project descriptions for inspiration and sharing of expertise in this field, and includes a description of the IPALE project for dissemination also beyond the immediate project constituency;

CEFR descriptors in use:

• On behalf of AJSCR, Andrea Krizkova and the Czech participants distributed a DVD demonstrating CEFR in Use - Illustrating the 6 CEFR Levels for Czech as a Foreign Language, i.e. effective  implementation of language competence descriptors for adult learners´ objective self valuation by presenting non-natives speaking Czech at 6 CEFR levels, which should help adult language students  assess their foreign language  speaking competences and  help them  realize how they  can function in a foreign language;
• Suggestion: to explore possibilites of developing similar CEFR-based illustrative instruments also for other LWULT languages, e.g. for one or two more languages represented in the IPALE project

Self-evaluation for teachers, Teacher Development and Mentoring:

• Nina Krumova (OPTIMA) shared the experience of the Prestige Language School (OPTIMA member) of implementing a European Teacher Portfolio, as a useful instrument for Teacher Development and the annual performance review;
• Julia Sipos (NYESZE), Angela Cotoara and Marina Cristian (QUEST), Yordanka Angelova and Nina Krumova (OPTIMA) shared the experience of mentoring activities unfolded in their countries and volunteered to contribute materials with examples of good practice to be shared among the project partners

Consolidating networking among national associations in a structured framework

• The Polish partners (Jacek Clonkovski) presented an idea of emphasizing the role of the partner national associations in life-long learning and the importance of sharing expertise on a regular basis, suggesting the founding of an international federation, to maximise contacts among similar organisations and their member schools;
• Romanian partners, seconded by Bulgarian partner representatives suggested exploring project opportunities, to make the most of constructive initiatives and to stimulate cooperation among partners, giving as an example the ECML projects (Quality Management in Language Education and QualiTraining), in which almost all the national associations involved in the current project had participated; it was suggested that the current project as well as similar cooperation opportunities and professional networks could be capitalised on to the benefit of all the partners and their member organisations;
• It was agreed among the project partnership that on returning home, they would explore pros and cons of such cooperation possibilities (e.g. a federation, future projects, existing networks, etc.), so as to be able to present their institution's point of view at the next project meeting, for a documented further discussion.

Quality assurance organisations and enhancing their role at national level:

• Hungarian partners shared their experience of promoting quality in language education at national level, giving examples of how an NGO such as their national quality assurance association could contribute to decision making at the highest policy-making level in the country in relevant issues / domains;
• All partners expressed their interest in learning more on mechanisms that can be developed in this sense, and Julia Sipos offered to share this experience through a presentation and/or an article.