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HOLA! for kids
Final Report
Public Part
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Project information
Project acronym:
HOLA! for kids
Project title:
A Holistic Approach to Language Learning for kids
Project number:
133919-LLP-1-2007-1-BE-COMENIUS-CMP
Sub-programme or KA:
Comenius
Project website:
www.holaforkids.be
Reporting period:
From
01/10/2007
To
30/09/2009
Report version:
Final Report
Date of preparation:
30/11/2009
Beneficiary organisation:
Vzw Nascholing in het Katholiek Onderwijs
Project coordinator:
Karine Van Thienen
Project coordinator organisation:
Vzw Nascholing in het Katholiek Onderwijs
Project coordinator telephone number:
+32 2 507 08 18
Project coordinator email address:
[email protected]
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication 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.
© 2008 Copyright Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency.
The document may be freely copied and distributed provided that no modifications are made, that the
source is acknowledged and that this copyright notice is included.
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Executive Summary
HOLA! aims at seducing all people involved in foreign language
learning and teaching of children of primary education to a holistic
approach to language learning, that is an approach which deals with
the language, the learner, the teacher and the world as wholes in a
combination of fun and efficiency, and therefore willingness to
discover and learn the language of another group of people in a
meaningful way. The actual end user is the child. In order to reach him
we have to target to his language teacher and all those who support
him during his daily practice.
The overall objective is to improve language learning at primary school and therefore
to train teachers to offer foreign languages to kids in a natural and brain-friendly way,
so that they can have fun while learning to do something with the language, not just
to enrich their lexicon or range of structures. So language is dealt with in a holistic
way. Our primary end user is the teacher at the shop floor; our end and favourite
beneficiary the learner: we want him to be open minded, eager to learn and to
discover. Secondary end users are all people who support the language teachers in
primary schools from pre- to in-service training, and possibly the people who are in
charge of the curricula or the textbook designers. In order to support our end user in
achieving the objectives, we have developed principles, materials, class
management examples and course modules.
In our consortium we have
complementary perspectives on
In-service
Prelanguage learning for the coherence
trainers
service
trainers
in the teaching and career continuum:
primary schools, teacher pre- and inservice training centres, an
inspectorate and school boards. They
Who by?
Advisors
contributed to the project from their
School boards /
groups
specific expertise on working with
young children, multiple intelligences,
Primary
Pedagogic
school
intercultural education, teaching and
consultant
teachers
learning styles, research on language
acquisition and CLIL. We had two
consultant, one making us reflect on product and process, the other one, expert in
wellbeing of children. Two teacher education institutions worked from theory to
practice and derived principles from relevant literature. The other partners worked
from practice to theory and developed exemplary materials as well as bottom-up
principles.
Didactic
consultant
This dual way of working, bottom up and top down, led us to theory which is synonym
of “what works in practice”. We spent most time on practice and on materials. The
partners developed at home either the theoretical perspective or materials, and
tested it. Materials were tried out in a real classroom setting. Some of them were
recorded. Partners’ materials were tried out in other countries as well. At the
meetings the development work was presented and discussed. Partners were
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buddied up in pairs in order to cater for a first in depth feedback before the plenary
discussions at the meetings..
Reflection, conceptual clarifications and straightforward models pulled us forward,
We piloted a number of materials and course modules in Edegem (Antwerp,
Belgium), in Thessaloniki (Greece), in Vlezenbeek (Belgium) and in Aarhus
(Denmark) and recorded classroom tryouts at home and at our meetings. Besides we
took advantage of local, national and international events and educational journals to
present our work. We were proud to have had the opportunity to present our project
to the new coordinators in February 2009. So, you might already have heard about
us. Pupils’ and teachers’ reactions helped us in addressing our products to their
reality. Even parents were involved, in Turkey and in Italy.
As a partnership we also tried to discover how we worked and learned together and
how safe our project environment was by means of individual, group and plenary
reflection. We went through the usual group forming stages. This process we went
through serves as a mirror for how people can work together effectively in schools or
at courses. The coordinator has kept a potrfolio over time. In the dossier, these
issues come together. We won’t make our portfolio public, but feel free to contact us
if you want to know more about our experience.
During the first work year we have focused on the development of classroom
materials and principles which were both subject to ongoing internal and external
feedback, the latter from experts in foreign language as well as from practitioners on
the shop floor. These outcomes served as a basis for deriving the boundaries of our
approach. Gradually the concept became clear and a common vision on our
approach emerged. In our second project year we set the criteria, we screened the
materials by the models we had come up with and piloted them in classroom and in
training events. Then we started writing out the publication and finalising the other
outcomes as well.
After two years of joint work we won’t stop our collaboration. We have set up plans to
stay in contact and to continue working together by means of newsletters, our
SharePoint (our Secret Garden) and our close environment for dissemination. Those
who participate in our training, so for instance in some of our local, regional, national
or international events will have access to our learning environment because working
together brings people closer to one another..
Reading this report shouldn’t mean the end of the “e-contact” you have with us now...
You can have a look at our publication, our materials in French or English, or both,
but also at our summaries in Danish, Flemish, Greek, Italian, Spanish or Turkish.
They are all on our project web site: www.holaforkids.be. If you still want more, you
are welcome to share an intensive training week with us. We will combine fun in
learning with efficiency. In Compiègne if you are a teacher of French, in Brighton if
you are a teacher of English... Oh, some of you teach a different foreign language?
Well, if there is enough interest I’m sure Theodoros, he is the wisest amongst us, can
contact people in Cyprus in order to arrange a course for foreign language teachers
in general... So just write us an email.
HOLA for now!
The project partners
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Table of Contents
1.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES .................................................................................... 6
2.
PROJECT APPROACH ...................................................................................... 7
3.
PROJECT OUTCOMES & RESULTS................................................................. 7
4.
PARTNERSHIPS ................................................................................................ 8
5.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE .............................................................................. 10
6.
CONTRIBUTION TO EU POLICIES ................................................................. 12
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1.
Project Objectives
The main aim is to design a holistic approach to language learning for kids at A1 and
A2 level of the European framework. We want the children to learn in an as natural
and brain friendly way as possible and to stay curious and eager to learn. In order to
achieve this challenge we have to train their teachers to understand the why, what
and how of the HOLA! approach, to apply it after training in order to integrate it in
their daily practice, to create a safe and motivating environment taking into account
the learner characteristics and to use effective classroom management strategies. As
most of the time the teachers rely on textbooks they will get training in how to adapt
these materials to our approach. They will also be supported in improving their
language skills in the target language by means of immersion opportunities. A
teacher reflection portfolio will support them in tracking their progression during and
after the Comenius course or local training projects.
The overall objective is to improve language learning and teaching at primary school
(mainly French and English) and therefore to train teachers to teach foreign
languages to kids in a more natural way, so that they can have fun while learning to
do something with the language, not just to enrich their lexicon or range of structures.
So language is dealt with in a holistic way. Language is seen as a vehicle of
communication, a means of socialisation and discovery of cultural specificity (“that’s
the way we do it here”). Our primary end user is therefore the teacher at the shop
floor, our end beneficiary the young learner. We want him to stay eager to discover
and to learn. Secondary end users are all people who support the language teachers
from pre- to in-service training, and possibly the people who are in charge of the
curricula or textbook designers. In order to support our end user in achieving the
objectives, we develop principles, materials and class management examples, turn
these into a training course and inform our target users by means of a website.
To meet these objectives we said we would develop of a set of principles describing
the approach, 3 exemplary materials for French, for English and one example for
minority languages of the partnership, a DVD on classroom management, a
Comenius course and a website (open deliverables and closed environment). These
outcomes are based on both, interaction and cross-fertilisation between theory and
practice.
Finally the learning process of the consortium is subject to reflection on how to
cooperate and collaborate in an efficient way within the European dimension our
broad partnership offers. Group dynamics, intercultural understanding and
cooperative learning are at stake as well. Through the way we learn we want to
discover in which way our teacher could possibly learn at our training events.
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Project Approach
The project approach proceeded in a sandwich format: the bulk of the work and a first
feedback round happened at home. At the meetings the development work was presented
and discussed. Partners were buddied up in pairs in order to cater for a first in depth
feedback before the plenary discussions at the meetings.
Gradually a common concept has emerged. We have started by taking stock of the expertise
we had in common and the challenges we wanted to take up in order to achieve our goal.
From there each partner took up his own challenges at the end of each meeting, in
interaction with the project team: challenges which were both relevant for the home context
and which led to the joint /complementary achievement of the contractual outcomes. From
there we tackled the conceptual clarification and the search for a common denominators
which is at the core of our end product. At the end of year 1 all partners were invited to
provide a new needs analysis as one of the means of internal evaluation. A project portfolio
documents the relevant stages and outcomes in the work process. For the didactic
consultant the portfolio and the reflections during the meetings served as a basis to draft a
portfolio passport and biography. The biography is provides a summary of what / how we
learned and worked together. The passport includes more hard data and factual information.
In the second project year the criteria were discussed, piloted, fine-tuned and agreed on. The
materials were screened by means of these criteria and updated. As we had most of the
data, we could start trying out at broader scale: project partners tried their materials in
partner country schools or tried partner materials in their own country and received feedback.
The gained insights in portfolio use led to feedback from the children as well: their reflections
on the impact of the lessons confirmed the impact of our approach. Teacher training events
back to back to project meetings gave us information about the cultural differences between
practitioners in the North, the middle and the South of Europe. From there it was easier to
target our end publication and to finalise our materials. It also helped us in elaborating the
Comenius course.
The university of Alcalá and Aarhus did literature search for working out the principles and for
giving reading assignments to the material developers. They drafted the framework chapters
and developed the underlying models and the materials template. The other partners
developed the materials, recorded relevant moments and made sure it was in line with the
principles. The coordinator was involved in both. The Comenius course was elaborated by all
partners together.
The dissemination and evaluation strategies have been defined by the partners at the first
meeting. Besides the end products, the partners also worked on the cooperative and
collaborative processes and on installing a safe work environment. They took advantage of
formal and informal moments to get along as an effective work party. Reflection on
successful cooperation made them aware of how to learn effectively from and with each
other.
As a matter of fact we invested a lot of energy in creating that safe environment within the
project team. One of the ways to do so consisted on having the partners presenting their
work and running the discussion as they wanted. In order not to end up in endless
philosophical or theoretical discussions we made sure the major part of the presentations
concerned materials. These were linked to bottom-up and top down criteria. The view on
theory we went for is: a shortcut to what works in practice and why. Theory and practice
informing each other.
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3.
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Project Outcomes & Results
“HOLA! is an approach is to language teaching and learning which looks at the learner,
the teacher, the language and the world as wholes.” This definition is the starting point for
the elaboration of the principles and the design and selection of materials.
We achieved a twin publication: HOLA! Une approche holistique de
l’apprentissage de la langue and A touch of HOLA! A holistic approach to
language learning. Both introduce the reader in our HOLA! Universe in a dual
trajectory: the principles or framework one and the materials one.
The principles we describe are means to achieve what we call the “wholey
axioms”: learning styles and strategies, multiple intelligences, portfolio and
feedback to cater for the whole learner and teacher, authenticity and ICT to cater
for the whole world; a task description model to cater for whole language. The
holistic principle par excellence is summarised in the “whole to part to whole”
model. An analytic approach would go from parts (lexis, morphology, syntax and
phonology) to whole (the language system).
When we speak about materials, we mean not just a lesson plan, but the narrative
of what happens in the classroom, complemented by a file card that we call the “materials
template”: a schematic overview of the HOLA! features together with basic data such as title,
author, target learners, resources needed, duration and sequences of activities.
We have described 5 materials in the French publication, 4 in the English one. Other
materials have been provided as well. A “sitographie” or survey of relevant websites is meant
to take the reader further in the discovery of teaching resources. We also provided a
summary of principles and one exemplary material in Danish, Dutch, Greek, Italian, Spanish
and Turkish.
We have compiled a number of classroom recordings which are relevant for managing the
learning tasks in the actual classroom. They are not available for everyone, they serve as
reflection and discussion triggers and as catalysers for implementation during our Comenius
courses.
A number of paper outcomes, even if available on the web, can’t support the implementation
of our approach. They serve as an appetiser for the Comenius course we developed for all
people affected by learning and teaching foreign languages in Primary education. The first
courses will take place in Compiègne (1 – 7 August 2009 and 24 – 30 October 2009) and in
Brighton (20 – 27 August 2009). The course descriptions are available in the course
database. Whoever is interested in attending these courses can do a grant application at the
National Agency. These courses will be repeated annually.
From the Comenius course participants we expect that by the end of the intensive training
week they have gained insights in the HOLA! principles and approach, they can adapt their
own materials to the HOLA! approach and they can design their own holistic lessons. The
courses provide an opportunity for immersion in French or in English resp. in Compiègne and
Brighton. Furthermore the course participants can benefit from their stay in the target
language country to collect “authentic documents” to use in their classroom practice. A major
tool for implementation is the use of the DVD recordings to discuss in depth classroom
management issues and holistic features as they appear in the learning and teaching reality.
As a matter of fact the course participants will be invited to keep a course portfolio and to
reflect on their own learning and the implication of the new insights for their work.
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4.
Partnerships
As you can see on the map, we
come from different parts of Europe.
We represent a variety of cultures,
languages, tasts, beliefs and
learning styles. For us it was a
guarantee that we would learn a lot.
It wasn’t always easy to understand
each other, but by persevering we
found out a lot, each at our own
pace, which is typical for learning.
If you want to get to know us better,
you can find our contact data on the
project website. Actually we are just
like you. We found each other by
recommendations of people who knew us and what we have in common is our dream
about happy young Europeans for whom language isn’t an obstacle any more to get
in touch.
We have a precious mix of perspectives and competences. What mattered to us was
not just conveying our opinion on language learning for kids, but going continuously
from practice to theory and the other way around in order to find evidence for what
works and why. So we went through literature. Our universities gave us a reading list
with their comments and recommendations for reading. Our teachers showed
eagerness to try out things with their own and with other pupils. Our school groups
and boards of education had networking strategies. Our advisers were keen at
having other teachers trying out HOLA! Working together broadened our perspective
and made us realise what our beliefs and our teaching styles were.
Of course we didn’t close ourselves up during the two HOLA! years. We took
advantage of external events and conferences to share our HOLA! Our Danish,
Greek and Turkish partners organised pupil exchanges between their own or “client”
schools. We did a lot of networking. So for instance in Italy, a friend of the school
head is going to look what our concept can offer to dyslectic children. As a matter of
fact our Italian school is very good at networking. She has linked HOLA! to several
universities in Italy. Our Turkish representative who combined the project work with
the department meetings in her group of schools travels a lot and always takes some
HOLA! documentation with her to share the concept. Some of us started working in
other transnational projects where the HOLA! perspective will be integrated.
In other words, we feel our joint cross-cultural challenges haven’t stopped at the
boundaries of our consortium and we are proud of our work.
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5.
Plans for the Future
Our contractual period is finished. This doesn’t mean HOLA! is over. As a matter of
fact the real work continues: sharing our goods, trying to reach as many teachers as
possible, seducing them to deliver additional materials. Of course this would mean
that they get a password to the HOLA Secret Garden, our closed environment on the
web... We will continue writing articles, talking to relevant people, networking..., and
of course, have intensive training weeks at our Comenius courses. Our dream to see
happy children communicating in a foreign language and having fun in discovering a
new language and a new culture is still there.
The last project meeting is always an odd one. After the pressure to finish the work in
time, there is the shadow and the clouds announcing separation. So we provided a
few time slots for informal networking and at a certain point we discussed our plans
for the future and the sustainability of the project, for the sake of the children.
First of all, there are our Comenius courses. A few partners were hesitating because
the tutor fee at such a course is not what they earn at home... but most of them are
really interested in doing so. They can’t imagine what a great learning experience it
is. Teachers who attend such courses are always very motivated, very creative, very
curious. They can continue working together by means of the closed environment.
Often we find teachers who became more or less friends, who have drafted some
materials together at the course and who stay in contact. They try out the lesson at
home, share their learners’ experiences and continue working together.
One of the ideas that came up was to expand the exchanges between partner
schools and pupils. Our Turkish, Danish and Greek partners are already organising
pupil exchanges. And they experienced that real results in behaviour and attitude
only become visible after some 2 years, so they will go on. Another idea is to start a
decentralised project with other schools.
Our Belgian partner is going to reinvest the portfolio work in supporting their CLIL
schools. They are always ready to look for schools for those who would like to have a
network buddy. Our French partner is crucial in organising the French Comenius
course. They have a Newsletter which has a section on HOLA! They want to
continue to practice and to preach HOLA!
Our Greek partner will continue networking, writing articles and working in their own
schools and with other Greek schools. They will take advantage of the biannual
Thessaloniki conference to disseminate HOLA!
Our universities are interested in further developing and deepening of their HOLA!
models and in comparative teacher education research. In Denmark there is a new
language and didactic network as well as a spinoff network focusing on Primary
schools. The primary focus of our Spanish university is to integrate HOLA! in their
current teacher training courses – pre- and in-service, masters and doctorate
programmes. They are also going to contact primary school teachers to put HOLA!
into practice.
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Our Italian partner will continue networking with teachers and schools. They are
going to set up a local project for the Palermo schools and a network of schools
which will get at the same time action learning training.
Our Turkish school has been involving their whole language department from the
start, and they will continue doing so, providing own training and inviting partners.
They encourage their language teachers to look for exchange classes for their pupils.
Our Greek, Italian and Turkish schools are envisaging to continue working in another
Comenius project after this one, because of the major added value it provides.
The coordinator is going to promote the work at several levels: towards schools,
advisors and in house, towards editors, national authorities. They have initiated the
project because of the new French reform and curriculum, and HOLA! appears to
respond to a real demand. In order to reach more teachers they will also offer the
book to teacher training schools for their trainees to use them in their novice practice.
So, don’t hesitate to contact us if one of our initiatives appeals to you. Of course we
would love to act as a consultant or a partner if you set up your own project.
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6.
Contribution to EU policies
HOLA! is meant as a first step to lifelong learning in the sense that motivated children
will be more eager to learn and will have seeds for successful learning. It offers
possibilities for qualitative teacher in-service learning and a lever of employability.
It offers opportunities for mobility through the Comenius course which gives a
European dimension to the training and a means to freshen up the target language
command. The course certificate will mention the competences acquired in order to
fit in with ECVET & Europass. It will also tackle the ‘coming home’ part: how can the
course participants convey their new insights and make it benefit to the school, not
just to themselves as individuals.
HOLA! sees language not just as a linguistic system governed by rules and
regulations. Language is a device for intercultural awareness and understanding,
socialisation, mobility, tolerance and respect for different habits in daily life.
Language serves real life, not just to the get good marks and a certificate at school. It
enables people to take an active part in a multicultural/multilingual society. The
approach in itself is not totally brand new. There is already literature on it. Lots of
people talk about it, but classroom visits show the practice isn’t following and the
beautiful ideas just induce dreaming and isolated experimenting. What is really new
however is the operationalisation of the approach, the tools, the recordings of
classroom examples, the exemplary materials and the training, the inclusion of
reflection and portfolio activities which encompass learning to learn starting from the
European Framework of Reference (EFR).
Being a generic approach fitting in with any language system HOLA! contributes to
promoting language learning in general and to breaking down the barriers between
languages, the fear to engage in an interaction in a new language. It provides a lever
for acquiring new languages, as promoted by the Lisbon objectives by addressing the
children as they are and working on their motivation a.o. by means of the creation of
a powerful and safe learning environment. It starts from the EFR in order to be useful
for all countries and sets out an approach for the most difficult part: the starting stage
with young learners and keeping them curious/eager to continue. Although
progression is a hard issue for teachers this is not part of the challenge - it wouldn’t
be feasible in a two year project and each country has its own curriculum – the
reference to the EFR serves as a guiding device.
It is based on research and on practice at the same time and provides teachers with
tools for learning and teaching compatible with these findings and with the
characteristics of the actual end users, children, and the world they live in. It brings
the world into the classroom rather than aiming at artificial ‘school’ activities. It also
takes into account that teachers use a textbook and provides strategies to use the
materials they work with as resources for the holistic approach of language learning.
Part of the dissemination efforts are also addressed to curriculum developers and
textbook editors, as happened in our first big dissemination event in June 2008 in
Antwerp and in February 2009 in Thessaloniki.
The HOLA! partnership takes up the whole continuum of the teaching profession:
from initial teacher education to induction and continuous professional development
and includes a vision on language policy, values and beliefs as to language learning.
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