How do you communicate in a European ‘Everyplace’?

The project ‘everyplace’, coordinated by die Berater®, will develop free online materials for the learning of less-widely used European languages to enhance communication competences amongst SMEs and exchange students in Central Eastern Europe.

This innovative online learning experience will be intrinsically linked to the authentic linguistic and cultural communication settings of small, less-widely visited towns in provincial Europe, providing a rich contextual backdrop for 21st century language-learning.

All this and more was presented in detail at the project kick-off meeting in Vienna on the 8th and 9th of March.

RIVER Kick off meeting in Vienna

At the start of the project all partners from the five partner countries - Austria, Germany, Italy, Finland and Hungary - met in Vienna to set up a workplan and to discuss the project aims as well as the project planning process.

RIVER
Recognition of Intergenerational Volunteering Experiences and Results

RIVER aims at

• making the learning benefits of senior volunteering activities visible
• developing and testing a planning and validation system for senior volunteering
• providing and improving learning opportunities for the increasing number of senior citizens in Europe
• motivating older people to engage in senior volunteering as a learning experience
• promoting intergenerational learning by working with intergenerational senior volunteering projects

Senior volunteering plays a key role in our society, and demands exposure and recognition! Yet reliable and convincing methodologies for the assessment and validation of the impact and outcomes of senior volunteering are missing.

By developing a tailor-made competence assessment system the project RIVER aims at making learning outcomes of senior volunteering visible and thus add to senior volunteers’ motivation and sense of achievement.

Getting schools ready for international cooperation

Next week a training course for international co-ordinators at schools will be held in Easingworld (UK) by the European Project “International Co-ordinator Training for Intercultural Education and Diversity”. ICTPIED is a Multilateral Project funded by the Lifelong Learning Programme and led by the British Council in cooperation with die Berater®.

The training course focuses on intercultural and diversity issues as well as personal and management skills for international cooperation in school education.

Who can participate?
The course is offered to teachers who are officially appointed or informally acting as an International Co-ordinator for their school.

What can you expect to gain from attending?
At the end of the course participants should have gained or experienced:

• A wider understanding of the role of the ‘international co-ordinator’ as a leader in their school
• An appreciation of how intercultural issues can play a part in school partnerships
• A range of learning experiences for intercultural dialogue and communication
• International partnerships as part of strategic school development and as a means of exploring global issues
• How to apply these experiences both to school partnerships and in other applications across the whole institution

Attendance is limited to 25 places. Due to great demand the course will also be offered in 2013 and dates have already been set:

Course 1 (Belgium): From Sunday 24 February to Friday 01 March
Course 2 (Romania): From Sunday 14 April to Friday 19 April

Project website: http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/ictpied