Use of ICT in support of language teaching and learning

Empowering Language Teachers Through ICT-REV Training

The ICT-REV workshop “Use of ICT in support of language teaching and learning” has proven to be a valuable experience for foreign language educators (teachers of English, German and French) providing practical tools and strategies to enhance teaching in the digital age. Organized by the European Centre for Modern Languages together with the Lithuanian Association of Teachers of English (LAKMA) and with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Lithuania, this training offered educators ideas for integrating innovative ICT solutions into their classrooms as Lithuanian schools implement the updated, competence-oriented National Curriculum.

The workshop focused on helping teachers address key updates in the foreign language curriculum, such as developing mediation skills, supporting plurilingualism, and fostering global cultural awareness. Participants explored practical ways of using digital tools for activities like audiovisual text production, online interaction, and cross-curricular integration.

The workshop benefited foreign language teachers in several ways. The participants expanded their knowledge of ICT tools and resources, including the ECML’s Inventory of ICT Tools, and understanding how these tools align with modern pedagogical approaches. With support and collaboration, teachers became more confident and motivated to use ICT tools in their teaching. Foreign language teachers strengthened their professional competences, which are essential for increasing students’ motivation to learn foreign languages in a meaningful and effective way.

After the workshop, teachers are better prepared to meet curriculum demands and foster students’ communication and digital competences, ensuring they are ready for a globalized world.

Lithuanian version:

ICT-REV seminaras – vertinga patirtis užsienio kalbų mokytojams

Seminaras „Internetinių tecnhologijų taikymas kalbų mokyme ir mokymesi” tapo vertinga patirtimi užsienio kalbų (anglų, vokiečių ir prancūzų) pedagogams, suteikdamas praktinių įrankių ir strategijų, kaip efektyvinti mokymą skaitmeniniame amžiuje. Šiuos mokymus organizavo Europos šiuolaikinių kalbų centras kartu su Lietuvos anglų kalbos mokytojų asociacija (LAKMA), palaikant Lietuvos Respublikos švietimo, mokslo ir sporto ministerijai. Mokymų metu pedagogams buvo pristatytos idėjos, kaip integruoti inovatyvius IKT sprendimus į pamokas, įgyvendinant atnaujintą, kompetencijomis grįstą Bendrojo ugdymo programą.

Seminaro tikslas buvo padėti mokytojams įgyvendinti pagrindinius užsienio kalbų ugdymo programos atnaujinimus: ugdyti mediacijos gebėjimus, skatinti daugiakalbystę ir stiprinti globalų kultūrinį suvokimą. Dalyviai gilinosi į praktinius skaitmeninių įrankių taikymo metodus, tokius kaip audiovizualinių tekstų kūrimas, internetinė sąveika ir tarpdalykinė integracija.

Seminaras užsienio kalbų mokytojams buvo naudingas keliais aspektais. Dalyviai praplėtė žinias apie IKT įrankius ir išteklius, ir suprato, kaip šie įrankiai dera su šiuolaikiniais pedagogikos metodais. Bendradarbiavimas ir palaikymas mokymų metu padėjo mokytojams jaustis labiau pasitikinčiais savimi ir motyvuotais taikyti IKT savo pamokose. Be to, mokytojai stiprino profesines kompetencijas, kurios itin svarbios siekiant padidinti mokinių motyvaciją prasmingai ir efektyviai mokantis užsienio kalbų.

Dalyvavę mokymuose kalbų pedagogai yra geriau pasirengę įgyvendinti ugdymo programos reikalavimus bei lavinti mokinių komunikacinius ir skaitmeninius gebėjimus, suteikdami jiems galimybę sėkmingai veikti globaliame pasaulyje.

Kristina Urboniene, local coordinator

On November 8 and 9, 2024, employees of cantonal education administrations, language lecturers from various universities of teacher education in Switzerland, teachers at kindergarten, primary and lower secondary level as well as internship supervisors met for a workshop in St. Gallen. The workshop was organized and held in close cooperation with the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe (ECML).

The three-person team of experts showed the participants concrete ways in which teachers and learners can be guided and supported so that they can use information and communication technologies in a pedagogically meaningful way in foreign language lessons and engage in virtual exchange with learners from other schools.

In order to achieve this goal, the participants were given ample opportunity on the first day to become aware of the available technologies and to critically reflect on their use in the classroom. Particular attention was paid to the question of their didactic added value.

The second day was used to develop concrete and immediately applicable learning activities. The group work enabled creative collaboration and the peer reviews led to an optimization of the products. These are available to all course participants via the course platform.

The workshop was conducted in collaboration with the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML), which will also disseminate the learning activities developed on its platform. The workshop was also financially supported by the ECML and the European Commission. The Institute for Linguistic and Literary Education (ISLB-PHSG) took on the role of local organization in order to provide an ideal setting for the course leaders and participants. The experts came from the ICT-REV project of the ESFZ. The participants were approached and recruited by the ISLB-PHSG. An important criterion was the participants' ability to disseminate the knowledge they had acquired after the workshop. This can be done through use in courses, mentoring, internal teacher training or as part of continuing education programs in the cantons.

News on the PHSG website: https://www.phsg.ch/de/news/workshop-zu-digitalen-tools-fuer-das-sprachenlehren-und-lernen.

German version:

Am 8. und 9. November 2024 trafen sich Mitarbeitende kantonaler Bildungsverwaltungen, Sprachendozierende verschiedener Pädagogischen Hochschulen der Schweiz, Lehrpersonen der Kindergarten- und Primar- und der Sekundarstufe I sowie Praktikumsleitungen zu einem Workshop in St. Gallen. Der Workshop wurde in enger Zusammenarbeit mit dem Europäischen Fremdsprachenzentrum des Europarats (EFSZ) organisiert und durchgeführt.

Das dreiköpfige Expert:innenteam zeigte den Teilnehmenden konkrete Möglichkeiten auf, wie Lehrpersonen bzw. Lernende angeleitet und unterstützt werden können, damit diese Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien pädagogisch sinnvoll im Fremdsprachenunterricht einsetzen und mit Lernenden anderer Schulen in einen virtuellen Austausch gelangen können.

Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, wurde den Teilnehmenden am ersten Tag reichlich Gelegenheit geboten, sich der verfügbaren Technologien bewusst zu werden und deren Einsatz im Unterricht kritisch zu reflektieren. Ein besonderes Augenmerk wurde dabei auf die Frage nach deren didaktischem Mehrwert gelegt.

Der zweite Tag wurde zur Entwicklung konkreter und unmittelbar verwendbarer Lernaktivitäten ein-gesetzt. Die Gruppenarbeiten ermöglichten ein kreatives Zusammenarbeiten, die Peer-Reviews führten zu einer Optimierung der Produkte. Diese stehen via Kursplattform allen Kursteilnehmenden zur Verfügung.

Der Workshop wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Europäischen Fremdsprachenzentrum (EFSZ) durchgeführt, das die entwickelten Lernaktivitäten auf seiner Plattform ebenfalls verbreiten wird. Zudem wurde der Workshop vom EFSZ sowie der Europäischen Kommission finanziell unterstützt. Das Institut Sprachliche und Literarische Bildung (ISLB-PHSG) übernahm dabei die Rolle der lokalen Organisation, um der Kursleitung und den Teilnehmenden einen idealen Rahmen zu bieten. Die Expert:innen stammen aus dem ICT-REV-Projekt des ESFZ. Die Teilnehmenden wurden durch das ISLB-PHSG angesprochen und rekrutiert. Wichtiges Kriterium war dabei die Möglichkeit der Teilnehmenden, das erworbene Wissen im Nachgang zum Workshop zu streuen. Dies kann durch den Einsatz in Lehrveranstaltungen, in Mentoraten, bei schulinternen Lehrer:innenfortbildungen oder auch im Rahmen von Weiterbildungsangeboten in den Kantonen geschehen.

Reto Hunkeler, local coordinator

Call for the ECML-EC joint action "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning" 2025 – now open until 10 January 2025

The European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe together with the European Commission are launching a new round of workshops within the joint action on Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning focusing on the following initiatives:

• RELANG – Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference
• Supporting Multilingual Classrooms
• ICT-REV – Using ICT in support of language teaching and learning

The activities are scheduled to take place between end of February and mid-December 2025, the three initiatives offering up to 18 national workshops during this period.

The call is open to current European Union member states and the additional member states of the ECML until 10 January 2025.

For further information, please contact Adelina Rosca-Birnstingl (adelina.rosca@ecml.at), the ECML-EC cooperation agreement coordinator.

Twenty-one teachers of English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian (some of them, also, teacher trainers, curriculum authors, professional development advisor) in primary and secondary schools from throughout the country participated in the two-day workshop Using ICT in support of language teaching and learning, organized by the Bureau for Education Services and European Centre for Modern Languages.

The training was facilitated by Ursula Stickler, Jackie Robbins and Sarah Heiser, members of ICT REV team. In preparation for the workshop the participants filled in an online questionnaire and completed some tasks on a Moodle workspace.

The facilitators introduced participants to various online tools, platforms and materials they can use in their everyday work in classroom, such as Padlet, Moodle, Clasroomscreen, Mentimeter, Clickchamp, Audacity, Makebelief, Genially, Pixabey. The participants had plenty of opportunities to discuss and share their experiences of working with these tools and apps.

The participants worked together on creating new teaching activities which they recorded and uploaded on the Padlet as “Tools I had used”.

At the end of the workshop both the trainers and the participants presented their best materials they had recorded before the workshop while contemplating possibility of introducing newly acquired tools.

The training showed that most of the participants are already active users of various tools and apps for use of ICT in teaching and learning modern languages. So the overall tone of the training was motivating and fertile as a result of both inspiring and enthusiastic support of the trainers and dedicated i motivated work of the participants.

Montenegrin version:

21 nastavnice engleskog, italijanskog, njemačkog, španskog, rusko (a neke od njih, istovremeno, treneri, autorke programa, savjetnica za profesionalni razvoj) u osnovnim I srednjim školama širom zemlje učestvovale su u dvodnevnoj obuci za Upotrebu IKT u nastavi i učenju stranih jezika, koju su organizovali Zavod za školstvo i Evropski centar za moderne jezike.

Obuku su vodile Ursula Stickler, Jackie Robbins i Sarah Heiser, članice ICT REV tima. Kao pripremu za ovu obuku učesnice su ispunile online upitnik i odradile zadatke na Moodle platformi.

Voditeljke obuke su upoznale učesnice sa različtim online alatima, platformama i materijalima koje mogu koristiti u svakodnevnom radu u učionici, npr. Padlet, Moodle, Clasroomscreen, Mentimeter, Clickchamp, Audacity, Makebelief, Genially, Pixabey. Učesnice su imale priliku da diskutuju i podijele svoja iskustva u radu sa ovim alatima i aplikacijama. 

Učesnice su zajedno radile na izradi novih nastavnih aktivnosti koje su snimile i postavile na Padlet kao “Alati koje sam koristila”.

Obuka je pokazala da većina učesnica već aktivno koristi razne alate i aplikacije za korišćenje IKT u nastavi/učenju stranih jezika. Tako je opšta atmosfera obuke bila motivišuća i plodna kao rezultat, s jedne strane, inspirativne podrške i entuzijazma voditeljki obuke, a s druge, posvećenog i motivisanog rada učesnica.

Jasmina Djordjevic, local coordinator

The Directorate-General for Education (DGE) of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) organized a workshop entitled Using Information and Communication Technology in support of language teaching and learning (ICT-REV) on the 10th and 11th of October 2024 at Padre António Vieira Secondary School in Lisbon.

This was an international training activity, resulting from a partnership between the Council of Europe's European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) and the European Commission, aimed at developing a joint action called Innovative Methodologies and Assessment in Language Learning.

In this initiative, which is of great importance for the national context of primary and secondary education, participants, professionals involved in language teaching, had the opportunity to deepen their scientific and technological literacy in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

The teachers replicate their knowledge in the short term, contributing to the promotion of innovative pedagogical practices, which will provide more dynamic and varied first language/second language/foreign language classes, aligned with the needs and competencies of students in an increasingly demanding digital context.

Portugal, represented by the DGE/MECI, is, for the sixth year, one of the European countries conducting training workshops promoted by the CELV.

Portuguese version:

A Direção-Geral da Educação (DGE), do Ministério da Educação, Ciência e Inovação (MECI), promoveu, nos dias 10 e 11 de outubro de 2024, na Escola Secundária Padre António Vieira, em Lisboa, a realização de um workshop intitulado Using Information and communication Technology in support of language teaching and learning (ICT-REV).

Tratou-se de uma atividade de formação internacional, resultante de uma parceria entre o Centro Europeu de Línguas Vivas (CELV), do Conselho da Europa, e a Comissão Europeia, com o objetivo de desenvolver uma ação conjunta denominada Innovative Methodologies and Assessment in Language Learning.

Nesta iniciativa, de grande importância para o contexto nacional dos ensinos básico e secundário, os participantes, profissionais ligados ao ensino das línguas, tiveram oportunidade de aprofundar a sua literacia científica e tecnológica em Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC).

Os docentes replicarão, a curto prazo, o seu conhecimento, contribuindo para a promoção de práticas pedagógicas inovadoras, que propiciarão aulas de língua materna/não materna/estrangeira mais dinâmicas e variadas, alinhadas com as necessidades e competências dos alunos, num contexto digital cada vez mais exigente.

Portugal, representado pela DGE/MECI, é, pelo sexto ano, um dos países europeus que realizam oficinas de formação promovidas pelo CELV.

Ana Filipa Morais, local coordinator