Teaching languages in the digital era: the best apps, web platforms and ICT solutions for learning languages

COURSE OVERVIEW
Teaching languages in the 21st century is a rapidly changing and innovating process. New technologies and internet offer everyday new possibilities and tools to support student in their process of learning a language. For language teachers, it is crucial to learn and get trained about the best apps, web platforms and digital tools that could support them in their job and make it easier, more effective and engaging to teach a foreign or native language.
By taking part in this training course, teachers, trainers and education managers will gain an outlook on best apps, web platforms and digital resources to empower and support language learning. Through an hands-on approach and learning-by-doing methodology, participants will develop concrete ICT and digital skills that they’ll be able use in the classroom to teach languages.

MAIN OBJECTIVES
This structured course allows participants to improve their ICT skills in a practical and concrete way together with other participants and trainers throughout all Europe thus gaining as well a broader understanding of education in Europe and exchanging best practices and experiences. The general aim of this course is to foster excellence in education by empowering teachers, trainers, headmasters and other education staff to use the best apps, web platforms and ICT resources for teaching a first or second language.
The course has a flexible approach in order to adapt the learning outcomes to the particular needs and ICT profile of the participants. Thanks to this course the participants will:
- Get an overview of the most important new technologies and of the growing trend on using ICT and digital resources in language teaching and learning;
- Get to know the best apps, web platforms and ICT resources for learning languages;
- Learn how to use digital flashcards to recap and extend vocabulary;
- Learn how to create and use multimedia content to teach a foreign or native language;
- Learn the basic concepts about web design, blended learning and e-learning;
- Learn how to create digital games to foster language learning;
- Learn how to digitally assess and recap vocabulary and grammar;
- Learn how to use ICT tools to make learning a first or second language more effective, motivating and interactive;
- Get a new perspective on ICT tools and learn new ways and best practices to use them to teach a language;
- Exchange best practices and share experiences with participants and staff coming throughout Europe;
- Make contacts with individuals and organizations working in the education field in Europe through everyday cooperation and networking activities.

TARGET AUDIENCE
This course is addressed to first and second language teachers, headmasters and managers of language schools.
This course is recommended for people with intermediate computer skills. If you consider yourself an basic ICT user we recommend you to enroll in our course “Making the most of new technologies, apps and social media in the classroom” or “Discover the best apps and tools for e-learning, distance learning and web design”.

DAILY PROGRAMME
Please find below the standard indicative daily programme that will be personalized on participants needs and professional profiles. The course will be focused on the ICT tools more relevant for the participants ensuring that the knowledge learned is relevant and can be directly transferable into their work, so the programme below is only indicative and will be personalized based on the previous knowledge and on the participants’ expectations and previous knowledge
Our standard programme comprises 7 days, of which the first one is dedicated to networking, preparation and cultural immersion and the last one to follow up, specific needs and cultural activities. Please note that we always do our best to accommodate the specific needs of our participants in a flexible way, including but not limited to budget restrictions and travel arrangements. Participants can choose to arrive 1 day before the start of the course and/or leave one day after the end of it in order to enjoy a deeper cultural immersion in Italy. Upon specific request we can organize longer versions of this course.
For the courses in Palermo the cultural activities are slightly different and comprises visits to Palermo, Monreale or Cefalù.
Day 1
- Participants arrival
- Individual orientation and information about the venue and the city
- Networking activities
- Guided visit in Bologna
- Welcome dinner
Day 2
- Course introduction
- Competences ex-ante evaluation
- How to easily create outstanding multimedia content
- Practical work: how to use photo editing apps to learn a language
- Practical work: creating an engaging video with Adobe Spark or PowToon
- Practical work: creating a language video lesson
Day 3
- The next era of presentations: how to impress and engage the audience
- Practical work: creating an interactive presentation with Prezi
- Practical work: using Mentimeter to interact with the students and brainstorm vocabulary
- The basics concepts of web design and how web design and blogging can be usefull to learn a language
- Practical work: creating your first website or blog with Weebly
- Cultural activities in Bologna and traditional Italian aperitif
Day 4
- ICT tools for a more effective and engaging classroom management
- How to interact and assess your students inside the classroom
- Practical work: assessing the knowledge and understanding of the students in real-time
- Practical work: how to digitally practice spelling and writing
- Practical work: digitally recapping vocabulary and grammar
- Guided visit in Florence (optional)
Day 5
- Introduction to e-learning and blended learning
- Focus on Edmodo as a social learning community
- Practical work: creating a basic e-learning space
- Learning language with Duolingo
Day 6
- How to create a lesson around a video
- Practical work: adding questions and audio note to a video
- How to us digital flashcard for learning a language and increasing the vocabulary
- Review of additional apps, web platforms and ICT resources for teaching and learning languages
- Tailored practice based on the participants learning needs and expectations
- Dinner in traditional Italian restaurant
Day 7
- Exchange of best practices and experiences and space for discussion of future cooperation
- Course roundup and final evaluation
- Validation of learning outcomes and certification ceremony
- Additional training session tailored to specific needs (optional)
- Cultural activities or additional guided visit in another major Italian city (optional)
- Participants departure

METHODOLOGY
We tailor the working methods based upon participants’ needs, attitudes and professional profiles in order to ensure high productivity, effectiveness and transferability into practice.
The standard methodology is highly practical and participative with hands-on approach that comprises real-job examples, case studies examination and simulations. We embrace collaboratively working methods that foster mutual learning and cooperation among participants. Our focus is on learning in an interactive and international environment knowledge applicable to the real contexts and/or in the classroom. The pedagogical methods that we use are based upon experiential training, group and peer activities, learning-by-doing and best practices’ exchange. They include visits with local schools and institutions allowing the participants to better understand the local education system as well as exchange ideas and contacts.
Morning Wrap-up and brief daily evaluations are foreseen to ensure quality of education and to adapt the learning programme to participants' needs better tailoring the education.
We organize optional social, networking and cultural activities in order to give participants the opportunity to know Italy as well as to exchange best-practice and establish professional cooperation and links.
The training and staff team is multinational thus giving a full European dimension to the course.

SESSIONS PLANNED
You can find below the sessions planned. If none of these dates suits you please mind that we may organize an additional session ad-hoc for your school if there are at least 6 participants interested so feel welcome to contact us at info@erasmuslearningacademy.eu to let us know about your needs. When adding an ad-hoc session we may be able to organize it in your language.
Bologna, Italy
14.06.2020 - 20.06.2020
04.10.2020 - 10.10.2020
31.01.2021 - 06.02.2021
02.05.2021 - 08.05.2021
07.11.2021 - 13.11.2021

Palermo, Italy
02.08.2020 - 08.08.2020
08.08.2021 - 14.08.2021

COSTS AND ERASMUS+ FUNDING
Course fee: EUR 490 per participant
Support fee: EUR 200 per participant covering personal and cultural support, dissemination activities and production of a sum-up video, support in the validation and certification process, all coffee breaks and organization of two walk tour in the city where course is taking place
Accommodation and meals fee: depending on the participants’ requests
Course fee, support fee and accommodation fee are both mandatory

Teachers, trainers, headmasters and any other staff of education organizations are eligible to receive an Erasmus+ grant covering all the costs including travel, board and lodging, cultural activities and all fees. Our training courses are tailored to be fully funded by Erasmus+ and are available in different options to ensure that the Erasmus+ grant will be sufficient.

The most common option that we offer to schools and organizations costs EUR 1220 and includes course fee, support fee, accommodation in single room, all coffee breaks, 3 meals per day, walking tour in the venue’s city and local transport during the course. Based on your preferences and budget you can request different services, a less inclusive/cheaper option or you can choose to organize the board and lodging by yourself and opt to just attend the training course.

CERTIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, each participant will be awarded a certificate of attendance, together - if requested - with the Europass Mobility Certificate.
We support the participants in every step of certification an d validation of learning outcomes with specific focus on European instruments and Erasmus plus requirements such as staff mobility/learning agreement, quality commitment and Europass mobility certificate.
We experienced that schools and education organizations may require additional documents to certify the competences learned or the presence in the training course. Upon detailed request we can provide those documents as well as we provide photos of the training course and a sum-up video that can be used for visibility and dissemination purposes.

WHO WE ARE
ELA (Erasmus Learning Academy), is a training centre that focus on designing and implementing learning training courses for teachers, education staff and students with the support of European programmes, especially Erasmus plus. ELA has been created by IFOM director Francesco Tarantino and is in charge of managing the initiative ErasmusTrainingCourses.com formerly managed by IFOM. IFOM keeps focusing on work-based experiences for students and graduates. ELA focuses on designing and implementing international training courses and learning mobility for teachers and education staff.
ELA offers a range of innovative and practice-driven courses tailored for educators, especially teachers. Our focus is on learning outside the classroom in a cooperative and international environment. The pedagogical methods that we use are based upon experiential training, learning-by-doing and best practices’ exchange.
We work as a hub and a network in the Italian territory where we cooperate with public institutions, schools of all levels, VET centres, universities, adult education providers and other formal and non-formal education institutions. Our main headquarter is in Bologna, where most of our courses take place, and we organize as well several courses in Sicily and in Tenerife. Feel welcome to read more about our locations and about the courses for teachers and educational staff that we organize.
We holds extensive experience in organizing international training courses for teachers, headmasters and educational staff. In particular since 2011 we organize our courses with the support of European Union funds and in the last 5 years we’ve successfully received and trained over 2500 teachers and education staff coming from all over Europe, as you can read from the reviews at www.erasmustrainingcourses.com or on School Education Gateway. Past participants appreciated our interactive and hands-on approach focused on practice and experiential training and our support in project implementation, practical arrangements, certification and dissemination. As partner, we bring a strong added value to an Erasmus plus project thanks to:
- Our experience in more than 200 Erasmus+ projects
- Our international activity and presence (e.g. eTwinnig, SEG, EPALE…)
- Our involvement as stakeholder in EC initiatives and networks
- Our dissemination and visibility capacity and support
We work in the education sector since more than 10 years, thus we know the real context, the challenges that teachers are facing every day. We regularly participate in international training and European conference to keep our know-how up-to-date. We’re experience in tailoring our courses to the participants needs and profiles thus enhancing personal and professional development.
We’ve experience in providing linguistic, pedagogical and cultural preparation before the mobility as well as support and assistance after. We know how support and guide participants providing clear and comprehensive information before the courses and making them feel comfortable and safe.
We have successfully organized board and lodging as well as social activities and cultural visits for thousands of teachers and learners that came to Italy for learning purposes.
We’ve experience in ensuring continuous monitoring and evaluation and in the assessment, recognition and validation of learning outcomes through various European tools (i.e. Europass, ECVET, …).

OUR QUALITY STANDARDS
We comply to the 10 principles set in the European Quality Charter for Mobility:
- Information and guidance: we provide every participant with access to clear and reliable sources of information and guidance on mobility and the conditions in which it can be taken up, including details of the Charter and the roles of sending and hosting organisations
- Learning plan: we draw up a learning plan describing the objectives and expected outcomes, the means of achieving them and the evaluation measures, taking account of reintegration issues
- Personalisation: we tailor the mobility based on participants’ needs and we ensure that the training course fits in with personal learning pathways, skills and motivation of participants and develops or supplements them
- General preparation: before departure, we can provide participants with general preparation tailored to their specific needs and covering linguistic, pedagogical, legal, cultural and financial aspects
- Linguistic aspects: we support the participants both before, during and after the course, we speak 10 languages do we can fully support the participants form the linguistic point of view
- Logistical support: our venues are easily accessible and based on our vast experience in mobility projects we provide detailed information and assistance concerning travel arrangements, insurance, the portability of government grants and loans, residence or work permits, social security and any other practical aspects
- Mentoring: we provide continuous mentoring to advise and help participants before, throughout and after their stay
- Recognition: we’ve vast experience in recognition of learning outcomes and we assist participants and sending organizations in the recognition and certification process including the issuing of the Europass mobility certificate
- Reintegration and evaluation: during the training we run daily evaluations as well as a final evaluation to monitor and assess all aspects of the training courses and ensure its quality, when appropriate we run an ex-ante and ex-post evaluation to assess the learning outcomes and the competences acquired, after the training we support participants in order to enhance their reintegration
- Commitments and responsibilities: we draw up and sign with the participant a learning agreement and quality commitment and we monitor that the training course comply with these standards

In addition we follow the best practices identified by the IQAIST network:
- Innovative, modern and practice-driven content
- Practical, participative and hands-on methodology
- Tailored programme based on actual professional needs
- Knowledge applicable to the real contexts and/or in the classroom
- Collaborative learning and best practices’ exchange
- European added value and exchange of best practices between countries
- Attention to personal growth and development
- Needs assessment before the training
- Distance learning support before and after the training
- Continuous monitoring and evaluation after the training
- Validation and certification of competences
- Clear communication, practical information and guidance
- Full support, commitment and responsibility
- Easy accessibility
- Flexibility
- Cultural immersion and social activities

LANGUAGE OF THE COURSE
The course is held in English. For groups with at least 8 participants, we can organize an ad-hoc session in a different language.
Please write an email to info@erasmuslearningacademy.eu to get more information about it.