1. 1 Tailor-made Language Education: Dutch for migrants in the Netherlands and Flanders Elwine Halewijn – ITTA, University of Amsterdam halewijn@uva.nl Sociocultural Aspects of Language Learning Madrid, 30 april 2009

2. 2 What are we talking about? Second language: Spanish Migrants with different mothertongues Foreign language: English Speakers of Spanish SPAIN

3. 3 Migrants in the Netherlands 20% of population (16.000.000) From Europe and USA, Canada etc. (9%) From rest of the world (11%): TurkeyMarrocoSurinamAntillesRest 34% 19% 7% 21%

4. 4 Migration goals Migrants Refuge Work Family reunion Marriage

5. 5 Reflect for 2 minutes: 1. From which origins are the migrants in your country? 2. What do they do in daily life?

6. 6 Typical for Beginners’ courses + Concentration on ‘general language’ - Immediate needs of students

7. 7 Life outside classroom: Raises children Looks for work Starts a company Does voluntary work Is an employee Arranges household administration Studies

8. 8 Customization: a trend BUT: start only after months or years BUT: grouping of learners

9. 9 The project Goal: Instruments to respond to individual needs of newcomers from the start Funded by Nederlandse Taalunie Carried out by: –CTO (Louvain) –ITTA (Amsterdam)

10. 10 Benefits Efficient language training Motivation Transfer Preparation for follow up High probability of continuing learning process Guiding principles Shaping instruction to needs Learner indicates own objectives

11. 11 Central device: website Information and instruments that aim to stimulate a more needs-centered fashion of second language teaching www.nt2-beginnersdoelen.org

12. 12 www.beginnersdoelenNT2.org Explanation of concept Catalogue of Leaning goals Instruments and examples for Implementation Reference to CEF Intake Teacher skills Management of learning paths Organisation or Grouping of students Teaching Materials

13. Catalogue of learning goals Organized on basis roles Functional domains Illustrated by practical situations Concretized in actions and tasks

14. 14 ROLEFUNCTIONAL DOMAIN Household/family administrator Contact with official agencies - Housing - Monetary transactions and insurance ConsumerContact in stores Health Mobility StudentCourse or educational programme Higher education Allocator of leisure time Social contacts and relationships with neighbors Allocation of leisure time Media and current events Parent/caregiverParenting/caregiving Healthcare Education JobseekerLooking for a job EmployeeAt the workplace, general or specific (technology, trade and services, health and welfare) EntrepreneurshipDealing with official institutions Business management Volunteering

15. 15 Successful implementation Overview of learning goals is not enough Conditions for successful implementation are not met Therefore: pilot projects

16. 16 1. Intake Intake-form to identify learners profiles Pilot on intake –Interpreters –Repeated intake Extra documentation

17. Orienting activity to help participants select relevant roles Video fragments to illustrate this is possible with beginners 2. Organization of groups Case : groups not based on roles

18. 18 ‘Custom corners’ approach Meets heterogeniousity Part of weekly programme Addition to curriculum Participants work in pairs/groups Instructor offers help Fixed corner, or ‘shopping around’

19. 3. Developing teaching skills Documentation of necessary skills Training modules for teacher trainers Management of competence development Background literature

20. 20 4. Inventory of role-based materials + Model to organize and manage materials + Model to adapt activities to a role-based approach + Exemplary activities for reading skills at level (A1) in different roles

21. 21 Aim: 1.Tuning courses to language proficiency of participants 2.Identifying what participants are capable of 5. Help with benchmarking courses (using the CEFR)

22. 22 6. Possible implementations Descriptions of different projects that implement role-based approach

23. 23 Criteria for examples 1. Model examples, meet criteria: -Goal oriented from the start -Meet individual characteristics -Goal oriented intake and coaching of students -Goal oriented evaluation -Stimulating active, authonomous learning 2. Stimulating examples Meet only one or two of these criteria

24. 24 Conclusion New dynamics in the classroom More chances for interaction More chances for autonomous learning Learner can guide own learning process Learner gains more insight in own problems Different role for instructor Door to outside world

25. 25 Learners bring in own real-life experiences Learners help each other in situations they recognise Easily linked with apprenticeship or real-life tasks Door to outside world

26. 26 Taskforce for follow-up Follow new initiatives to supplement, refine and implement the existing instruments Examples: Collection of extra teaching materials Fill up the catalogue

27. 27 Interested? www.beginnersdoelenNT2.org materials articles presentation

28. 28 Even more interested? Odysseus: Second language at the workplace Language needs of migrant workers: organising language learning for the vocational/workplace context ECML/European Council, 2003 www.ecml.at

29. 29 Thank you.