Staff and Student Mobilities
C1 Staff and C6 Student Mobilities - UK
This mobility was planned to be the first LTT held in March 2021 in the UK. Due covid-19 lockdown, this mobility was postponed to October 2022, as this was a joint mobility (C6 student exchange) and the partners wanted to give the opportunity to students to be able to travel to the UK. Especially as the project focused on pronunciation and conversational English.
The objectives of this LTT were to:
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Stimulate exchange of new and innovative ideas on ESL education;
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Help teachers improve their own English language proficiency
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Enhance teachers classroom management skills including techniques for dealing with large classes and mixed-ability groups
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Contribute to teachers' CPD by allowing them to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in language teaching and research
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Discuss and agree on the next phase of the project
The theme of this LTT was observation of lessons and implementation of the learned knowledge and skills at previous staff training activities. Lesson observation is important to evaluate and improve teaching and learning practices. It forms part of professional development as feedback provided on teaching practices can help teachers identify areas for improvement.
The LTT enabled teachers to further develop awareness and use of the conventions of English language, speaking and pronunciation skills and transferable skills. As a result, teachers are now better equipped to teach English language with more accuracy and confidence. Because of teachers exposure to innovative teaching methods, tools, and techniques, they can better engage their students and can better implement ICT tools to create technology-rich learning environments. These activities will in turn enhance students' learning outcomes.
Student mobility:
Learning objectives:
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Express ideas accurately and appropriately in spoken English
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Comprehend and respond appropriately to spoken English
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Involve students in conversations with native speakers
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To develop the necessary skills and knowledge to create and publish their own vlogs, including video recording, editing, and storytelling.
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To enhance students' communication skills, including speaking, listening, and presentation skills
By incorporating the interactive workshop, students experienced a more engaging learning environment that encouraged them to practice their speaking and pronunciation skills. Cultural activities also helped students to learn more about the conventions of the English language in context.
As students were working in a mixed group especially whilst creating their vlogs and presentations, such activities required them to communicate their ideas effectively in English. Thus they were able to improve their linguistic competence.
STUDENTS' VLOGS
UK LTT
C5 Staff and C7 Student Mobilities - Turkey
The goals of this staff training were to share best practices regarding innovative and creative teaching methods and ICT tools that can be effectively implemented in the English classroom. As the partners have implemented 3 virtual LTTs before this one, all of those online tools planned for Day 2 of this LTT were presented, discussed and used previously. As this was a joint mobility with C7 student exchange, teachers prepared their lessons in advance and taught the participating students, and observed each others' lessons. Teachers focused on speaking skills and activities that aimed to:
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Enhance students' speaking skills
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Foster inclusion and team work;
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Master pronunciation skills
This staff training was an important element of the project in order to observe teachers' pronunciation, teaching methods and skills; in terms of how they incorporated the gained knowledge into their teachings. It was also important to hear how they shared such knowledge with their colleagues, who were not present at the previous LTTs. Additionally, observing students' pronunciation, their English skills and receiving their feedback on the activities/lessons supported the development of the CLIL Lesson plans. Teachers were empowered to leverage technology, and to create more personalised learning experiences and more engaging and interactive experiences for students.
Student mobility:
Learning objectives:
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To engage all participants in English conversations in order to improve their listening and speaking skills and their pronunciation with the use of digital technology.
Before the LTT, students had to work in groups of 4 to prepare a movie trailer for an English speaking (British or American) movie. They could choose any movie they liked in order to be motivated to create the movie trailer. The duration of the trailer had to be 1 minute, and it had to be suspense to capture the attention of the audience. Some of the suggested genres included Thriller, Comedy, Romance, Drama, and Science fiction. Before students showcased their movie trailers, the teams had to deliver a presentation on how they distributed work within their team and why they chose that specific movie. Each student was required to talk during the presentation.
All the activities were strategically planned in order to enhance students' speaking and listening skills, to improve their pronunciation, vocabulary, cultural and also cross-curricular knowledge. Students feedback on the activities and the IOs were essential to finalise the IOs.
STUDENTS' MOVIE TRAILERS
TURKEY LTT
C2 Virtual Staff Mobility - Bulgaria
Due to online delivery, most of the planned activities were changed to suit the environment. Partners decided to involve Turkish and Bulgarian students in order to observe each others' teaching methodologies and digital tools used. Originally, the theme of this mobility was the Present Tense, but due to the fact, that the partners implemented C4 mobility virtually before this one, the themes were swapped. Thus, the theme of this LTT was Future Tenses.
The workshops of this LTT emphasised the importance of viewing grammar as an integral part of language use rather than a set of isolated rules, which then helps students to develop their language skills in a more integrated and meaningful way. Observing each other lessons inspired participants to consider different approaches to teaching grammar, such as using technology-based tools and resources to support guided discovery, and to implement a more student-centred approach to grammar teaching.
Teachers were also provided with a structured and comprehensive framework for lesson planning that will help them to deliver effective and engaging lessons that meet the needs of their students. Therefore, teachers will be able to improve the quality of their teaching and help students to achieve better learning outcomes.
C3 Virtual Staff Mobility - Latvia
The goals of this mobility were to share best practices in teaching activities regarding Simple Past, Past Continuous, Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous and to equip teachers with effective assessment skills in the digital setting. The uses of Past modals were discussed along with the various speaking activities that can be implemented in the classroom e.g. "guess what happened" , where the focus of this lesson was on students integrating grammar, speaking and writing using modals of certainty and possibility in the past. The teachers incorporated a high volume of interactive elements, focused on speaking skills to:
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Further develop students' speaking skills through speaking on favourite topic;
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Promote inclusion and team work;
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Masters pronunciation skills
This LTT was an important element of the project in terms of sharing best practice and observation of teaching methods and skills; and how participants incorporated the knowledge gained during the 1st mobility into their lessons. The partners also updated each other on the dissemination activities they carried out since the 1st mobility, in terms of sharing CLIL knowledge with their colleagues both internal and external.
Additionally, observing students' pronunciation, their English skills and the evaluation results provided a solid ground for the appropriate content and methods to be further incorporated into IOs and future mobility activities in order to master pronunciation and knowledge of English.
C4 Virtual Staff Mobility - Italy
The objectives of the LTT were to:
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Stimulate exchange of new and innovative ideas on ESL education;
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Share effective digital tools and platforms for distance learning
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Inspire teachers and help them to work on developing content for IO1
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Discuss next phase of the project
AISR delivered Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) workshops, and demonstrated how it is used in a cross-curricular manner. Partners discussed and agreed on the content development for IO1 and on the deadlines, milestones and tasks for the upcoming period. Participants observed each others' lessons and workshops, which were evaluated by both teachers and students. All of the activities received a very positive feedback. The content of this mobility was developed in line with the projects' 5 specific objectives. The tasks were identified and distributed in a way that they specifically help achieve project goals.
