Minutes of the fourth meeting of the Virtex4All project group, Friday June 4th 2010, 08:30 – 17:00 and Saturday June 5th, 10:00 – 13:00 at the Kuressaare Regional Training Centre, Estonia
Present:
Delegate / Institution / CountryBECKERS Christa / ROC van Amsterdam / The Netherlands
ELLERMAA Sirje / Head of Development, Kuressaare Regional Training Centre / Estonia
HORSTRA Corine / Colorez / The Netherlands
IYIGUN Hatice / Gankaya IMKB Anatolian Hotel Management and Tourism Training High School, Ankara / Turkey
KARAMAN Gonul / Bornova Anatolian Vocational High School, Izmir / Turkey
KOMANICKA Natalia / AEHT / Luxembourg
MARTIN Maria / FASE Zaragoza / Spain
PERKINS Polly / Freelance / The Netherlands
PLUIM Barbara / ROC van Amsterdam / The Netherlands
RANDMAA Kersti / Kuressaare Regional Training Centre / Estonia
RIIM Kadri / Kuressaare Regional Training Centre / Estonia
SVOBODOVA Eva / Hotelova Skola a VOS Hotelnictvi a Turismu, Podebrady / Czechia
VAN MEURS Nathalie, Dr. / Middlesex University / United Kindgdom
VERMEULEN Yvonne / ROC van Amsterdam / The Netherlands
WARNINK Elzemien / Colorez / The Netherlands
YILMAZ Dilek / Gankaya IMKB Anatolian Hotel Management and Tourism Training High School, Ankara / Turkey
ZENGER Alime / Bornova Anatolian Vocational High School, Izmir / Turkey
1. Sirje Ellermaa, the Head of Department, welcomed the delegates on behalf of the Kuressaare Regional Training Centre. At the moment they have 12 running projects and they are very proud to be associated with the Virtex project since its very beginning. After a short presentation of the school she wished delegates an enjoyable and fruitful meeting.
2. Corine outlined the program, she welcomed the delegates and invited newcomers and guest speakers to introduce themselves.
Natalia Komanicka is a new representative of AEHT. She took over the role of the interpreter after John Rees Smith who had retired. She is an English and French teacher at the Hotel Academy Secondary Vocational School in Presov, Slovakia .
Maria Martin represented FASE, a private training provider in Zaragoza, where she has been a project manager since February this year. She expressed her pleasure of being here and of organizing the final Virtex4All meeting in Zaragoza in September 2010.
Polly Perkins has had several years of experience in English language teaching mainly in the vocational sector. She has also worked for Malmberg, an educational publisher, which develops language material. She worked for CINOP (Centre of Innovation of training), a national support organisation in the Netherlands. She has taken part in several European projects. The main ones were Tentec (teaching English for technical purposes and Lentec (learning English for technical purposes), which she coordinated. She now works freelance and also runs The Tea Ladies www.englishtealadies.nl.
Christa Beckers is a German language teacher in a community college who also worked in the National Institute for Curriculum Development. Main areas of her research include second language learning and testing. Together with Polly she worked on developinga language audit for industry, based on the CEF, which has been used in the Netherlands to set up standards of language knowledgefor different sectors of industry. This has been used in the border countries Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium to assist in the mobility of workers and students ( Proqua project).
Nathalie Van Meurs, D. Phil in Social Psychology is a lecturer at the Middlesex University, Department of Business and Management. The focus of her research is the cross cultural management and cross cultural and social psychology. She is interested in both research and applied aspects of intercultural interaction and identity. She has been working as a consultant and gets involved at grassroots level for Amnesty International, Refugee Week, and local art initiatives.
3. Barbara`s Course
Barbara presented improvements in the layout of the website http://www.virtex4all.com. The changes included adding new feature on the bottom line - Exercises to accompany each unit. The final tests and their evaluation haven`t been included yet but will follow soon.
4. Christa Beckers and Polly Perkins on Assessment Common European Framework
Christa Beckers and Polly Perkins outlined their aim in their presentation and workshop, which focused on oral assessment based on CEF. As a warming up exercise the delegates were asked to discuss in groups the differences between A2 and B1 oral skills.
The results were put on a board and they are summarized below:
An A2 speaker uses basic sentence patterns with memorized or routine phrases in structured situations on familiar topics, shows less confidence, uses simple phrases correctly, but still systematically makes basic mistakes. He can make himself understood in very short utterances, even though pauses, false starts and reformulation are evident. He can answer questions and respond to simple statements but is rarely able to keep the conversation going.
A B1 speaker is more confident, can enter conversation unprepared, is able to improvise, uses reasonably accurately a repertoire of frequently used “routines” and patterns associated with more predictable situations. He can initiate, maintain and close simple face-to-face conversation on broader topics that are familiar or of personal interest. He is able to produce longer stretches of free production and uses more complicated and structured sentences.
Polly emphasized the need to realize that even a task has its level, too. If the student is asked to fulfill an A2 task, he cannot be tested on B1 level skills.
Next, Christa and Polly distributed sheets with 12 situations and their tasks based on videos that they had received from the partner schools. Based on the previous findings, the delegates were asked to work in groups of three to assess the level of the tasks.
Every delegate actively participated and shared the thoughts on the CEF levels and after thorough reflections we came to an agreed conclusion on level assessment.
After a coffee break Christa and Polly proceeded to showing the videos that had been sent to them by the partner schools. They asked each presenter to give some more insights about making the videos and Polly asked if students had prepared for the tasks in advance.
Kadri presented the first video on “Job application interview”. Her students had sample dialogues and they knew some keywords in advance. The delegates agreed on A2 level. After watching, Polly underlined the fact that the task did not give the student opportunity to prove a B1 level. Therefore, it was an A2 task. If the student was tested on B1 level, the questions would have been different and more abstract.
Eva pointed out that it was hard for her to find students willing to be recorded.
Hatice presented a video on “Informal communication, likes and dislikes” (A2 task). However, sometimes when the conversation takes place among more students it is hard to evaluate a knowledge level since the student does not usually produce enough in order to be evaluated.
More videos from Ankara followed, “What shall I order” (A1-A2 task), “Discussion about the menu” (A2 task), “Making a date” (A2 level), “Checking in” (A2 level) and “Informal conversation about work” (A2 level).
Kersti presented a video on “Giving instructions to a new chamber maid” (A2 level), which was an example of a very well structured routine production.
Yvonne had sent the video on “Informal conversation” (A2 level) and “Checking in and giving specific unexpected information” (B1 level)
Alime had prepared conversations on “Ordering food” (A1 task) and an “Informal conversation” (A2 task).
Maria`s video was on “Informal conversation on familiar topics” (A2 level).
In conclusion, Eva expressed big thanks to Christa and Polly for providing some very useful information on oral assessment. The skills on defining the levels have improved since last time and now she feels more confident.
Everybody nodded in agreement and expressed their thanks with a big applause.
After a tour of the school and lunch in the school restaurant the program continued.
5. Yvonne and Barbara on Test Assignments and feedback:
Yvonne thanked to all who had sent in a number of Virtex tests. The delegates were asked to proceed to a direct evaluation and further classification of the given tests according to the skills tested (speaking, writing, listening and reading) and their aim (subject knowledge, language elements – grammar, vocabulary, language skills – focus only on language or competency – focus on language and profession.
Each group`s task was to classify 7 pages based on the criteria mentioned above. The common problem encountered by many delegates was the fact that some tasks were ambiguous or the task was not clearly stated.
Eva emphasized that further proofreading was essential because of a number of mistakes.
Yvonne reflected that the most complete tests are the competence tests, therefore she suggested that they should be put on the Virtex site. Other tests would be included as part of exercises.
6. Dr. Nathalie Van Meurs on Intercultural Communication:
Nathalie heard about Virtex4All project thanks to John Rees Smith. The objective of her presentation was to discuss intercultural communication with an emphasis on providing students with all necessary information on cultural differences when going on a placement abroad. She designed a questionnaire to learn what kind of cultural situations students have to deal with, which had been sent to all the partners to fill before the meeting in Kuressaare. It was a helpful source of information for her. She discussed culture in relation to differences, stereotypes, psychology and intelligence, listing a number of interesting internet sources and describing the concept of scripts, Hofstede`s concept of power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity and uncertainty avoidance.
She presented the concept of a cultural iceberg. The portion of an iceberg which is visible above water is only a small part. Similarly, people often think of culture as the observable characteristics of a group, be it their food, dances, music, arts, or even greeting rituals. The reality, however, is that these are merely an external manifestations of the broad components of culture. Deep below the "water line" are a culture's core values. These are primarily learned ideas of what is good, right, desirable, and acceptable, as well as what is bad, wrong, undesirable, and unacceptable.
Nathalie suggested showing the students a video “Meet the natives”,which is an example of extreme situations caused by the presence of natives from the South Pacific in North America. This led to a discussion on how much should the student adapt to a different culture when on a placement. The group belonging plays an important role. Yvonne`s students travel and work in groups of two, in Turkey they come in groups, eventually with a teacher. According to Hatice, language problem is the main challenge.
Difficulties in social interaction and communication arise in several main areas – language use, non-verbal communication, rules of social situations (gifts, eating), social relationships and motivation.
The big applause concluded her lecture full of vivid examples from real life situations.
Saturday June 5th
7. Corine on Financial issues:
Corine asked delegates to send in all the necessary documents. All documents are to be found on the internal Virtex4All website.
She explained each step in filling the Specification Daily Rate form and the Hours Registration form.
Eva wanted to know how many hours are calculated per partner meeting. The answer was 8 hours per day, therefore, approx. 32 hours. Corine needs to receive precise statements of staff costs in the form of payslips. Kadri asked if she should add activities as well but at this point it was not necessary as the form requires hours only.
Corine explained that there is an option of making two amendments to the project. In order to do it, it is necessary to file in an amendment request before 1st of September at the latest. The envisaged equipment costs and subcontracting costs have been lower than anticipated. The staff costs increased compared to the budgeted hours because of additional work in preparing assignments and work relating to the Common European Framework. Therefore the amendment request asks for the transfer of a total amount of €16,500 from equipment and subcontracting to staff costs. Everybody agreed with the proposed amended budget and Corine will send each partner the document to be signed and returned to her by 20th June.
Documents to be sent by 20th June:
1. Specification daily rate
2. Payslip
3. Hours registration
4. Amendment request form signed by an authorized person
8. Elzemien on dissemination and exchange programs:
Elzemien expressed thanks to all who had contributed in dissemination. The articles can be found on internal Virtex4All website under Dissemination. However, she pointed out that the Exchanges link remains empty. She encouraged those whose students participate in exchange programs to send some information about their stay accompanied with pictures to be put on the site
Alime spoke about three dissemination activities in Izmir.
1. Virtex4All dissemination meeting in Bornova Anatolian Vocational High School held on 29th April 2010.
2. Presentation for 24 schools, their managers and project coordinators held on 27th May.
3. Information on Virtex was exhibited at the International Youth Festival in Izmir between 19th and 22nd of May. 120 000 people visited the festival, including 947 teachers and 3492 students. An article about this event was published in a local newspaper and will be attached to the site.
A big applause followed such great work on dissemination.
9. Barbara, Yvonne and Elzemien on Assignments:
Yvonne presented the delegates a framework for tasks outlined by Polly Perkins. A framework is useful to make the task clearer for the students. They will know what to do, how they can approach the task and what results are expected. The assessment criteria will be clear and easier to judge.
Each task should include:
a./Introduction
b./Situation
c./Task
d./Steps (and requirements)
e./Results
f./The assessment criteria
g./Check
Polly and Christa wrote down an example of a completed framework based on the previously viewed video “Giving instructions to a new chamber maid”and sent it to all partners via email.
Yvonne and Barbara divided the tasks to transform one page taken from Virtex according to the framework for tasks. The same should be done for videos. These should be sent to Yvonne or Barbara by e-mail by 1st September 2010, as follows: