English for Seniors. Engaging - including - inspiring

The objectives of the partnership project are:

Sharing experiences between the partner organisations in terms of teaching English to older learners (55+) (including imigrants and members of ethnic minorities);

improving the quality of English language teaching for older learners;

creating a foundation for the active inclusion of older learners in the process of developing educational materials;

enhancing older learners' interest in learning foreign languages, promoting the concept of "Learning for Life".

alerting English language teachers to the needs of older learners;

creating the tools and the opportunities for intercultural dialogues between older learners

As the UK partner in this project, NIACE has drawn together a small project team made up of ESOL teachers, older learners and NIACE staff.  The team has visited all 4 of the partner countries and will host the final visit in Leicester in May 2012.  The visits have consisted of shared activities with a group of learners and tutors from each of the partner countries as well as cultural exchange.  Each visit has focussed on a different element of approaches to learning English for older learners, such as topics they might be interested in and their practical needs as older learners.

This project will produce guidelines for teachers of English language delivering to older learners and will disseminate its broader findings to UK and international provider networks.

The work began on 1 August 2010 and all activities will be completed by 31 July 2012

This project finishes in 2012. 

13 September 2010:  Attendance at Grundtvig and Leonardo Start-Up Seminar

4 international visits have taken place as follows:

Poland:  11 - 15 October 2010.  Initial set up of project and agreement of partner responsibilities

Hungary:  4 - 7 April 2011.  Learner and teacher activities on the topics that engage older learners

Lithuania:  25 - 28 July 2011:  Learner and teacher activities on the needs of older learners. 

Latvia:  19 - 22 September 2011:  Learner and teacher activities on speaking and listening.

Set up of Moodle site, hosted by the Hungarian partner, for teachers and learners to share language learning resources and information. 

Participants have learnt about the topics that engage older learners and provide a vehicle for learning English and the needs of older learners when learning the English language.   The learners have had many opportunities to practise their English language by giving presentations, by taking part in small group discussion activities and sharing in cultural exchanges socially.  The tutors and learners have learnt about each others cultures, beliefs and experiences. The tutors have shared teaching practice.

This work will be support English language teachers who are teaching older learners and using ICT resources as part of their approach.

Linda Dixon

Project Officer

0116 2047056

linda.dixon@niace.org.uk

NIACE

21 De Montfort Street

Leicester   LE1 7GE