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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 LearningMadrid, 30 april 2009

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What are we talking about?

Second language:

Spanish

Migrants with different mothertongues

Foreign language:

English

Speakers of Spanish

SPAIN

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Migrants in the Netherlands• 20% of population (16.000.000)• From Europe and USA, Canada etc. (9%)• From rest of the world (11%):

Turkey Marroco Surinam AntillesRest

34%

19%19%

7%

21%

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Migration goals

Migrants

RefugeWork

Family reunionMarriage

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Reflect for 2 minutes:

1. From which origins are the migrants in your country?

2. What do they do in daily life?

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Typical for Beginners’ courses

+ Concentration on ‘general language’

- Immediate needs of students

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Life outside classroom:

Raises children

Looks for work

Starts a company

Does voluntary work

Is an employee

Arranges household administration

Studies

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Customization: a trend

BUT: start only after months or years

BUT: grouping of learners

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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)

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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

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Central device: website Information and instruments that aim to stimulate a more needs-centered fashion of second language teaching

www.nt2-beginnersdoelen.org

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www.beginnersdoelenNT2.org

Explanation of concept

Catalogue ofLeaning goals

Instruments and examples for

Implementation

Reference to CEF

Intake

Teacher skills

Management of learning paths

Organisation or Grouping of

students

Teaching Materials

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Catalogue of learning goalsOrganized on

basis roles

• Functional domains

• Illustrated by practical situations

• Concretized in actions and tasks

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ROLE FUNCTIONAL DOMAIN

Household/family administrator

Contact with official agencies - Housing - Monetary transactions and insurance

Consumer Contact in storesHealthMobility

Student Course or educational programmeHigher education

Allocator of leisure time

Social contacts and relationships with neighborsAllocation of leisure timeMedia and current events

Parent/caregiver Parenting/caregivingHealthcareEducation

Jobseeker Looking for a job

Employee At the workplace, general or specific (technology, trade and services, health and welfare)

Entrepreneurship

Dealing with official institutionsBusiness management

Volunteering

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Successful implementation

Overview of learning goals is not enough

Conditions for successful implementation are not met

Therefore: pilot projects

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1. Intake• Intake-form to identify learners

profiles

• Pilot on intake– Interpreters– Repeated intake

• Extra documentation

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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

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‘Custom corners’ approach

Meets heterogeniousity

Part of weekly programmeAddition to curriculum

• Participants work in pairs/groups

• Instructor offers help• Fixed corner, or ‘shopping

around’

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3. Developing teaching skills

• Documentation of necessary skills

• Training modules for teacher trainers

• Management of competence development

• Background literature

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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

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Aim:

1. Tuning courses to language proficiency of participants

2. Identifying what participants are capable of

5. Help with benchmarking courses(using the CEFR)

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6. Possible implementations

Descriptions of different projects that implement role-based approach

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Criteria for examples1. 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 examplesMeet only one or two of these criteria

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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

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• 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

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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

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Interested?

www.beginnersdoelenNT2.org

• materials• articles• presentation

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Even more interested?

Odysseus: Second language at the workplaceLanguage needs of migrant workers: organising language learning for the vocational/workplace context

ECML/European Council, 2003www.ecml.at

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Thank you.