Multiplier event “Mediation in Language Learning and Teaching”

MiLLaT Webinar

Mediation in Language Learning and Teaching

Webinars “Mediation in Language Learning and Teaching”, organised by Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania, were held on the 8-9th of December 2020. The two-day event was targeted at higher and secondary education teachers. Its main objective was to provide training on innovative mediation activities or strategies and disseminate the intellectual outputs of the MiLLat project. About 70 teachers and university lecturers from Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia participated in the event which was organised online. Among the webinar participants, there were teachers from secondary schools, gymnasiums, state colleges and universities.

On the 8th of December, an honourable guest and the moderator of the webinar, Enrica Piccardo, professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education at University of Toronto, Canada, delivered a webinar titled “The new CEFR descriptors for mediation and the dynamic nature of language learning: from the conceptualization to the class”. Enrica Piccardo has extensive experience in language education research, teacher development and teaching of multiple languages. She is also the co-author of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, Companion Volume, which introduces the new descriptors for mediation in language education. Daiva Pundziuviene, chair of EFL department at Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania, presented a short overview of the intellectual outputs of the MiLLat project.

On the 9th of December, Kris Peters, professor and chair of the Department of Translation and Interpreting at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and executive board member of the European Language Council, delivered a presentation titled “The place and importance of mediation in language teaching and learning”. After the presentation, the participants were actively engaged in the webinar delivered by Robert King, who teaches at the University of Birmingham and is a Senior Content Developer for Pearson ELT. The webinar participants mutually agreed that mediation can bring more empathy, tolerance and flexibility to the classroom and help students’ develop their socio-emotional and communication skills. The takeaway message of the webinars was that a language teacher does not only develop language learners’ linguistic competence but also teaches them to respect human values and be less self-centred.

More about MiLLat webinars: uki.vdu.lt/seminaras

About MiLLat webinars on Vytautas Magnus University website:

https://www.vdu.lt/lt/uki-kviecia-dalyvauti-seminaruose-apie-mediacija-mokant-is-kalbu/

About MiLLat webinars on VMU Institute of Foreign Languages website and social media:

Intermediate Meeting | Mediation Seminar

Vytautas Magnus University, December 8-9, 2020

The multiplier event “Mediation in Language Learning and Teaching” is targeted at higher education language teachers and lecturers, foreign language school teachers from state and privately run educational institutions and aims at disseminating the intellectual outputs and project activities in Lithuania. The two-day event will pursue the main objectives as follows:

to provide training innovative mediation activities and strategies to teachers thus developing a higher level of teaching, learning and assessment;
to give some update on the 21-century teaching pedagogies and methods highlighting the importance of including mediation into the curriculum development;
to showcase the examples of the task-based and action-oriented approaches in modern language education and research;
to present and promote the development and use of open educational resources in the European Education area;
to share the MiLLat experience and guidelines for effective preparation and delivery of training, peer observation, task description and piloting forms in the area of mediation;
to present and disseminate the project intellectual outputs in the form of innovative materials for traditional and online courses (case studies, action-oriented tasks, task-based activities, authentic social context tasks, etc.), which could prove invaluable to language teachers and lecturers.

Programme:

December 8, 2020:

16:00-17:00 – Enrica Piccardo, OISE, University of Toronto
17:00-17:15 – report about MiLLat project (Vytautas Magnus University team)

December 9, 2020:

16:00-16:30 – Kris Peters, University of Antwerp, Department of Translation and Interpreting, Faculty of Arts, European Language Council
16:30-17:15 – Robert King, University of Birmingham, Pearson