EMA – 4 – MOODLEan international project promoting language learning and intercultural

communication

Boris Kruk, Konstantin LomakinInternational DepartmentSibSUTIS Novosibirsk

Agenda

Project description Creating courses Technical requirements Post-project plans

Erasmus Mundus Action 4 Moodle

Six partners: The Bonch-Bruevich St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications (Russia), institutions from Brest and Lile (France), Leipzig (Germany), Novosibirsk (Russia) and Zilina (Slovakia).

Duration: December, 2008 – May, 2011 Aim: to facilitate international students integration

into their new study environment Results: 4 on-line language courses ( Russian,

French, German and Slovak) and intercultural documents

Target groups: students, language teachers, other personnel

Meeting demands

Students international mobility

Distance learning

Equal opportunities

Intercultural understanding

Creating courses Films showing particular situations in each country

and institution (10 parts) Course template offering a clear and easy to follow

structure (10 lessons)1. Welcome 6. Food and drink2. Arrival 7. Services3. At the hostel 8. Medical care4. At the University 9. Leisure time5. Shopping 10. Holidays

Intercultural documents suggesting ways of overcoming cultural differences

Films created in each partner country. show the situations which foreign students have to go

through in order to succeed their integration into a new educational system.

serve as the basis of the language learning activities. are provided with subtitles. 10 parts lasting for 10 min.

Template

is based on previous experience with Moodle in language courses

helps to create a multi-media interactive language course on line

will be made available to the general public at the end of our project

can be changed if other users want to do so template

Intercultural documents

an on-line attempt to get students to think about cultural differences

intercultural dilemmas no right or wrong answers only different points of view possibilities of quick adaptation

Iceberg analogy of cultural items

Intercultural documents

The top of the iceberg

• Visible items : they mostly belong to the touristical guides

• They can be built from generalisation:« generalization means « categorizing many members of a group as having similar characteristics »

• Generalization and representations are useful but they can be reducing > cliche

Intercultural documents

Intercultural communication=

-a relationship between individu or groups coming from different cultures.

Important: Individus act their cultures and do not represent the whole of any culture

Intercultural documents

Power Proxemics

Masculine/feminine Relation to time

Individualistic/collectivist Relation to nature

Uncertainty Diffuse-specific

Context Universalist/particularist

Chronemics Achievement-ascription

Technical requirements

PC, Macintosh, Smartphones Modem 56 kbit/s, DSL 16.000 kBit/s IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome Mediaplayer, Quicktimeplayer, Real-Player, Flash,

VLC etc

Post-project plans

The language courses will be available to foreign students, teachers and staff.

Some partner institutions will have tutors for their courses (Russia, France).

The Moodle language lesson template will be available to create other language courses.

This project has been funded with the support of European Commission.

EMA-4-Moodle-Server: http://recherche.telecom-bretagne.eu/ema4moodle/

Thank you for your attention!