EUROLTA-Basis courses
The four EUROLTA-Basis courses comprise a total of 64 lesson hours of 45 minutes each. The seminars are delivered in German but the topics explored are relevant for teachers of all languages working with adults. The seminars take place on Saturdays and Sundays from 08:30-15:30.
Basis 1
| Day | Content | Sessions |
| Saturday | Seminar 1: Introduction, moodle | 1 |
| Seminar 2: Self-awareness and personal experiences | 1 | |
| Seminar 3: Language analysis, language acquisition | 4 | |
| Seminar 4: Common European Framework | 2 | |
| Sunday | Seminar 5: Classroom management | 2 |
| Seminar 6: Listening | 3 | |
| Seminar 7: Speaking | 3 |
Seminar 1:
Get-to-know-you session for trainers and trainees. Trainees will be introduced to the online learning platform, moodle and receive information about the structure of the course.
Seminar 2:
The trainees are given the chance to experience language learning from a learner’s perspective as they take a short introductory lesson in a foreign language.
Seminar 3:
This change of perspective will lead into an examination of some of the fundamentals of language acquisition processes and language analysis. As part of our language analysis session, we will consider various aspects related to language, such as phonology, lexical structures, grammatical structures and the terminology necessary to describe language. We will also spend time investigating the pragmatic and systematic aspects of language. As we look at language acquisition, we will have a look at theories related to language acquisition processes, learner types and learning environments.
Seminar 4:
Our final seminar on Saturday covers the contents of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF) and relates this document to trainees’ practical classroom teaching.
Seminar 5:
Sunday starts off with a seminar about classroom management during which we will look at the relationship between teacher and learners as well as the variety of possible roles taken on by a teacher at different stages during a lesson.
Seminar 6:
Our main topics on Sunday are the receptive skill of listening and the productive skill of speaking. The trainees will explore the different processes which work simultaneously as listening comprehension takes place. A variety of forms of listening comprehension will be introduced and discussed alongside a number of tasks that can be used in the classroom to train students’ listening skills and subskills.
Seminar 7:
In relation to the productive skill of speaking, our focus will be on speaking skills development in terms of both accuracy and fluency. We will also test out a number of activities and tasks that can be used in order to motivate students to speak.
Basis 2
| Day | Content | Sessions |
| Saturday | Seminar 1: Reading | 4 |
| Seminar 2: Writing | 4 | |
| Sunday | Seminar 3: Teaching vocabulary 1 | 4 |
| Seminar 4: Learner preferences and learning strategies | 4 |
Seminar 1:
On Saturday, it’s all about the skills of reading and writing. Trainees will develop an awareness of the processes involved in understanding a text; the different forms of reading comprehension that exist; and a variety of exercises, tasks and strategies for targeted training of reading skills.
Seminar 2:
In the day’s second seminar, trainees will familiarise themselves with typical writing tasks they can use with their learners. The important functions of a language teacher as they motivate their learners to write and set up writing tasks both inside and outside the classroom. Methods for raising learners’ awareness of writing skills will be introduced, as will the importance of genre analysis and the distinctions between product and process oriented writing.
Seminar 3:
The first seminar on Sunday takes a look at the different levels of meaning of a word or lexical item: meaning, form, pronunciation and appropriacy. Multi-channel techniques for teaching vocabulary in the target language will be demonstrated and practised. The lexical relationships between words (e.g. collocation, synonyms and antonyms) will also be addressed and the importance of these lexical relationships for language learners will be highlighted.
Seminar 4:
Finally, trainees will investigate the differences in learners’ learning styles and preferences and the strategies available to tailor language learning to different learner types. Trainees, with the support of concrete examples, will become more aware of different learning styles and personal preferences that exist amongst adult learners. A selection of activities to support learner autonomy will also be presented.
Basis 3
| Day | Content | Sessions |
| Saturday | Seminar 1: Teaching grammar | 4 |
| Seminar 2: Activities and task types | 4 | |
| Sunday | Seminar 3: Analysing teaching materials | 4 |
| Seminar 4: Lesson planning | 2 | |
| Seminar 5: Games in the classroom | 2 |
Seminar 1:
How can grammatical structures, taking meaning, form and usage into account, best be introduced and practised in the classroom? Answers to this question will be demonstrated and worked on together. You will come to understand the importance of introducing structures in definite contexts in order to enable learners to really grasp the meaning and appropriate usage of the structures. Examples of student-centred techniques for introducing an detaching grammatical structures will be demonstrated and assessed.
Seminar 2:
Next, we will evaluate a variety of exercise types that can be used to practise, revise and check learners’ progress with vocabulary and grammatical structures.
Seminar 3:
Trainees will begin by considering the structures of a number of course books as well as analysing the variety of approaches and skills emphasised through different course book series. We will also look at additional and supplemental material that can be used to address more specifically the needs of an individual group of language learners.
Seminar 4:
On Sunday afternoon our focus will switch to the main elements of lesson structuring and planning, such as aims, lesson stages and interaction patterns. We will also explore the ways in which a teacher can take into account the needs and requirements of their group when planning their lessons. Trainees will learn about the differences between main and secondary aims, gain confidence in assigning aims to different stages and phases of a lesson and develop their skills in selecting appropriate materials and activities at each stage.
Seminar 5:
The final seminar of this weekend is entirely devoted to games and playful approaches to motivating learners whilst at the same time developing their language skills, vocabulary and grammatical understanding. We will test a number of games as a group and evaluate them according to their usefulness in the classroom.
Basis 4
| Day | Content | Sessions |
| Saturday | Seminar 1: Correction and giving feedback | 3 |
| Seminar 2: Phonology | 3 | |
| Seminar 3: Micro-peer Teaching preparation | 2 | |
| Sunday | Seminar 4: Micro-peer Teaching | 5 |
| Seminar 5: Language and culture 1 | 3 |
Seminar 1:
The importance of appropriate feedback to language learners will be explored in our first seminar. The distinctions between content and language feedback will be explored and evaluated. When and how a learner can be given feedback regarding the progress they are making will also be considered. A further topic for this seminar is the assessment of the appropriacy of feedback and how learners can best take feedback on board. We will look at a number of methods for giving feedback.
Seminar 2:
The importance of pronunciation in relation to comprehensibility is indisputable. Our main focus here is how best to use exercises for training pronunciation in the classroom to maximise learner motivation. We will consider important aspects of phonology such as sentence stress, word stress, intonation and phonemes.
Seminar 3:
Peer-Teaching is a practical teacher training method which gives trainees the opportunity to test teaching approaches and lesson stages with their trainee peers. This seminar will give trainees the chance, with support from their trainers and fellow trainees, to prepare for the peer-teaching sessions on Sunday.
Seminar 4:
Peer-Teaching was first developed and used during teacher training courses in the 1970s to enable teachers to try out different methods and approaches in a secure and controlled environment before using them in the ‚live’ classroom’. During this seminar, trainees will teach a ten-to-fifteen-minute lesson segment from a full lesson plan they have developed together with their trainers. This will give them the chance to put some of the techniques they have learned during the course into practise.
Seminar 5:
To round off the basis course, the crucial role of intercultural learning and the indivisability of language and culture will be addressed. In addition, a number of typical classroom stereotypes will be picked apart.
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