Newsletter III
The 3rd partnership meeting
We are happy to inform you that the third international partnership meeting took place in Berlin, on 8th and 9th October, this year. The meeting was attended by 16 representatives from all partner organizations.
What did we do?
One of the main objectives of the meeting was to establish a clear division of tasks in the further process of creating content for language courses for tourist guides. Partners agreed on the details of the structure of the modules and types of exercises. Because of different subjects of the modules, the structure may slightly differ but there will be always 5 common elements: audio recording/audio scripts, a listening task, vocabulary exercises, grammar exercises, a pronunciation exercise. More details can be found in “GOLIC modules” section.
Another important issue was preparation an m-learning delivery space and methodology of its development. Danmar presented the types of exercises to be developed with h5p platform. There is about 26 of them. Partners went through different examples and agreed that h5p is a better choice for the project as it works better on mobile devices than e.g. Moodle. Later in the meeting current issues were discussed, regards collection of good practices, dissemination of the project and intellectual outputs as well as evaluation of actions taken.
Partners agreed that the last meeting will take place in Bologna on 26th and 27th of May 2016.
What have we already done?
We have so far successfully developed learning materials for three out of ten GOLIC modules and the fourth one is on its way!
The course focuses on the context of tour guiding and is designed to develop a deeper understanding of the language used in various situations related to a tour guide's profession. It introduces essential vocabulary for professional communication and covers a range of grammar concepts at the B2 and C1 levels.
Why different modules?
Each of the modules covers a different real-life situation that tour guides often face on a daily basis. Although all the modules will have a slightly different structure, they will all include the same types of activities designed to improve the learners' speaking fluency and accuracy:
listening exercises
vocabulary and word-building tasks
pronunciation exercises
grammar practice (including a grammar reference sheet)
Module 5 - Regional tourist attractions: traditions and gastronomy
Module 5 focuses on the topic of gastronomic traditions and regional cuisine. The vocabulary exercises are designed to prepare tour guides to give information about and to describe regional specialities. Other tasks include grammar and word-building exercises designed to build up learners' vocabulary.
Module 6 - Regional tourist attractions: history
Module 3 introduces language related to the topic of regional and world history. It is designed to provide tour guides with vocabulary and structures useful when talking about historical and political developments in a particular period of time.
Module 8 - Presentations of specific landmarks
Module 8 covers the topic of Christian churches and introduces a wide range of vocabulary that tour guides may need when taking their tour around a Christian church. The vocabulary tasks focus on church architecture and basic biblical terminology necessary to explain symbolism of a church building. In terms of grammar this module focuses on a number of structures most commonly used in this or similar contexts.
Module 10 – Unexpected situations – in progress –
Module 10 covers a number of unexpected and often difficult situations that tour guides need to be prepared to deal with in a professional manner. The aim of this module is to provide tour guides with a wide range of vocabulary to deal with situations such as theft, accidents and illnesses, delays and cancellations or conflicts between group members.
Collection of “good practices”
Collection of “good practices” is the 3rd output of the Project Golic GUIDE!
What is it?
This output is designed to help our target group to understand the fundamental differences between tourists. Each good practice will have a unified structure containing additional sections (dos and don'ts).
We will collect 12 good practices from each partner (German partner excluded), so in the end, we will have 60 good practices.