Home of tools, pools-2, pools-t, and pools-m

language teaching tools, materials,  methods, and teacher courses

 
Pools-m     Go to the pools-t core results

Winners: European Award for Innovation and Creativity in Lifelong Learning 2009

Read this page through Wordlink

Let the pools website serve as a portal to your results. From the website you also have access to Copyleft symbol copyleft language teaching materials and methods manuals that you may include in your own projects.

Register here to receive news about pools and information when new materials become available.

The pools partnership recommends you to become a member of / join:

You may now become a member of the POOLS team; like all materials in the POOLS website the membership is free. Enrol as a POOLS member e-mail ka@sde.dk

Tools

TOOLS is developing a free online service / tool, which will enable language teachers from LdV, Erasmus, and Grundtvig sectors to create multimedia webpages for language learning with all words automatically linked to online dictionaries in +100 languages.

The advantage of a fully online tool is that it will work from all existing and future operating systems it will also enable creation of language learning multimedia webpages from and to mobile devices like tablets (e.g. iPads).

The users will have options of making the resulting webpages immediately online for free through the developed system (or other systems like dropbox.com) or downloading them for uploads to their own websites.

The resulting webpages will support all characters (UTF8) so it may be used for languages like Lithuanian and Arabic.

The project teams will demonstrate the system strengths and make exemplary language learning materials for Arabic, Danish, Gaelic (Irish), Gaelic (Scottish), Lithuanian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Go to the TOOLS main page

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Pools-t

pools-t

Pools-t (Producing Open Online Learning System - Tools) was approved for an EU grant in the period 2008-2010. POOLS-T was coordinated by "Syddansk Erhvervsskole Odense-Vejle", the development teams came from Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands,  Scotland, and Switzerland.

The project developed tools for the CLIL methodology (Content and Language Integrated Learning) as well as a guide on how to apply the tools in a CLIL context.

The tools convert texts and web pages to html pages where all words are hyperlinked to free online dictionaries covering many combinations of European languages. The application has support for audio, video and graphics to enrich / support the text content.

Two teachers working with materials development

Pools-t needs analysis: CLIL and LWUTL teachers depend on developing own resources (EURYDICE 2005 report "Key Data on Teaching Languages at School in Europe"). The proposed application will automate part of this process and will also enable students to convert authentic technical materials into language learning / supporting units.

The need for a free tool is based on EURYDICE 2006 "Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) at School in Europe".

The need is also documented in the ICC report (2003) "The Impact of New Information Technologies and Internet on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.." concludes: "There will be a shift from passive consumption of ready-made programmes to independent building of content, tailor made for specifics groups or individuals".

Target groups: The project results and outputs are used by individual language learners, subject teachers using CLIL, and language teachers preparing online teaching materials.

Go to the pools-t main results and outcones

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Pools-2

Go to the pools-2 core outcomes

Pools-2 (Producing Open Online Learning Systems - 2) has been approved for an EU grant in the period 2009-2011. POOLS-2 is coordinated by Confederación Española de Centros de Enseñanza (CECE), the teams come from Cyprus, Denmark, Malta, Portugal, Scotland, and Spain. EfVET has been chosen as dissemination partner with access to thousands of vocational colleges across Europe.

Pools-2 is a Transfer of Innovation (TOI) project which will exploit the results from the "original" pools project, which developed materials for language teaching and learning as well as teacher training courses. Pools-2 will transfer the core outputs of pools to three new languages: Greek, Maltese, and Portuguese

The POOLS-2 project target group is teachers of the LWUTL (Less Widely Used and Taught Languages) in technical colleges. Due to the limited range of ICT materials for these languages the teachers often have to develop materials themselves if they want to exploit the many advantages of eLearning.

The final products are:

1. Pools of online Copyleft symbol copyleft materials to be used during in-service teacher training courses and in teaching.
2. Flexible competence based language teacher course modules on ICT methodologies and development of ICT based teaching resources.
3. A DVD with step by step instructions and examples on how to create multimedia online material.
4. A course book (downloadable .pdf file) with description of language teaching eLearning materials and methodologies

Read more about the original pools project - aims, objectives, and results

The project brochure is available in English, Greek, Danish, Portuguese, Maltese, French, and Spanish

Join the pools-2 facebook group

Pools-2 has a dedicated webpage with the core outcomes of the project. Visit the page here: http://www.languages.dk/pools-2/

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Pools-m

Pools-m

Pools-m (Pools of language teaching methods) is an EU supported two years project started on December 1st 2009. The project seeks to transfer the result of a previous project BP-BLTM which portrayed five communicative language teaching methods in manuals and with instruction videos, for each method there are ready to use materials in Basque, Danish, Dutch, English, German, Romania, and Spanish.

Pools-m will translate and adapt the existing materials into Italian, Lithuanian, and Portuguese as well as prepare new materials for the methods

The pools-m home page is http://www.languages.dk/methods or you can just click on "Teaching Methods" from the main navigation panel to the right.

Visit the pools-m blog and Join the pools-m facebook group

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News

Click here for RSS/XML feed RSS feeds: To receive project updates and news via the project's XML/RSS feed
 
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January 2012

The agenda for the TOOLS kick-off workshop can be downloaded here

The TOOLS project has started its official project period. Go to the TOOLS main page

Download the website statistics from December 2011

December 2011

Pools-m finished the official project period with a teacher course in Denmark on PhyEmoC and CALL. Download the slides in Danish for:

The final evaluation report from the external evaluators is now ready for download here.

November 2011

All 150 Videos in the Series One and Series Two Island Voices collection are now available for download in “avi” format from the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig website:
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/A-Cholaiste/island-voices_gd.html

smo logo

This new facility means that, once you download a particular video to your computer, you won’t need to go online every time you want to watch it. This may be especially useful if there are some particular clips you want to use on a regular basis, or if you’re taking your laptop somewhere where there isn’t a good internet connection.

The page also gives links to the transcripts for downloading in Word format, as well as to the original YouTube locations (already available through the Series One and Series Two pages on this site, which also give links to detailed pdf catalogues for each series).

SUPSI has added two more methods to the already popular video on language teaching methods. The final video demonstrates the five communicative language teaching methods (PhyEmoC, Task Based Learning, eTandem learning, Simulations, and Computer Assisted Language Learning). Go to the video and supporting materials

The POOLS-M partnership has decided to open the online evaluation areas. These areas will remain open for the next two years so we can collect data on the courses. Please user the online forms so you can assist us in the work after the funded period:

Pools-m has produced the final course guide. Click here to download

A number of new units with videos, text (words linked to +100 languages), and exercises has been added to the teaching materials:

Pools-2 may have finished the funded period, but the teams are still actively adding new content, e.g. try a Portuguese unit here. Or use your Smartphone / tablet QR reader here:
 
The pools-m teams are preparing for the final project meeting in Vilnius. Read the agenda here.

Download the website statistics covering October here.

October 2011

Try an impressive lesson for learning Greek: Click here. The page with video and text linked word by word to +100 dictionaries was created in less than one minute. The resource to do so will be open for your testing in January 2012.

The pools-2 course has been used in Larissa, Greece as part of a Romanian TOI project pilot course. At the course participants learned to develop online resources like crossword puzzles and drag and drop exercises and the very first prototype from the tools project (to start activities in 2012) was also used and tested.

The statistics for the website covering September 2011 can be downloaded here.

Pools-2 has finished the funded project period, read the evaluation report from the external evaluators here.

September 2011

Newsletter 31 is ready for download here

The aims of the upcoming TOOLS project was presented during Eurocall 2011 in Nottingham by Caoimhín o Donnaille and Kent Andersen with an exhibition stand. The project was also presented by Ana Gimeno, the Eurocall president at the AGM.

Tools now has a FaceBook account where you can assist with comments and suggestions, meet the participants at www.facebook.com/tools4clil

August 2011

All the pools-2 DIY videos are now available with French subtitles. Watch them here

Great jubilation: TOOLS has been approved for funding:. The TOOLS project will deliver a free online service which can be accessed with tablets like iPads to create multimedia rich webpages where all words are linked directly to Multidict (+120 dictionaries), the resulting  pages automatically become online ready to be used by your students and the rest of the world - all of it for free:-)

TOOLS is scheduled to start on January 1st 2012, but we'll present the ideas and objectives with an exhibition stand during the Eurocall conference in September: www.eurocall-languages.org Download the first TOOLS brochure

A Romanian pools sister project CX has prepared a new brochure. Download from here the project is a transfer of innovation project coordinated by the university of Piteste. Visit the CX website.

Pools-cx has added subtitles in Turkish to the pools-t and pools videos. Watch the videos here

July 2011

New materials for learning Maltese with video and text linked word by word to dictionaries:

 Download the project newsletter issue 30 here.

The statistics for the first six months of 2011 indicates approximately 30.000 unique visitors. Download to read here

June 2011

Nostalgia has hit the webmaster while waiting for the EACEA decision on the future of the "tools" project. Try some of his old repurposed exercises:

SUPSI, the Swiss pools-m partner has collected the electronic evaluations from the past pools-m pilot courses. The evaluation results from teachers and their students can be downloaded here:
archive/pools-m/evaluation/survey_responses.docx

SUPSI has also prepared a Video demonstrating three methods complete with ready to use materials 

The work on improving the access to dictionaries (Multidict) has been continued since pools-t finished in September 2010. Right now Caomhín O Donnaile is investigating how to include Kalaallisut (Greenlandic)

Pools members have compiled a video with several languages. If you recognize all the languages in the video then email the list of languages to ka@sde.dk the first ten to do so will receive a pools t-shirt. To watch the video click here

The pools website is dedicated to serving all languages, especially the less widely taught languages, but also English: Try a new exercise English Mania.

The twenty Greek videos have now been completed with summary, cultural notes, language notes, transcript, and translation. Go to the Greek videos

A book of reference (based on the work of BP-BLTM, POOLS, POOLS-2, and POOLS-M) for Computer Assisted Language Learning can now be downloaded in English, Greek, Italian, and Turkish

The Pools-m project teams run a free training course on teaching methods in Bodrum, Turkey. The course is between 11/07/2011 - 14/07/2011 (11th July and 14th July are travelling dates). To participate please contact Burak Demirkazýk: demirbur@yahoo.com

Pools-m will be presented during the EfVET 2011 conference in Malta with round table presentations: Download the proposal here

May 2011

Pools-m: The Swiss partner SUPSI has prepared a video demonstrating three of the language teaching methods. Watch the video here.

The team met in Istanbul to fine tune the materials, plans and ideas for the last half year of the project.

The student travel preparation guide has now been updated with a new layout: Download the guide in English, Lithuanian, Turkish, or Italian

April 2011

Two of the pools friends Svetlana and Artem from Volodymyr Dahl East-Ukraine National University want to share with you their ready to use English lessons complete with video, work sheets, and Hot Potatoes exercises. Download the zipped exercises (60Mb data)

Tools: While we have our fingers crossed for the tools application you can read the submitted file here
I have just received a message through Youtube demonstrating the need for tools!-: "Please! Help! The TextBlender does not work with the Russian language. I have already tried everything! I have written in openoffice, copied the text to pad and pasted it agyin to textblender. it does not work! I tried to change fonts, it does not help! please! How to paste a russian text? Thank you!"

Pools-t: The project received a 9 out of 10 in the final evaluation. Read the report here

The project newsletter issue 29 is ready for downloading.

Impressive website 2011 statistics:-)
Statistics March 2011
Statistics covering February 2011
Statistics covering January 2011

Pools-2: The project teams met in March in Evora, Portugal to check on progress and milestones. Read the minutes here.

Read a compilation of evaluations from the Portuguese courses: Download the evaluations here

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March 2011

Tools: The tools application has been submitted six weeks before the KA2 deadline:-) Tools proposes to develop a fully online application, which will allow authoring of language learning materials to and from mobile devices (e.g. iPads and smart phones) where the results automatically become online. The online service will combine the functions of the pools-t results: Wordlink, Multidict, and TextBlender so the multimedia rich learning output is linked word by word to online dictionaries. Tools will support all languages e.g. Arabic texts and will work on all operating systems.

Pools-2 has delivered the final versions of the course book / manual in:

Conference announcements: The 1st International Conference on Language Testing and Assessment. June 3-5, 2011 (preconference workshops June 3) Venue: Department of English Studies, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus http://www.iclta2011.com

September, 28-30, 2011 the Language Teaching Centre of Freiburg University will host an International Conference on LANGUAGE POLICY AND LANGUAGE TEACHING:  "Multilingualism in Society, the World of Work, and Politics. New Challenges for Teaching at Institutes of Higher Education/Universities". For further information please click directly on the conference homepage: www.sli-konferenz-mehrsprachigkeit.de  or check our website: www.sli.uni-freiburg.de

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February 2011

The pools partners recommend you to join the European Schoolnet (EUN), which is open for new members. EUN is more than 10 years old, and we are growing from strength to strength. With 31 Ministries of Education now members, European Schoolnet looks set to develop even more in the future, with more countries in the process of joining. What's more, a recent decision by the Steering Committee will open membership of European Schoolnet Partnership to the wider educational community, including regions, non-governmental organisations organisations and educational institutions such as universities and schools. Download the EUN brochure

Pools-m
: The Danish layout artist Lone Olstrup has created the final versions of the pools-m method manuals.

Download the new CALL manual in

Download the new eTandem manual in

Download the new PhyEmoC manual in

Download the new Simulations manual in

Download the new Task Based Learning manual in

After moving the website to a new hosting service we can get more reliable information on the activity: Statistics covering January 2011

During the move to a new web hosting service some files may have been lost. If you experience a link which is not working then please mail ka@sde.dk with a description of the missing link.

The students' corner has been restructured. Watch videos produced by students from www.languages.dk/students

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January 2011

Pools and pools-2: Enterprise, the third and final section in the series of Guthan nan Eilean/Island Voices videos, is now complete and online. Click here to get to the menu page.

Completion of this section brings the total number of videos between the first and second series to 150. It’s a tribute to these island communities that so many individuals and organisations were prepared to make important contributions to a body of work that will be a very useful resource for local learners of both languages, and perhaps of wider interest still.

As the Enterprise catalogue explains, the amount and level of material in this section pose a new order of challenge for learners. Good luck!

Pools-m: We have received the evaluation report covering the first 12 months of the project from our external evaluators. Click here to download and read

Pools-2: More videos have been added to the Portuguese video area. There are now 23 Portuguese videos. Click here to watch the videos

The feedback to the Interim Report from the Spanish National Agency has arrived and can be downloaded here

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December 2010

This website has just moved to another host. Uploading all the files may have caused some to be lost (I may have forgotten a file). Please mail ka@sde.dk if you find a file or page is missing.

Newsletter issue 28 is ready for download

Pools-t: New Dutch exercises have been made online:

Pools-2: Four new Maltese videos can now be watched complete with texts and notes. Go to the Maltese video area.

The Interim report has been submitted, the report reflects the results from the first project year.

The Portuguese team has started the pilot courses, as a result from one of the courses a new unit for learning Portuguese "Quem somos nós?" is now online. Test it here

Also the Cyprus team has had the first pilot course with 20 participants. One of the results is an online unit in Greek "The Tombs of the Kings" or "Οι Τάφοι των Βασιλέων". The unit has been saved in a Dropbox folder.

Pools-m: The Turkish team have adapted and translated the PhyEmoC Guide, the eTandem Learning Guide, the Call Guide, and the Task Based Learning guide.

The work placement guide for students has now been adapted and translated into Lithuanian, download it here

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November 2010

Pools-t:  After the funded period the Scottish team has improved the Wordlink software even furthers, new functions are: The last word that has been clicked in a text is highlighted and a user can click Esc to return to the "normal" webpage.

The project, which finished in September, has prepared the Final Report. Download the Final Report confidential part and public part. One of the last outputs from pools-t was the compilation of the Exploitation Report.

Pools-m: The Demonstration videos showing five teaching methods are now available with Italian subtitles. Watch the here.

The project teams met in Pistoia, Italy for a one week workshop, which included a pilot course with presentation of language teaching methods and tools.

The Lithuanian version of the CALL course book is ready for download.

The Italian team has developed a board game for students preparing for a work placement period. Download the board in low resolution or in high resolution, Notes/manual for the teacher can be downloaded here.

Pools-2: The External evaluation report covering the first project year is ready for download.

Several new videos have been added to the Portuguse video collection. Watch the videos here

The Portuguese team has made two new exercises with videos and texts:

October 2010

Pools-m: Download the agenda for the project workshop and pilot course in November.

Two days teacher course on language teaching methods in Italy November 2nd and 3rd 2010. Quick registration needed. Download brochure here

The project teams have started the process of preparing subtitles for videos showing the language teaching and learning methods in real classes. The subtitles are now ready in

The Italian team has prepared a new simulation. Download it from here

Sample materials produced for the course:

All pools: Newsletter 27 can now be downloaded here

Pools-2: The Cyprus team has adapted and translated the course book into Greek download it here.

New Maltese videos are now online: Maltese Videos

New brochure in French can be downloaded here.

The meeting minutes from the September meeting in Malta can be downloaded here.

Download the evaluation form to be used for the pilot courses in: English, Greek, Maltese

Pools-t: Caoimhín has made yet another breakthrough with the Wordlink tools. Pages that until this week misbehaved now work well, e.g. the BBC website - Try BBC in a Wordlinked format.

The Swiss team has prepared 10 new units using the TextBlender:
 
Health Care and Social Work
Knee ligament anatomy
Embrace

Engineering, Architecture and Visual Communication
Louis Kahn
Photos
Building Green

Songs
What did you learn in school today
Streets of London
Born in the USA
Yesterday

Gordon Wells has prepared 20 units for learning English and 20 units for learning Gaelic making use of a Wordpress blog combined with linking words to dictionaries through Wordlink. Try the 40 Wordlinked texts: http://guthan.wordpress.com/series-one/

The final project workshop took place in Hoorn, the Netherlands. Read the agenda, the workshop minutes, and the workshop evaluation.

September 2010

Pools-t: Several Greek exercises added: Τα ζώα θέλουν φροντίδα - Κατανόηση Προφορικού Λόγου and Διατροφή - Πιστοποίηση Ελληνομάθειας Επίπεδο Γ΄

Two Dutch exercises can now be accessed online: Farewell, and at the station

An English unit based on a Wordpress blog: Norman Maclean: Creativity and values (A unit making use of Wordlink with exercises made with Hot Potatoes)

Two Dutch units on how to wire a British plug can now be tested. The units may be suitable for a CLIL lesson targeting to levels of users:

Pools-2: The teams have prepared a course evaluation form for course participants to ensure adaptation of and fine tuning the courses. Download the form in English, or Greek.

Two French videos has been added to the video portfolio of pools-2 outcomes: Watch them here

The pools-2 workshop in Malta was successful, read the participants evaluation here.

The Portuguese team has uploaded several videos. Watch the videos in the Portuguese video page

Also the Cyprus team has uploaded several videos: Watch the videos in the Cyprus video page (in Greek)

The project teams have prepared sample exercises based on video and text (web pages compiled with the TextBlender) followed by crosswords, fill in the blank etc. exercises (created with Hot Potatoes), all the exercises are online (made automatically in the public area of a Dropbox folder). Try unit one from the Portuguese team or unit two. Try unit one from the Cyprus team, More units from the Maltese team is being prepared.

Pools-t: The final quality report from the evaluators Angelica Bucur and Gareth Long has been received with pleasure. It is for the partnership a very pleasant read:-) Download from here

The Danish team arranged a short course for teachers working with immigrant students, for the course a short introduction for Wordlink and Multidict was prepared in Danish

Lone Olstrup has finalized the layout and look for the CLIL manual in all the project languages. Download the manual in:

Pools-CX Centres of Excellence a Transfer of Innovation project based on the original pools project with a Romanian coordinator has been approved for funding

Pools-2: The Maltese pools-2 team has developed / adapted six WebQuests into Maltese, test them here:

The Maltese team has finished adapting and translating the Course Book. Download it from here
Also the Course Guide has been adapted and is now ready in Maltase. Download it from here.

The Cyprus team has finished the adaptation of the course guide into Greek. Download it  here

The teams are preparing for the workshop and pilot courses in September. Download the agenda here

The Portuguese team has uploaded several videos. Watch the videos in the Portuguese video page

Also the Cyprus team has uploaded several videos: Watch the videos in the Cyprus video page (in Greek)

Pools-m: The Danish team has had a meeting preparing the pilot course for the workshop in Pistoia in November. A document in Danish forms the base for continued development

August 2010

Pools-m: The Italian team has finished translating and adapting the five method manuals read their

Pools-2: The Cyprus team has prepared the first videos to be used during the workshop in Malta: Watch them from: http://www.languages.dk/digital/indexEL.html

Pools-t: The Danish designer Lone Olstrup has prepared a new layout and look for the CLIL manual. Download the manual in:

Pools-t: The project teams have finished the work with DIY videos demonstrating what the TextBlender can do for you (temptation), how to make the webpages available on the Internet, how to use the TextBlender, and some case stories with the TextBlender, we have also updated some DIY videos with subtitles for Hot Potatoes:

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July 2010

The Cyprus team has prepared a ready to use WebQuest in Greek. Ξέρετε με ποιο τρόπο ένα καγκουρό που δεν ζει στην Αυστραλία να μπορεί να φτάσει εκεί; Ο Mικές Τρικοίλης του 5ου Δημοτικού Σχολείου Καλύμνου γνωρίζει την απάντηση. Εσείς την γνωρίζετε: Click here to download

The Portuguese team has made three new WebQuests for learning Portuguese, each of them has support texts in English, download and test them here:

Pools-t: Try some of our units that have just been updated and now make use of the TextBlender engine and calls to dictionaries through the Multidict tool. This means that all words are linked to 90 different languages!-)

Gordon Wells has created another English unit with exercises all based on a Wordpress blog try it here

All POOLS: Newsletter issue 26 is ready for downloading here. The newsletter is a combined newsletter for pools, pools-2, pools-t, and pools-m

Pools-m: The Italian team has prepared a teachers' guide for the board game preparing students for International Work Placement. Download the guide here to order the board game, please contact: Stefano Tirati: stefano@cscs.it  +39057350444 Website: http://www.cscs.it 

Pools-t: The Swiss pools-t team has finished translating the manual on how to make use of the tools produced by the project in a CLIL based context into German and Italian. Download the German manual in Word format here Download the Italian manual in Word format here. All the manuals can be downloaded here.

Pools-t: Kent Andersen met with the Greek team in Thessaloniki, together they tested and finalized the Greek version of the TextBlender.

Pools-m: The manuals for Task Based Learning, Tandem Learning, and the Student preparation guide for travelling have been finalized.

Pools-2: The course book (for computer assisted learning) has been finalized.

June 2010

Pools-t: Several of the example units for learning English and Danish have been updated, test them here

Pools-2: Gordon Wells has just finished another batch of English and Gaelic videos. Go to The Island Voices Project Blog to watch them or to the Video area of this site

Pools-t: The TextBlender has been updated (an error with use of embedded Youtube videos has been corrected) can now be downloaded in its "final" version. It makes full use of the Multidict dictionary, some problems with use of local videos in .wmv format have been solved. Go to the tools area and download the software

Pools-t: The manual on how to make use of the tools produced by the project in a CLIL based context can now be downloaded in English .pdf format, in Word format and in Danish. The procedure of translating it into Greek, Dutch, and Italian has started.

Pools-2: Gordon Wells has produced 32 new videos with texts: 16 in English and 16 in Gaelic. Go to the video area or to Gordon Wells' blog

On Thursday 27th May, POOLS-2 was presented in Arezzo (Italy) to the workshop “An update on the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013”, organised by the Education and Training Department of Arezzo Province. Read more about the presentation in the next newsletter (July 1st)

Pools-2 and pools-m: Both projects share the same course book on computer assisted language learning, download the updated course book in .pdf format here, or in Word format here

Pools-m: Download the Student International Work Placement Guide in Italian (word format)

May 2010

Pools-m: The teams have prepared and adapted a simulation named Airport for use in German, Italian, Lithuanian, and Turkish: Try it with your students
 

We have just received the first report from the external evaluators. A pleasant read with good recommendations. Download or read it here

The Italian pools-m team has published articles on the exploitation of poos-m results in Italy. Read about Italymobility and Pools-M and The Coop group Mobility for Apprentices Project and Pools – M methods

April 2010

Pools-m: The project teams are preparing for the May workshop in Istanbul. Read the agenda

The update and adaptation of the International Work Placement Guide is now almost finished

Pools-2: The project brochure is now also available in French.

Pools-t: Major updates in the TextBlender. Download it from the Tools area

Gordon Wells has prepared a guide on "Using Ipadio to create webpages with embedded audio". Many language teachers and learners appreciate teaching materials that incorporate both written and spoken language. However, it has always seemed to be a more complex task to create sound files than text files. In recent times a number of attempts have been made to harness digital telephone technology to the purpose. Download his guide here

Dedicated domain for the new dictionary system "Multidict". In the near future the databases running the Multidict and Wordlink tools will be moved to www.multidict.net the site is already operational (now using a redirect) so you can start pointing your favourite dictionary link/bookmark to it:-)  

Frans van Schaik and Ellen Ejerskov presented the TextBlender and Word link to Dutch CLIL teachers at a CLIL conference workshop. A fun summary of their results can be downloaded here

Newsletter issue 25 is ready for downloading here. The newsletter is a combined newsletter for pools, pools-2, pools-t, and pools-m

Pools-m: The updated and adapted core manuals are becoming online on a daily basis. Go to the methods area to read about the new material.

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March 2010

Pools-2: The teams met in Nicosia

The second workshop (in Nicosia) includes a video course with Gordon Wells as the instructor:



The first videos can be watched here. See photos from the ongoing workshop here.

The First External Evaluation Report has been compiled by the external evaluators Angelica Bucur and Gareth Long. Download the report here

Pools-t: Learn about the project through Gordon Wells' voice Blog here:

The Dutch team from Horizon college has presented the pools outcomes at a conference on CLIL invited by the European Platform. Watch their presentation here

The TextBlender has (March 16th 2010) been released in version 3.02. After recommendations from many users the webpages produced by the TextBlender now make use of the online dictionary, Multidict. The Multidict (128 dictionaries) is opened in a frame so the student can see both text and dictionary at the same time. The student can also easily change dictionary or target language:


TextBlender output. N.B. If you enable cookies in your browser you can select another dictionary so when clicking on a word after changing the dictionary the lookup is done with that dictionary. Try the example output yourself

Download the new TextBlender and produce pages like the one above

Multidict is now a combination of +128 dictionaries. Multidict has been developed by Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig as part of the European funded POOLS-T project. Try you new favourite dictionary here 

POOLS-M: The project has been presented by Serhat Tuna on Turkish national television

The video with Serhat Tuna has been divided into three parts, watch part two here and part three here

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February 2010

POOLS-M: The Lithuanian project team has finished the adaptation and updating of the "Simulations Manual". Download it here

POOLS-2: The Portuguese team member Ana Silva has prepared an online exercise with music for learning Portuguese, Try it here

The minutes from the pools-2 kick-off workshop in Madrid (January) can be downloaded here

Pools-t: The Dutch team are preparing for a CLIL workshop, and have therefore started preparing examples of TextBlender and Wordlink outputs: Here are some examples of the web pages they are working on:

Subliminal advertising:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4215224/Webpages%20EU%20POOLST/The%20Netherlands/Advertising%20wp/trial%201.htm

Car start problems:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4215224/Webpages%20EU%20POOLST/The%20Netherlands/Car%20start%20problems/carstart.htm

Biology CELLS:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4215224/Webpages%20EU%20POOLST/The%20Netherlands/TB%20Biology/bio.htm

The Danish team is producing DIY videos in February: Step by step DIY videos showing how to upload WebPages to the Internet, how to install and use the TextBlender, and case stories of pages created with the TextBlender

A new version of the TextBlender is now ready for download. The February version is close to a final version with regards to functions and appearance. Future versions will mainly be improving outputs as well as removing reported bugs

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January 2010

Pools-t, pools-m, and pools-2 project newsletter issue 24 (January - March 2010) can be downloaded here

POOLS-2: The project workshop in Madrid was a success, read about the workshop here, with different handouts, presentations, and tasks before next meeting

The project brochure is available in English, Greek, Danish, Portuguese, Maltese, and Spanish

The pools-2 teams meet in in Madrid from January 11th to 15th. Read the workshop agenda.

POOLS-T: The CLIL teams (Horizon College and Athena College met in the Netherlands to prepare the CLIL guide for the project. Read their meeting minutes and recommendations here

The pools-t progress report has been approved by the EACEA with a total score of 9 (out of 10). Read the feedback and recommendations here

Each of the project teams have planned to produce sample CLIL based lessons making use of the TextBlender and the Wordlink tools. The Danish team has made a case story telling how the material was found and developed together with a lesson plan. To read the text click here.

Gordon Wells has developed a suite of flexible self-teach/self-test English exercises suitable for CLIL, based on Island Voices video material. Read about them here The four separate units can be accessed from:
http://www.languages.dk/materials.html#Scottish_Island_Voices

Jan Hardie from the Swiss team has prepared three online exercises suitable for CLIL, try them out here

The two main tools, i.e. the TextBlender and  Wordlink have been improved. To follow the development of Wordlink please click here. The TextBlender can be accessed from the Tools area.

Pools-m: The project brochure is available in English Italian, Lithuanian, Turkish, and Danish

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EU grants for course on WEB 2.0 and Language Education.
'Designing activities for the 2.0 Language Classroom' (A Comenius professional development course)

In conjunction with the Utrecht University Summer School the Faculties of Education of Heidelberg and Utrecht Universities of Applied Sciences offer a 7-day, international course exploring WEB 2.0 applications such as Wiki
and Web-logging, real-time communication (Videoconferencing and 3D Virtual Worlds) and the Language Quest format for integrating the World Wide Web into classroom teaching.
Besides, the course location in the brand-new building of the Faculty of Education in Utrecht, the Netherlands, allows for demonstration of good practices of and personal training in the use of Interactive Whiteboards.
Intended participants are practising (student) language teachers, teacher trainers and materials developers.
Dates: 10-07-2010 - 16-07-2010
More information and registration at:
http://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl/index.php?type=courses&code=S5

Persons eligible for EU Comenius Grants can apply at their National Agency for compensation of costs for travel, accommodation and fees for this course. <b>The deadline for grant applications is January 15</b>, 2010, but please confirm with your National Agency for country-specific deadlines.

N.B. Participants who would like to extend their visit to the Netherlands can apply for an additional period of campus accommodation at 135 Euro per week.

Ton Koenraad, MA,
ICT-E consultant, Hogeschool Utrecht University of Applied Sciences
http://www.koenraad.info
http://www.niflar.eu

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December 2009

POOLS-2 Project brochure can be downloaded in English. It is now being translated into all the project languages.

POOLS-M (Pools of language teaching Methods) has started the funded period. First meeting is in Brussels on December 7th to 11th. Go to the POOLS-M main website.

POOLS-M: First project brochure ready for download

POOLS-T A new version of the TextBlender software is available for download from the Tools area. The version now has interfaces in the six project languages.

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November 2009

POOLS-2: (Producing Open Online Learning Systems - 2) has been approved for an EU grant in the period 2009-2011. POOLS-2 is coordinated by Confederación Española de Centros de Enseñanza (CECE), the teams come from Cyprus, Denmark, Malta, Portugal, Scotland, and Spain. EfVET is a dissemination partner with access to thousands of vocational colleges across Europe.

Pools-2 is a Transfer of Innovation (TOI) project which will exploit the results from the "original" pools project and transfer the core outputs of pools to three new languages: Greek, Maltese, and Portuguese

POOLS-T: The pools-t interim report has been submitted to EACEA. The report comprises a public and a "confidential" part, but in line with the policy of pools-t both files can be downloaded from the website: Download the "confidential" file and Download the public file

We have just received a video recorded by one of the pools-t friends Mariam Attia. The video was recorded during Kent Andersen's Show & Tell presentation of the project tools, watch the part of the video (presenting the Wordlink tool) as a Youtube video here or watch the final part showing the presentation of the TextBlender

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More "news" in the News Archive

 

Last edit: 10-01-2012

 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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