Language Skills – EINC

Methodology:

For this module these session plans were implemented: My personal and social skills at work; The most important words in my profession; Short presentation of myself; How to communicate at work in a supermarket. The session plans were implemented through few different meetings on different dates.

The methodology in general was based on merging theoretical presentations of the material through PowerPoint, encouraging discussions between participants. Language learning was based on giving participants homework assignments to translate certain words related to the topics and practice pronunciation during the meetings.

  1. Session plan “My personal and social skills at work”: Before the session we gave participants a homework task to translate all social and personal skills that are indicated in the session plan from English into Lithuanian language. During the session we discussed whether the translations are correct. Through a discussion we also marked which skills are personal and which ones are social. Participants were also asked to reflect whether these skills are important for them, what skills do they already have or would like to have and what other skills that are important would they add to the list.
  2. Session plan “The most important words in my profession”: This exercise was given to participants as a homework assignment and during the following session they presented their work. The exercise was based on collecting words that are important to their profession (or desired profession) and we also asked to translate them into Lithuanian language.
  3. Session plan “Short presentation of myself”: This exercise was given to participants as a homework assignment and during the following session they presented their work. The exercise was based on creating a short presentation of themselves including name, education, work experience and motivation to work. Participants were asked to translate this presentation into Lithuanian language and present it in Lithuanian during the session.
  4. Session plan “How to communicate at work in a supermarket”: This exercise was given to participants as a homework assignment and during the following session they presented their findings. The exercise asked participants to translate provided food sections names into Lithuanian language and also take few photos in a supermarket of different products and learn their Lithuanian names. Participants also were asked to think of a few sentences on how to ask something in a supermarket (for example, If they are looking for something) and also translate them into Lithuanian.

Additionally, we also developed a task for participants to translate main words for using public transport into Lithuanian and at the same time to learn how the public transport works in Lithuania as participants highlighted that it is relevant for them. Also we introduced a free digital tool for participants to learn Lithuanian language on culture and cooking: https://learninglibrary.eu/.

    Examples of implementation:

    One of the best practices for this module was that participants translated English words into Lithuanian as homework assignments and could learn few main words to present themselves, communicate in a supermarket, public transport, social situations, workplace and define different skills. All participants willingly accomplished these tasks as homework and presented their work during the online sessions. Their translations were corrected by trainers if there were any mistakes and participants could also practice the correct pronunciation of the translated words. The exercises for translating words into Lithuanian were given for participants each week corresponding to the topic of the session, for example, health, social skills, presenting yourself, etc.

    The module and its activities allowed participants to practice their Lithuanian language which was a goal for many of them before joining this course.

    Feedback from participant(s) or trainer:

    The participants provided a positive feedback on the module as it was very relevant for them – each of them wanted to improve their Lithuanian language skills. Participants were highly engaged in the activities and always willingly presented their homework tasks. We found it useful to give participants homework for translating certain words and phrases as by practical activities it is more likely to learn new words. Participants also received positive emotions throughout our meetings as the group was supportive and polite, exercises were fun to implement.