WHEN?
The course will consist of 12 three-hour
sessions and will be organised as a residential
seminar that takes places in Viareggio (IT)
from March 30 to April 5, 2006.
WHERE?
Accommodation and course venue will be at
Hotel Astor in Viareggio.
HOW MUCH?
Course fee: € 1358 covering syllabus and
tuition
(€
670);
accommodation
and
subsistence (€ 688).
REGISTRATION AND APPLICATION FOR
GRANT
If you want to apply for a grant it is essential
to follow the following procedures:
1. Send a brief message with your
coordinates to the course director,
preferably by e-mail:
karine.van.thienen@vsko.be.
2. You will be asked to send a participant
information form
3. You will then receive a statement from
the course director that you have been
accepted on the course
4. Request a grant application form
from your national agency. You can find
the address of your national agency on
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/progra
mmes/socrates/comenius/natagenc_en.html
4. Send the application, together with the
course director’s statement to your
national Socrates agency.
5. DEADLINES
for
submitting
grant
application: check with your national
agency.
Task-based Approach in
Foreign Language
Learning
FURTHER INFORMATION
For further information please contact
Karine Van Thienen
Vzw Nascholing
Pedagogisch Bureau -VSKO
Guimardstraat 1 – BE – 1040 - BRUSSEL
Tel +32 2 507 08 18
Fax +32 2 511 68 39
Karine.van.thienen@vsko.be
TABASCO
This Comenius course is organised in the
context of the European Socrates LINGUA A
TABASCO project (Task-based school
organbisation for the acquisition of languages
in Europe), co-ordinated by Vzw Nascholing VSKO (Belgium). Project partners are IEFE,
Université Paul Valéry Montpellier (FR),
Universiteit
Amsterdam
(NL),
Oxford
Brookes
University
(UK),
Universitat
Autonoma de Barcelona (ES) and Centro
Servizi Amministrativi di Bergamo (IT).
External evaluator: Peter Skehan, King’s
College, University of London (UK).
COMENIUS COURSE
N°: BV-2006-004
VIAREGGIO (IT)
March 30 - April 5,2006
TASK-BASED APPROACH IN
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
LEARNING
WHY?
Tabasco (Task-Based School Organisation for
the Acquisition of languages in Europe) is based
on the strong belief that Language Teaching
and Learning in a school context should be
organised in such a way that the activities turn
the student into a better user of the target
language, but also into a better language learner
and even into a better learner in general. The
course offers a framework for such an
approach, as well as a wealth of hands-on
experience in the application of such an
approach.
WHO FOR?
The course is meant for foreign language
teachers - whatever language they teach with more than a routine interest in language
learning. It also addresses heads of foreign
language departments in schools, teacher
trainers, in-service trainers, advisors and
inspectors, working in the field of foreign
languages.
WHAT: PROGRAMME OUTLINES
WHO BY?
Day 1:
 Arrival
 Opening session: course overview and
practicalities
 Portfolio
Day 2:
 Taking stock of participants' needs and
expectations
 Experiential learning: an Italian learning
task for beginners
 Strand one: Language learning and
acquisition
Day 3:
 Italian learning task
 Strand two: Pedagogical relation and selfdirected learning
Day 4:
 Italian learning task
 Assessment within a Task-based
Approach
Day 5:
 Italian learning task and evaluation
 Strand three: School organisation in
support of a task-based approach
 Task cycle and reflection
Day 6:
 Task construction and task evaluation
Day 7:
 Towards a conceptual framework for a
task-based approach, portfolio
presentation and course evaluation
 Departure
The course is organised by a consortium of
European
INSET
organisations
and
universities which are partners in the
TABASCO project. The course director is
Karine Van Thienen, INSET and International
Relations Unit of VSKO (Belgium). She runs
the course in co-operation with an tutor team
from several EU countries, reflecting the
international character of the course and its
audience.
HOW
The methods used will in the first place be
task-based, as this is the approach that is
advocated
for
learners.
This
way,
participants will go through the same
experiences as their learners do while
carrying out tasks. Activities will include
discussions, workshops, case studies, group
work and reflection. The vehicular language
will be English.
HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE COURSE?
Bring an example of what you consider as a
“good task” for foreign language learning.
Bring an A4 page presenting your school and
language learning practice.