French-German Tandem Courses for
young graduates in the cultural
sector
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
Who are we ?
An independent inter-governmental organisation with an international
status fostering French-German cooperation
Founded according to the Contract of Elysées, on the 22th January
1963 by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer
Sponsored by the french and the german governement
Structure :
A French-German executive board:
Dr. Markus Ingenlath und Béatrice Angrand
5 Departments
70 employees working in „bi-national“ teams in 2 locations, Paris and
Berlin
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
Aims and purposes
To deepen the relationships between young people
To reflect on the different cultures
To develop social and intercultural competence
To understand the importance of their special alliance in Europe
To arouse interest in discovering the other language
To strengthen the autonomy of young people
To impart the French-German co-operation model to others
To be a reference center for the government of both countries
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
Some facts
Since our foundation in 1963, we have made possible…
For more than 8 Million young people from France and Germany
between 3 and 30 years old to be acquainted with each other
To support around 300.000 youth meetings
We cooperate with
More than 7.000 Partners.
Each year we support…
More than 11.000 youth meetings,
with around 200.000 participants.
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
Language promotion
• Language skills are not a pre-condition to
take part in a project. Any young person
who is interested in a project can take part
• Our aim : increasing language awareness
and language skills. The youth exchange is
the context, and the better cooperation
between the two states is the aim
• Language learning during a youth meeting
is not comparable to formal language
learning in an educational institution:
Non-formal education.
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
The ‘bi-national’ courses for
young graduates in the field of
culture. These are
• For young people between University and
working life
• For those who want to have work
experience abroad
• To develop intercultural, language and
professional skills
• To build intercultural und sustainable
professional networks : Empower the
cooperation between cultural institutions in
France and Germany
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
Young graduates attending our
tandem language courses have
• Personal expectations towards their career
• Heterogeneous language skills (A2 to C2)
• Heterogeneous professional profiles
(bookstore, history, fine arts…)
• High knowledge level and selfconfidence in
their business
• More or less intercultural awareness
• Large expectations for the time after the
course. Such as :
 managing everyday life alone abroad
 being efficient in business situations
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
The requirements of the
tandem language course are
• Language/intercultural courses spanning two weeks
(for editors) or three weeks (for museum curators
and translators)
• The course is done partly in Germany and partly in
France
• All participants stay together in a hostel during the
whole course
• Two tutors, one French and one German accompany
the course
• 5 hours/day : guided tandem learning
• Organisation of meetings with professionals and
visits to institutions
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
The challenges
• Participants come with high expectations of
personal development
• Their idea about language learning is not
always skill oriented
• Sometimes very unrealistic expectations about
what they can achieve in the short time
• They are not aware of the (real) purpose
behind the project : connecting people for a
united states of Europe
• Personal aims are not totaly equal to
institutional aims
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
More challenges
• To understand the tandem approach and
be ready to work with a partner every day
• Being able to give as much as you receive
• False expectations towards the tutors
• To define in detail their personal learning
objectives
 Is Tandem serious enough ? Is it the
right method for me ?
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
Some assets
• Specialised glossary : professional
terminology, already prepared and verified
• Professional visits and meetings prepared
in tandem complete the course
programme
• Learners spend the whole day together
with not just structured and guided tandem
sequences but also a lot of informal time to
communicate with each other (sharing a
room)
• Two tutors, familiar with the topic and
ready to coach a tandem process
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
Some solutions to challenges faced
• Introduction to tandem
• Provide specific tasks
• Use simulations as preparation for the
professional situation (the path of creating
a book, organizing an exhibition)
• Individual coaching (Lernberatung)
especially for the learning process
• Mononational working groups for some
questions like grammatic
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
Assessment ?
• Complementarity of all moments during the
course, but very intensiv
« breaks are not real breaks because we continue speaking and
working all the time, I know that is the intention, but it is so exhausting »
• Sometime the feeling of success is coming during
the free time
« I realised all that I had learned, as I was able to have a deep
conversation with other participants »
• General feeling of increased skills at the end of
the course by almost all participants
• Very good group atmosphere at the end of the
course : Community feeling
• After the professional stay : Increased awareness
about own strategies to learn a langage
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
What we do better now
• Informations in the run up to the course
• Analysing the needs of participants
• Balance between guiding/encouraging autonomy
• Better tasks for training different skills in different
situations (understanding, writing, taking part to
a conversation, intercultural competence…)
• The right balance of reflection about the learning
process
 Tandem is perfekt !
First international Meeting on language
learning in Tandem – Miami – 28.02.2014
Thank you for your attention !
Anne Jardin
Deutsch-Französisches Jugendwerk/
Office Franco-allemand pour la
Jeunesse
Molkenmarkt 1
10179 Berlin
Germany
Tel.: +49 30 288 757 29
jardin@dfjw.org
www.dfjw.org