Minutes of meeting in Cardiff (United Kingdom)
Voices in Pictures
Wednesday 8th October to Sunday 12th October 2014
Wednesday 8th October 2014
Arrival of teams in Cardiff and welcome dinner.
Thursday 9h October 2014
Workshop one
09:15-11:20
Coffee break
Workshop two
11:20-11:30
11:30 – 12:30
1. Welcome address from Georgeta and introduction to WEBridge International and Cardiff.
2. Georgeta introduces activity: Symbols in pictures and their
meaning
i) Participants work in teams according to their country.
ii) Definition of symbols: how symbols link with the VIP project.
iii) Task one: choose the symbol for the country (England, Wales,
Scotland, Ireland) that does not belong.
iv) Task two: match Welsh symbols with their meaning.
v) Task three: match symbols to the countries that each team
comes from (France, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Spain).
vi) Task four: groups to create a new symbol for their country
and to give reasons why the symbol is representative of their
country.
vii) Suggestion: For the next meeting, countries work on
producing symbols for their own country
3. Kat introduces activity: Village / Town / City Story
i) Groups work together to answer questions to help them to
decide what their version of the ‘Cardiff Story’ would be.
ii) Groups present their ideas.
4. Georgeta introduces activity: The message of signs
i) Task one: Groups discuss questions about the meaning and
use of signs.
ii) Task two: Groups are shown pictures of signs and asked to
discuss where they could be found.
iii) Task three: Groups are asked to guess the meaning of Welsh
signs.
iv) Task four: Groups of four to go outside and have 20 minutes
to take four pictures of bilingual signs and to visit The Cardiff
Story.
Lunch break
Cultural
activities
12:30 – 13:00
13:00 – 22:00
Visits to the Welsh Assembly, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff Castle and
Welsh Banquet.
Friday 10th October 2014
Session one
09:30 – 10:30
Coffee break
Session two
10:30 – 11:00
11:00 – 12:15
1. Learners attend classes.
Teachers show and discuss the photos of the signs they took
yesterday. Georgeta suggests that this activity could be further
developed for the next meeting in Poland.
Presentation of activities
2. Poland (represented by Marlena) presents their activity. Four
learners were asked to take their photos of their home city from
different perspectives. Learners also added a description to their
image. Learners’ images showed very different perspectives. The
activity can be used during a language lesson to learn new
adjectives, nouns and the history of a place.
3. Spain (represented by Anna) presents their activity A Special
Place in my World for advanced level learners. Learners need to
describe a special place. Learners need to think about the
language that they will have to use to describe the place (tenses,
pronouns, adjectives, etc.). Learners have to produce an image
and a text. A variety of written and oral tasks can be developed
from this activity.
4. Germany Helen gives a presentation about Powtoon: a
programme that creates clips using animated figures or
cartoons. It is a free programme for a basic version. Text and
music can also be added. A demonstration of how it can be used
is given based on the topic Talking about.
Celia gives a presentation about an activity for beginner learners
How to get there. This activity is based on the concept that
images are instantly created in the mind when something is
heard (mind recall). The activity is a listening comprehension
about directions with support from images. The activity involves
learning vocabulary, listening skills and grammar. A variety of
speaking tasks can be further developed from this activity.
5. France (represented by Pierre) gives a presentation about the
activity Pictures and words. The activity helps to develop
discussion and debate and can be done with any type of image.
The activity can be adapted in several ways and used at different
times in the learning process. Learners select an image and then
explain why they have chosen it. Learners practise listening,
writing and speaking skills, as well as vocabulary and key words.
Learners also practise their dictionary skills. Examples of
activities are creating a travelogue and using a picture of a
window to inspire the creation of a poem.
6. Next meeting in Poland, April 2015
i) Dates confirmed as 22nd-26th April 2015.
ii) Prices – hotel recommended (Victoria hotel – opposite the
office in Lublin). A standard room is 40 euros per night per
person. If reservations are made early, then a small discount
might be obtained.
iii) Schedule – first day: working on activities and cultural visits
Second day: working on activities and either a trip to an open-air
museum or an historical visit to a concentration camp
(participants choose).
Last day: a visit to a town to take photographs after a short
course in photography. Participants will need to bring their own
cameras.
iv) Cost of meals: 5-10 euros for lunch at the hotel and 15/20
euros for dinner. Costs of drinks are extra.
7. Meeting in Germany , June 2015
i) Participants need to confirm their room reservations as soon
as possible.
ii) The meeting to start a day later (Thursday instead of
Wednesday) due to an event taking place in Munich on the
Wednesday. This change of date will help keep the costs of hotel
rooms at a reasonable level.
8. Website
i) Helene has made the agreed changes to the website. There is
a lot of material on the website so Helene will work on
streamlining the content to make it quicker and easier to access.
9. Activities to do before the next meeting
i) My Home activity to be completed by all groups to be
presented at the next meeting. External images of houses to be
added to the Spanish group’s activity.
ii) All groups to obtain images of markets in their own countries
and to think of an activity to do with these images.
iii) Latvia will continue to work on their guide activity and add
images that were taken by the other participants during their
visit to Riga.
iv) Evaluation forms should be used for activities in lessons from
now on and feedback to be collected from learners. Suggestion
to use activities from other groups.
v) Suggestion to make an e-book with a few chosen activities
and learner images for the final product. Content of the e-book
will be decided in Poland.
vi) France to change their lesson plan template to use the VIP
template.
vii) Poland to create a leaflet about the project and the partners.
The leaflet will be sent to Cardiff for proof reading.
Saturday 11th October 2014
Cultural
activities
09:30 – 21:30
Excursion to Castell Coch, Penderyn distillery, Porthcawl. Lunch
in Harwaun. Dinner at the Prince of Wales pub in Kenfig.
Sunday 12th October 2014
Departure of teams
Cardiff, 12th October 2014
French team
Valerie Alibert
German team
Helene Sajons
Latvian team
Illon Sare
Polish team
Marlena Wosiak
Spanish team
Ana C. Tuero Vigil
Welsh team
Georgeta Bradatan