Comenius
Learn to learn! Develop your autonomy in learning!
2013-2015
Turkey, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Greece, France, Romania
2013-1-LV1-COM06-05379 1
STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE PORTFOLIO
LATVIA
Questionnaire
AUTONOMY IN LEARNING (Elīza Oša)
1.Do you like learning?- more yes than no
2.You learn more - during lessons in class
3.When does the learning process end?- it never
ends
4.Explain in your own words what “autonomy in
learning” means. Autonomy in learning is when
you learn by yourself, on your own
Questionnaire
5.What is the purpose of autonomy in learning?
To reach target in your own way, by yourself.
6. Are you an autonomous learner? more yes
than no
7. Which subject is better for autonomous
learning? Why? I think all subjects , because
you don’t know what you will need in future.
Easier to learn autonomously is to learn
languages.
Questionnaire
8. Which of the following things should you do
in order to have autonomy in learning? all of
them (set personal goals, find methods and strategies to
reach the objectives, find resources to help you, evaluate the
results)
9. Which learning strategies in class would
improve your ability to learn autonomously?
group work
Questionnaire
• 10. Who/ what can provide the information
and knowledge you need ?-teachers, internet
• 11.a List advantages. You can learn whatever
and however you want. You become more selfconfident, more independent and smarter. You
can faster find your way to live your life and do
everything to reach your goals. Everything
better stays in your brain if you enjoy learning
by doing it in your own way.
Questionnaire
11.b List disadvantages of learning autonomously.
You need strong character to order yourself to
learn(no one checks your work) . It can be hard
to find the best way for learning by yourself.
Actually, there aren’t a lot of disadvantages,
because it’s the best way of learning.
12. Autonomous learning has an individual
dimension and a social dimension
Questionnaire
13. For a contemporary European citizen the
ability of learning by himself/herself, of being
an autonomous learner is important
15. How will you continue your learning
process after you graduate college/
university?
• I will learn from people met in my life
• I will read educational literature
• I will learn from life by doing things
Questionnaire
14. What kind of changes can be seen in the life of
an autonomous learner? What are the
differences between autonomous learners and
others?
Difference is in ability to be independent.
Autonomous learner tries to find more ways to
get things done. Usually autonomous learners are
sociable, talkative. They know how to plan their
time. Unlike others, autonomous learners are
doing everything for themselves, not because
someone ordered them to do. They see their
peak and are ready to give and do everything to
reach it, and they will do it in their own way.
RESULT OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE
Am I an independent learner ?
Yes, I’m. I like to learn things in my own
way. I better choose learning things I like
and things I will need in my future, not
things others want me to learn. I often
ignore advices about learning, but I
really want to find my own way. When I
do something, I give my best for
reaching as good result as it’s possible.
RESULT OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE
Motivation
Why do I need to have autonomy in learning
in the contemporary society?
Nowadays usually a person is alone in his/her
working life(I feel that). So I must be ready for
it.
I need to be creative, active and imaginative,
because the world needs independent
personalities, not subordinate workers.
Reed books
in English.
WHAT DO I
NEED TO DO
TO LEARN
ENGLISH BY
MYSELF
MY LANGUAGE BACKGROUND
(Sintija Igaune)
Mother tongue: Latvian
I've learned the language through (tick
all that apply)
using it with members of my family
using it in the community
formal education (e.g. language classes at
school or work)
travel
friendships/social contacts
X
X
X
working life
newspapers, magazines, books
cinema, TV, radio
X
X
I am good at
I need to work
harder to improve
my grammar skills in
English.
I want to learn language for ability
to speak to others that don’t
understand my language. I want to
watch movies in other languages and
read books, listen to music. And for
travelling and maybe someday for
studying abroad and my future job.
explaining my
thoughts and asking
for things that I need
or just making a
conversation.
When I learn a language…
• I enjoy reading and prefer to see the words I
am learning. I like to learn by looking at
pictures and flashcards. This method helps
me because sometimes if a word is difficult,
seeing it on a paper makes me remember it
quicker.
When I learn a language…
• I prefer to learn by listening. I enjoy
conversations and the chance for
interactions with others.
Hearing how the language is pronounced helps
a lot for remembering and studying. It’s also
can be a fun experience
When I learn a language…
• I prefer an interactive approach to learning
a new language, to ‘take risks’ when
communicating and learn from my
mistakes.
Sometimes just taking the risk and trying to
speak is better, because then you can get to
know your mistakes quicker and learn from
them.
When I learn a language…
• I prefer learning a language to convey an
idea, rather than worry about whether I
have used language rules and structures
correctly.
This way I can enjoy more conversations and
fell free.
CONTACTS (Jēkabs Zommers)
My family background
My intercultural background: factors that
may have influenced how I respond to
intercultural situations..
• We are Latvians. But family friends live in
Sweden, so I have experience to live together
with them for a short time.
Travel to other countries for holiday:
I have travelled to Germany with folk dance
collective, visited family friends in Sweden, took
part in Baltic sea project in Finland, travelled
with family to Estonia, Lithuania. I have
attended chello concert in Norway. NowRomania.
Time spent living abroad
One week in Finland
5 days in Germany
3 days in Sweden
Short tem visits
How I see myself in intercultural
contexts...
A. Encounters with different cultures in my own country
Eating and drinking in other cultural contexts, e.g. mealtime
procedures, menus etc.
1
2
3
4
X
Encountering the different values of people from other cultures, e.g.
rules, beliefs etc.
X
Encountering the different behaviour of people from other cultures,
e.g. ways of greeting one another, courtesies, expression of feelings
etc
X
Communicating with people of different cultures, e.g. coping with
their spoken language, facial expressions, hand gestures, body
language etc.
X
Communicating with people of different cultures, e.g. coping with
misunderstandings, a different sense of humour etc.
5
X
How I see myself in intercultural
contexts...
B. Encounters with people of different cultures in their own
countries or communities
Coping with the customs of host countries or communities, e.g. rules
and courtesies that local people observe and may expect me to
observe.
1
2
3
4
X
Adapting to the rhythm of life in other cultures, e.g. getting used to
different mealtimes etc.
Integrating with the customs or behaviour of host countries, e.g.
beginning to use forms of greeting that are very different from my
own.
5
X
X
How I see myself in intercultural
contexts...
C. Encounters with different cultures in the workplace
Clarifying areas of uncertainty about work arrangements, e.g. describing
what I am used to and asking what happens in the other culture.
Adapting to other work practices, e.g. using unfamiliar procedures to
complete a work task.
Coping with different formalities, e.g. learning new ways of showing respect
to senior colleagues from other cultures.
Relating to colleagues from other cultures, e.g. learning what they like to
talk about during work breaks.
Being aware of issues arising within a different cultural group, e.g. learning
what topics seem to be avoided and what the group’s views are likely to be
about a current political situation.
Building bridges between colleagues of my own culture and those of a
different culture, e.g. sensing that someone of my culture has said the
wrong thing and explaining the misunderstanding to both sides.
1
2
3
4
5
X
X
X
X
X
X
ENGLISH SKILLS (Mārtiņš Arājs)
Reading
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
My reading skills are
at high level and
that is not only
because of English
lessons but also
because
I read
books in English and
comunication
(reading included)
on internet is also in
English some times.
Writing
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Writing is not the
thing that I like the
most but my skills
at writing are good.
Of course high level
writing skills are
needed in future
for
job
or
University so it is
important
to
upgrade them and
learn more by
myself.
Listening
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
I have very good listening
skills, of course, I could do
more in future. I think I
have good listening skills
because I attend music
school. And that helps me a
lot.
Speaking
19.5
19
18.5
18
17.5
17
16.5
16
15.5
15
14.5
My speaking skills
aree good because I
participate in
debating, not only in
Latvian but in English
too, and that is very
useful for speaking.
Conclusions (taken from theComenius
team members’ portfolios )
• I think the biggest problem for me is scariness
of saying something wrong. But slowly I am
getting more confident( Diāna Tunte)
• We just don’t have a choice, we must speak to
each other. I like that, because it helps me
(Jēkabs Zommers)
• I have found out the best learning ways for me
– listening and speaking (Maira Asare).
Conclusions
• I haven’t learnt rules and grammar enough so
now they are my biggest enemies (Diāna
Tunte).
• Self-evaluation test showed me English skills
that I need to improve. I’m not fully great in
grammar and very complex texts(Sintija
Igaune).
Conclusions
• I had never done self – evaluation about
autonomous learning and my skills in English
It helped me a lot (Jēkabs Brauers).
• Self-evaluation is definitely the most difficult
type of criticism to receive(Mārtiņš Arājs).
• After self-evaluation test I have come to
conclusion that I must do much more for
improving my language (Eīza Oša).
Conclusions
• This project gave me experience for English
exams(Kristīne Kleinberga).
• This project gave a different perspective on
subjects such as: culture, politics, learning, selfdevelopment, economics, morals, traditions,
travel, religion European Union (Kārlis Apalups).
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
THANK YOU!