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1) Information on the European Language Label

Target Group: School Education sector

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Chapter 1 – What is the European Language Label

1.1) Introduction

The European Language Label is an award that encourages new initiatives in the field of teaching and learning languages, rewarding new techniques in language teaching, spreading the knowledge of their existence and thereby promoting good practice1. The Label is open to all aspects of education and training, regardless of age or methods used, with its main focus being to promote innovation in language teaching.

By supporting innovative projects, at local and national level, the Label seeks to raise the standards of language teaching across Europe. Each year, the Label is awarded to the most innovative language learning projects in each country. It is coordinated by the European Commission, but managed by the individual Member States through the National Agencies.

1.2) Aims

The European Language Label is intended to highlight and reward innovative initiatives in the field of language teaching and learning as best practice to be disseminated at European level. The Label is open to all aspects of education and training and aims to promote innovation in language teaching. By supporting innovative projects, the Label seeks to raise the standards of language teaching across Europe. The European Language Label is coordinated by the European Commission, but it is managed by the Member States through National Agencies.

1 European Commission, Multilingualism Unit, http://ec.europa.eu/languages/european-language-

label/index_en.htm

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1.3) Criteria

Projects are selected according to criteria agreed at European level. Annual priorities are also identified both at European and national level.

The European Criteria2 are:

Initiatives should be comprehensive in their approach. Every element of the language project - from students to teachers, methods to materials - should ensure that the needs of the students are identified and met.

Initiatives should provide added value in their national context. This means a tangible improvement in the teaching or learning of languages, either in terms of quantity or quality. "Quantity" might refer to the project stimulating the learning of several languages, particularly those that are less widely used, whereas "quality" might refer to the introduction of an improved methodology.

Initiatives should motivate the students and teachers to improve their language skills.

Initiatives should be original and creative. They should introduce previously unknown approaches to language learning, but also make sure they are appropriate to the students concerned.

Initiatives should have a European emphasis. They should be adapted to Europe's linguistic diversity and make use of this advantage - for example, by liaising with contacts across national borders. The initiatives should actively improve understanding between cultures by promoting language skills.

Initiatives should be transferable. They might potentially be a source of inspiration for other language initiatives in different countries.

2 Source: European Commission, Multilingualism. http://ec.europa.eu/languages/european-language-

label/index_en.htm

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1.4) Priorities

The European Commission proposes every year specific priorities for the European Language Label award. The yearly priorities aim to identify experiences that, for their specificity and for the results achieved, are clearly referred to a political and strategic framework for improving and promoting language teaching and learning. For the 2012-2013 Campaign, the priorities defined by the European Commission are:

language learning based on the new technologies

multilingual classrooms In accordance with the priorities selected by the European Commission, National Agencies may identify National Priorities that are relevant for the improvement of language learning. The national criteria established by some of the National Agencies for the period 2012-2013 are:

Belgium The Wallonia National Agency applies only the priorities established by the European Commission. The 2012 national priorities established by the Flemish National Agency focus on: disadvantaged people, language awareness, communication and intercultural skills.

Czech Republic The 2012 national priorities were: multilingual classrooms, language learning in vocational education, language learning for disadvantaged people

Finland The 2012 national priorities were: diversification and improvement of language studies.

Germany3 The 2012 national priority was: digital media in language learning.

3 In Germany there are three national agencies in charge of the European Language Label, each

agency is in charge of the label campaign every three years. PAD - Sekretariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister Pädagogischer Austauschdienst - was in charge of the 2011 Label Campaign; BIBB - Bildung für Europa Nationale Agentur beim Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung - organized the 2012 label campaign and DAAD - Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst – will be in charge of the organization of the Label campaign in 2013.

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Ireland The 2012 national priority was: languages for employability and competitiveness.

Italy The 2012 national priorities were: fostering of language learning for the promotion of employment, promotion of CLIL, promotion of mobility (including virtual mobility); intergenerational dialogue in the field of language learning.

Portugal The 2012 national priorities were: to promote early language teaching up to secondary and VET under a multicultural perspective and language learning by the general public with particular emphasis on senior citizens.

Romania

The 2012 national priorities were: social inclusion and encouraging

participation in language projects from target groups at risk from a socio-

economic point of view.

Sweden

Although there are no national priorities, the Swedish National Agency

identifies, every year, priority areas. In 2012 these were: European dimension,

student’s motivation, quality improvement, innovation, inspiration to others.

1.5) Timing

Label Campaigns are organized by the National Agencies in the Member States. In some countries they are organized every year, while in others they are held every two years. In the framework of each label campaign a public call for projects is announced at national level, to award the European Language Label to innovative projects and initiatives in the field of language teaching and learning.

Label Campaigns provide information about the objectives of the Label, about the yearly European and national priorities, about the selection criteria, about the procedure for the presentation of the candidatures and provide guidance for the submission of the application form.

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Label Campaigns are organized in different periods of the year in each of the member states. So, the deadlines to apply for the European Language Label in each country are diverse. In 2012, for example, in the United Kingdom the deadline for applying for the Label was 4 March 2012, in Ireland 30 March, in Slovakia 18 April, in the Czech Republic 5 May, in France 15 May, in Italy 1 June, in Sweden 20 August etc. For information about the updated deadlines for submitting application, please check the relevant National Agencies websites. Each National Agency may decide if only institutions are eligible to apply for the European Language Label or if also individual persons may apply. The national agencies of the following countries have decided that both institutions and individual persons may apply for the Label: Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain also individual persons can apply.

1.6) Selection procedure

In each Member State, the European Language Label is awarded by an Evaluation Committee, which is usually composed by experts of the vocational and educational area, representatives of the Foreign Cultural Institutes, language trainers and/or teachers, representatives of the Lifelong Learning Programme National Agencies. The task of the Committee is to select projects according to their suitability to the requirements set at European level and to the European priorities; each country may envisage additional criteria or specific priorities for the selection procedure.

1.7) Prizes The awarding of the label, in all European countries, is made through the attribution of the European Language Label official certificate. The winners are also entitled to use the European Language Label logo in their communications or publications. In some countries the awarding of the label, besides providing the winners with the mentioned certificate, is also linked to the attribution of further national prizes. The further awards offered at national level are:

Austria A financial award of 750 euro.

Belgium The Wallonia National Agency awards purchase vouchers for pedagogical and educational computer based materials. The Flemish National Agency awards a glass trophy and cash prizes (i.e. 1000 euro, 600 euro and 300 euro to the first three finalists).

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Bulgaria The Bulgarian Agency provides additional awards for the first three places in the competitions (1st place – 400 euro, 2nd and 3rd – 150 euro each

Czech Republic Financial awards.

Denmark A travel grant. The grant is intended to support travelling abroad to gain new knowledge and inspiration to the benefit of language teaching in Denmark. It can be used as a support to attend conferences, study visits, meetings and training abroad.

Estonia Financial awards. The amount of the financial award depends on the number of winners and does not usually exceed 1000 euro.

Finland Financial awards. For the Label 2000 Euros. For the two Honorary Certificates, 750 Euros, for the Language teacher of the year 1000 Euros, for the Language learner of the year 750 Euros

France Trophy

Germany Financial prize of 500 euro for every project awarded.

Italy Desk and wall brass plate with the inscription of the awarded project.

Iceland Educational token award, like books or software material.

Ireland An engraved crystal trophy and, where budget permits, prize money may be awarded.

Lithuania Trophy and the title of “The Language Ambassador of the Year”

Portugal Desk brass plate and a wall brass plate with the inscription corresponding to the contest and the awarded project.

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Spain Financial awards: 4.000 euro as cash prize to the first best project, 2.000 euro as cash prize to the second best project and 1.500 euro as cash prize to the third best project.

Sweden Financial award of up to 3.000 euro (25.000 SEK). In 2012 three projects were awarded 2.350 euro (20.000 SEK) each.

United Kingdom Financial award of 2.360 euro (£2,000) which in 2012 was sponsored by the Mary Glasgow Language Trust. As well as individual language prizes which can be cash or resources sponsored by cultural partners and publishers, in 2012 that was for example 470 euro (£400) cash for the best German project, 600 euro (£500) worth of resources for our primary winner from Eurotalk, 600 euro worth of resources from other publishers split between all winners, Italian and Spanish resources for individual projects etc.

1.8) Further info Further info about the European Language Label is available at the following websites:

European Commission The European Language Label official web site provides all information about the Label. http://ec.europa.eu/languages/european-language-label/index_en.htm;

National Agencies The National Agencies in charge of the European Language Label in the member states are presented with a direct link to their website: http://nellip.pixel-online.org/EUL_national_agencies.php.

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Chapter 2 – Examples of Selected Projects Examples of selected projects A number of awarded projects that were coordinated by School Education institutions was identified throughout Europe by the NELLIP Network. The selected projects can be used as an example and reference for potential applicants to the European Language Label. 103 projects were selected as case studies. These were selected by the National Agencies as good practice projects. The selected projects are presented starting from a description of the context, the objectives, the methodology adopted, the results reached as well as the impact of the European Language Label on the initiatives and the coordinating institutions. Each of the coordinators of the selected projects also provide recommendations to further applicants to the European Language Label

Source: http://nellip.pixel-online.org/CS_lista.php?tla=&sec=6&cou=&yea=&ord=qst10

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Among the case studies, specific best practice projects were selected. They are presented in the National Best Practice Reports. A specific section of the Reports focuses on the School Education sector. Each of the best practice projects is described in terms of its target group, its organisation, its deliverables. Also, the reason why each of the selected project was selected, by the National Agencies, as best practice is provided.

Source: http://nellip.pixel-online.org/RP_best_practies.php#EXP

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A further selection was made and a collection of the best among the National Best Practices was presented in a Transnational Best Practice Report. The Transnational Report collects the best projects that were awarded the European Language Label in Europe as selected by the National Agencies. Also in the Transnational Best Practice Report there is a specific section focusing on School Education.

Source: http://nellip.pixel-online.org/files/best_practice/ELL%20Best%20Practice%20Projects%20in%20Europe.pdf

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Chapter 3 – Impact of the European Language Label The European Language Label is relevant for the School Education sector for the following reasons:

1) The European Language Label guarantees an official and European recognition of the project’s quality The aim of the European Language Label is to identify and disseminate qualitative and innovative projects in language teaching and learning at a European level. For a school, obtaining the European Language Label therefore means to receive an official European recognition of a language project’s quality it may have implemented. Examples of projects: 1.1) “Gut im Tandem” was coordinated by Dietrich-Heise-Schule, in Germany. The project “Gut im Tandem” (GUT means “good”, but is also an acronym meaning Gemeinsamer Unterrichtstag – joint lessons for a day) is an extension of the “Görlitzer Sprachbrückenmodells” project and is firmly rooted into the school’s intercultural and linguistic programme. The project is based on cooperation between a German free (private) school and a Polish state school. The common teaching days (Gemeinsamen Unterrichtstage - GUT) are held alternately in Görlitz and Zgorzelec and they are organised by the respective host schools. The project was awarded the Label in 2011. According to the coordinating school, the European Language Label represented a recognition of the quality of the project itself and rewarded the teachers involved, placing their work in an international context, and giving opportunities to present it in local and Europe wide contexts.

“Gut in Tandem” is a project coordinated by Dietrich-Heise-Schule. It aims at promoting and developing increased intercultural and social competences, together with motivation to learn and a sense of responsibility through taking over the role of teacher. By means of communicative and intercultural application of “learning through teaching”, schoolchildren have an opportunity for daily international encounters. Tandem learning enables durable social contacts to be established, and methods of learning and using languages are assimilated and become transparent.

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1.2) “Nouvelle approche en classe de maths: le français au service de la géométrie euclidienne" was coordinated by the school “Liceo Mazzini" of La Spezia, in Italy. This project has seen the collaboration of math and French teacher at the same time in the class. It aimed to make an improvement in teaching and learning of French language through CLIL and laboratory techniques. The didactic choice was oriented towards situations of problem-solving and group works. The project offered the possibility of using French as main scientific language. According to the coordinating school, the obtaining of an official recognition as the European Language Label confirmed the quality of the work carried out by students and teachers, who were positively convinced about the utility of the CLIL approach, which represents on of the European Commission priorities in the framework of language teaching and learning.

2) The European Language Label ensures a greater visibility to the language project and to the coordinating institution A reason to apply for the European Language Label is to ensure a greater visibility to the project and the school coordinating it. First of all, projects may gain further visibility thanks to their presentation in the framework of important national and international events in the field of language learning. These are often organised in cooperation with the relevant National Agency or with the European Commission. Also, the project visibility may be implemented thanks to the insertion of the project in the European Database of quality projects, available on the Multilingualism section of the European Commission website. Finally, after being awarded the European Language Label, several projects obtained visibility on the media.

“Nouvelle approche en classe de maths: le français au service de la géométrie euclidienne" aims to spread the main Euclidean contents in a non conventional way in order to stimulate the active participation of the students. The project allows the students to acquire those specific abilities thanks to the help of a software and the use of the French language. In addition, the project encourages the teamwork and the synergy between different subjects.

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Examples of projects: 2.1) “Kielitivoli – The Language Circus” is a joint project between the schools of the city of Hämeenlinna, in Norway, with the supervision of the city’s administration and school board. The main objective has been to build a network whose purpose is to create awareness and visibility to broaden the selection of foreign languages offered and studied in all lower and upper level comprehensive schools. The aim has been reached by active and strategic policy and decision-making throughout the community e.g. by designing a language path that can be followed from pre-primary school to secondary education. The project obtained the Label in 2010. Among the activities carried out thanks to the obtaining of the European Language Label, the results and outcomes of the project have been presented to language teachers in many national and international events. The project also participated the “Multilingualism in Europe” conference held in Cyprus in September 2012.

2.2) The “Alphabet Keyboard” project was invented by John Christensen and tested by the “Skansevejens” school in Fredericia, Denmark. The project provides an easy tool for teaching to read and write in training classes, preschool and in the youngest classes. More than 95% of newspaper are lowercase letters, while on a standard keyboard there are only uppercase letter. It causes problems for many children in schooling age, since they have difficulties in recognizing the letters when they start working with computers. The solution is a keyboard where the letter keys are coloured, so it's easy to distinguish from the other keys. Red is used for vowels and blue for consonants.

The “Kielitivoli – The Language Circus” project has involved cooperation between administration, teachers, pupils, pupils’ parents, local entrepreneurs and other local and national interest groups. An example of cooperation has been having 9th graders survey language needs of local enterprises. As results of the Language Circus project, there can be seen many results that have been integrated into the schools’ everyday life: strengthening of cooperation between teachers in different school grades, development of multicultural teaching, teaching of a great variety of migrants’ languages, intensification of information about learning languages. One of the concrete products the has been a manual for international education (“Osasena maailmassa”) which promotes the fact that diverse language skills are one of the key skills in the future.

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Following the awarding of the European Language Label, the project received visibility both at national and international level. In particular, the project was presented in the framework of national and international events and conferences. In addition, several articles at local and national level were published about the project and the obtaining of the award.

3) The European Language Label increases motivation of the staff involved in the development of the project Obtaining a European recognition may help teachers acquiring a greater awareness about their role. All the initiatives the school can engage in require a strong motivation by the teachers, and recognition for the time and the energies they invest in those activities. The European Language Label may have an important impact on teachers’ motivation: those who give their contribution may receive an official recognition of their work; those who have not taken part into the project begin to ask for information about the results and the products of the project. The award of the European Language Label may have the same effect on students and parents, who understand the value of a similar award and decide to make use of the winning projects for language learning.

Examples of projects:

3.1) The “Between the lines” project was coordinated by the Colegiul Economic “Ion Ghica" of Targoviste, in Romania. The coordinating institution is one of the associated partners of the NELLIP project. The project was set up as a reading club in two countries, Romania and Greece, in which books were to be discussed using ITC, as a way to establish a bridge between the two countries and cultures, in order to enhance reading enjoyment and to develop students’ interest in literature. It obtained the European Language Label in 2009.

The “Alphabet Keyboard” project's overall objective is to clarify what options Alphabet keyboard holds for the future of digital teaching in public schools. The project promoters also wanted to find out if it could be proved that the Alphabet keyboard has a beneficial effect on children's learning of letters and if it makes learning and using of PC more efficient. This strategy turned out to be repeated by several first, second and third year pupils – which supports the theoretical cognition framework for the project, which is based on visual learning. With this strategy, the colours on the Alphabet keyboard help to limit the area to just the letters. This obviously had a big impact on how quickly the pupils could solve the task

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The European Language Label increased motivation of the staff involved, as the project has been promoted in the school within the teachers meetings (as good practice) and some of the staff was motivated to start an e-twinning project. Other teachers were interested in making video scenarios to improve students' interest in reading as well as a bookstore, where students had to present Romanian books they had read by means of brochures, flyers, and newspaper. Also the school has promoted its image as having experience and expertise in developing European projects, which weighed heavily in the establishment of new successful partnerships and obtaining new European grants.

3.2) The “HandMade English” project was coordinated by the secondary school “G. Detrassi” of Rome. The project is an online application addressed to teachers and students, giving them the opportunity to assign and to carry out online English exercises. The project aims to help the communicative skills of the students within their common and familiar contexts. “Handmade English” stimulates the interest of secondary school students, substituting the classical texts with easiest contents and immediate methods. The project uses specific learning strategies, like the total physical response, the pair work, the role-play, the auto-evaluation. The project obtained the Label in 2009.

The European Language Label had a motivating effect on the project, because the promoters decided to push it on in other languages and realities. The project was originally developed in Italian and translated in English. Its transferability makes it useful in other languages because each language has its own difficulties which can be overcome by using the “hands’ method”. For this reason, the Label has motivated the teachers involved to keep on working hard on the project.

The main objective of the “Between the lines” was to develop basic skills in reading - reading literacy (reading, use and interpretation of information in writing, reflection and evaluation of this information) and foreign languages (English). Also it included transferring skills and knowledge acquired in class to solve real problems, to communicate with students from different cultural environments. The project aimed at developing positive attitudes, high tolerance and cooperation with students from a different cultural environment, while stimulating students' motivation for reading. The project provided language teachers and trainers with the skills to use new technologies in language teaching.

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4) The European Language Label contributes to a better sustainability of the project There are different ways the European Language Label may contribute to a better sustainability of the project. First of all, a labelled project may have better follow up opportunities in the framework of further related activities or projects. Some of the projects, indeed, successfully applied for further European /national public funding: for example, some of the awarded projects were funded in the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme – Leonardo da Vinci – Transfer of Innovation. Secondly, the European Language Label may have a “spring” effect on the coordinating institution, contributing to its acceptance and consolidation, motivating teachers, creating the conditions for a further exploitation of the project. Thirdly, the obtaining of the Label may help the coordinating institution to identify further funding to continue the activity. Finally, by awarding a good practice and highlighting its quality, the European Language Label contributes to its maintenance and further implementation. Examples of projects: 4.1) The “Cucina d’Inferno / Hell’s Kitchen” project was coordinated by the Gloucestershire College, in the UK. 16 pupils from three partner schools learnt to cook Italian food through the use of Italian language under the direction of masterchef Franco Taruschio. The pupils – half of them completely beginners in Italian – learnt the language alongside with their cookery training, and achieved a good level of Italian.

The “HandMade English” project has the objective to make learning the English language easier. Thanks to the books, students learn sooner than using any other traditional text. Thanks to the website, students practice the language at home and speak earlier than elsewise. In the HandMade English method, tenses are taken off the books and put on the hands of the students. This way, grammar becomes like a game and students immediately understand the tenses related to each topic of study. Moreover some tutorial videos, uploaded on the portal, help students to create their own sentences with the use of the hands.

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The “AMELIS” project aims to approach Italian language as second language (L2) and English language as foreign language (LS), creating a synergy among Italian and foreign students. The process of learning is realized through an interactive blackboard which offers recreational activities with a strong linguistic impact. The project is composed by 8 didactic units available on http://lte-unifi.net/innova/ and related to 8 different conceptual areas: colours, space, time and seasons, social relations, reading, fairies and tales, holidays.

The awarding of the Label encouraged its promoters to submit the application for a new project and to transfer the quality results reached in the framework of the “Cucina d’Inferno” initiative: the project coordinator believed that the Label, as an official recognition of the project quality, contributed to the approval of the new initiative, the “Cucina due” project. 4.2) The “Amelis” project was coordinated by the school “Istituto Comprensivo Assisi 3”, in Italy. The Amelis project aims to approach Italian language as second language (L2) and English language as foreign language (LS), creating a synergy among Italian and foreign students. In addition, the Amelis project intends to develop the competences of the teachers. The process of learning is realized through an interactive blackboard which offers recreational activities with a strong linguistic impact. The project awarded the European Language Label in 2009. The European Language Label had an important sustainable effect on both the project and the coordinating institution. Thanks to the visibility offered by the award, the innovative equipment of the school passed from 3 to 17 interactive blackboards, guaranteeing the sustainability of the project.

The “Cucina d’Inferno / Hell’s Kitchen” project was innovative in teaching languages to students through a vocational skill. The pupils were treated as professional trainees while in the kitchen. Italian was the language of instruction in the kitchen and the pupils’ understanding and use of language was recorded by NVQ assessors – making use of naturally occurring evidence rather than relying on simulations in the classroom.

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4.3) The “Professor Dr. ABC” was coordinated by the Region of Sønderjylland in Denmark. The project aims to introduce children living close to the Danish –German border to the neighbouring language and culture from kindergarten up until the time when they get their first foreign language classes in school. The project focuses on early language learning of both cultural and linguistic knowledge - an interaction between these two fundamental dimensions of the learning of first language as well as second, third etc. language. The European Language Label had an important impact on the project, because the award helped to get new participants and get further funding for its continuation. 4.4) The “Amazing Europe” was coordinated by the Colegiul National “Mihai Eminescu”, in Romania. It is a Comenius project which promoted European citizenship and cooperation between participating countries, and also to share national culture, art, history and traditions through cooperation between schools, students, teachers and communities from all over Europe. “European Citizenship” was a common ground of research and each school approached this theme by promoting a specific school project, reflecting its own realities. “Amazing Europe” promoted the use of telecommunication and new technologies in a way that helped European teenagers to study their culture and to share their ideas. The Label contributed to the sustainability of the project, as the dictionary developed during the project is still available in the Romanian partner school and is used by the foreign language teachers as material in class.

The goal of the “Professor Dr. BC” project has always been to make preschool children from Region South Jutland-Schleswig interested in neighboring languages Danish and German. The project wants to show that it can be fun to learn another language, and that it does not have to be difficult because there are so many similarities between Danish and German. The project has not only the children as a target group but also the participating pedagogues and teachers, who can experience that the project gives them inspiration to work with languages. There has been much effort in the preparation of the different parts of the project to make it easy to use for pedagogues and teachers, and the project contributes to improve young learners´ language skills as stated in the national educational goals.

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5) The European Language Label contributes to the sharing of good practices

Some of the promoters stated that they had the opportunity to share the good practice developed in their initiative with other colleagues. This opportunity for sharing was developed mainly in the framework of events organized in relation with the European Language Label, for example the Language Label awarding ceremony.

Examples of projects:

5.1) The “DeutschMobil” project was coordinated by the Maison de Heidelberg, a private school of Montpellier, in France. Several language assistants, driving a German car with the logo of the project, started to visit primary and secondary schools all around France. They introduced their language and culture to pupils with entertaining, informative and interactive methods (quiz, games, music) in order to motivate them in learning German

The idea of international mobility is at the basis of the “DeutschMobil” project. This aspect was mainly highlighted by the European Language Label. The awarding of the Label allowed the creation of further national and transnational partnerships which guaranteed the sustainability of the project. Therefore the “DeutschMobil” project approach is now being used by other organisations at national and transnational level.

The main objective of the “Amazing Europe” project was to implement a series of language-related activities with the children from the partner schools which will enable them to travel and become aware of the differences in culture and education in the partner countries. Another objective (deriving from the first one) was to increase intercultural sensitivity. For the teachers, the aim was to enrich their experience and contribute to their professional development by getting into contact with the methodologies, problem-solving strategies and priorities of other educational systems.

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5.2) The “Tomorrow’s World” project was coordinated by the Lycée Chateaubriand of Rome, in Italy. This project’s goal is to have the students acknowledge the environmental issues. To do so, two contests are organized: a science-fiction short stories writing competition; a tournament of debates performed in English between pupils from 3 schools from France and Italy. The main idea of the project itself is to encourage students’ communicative and rhetorical skills, involving different subjects on the discussion of a sensible theme. According to the project coordinator, the European Language Label allowed the opportunity to share this experience with promoters of other awarded projects, in a constant and positive dialogue for both.

The “DeutschMobil” aims to provide a dynamic, interesting and attractive image of the German language, in order to develop the number of French students choosing it as second foreign language after English. From 2001, 553.700 students have been reached by this initiative. The results are well evident: a 50% increase of inscriptions to German classes after the passage of the “DeutschMobil” cars. The project was selected as Best Practice by the French National Agency “Europe-Education-Formation”. According to the French evaluator, as stated in the “Label des Labels –10 ans de projets” publication, this is an ambitious and innovative project. Created in 2001, during the last 10 years, it showed great pertinence and effectiveness.

The “Tomorrow’s World” project has different objectives. From a linguistic point of view, it aims to develop students’ communicative skills, motivating them to interact and to use the foreign language to assert their own thesis. From a didactic point of view, it aims to develop a scientific and literal knowledge. From a civic point of view, the project suggests making students more responsible and sensitizing them to the European values.

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Chapter 4 – Statistical data In the first 12 years (1999-2011), 1388 projects have been awarded the European Language Label in the 18 countries analysed by the NELLIP team. 1201 of the awarded projects are addressed to school education: a further confirmation of the importance of language learning from an early age. At the latest position with reference to the awarded projects there is the pre-primary education section (71 awarded projects): the language learning is not very widespread at this very early age, but it represents a challenge for the next years as early language learning helps learners develop positive attitudes towards other cultures and languages as well as laying the foundation for language learning in later life. Primary (363 projects) and secondary education (653 projects) cover the majority of the awarded projects, when most of the students have the opportunity to express a choice about the language/s to be studied. Finally teacher training (114 projects): today teachers ‘needs are evolving and increasing; their roles are changing significantly. For this reason it is important that systems for teacher education enable them to develop the knowledge and skills they require, and that they have access to the support they need throughout their careers.

The awarded projects by educational sectors in the period 1999-2011 ( updated until 8th February 2013).

Source: European Commission Database

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700653

363

251

156 117 114 105

71 48