About the project
Project number: 2020-1-SK01-KA201-078332
Erasmus+ Programme, KA2, Strategic Partnerships in School Education
This project has been co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union.
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Nowadays, foreign languages are part of the curriculum in all European countries (most pupils are introduced to their first foreign language between the ages of 6 to 9). The empirical experience and research findings (1/0716/13 VEGA project) confirm that Slovak students have a relatively good command of the theoretical knowledge of English. Still, the procedural knowledge of the language lags. The same situation is also occurring in the Czech Republic and Poland. It means that after several years of studying a language in school, a majority of young Central Europeans cannot have a simple conversation in the languages they have learned.
Since the 1st Sept 2020, the primary school J. A. Komenský in Sereď, in partnership with three renown universities from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland, and primary schools from the Czech Republic and Poland, and a leading Slovak publishing house has started to implement the transnational project LIRE (Language Interpretation through REading. The project LIRE aims to support mainly teachers teaching English at primary and lower secondary education.
The project is innovative, as it aims to combine different methods to strengthen the profile of the teaching profession and transform the language learning through extensive reading into an exciting adventure for pupils. Research studies show that students exposed to extensive reading become better readers, they write better, their listening and speaking abilities improve, and their vocabularies get richer. LIRE will equip teachers with comprehensive methods and tools to support and enhance their teaching practices.
TARGET GROUP
The target groups of the LIRE project are mainly English language teachers teaching at primary and lower secondary education. It is also focused on pupils in primary and lower secondary education (8 – 14 years old) studying English as a second language and teacher training providers such as universities, continuous training providers, and language associations.
AIMS
To equip English language teachers with up-to-date, innovative, and tailor-made methodological materials and relevant competencies to enhance primary students’ foreign language
To create a bespoke training and an open interactive space for English language teachers to gain and exchange know-how and improve their teaching practices further.
To develop pupils’ literacy, critical thinking, analytical and communication skills, m creativity through a new approach to learning a foreign language.