East Speaks West, West Speaks East - sharing languages and culture
East Speaks West, West Speaks East (ESWWSE) is a language project of Geschichts- und Kultur Verein Steinenbrück ( http://steinenbrueck.com/Geschichte-Steinenbr.ue.ck.htm ) which aims to promote an online language exchange among students and schools in Asia and German language speaking countries in Europe. It is a collaborative project which aims to encourage students to teach each other and learn from each other .
The Klassik Stiftung Weimar (http://www.klassik-stiftung.de/index.php?id=369) in cooperation with Geschichts- und Kultur Verein Steinenbrück( http://steinenbrueck.com/Geschichte-Steinenbr.ue.ck.htm) supports and works with this project in promoting the Weimarer Classicism which is the main theme of ESWWSE in terms of literature and culture. During the exchange of Asian students to Germany, we aim to introduce them to the life and history of the great poets of this period; Goethe, Schiller, Wieland,Herder and the other major personalities who shaped the Weimarer Classic. ESWWSE aims to compare the Weimar Classicism to the literary and cultural movement of the countries of visiting students.
This project further aims to clearly attain the following goals:
1. Discovering culture through the language.
2. Promoting student exchange and visit among schools .
3. Teaching students the use and application of ICT webtools in language learning.
4. Raising awareness on copyright issues and laws.
5. Student members of this project are encouraged to take the following examinations before they leave high school. ESWWSE has developed and provides the language material for these two courses to the project members .
Goethe-Zertifikat A1: Fit in Deutsch 1
Passing the Goethe-Zertifikat A1: Fit in Deutsch 1 examination proves that you can make yourself understood in simple German. The examination requires a basic knowledge of German. It corresponds to level one (A1) on the six-level scale of competence laid down in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Goethe-Zertifikat A2: Fit in Deutsch 2
Passing the Goethe-Zertifikat A2: Fit in Deutsch 2 examination proves that you can make yourself understood in simple German. The examination corresponds to level two (A2) on the six-level scale of competence laid down in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Join us at Facebook, too. http://www.facebook.com/pages/East-Speaks-West-West-Speaks-East/481251020600 It is a useful page providing you information about language learning around the world and very useful and free webtools that enhances language learning.
In two years of existence, East Speaks West, West Speaks East has been nominated for several awards and was presented in several international conferences. The project has also been featured by UNESCO on ICT in Education ( http://www.unescobkk.org/education/ict/online-resources/databases/ict-in-education-database/item/article/east-speaks-west-west-speaks-east-two-continents-one-classroom/)
This project was presented in the 4th edition of the International Conference "ICT for Language Learning" in Florence on 20-21 October 2011. Moreover, ESWWSE belonged to the Top 50 entries out of 575 projects submitted at the eLearning Awards run by the European Schoolnet in 2010. It was nominated for the "Special Category for the Outstanding Teachers Award". The eLearning Awards competition aims to acknowledge and highlight teachers's and schools' best practices in the pedagogical use of ICT. AEC conferred this project an Excellence Award Certificate in 2010 in India and a Merit Award in Ireland in 2011.
To understand how the project works, please go to "Project Mechanics".Feel free to write to me if you have further questions. The Above description of the certificates in German are to be found at : http://www.goethe.de/lrn/prj/pba/bes/enindex.htm .
Thank you for visiting.