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Innovative teaching methods for development of communication skills in foreign languages for massage teachers and students
Date du début: 1 déc. 2015, Date de fin: 31 août 2018 PROJET  TERMINÉ 

The Project aims at the top priorities of the Erasmus + program. The program priorities are professional development of VET teachers and trainers by using innovative methods to improve their basic and transversal communication skills, which happens through the combination of innovation and exchange of good practices. The project activities help to improve the communication skills of teachers and students in cooperation with three experienced language schools in Europe. The schools' innovative methods for teaching and learning English are vital for the improvement of communication skills of any non-native English speaker. Good communication skills are especially important for masseurs to effectively communicate with their clients in order to improve their foreign clients’ physical and also psychological health and well-being. So far, the Estonian massage teachers have limited foreign language skills and the language teachers have limited teaching methods for integrated language studies. Since 2014 M.I. Massaažikool (MIM) has introduced an outcome-based curriculum, which stipulates the implementation of integrated studies in professional foreign language and leads to our project "Innovative teaching methods for development of communication skills in foreign languages for massage teachers and students". The outcome based curriculum demands of professional integrated study, meaning that English language has to be integrated into the teaching process of professional subjects' for students to have good communication skills within their chosen field. With the assistance of our international partners we are about to run the project that aims to develop efficient academic methods and study materials for integrated study. We are willing to give our participants the opportunity to study and practice English by the means of the new materials and innovative methods in an immersed English language environment. At the same time we want to take advantage of the academic mobility and grant our students a first-time possibility to acquire study outcomes of professional foreign language by means of using latest methods in studying language, as well as getting feedback on its efficiency. Eight massage students and eight vocational and language teachers from MIM are going to participate in five mobilities to Malta and London over three years. During the two-week- mobility group of two students and one or two teachers are going to complete an integrated professional English course (60 lessons) and improve their communication skills. Within the framework of the project we will launch new language study materials, integrated professional English study program and an e-course compilation processes for the purposes of integrated language study, which will be complemented during the project period with the assistance of all parties. We also learn innovative teaching methods, such as the communicative, lexical, dogme, grammar translation, task based learning, and the learner orientated assessment approach. The acquired methods and the interactive whiteboard (IWB) as an effective tool for innovative teaching will be introduced, and the integrated language study e-course will be accomplished and communication skills acquired and language learning materials will be available to be used at MIM and other massage schools in Estonia or elsewhere in Europe. As the result of integrated language courses MIM students and teachers improve their communication through better language skills. The language study process in MIM will be diversified. Students participation in future mobility projects will get more active. Thanks to a new experience of living and studying in English environment, their integration ability and adaptability in an immerse environment will improve and the competitiveness of the MIM graduates within the international labor market will grow. For the dissemination we plan to organize open workshops, Open Information Days and seminars, where the teachers and the students having taken part in an mobility project would share their experience in implementing the language study methods acquired during the project. Within the framework of dissemination activities the students, teachers and customers of the partner schools will be invited to presentational events and to workshops related to the integrated language study programs. MIM was founded in 2000 and is the biggest international private vocational school in Estonia which has full national accreditation,we offer vocational education, refresher courses and additional education through the healthcare and social welfare services speciality curricula. MIM received their teaching license from the Ministry of Education and Research in 2001 and prepares masseurs as a part of formal education, sport masseurs, massage and child massage therapy. The number of students at MIM is 170 and a total number of teachers and employees at MIM is 45.

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