This project will develop innovative tools for teachers and volunteers to support the involvement of volunteers in language learning. It will also develop a directory for successful involvement of volunteers in language learning for refugees, as a guidline for organisations how to implement such initiatives. The readiness of volunteers in all countries to help in the so called refugee crisis is a strong impulse, which has to be valued as an additional and currently necessary resource. We believe that the involvement of volunteers will have a positive influence on the process of integration in general. Nevertheless language learning is a field of action were untrained volunteers need support, and should not be left alone. This project will show innovative ways of how volunteers can be involved in language learning for refugees. The field of action will include - volunteering inside of the classroom side by side with teachers - volunteering as learning facilitators in extra-curricular activities In order to encourage language teachers to collaborate with volunteers we will develop a TOOL KIT for TEACHERS and TRAINERS. Hands-on material, tips and tricks will support teachers in the cooperation with non-trained volunteers. This material will be tested in a series of pilot praxis projects within this project. A second TOOL-KIT will address VOLUNTEERS, and help them to find their place in language learning projects, and support them in their activities. This Tool-Kit will likewise be tested in pilot praxis projects. Finally a DIRECTORY for successful involvement of volunteers in language learning for refugees will help ORGANIZATIONS of all sizes to implement innovative volunteering projects. We are convinced that the three involved parties (Trainers, Refugees, Volunteers) will benefit on a long term from such cooperation: TEACHER gain extra support inside and outside of the classroom. With a counterpart on their side, a more individual teaching is possible. The volunteers can overtake some activities within and outside of the classroom to further improve the learning success of the participants. The experience of this project will be adaptable also for other language classes. REFUGEES benefit from a more intensive way of language learning and most importantly get in touch with the society they now live in. Many times, newly arrived find it especially hard to practice outside of the classroom because they have no contact to native speakers (except for the teacher). Also, non-natives that already dominate the language on a high level can become valuable guides who have even more empathy for their situation. VOLUNTEERS are people who give their time and energy to help others. In supporting language learning of refugees, their contribution is visible and success is tangible. This is important for them personally, but through multiplication of this effect, it also affects the way society receives refugees on a long term. We estimate to reach more than 3500 people with our Outputs during the duration of the Strategic Partnership, and even more afterwards since the results stay available online. The consortium of this project consists of five organisations of very different size, with high expertise in language learning, volunteering and advocating the needs of refugees. The partner organisations come from the UK, Germany, Denmark, Belgium and Austria.
The readiness of volunteers in all countries to help in the so called refugee crisis in 2015 was a strong impulse, which has to be valued as a resource. Especially because we believe that the involvement of volunteers has a positive influence on the process of integration in general. Nevertheless, language learning is a field of action which belongs in the hand of professional trainers and were untrained volunteers should not be left alone.This project has developed tools and guidelines to support teachers, volunteers and organisation concerning the involvement of volunteers in language learning for refugees. The three toolkits emerged in this project address the three target groups (teachers, volunteers and organisations) and take regard to their specific needs and concerns.This project shows innovative ways how volunteers can be involved in language learning for refugees. The field of action includes both volunteering inside of the classroom side by side with teachers as well as volunteering in extra-curricular activities.In order to encourage language teachers to collaborate with volunteers, we have developed a TOOLKIT FOR TEACHERS. This toolkit addresses the doubt of many teacher concerning the role of the volunteers in a classroom setting. The toolkit offers a lot of hands-on material how to involve the volunteer in the classroom.A second TOOLKIT addresses VOLUNTEERS. This toolkit displays a variety of possibilities to support language learners without acting as a teacher. It is mend as inspiration for volunteers, encourages them to team up with existing structures and organisations, but it also offers tips and advices for those who would like to set up small initiatives and projects on their own.Both toolkits were tested in local projects and evaluated by external experts.With this experience we finally developed a third TOOLKIT. This third toolkit addresses ORGANISATIONS which would like to set up projects to implement volunteering in language learning for refugees. This toolkit takes into account what organisations should consider before starting working with volunteer. Another focus is on recruitment, induction and volunteer coordination. Furthermore, we showcase a number of interesting projects, as a source of inspiration how to start. This project has shown that Teachers, Refugees and Volunteers benefit on a long term from such close cooperation:TEACHER gain extra support inside and outside of the classroom. With a counterpart on their side, a more individual teaching is possible. The volunteers can overtake some activities within and outside of the classroom to further improve the learning success of the participants. The experience of this project will be adaptable also for other language classes.REFUGEES benefit from a more intensive way of language learning and most importantly get in touch with the society they now live in. Many times, newly arrived find it especially hard to practice outside of the classroom because they have no contact to native speakers (except for the teacher). Also, non-natives that already dominate the language on a high level can become valuable guides who have even more empathy for their situation.VOLUNTEERS are people who give their time and energy to help others. In supporting language learning of refugees, their contribution is visible and success is tangible. This is important for them personally, but through multiplication of this effect, it also affects the way society receives refugees on a long term.This Strategic Partnership gave five European organisations of very different size from UK, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and Austria the chance to learn together over the period of two years. All organisation had high expertise in language learning. Four out of five organisations already brought along a broad experience in the field of involving volunteers in language learning. The learning process does no stop while this Strategic partnership expires. Quite opposite, this partnership has given all partners new inputs and the chance to share learnings with a wider audience. All partners continue to work on further learning and training material. The only partner which didn’t bring along experience with volunteers to start with, managed to build up ongoing volunteer projects with more than 40 active volunteers and a volunteer coordination in the period of this partnership.