The project FOCAL aims to develop occupational language learning resources for migrants working/willing to work in the fields of industry, commerce and retail, and agriculture – with a special focus on strengthening of reading, speaking, writing, mediation, interaction skills. The project idea is based on the previous experiences of partner countries, desktop research of employment trends among migrant population, and the actual needs and difficulties of migrants. The approach of developing language materials for specific fields/professions used in projects L-Pack, TLC Pack and Assess Well proved its effectiveness, so it was decided to scale up this approach for the development of supporting language materials for other fields. The partners conducted preliminary desktop research that highlighted the fields in each country that require intervention at most: industry – PL, FR, DE; retail and commerce – PL, FR, DE, ES, EL; agriculture – ES, EL (each partner will develop resources within 2 fields). The occupational language materials are meant to help migrants overcome difficulties they face in everyday working life connected with the lack of occupational language skills. The innovativeness of the materials will be in inclusion of the new changes in CEFR with stronger focus on work-based learning. Also, guidelines for VET providers on organizing occupational language learning and fostering inclusion of migrant learners in VET and labour market will be published, which will help them better tailor their curricula to the needs of learners. The project, thus, targets the following population groups: • Language teachers in VET, VET teachers working with migrants (15 persons/country) • VET providers, managers, curriculum designers, education centres providing occupational language teaching for migrants (200 contacts/country, 150 participants of partners’ congresses, 35 participants at multiplier events in each country) • Representatives/employers of industry, retail and commerce and agriculture (50 persons/country) • Migrant learners attending occupational language courses, vocational courses, starting or planning professional career in the selected fields (200 persons/country) They will be directly or indirectly involved in the project activities and development of project outputs: 1. Mapping content for the learning language resources The partners will prepare deeper analysis of existing occupational language courses: the use of WBL, compliance with the needs of labour market, tools and resources available in such courses etc. The data will be collected based on content analysis, interviews with teachers, surveys with migrants and consultations with representatives of the fields. 2. Development of the occupational learning language resources The aim of this IO is to develop language resources to acquire B1/B2 level with a focus on occupational language competences and professional competences among migrants in specific fields: industry, retail and commerce, and agriculture. The materials will be designed around 4 communicative activities: reception, production, interaction and mediation according to new CEFR. Each section will compile dialogues, videos with exercises, presentation tasks, assignments to be done at work, vocabulary, phraseology, grammatical structures and technical language (professional slang). It will also include an assessment tool of both language and professional skills. The materials will be available online in German, French, Spanish, Greek and Polish (according to previously selected fields). 3. Guidelines for VET educators and those running occupational language courses The guidelines will include general information and recommendations for the efficient implementation of the O2 occupational language resources in teaching languages and VET education to migrants. They will provide teachers and trainers with a deeper insight in the challenges that migrant learners face in acquiring qualifications or entering the labour market. These activities will contribute to the achievement of the following results: - improved knowledge of host country's language among migrant learners and broadened access to VET and labour market. - developed innovative occupational teaching materials taking into account needs, challenges of migrants and teachers, and expectations of employers. - enhancement of occupational language teaching by developing effective and innovative teaching methods and tools. - improved capacity of VET institutions across Europe in providing occupational language courses for migrants. - improved competences of partner organizations involved in the project by gaining knowledge from other partners’ expertise. - reinforced interaction between practice and policy for integration of migrants into the labour market. - strengthened cooperation between European partners with different expertise in the field of VET education, language provision and integration/social inclusion.
The FOCAL project’s aim was to serve the need of offering profession-related language learning and teaching materials. On the one hand, occupational language learning resources with a focus on strengthening reading, speaking, writing, mediation and interaction were developed with the goal to equip language teachers and VET trainers with resources (involving mediation and plurilingualism/pluriculturalism), which can be immediately applied in language courses, vocational integration courses or other vocational measures for migrant learners or migrant workers. On the other hand, the project was directly addressed to migrants, as the developed materials also serve for self-learning and self-assessment purposes. The successful integration with labour market depends on factors like the level of spoken and written language of the host country, as well as social and intercultural openness, which could be acquired by using the FOCAL materials to improve knowledge in the second language with practical, real-life materials, highly focusing on a specific profession.
After finishing language courses, migrants often still struggle to find work in their host countries. Frequently, they miss vocational-specific language and cultural competences, which are necessary to integrate into a real-life working environment. Research showed that specific resources to acquire those competences for individual professions are hardly available. To bridge this gap, FOCAL developed language learning/teaching materials for specific job profiles within the sectors of retail and commerce, crafts/industry and agriculture. In a modern working world, it is also necessary to fit into a multi-cultural work-based learning environment, besides knowing the occupational jargon. Therefore, FOCAL also took the changes in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages into consideration, especially strengthening reading and speaking, writing, mediation and interaction skills at the B1/B2 level in within a specific profession. The goal of the FOCAL project’s job-related language instruction and/or self-learning is to enable migrants to enter the labour market as quickly and easily as possible, while also supporting language teachers by offering them specific profession-related language teaching materials.