Time flies! A month has already gone after the ETEN Symposium in Hasselt (Belgium).

In the Language Education TIG, we were able to listen to a wide range of different practical and theoretical presentations and workshops related to the general theme of the conference: Educators in the Cultural Landscape: Awareness, Positionality, and Global Action.

After a nice group dinner in a local restaurant on 7th May, the members of the Language Education TIG met the next day and started the proceedings of the symposium by listening to Professor Valeria Catalano from PXL University about the language policy in Belgium and its consequences for the teaching and learning of the three official languages in the educational context. Ulrika Jonsson and Angela Casale from Gothenburg University presented and reflected upon the benefits and challenges their students experienced when they participated in a digital exchange experience with students from the University of Castilla la Mancha in Spain. It was clear that the experience very much contributed to expanding the students’ international perspectives The students collaborated and designed lesson plans based on several picture books for primary education.

Teaching and learning languages was one of the central topics of many presentations. Anna Vallbona from the University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (Spain) presented a recent study titled Can young EFL learners talk about language? From the results of the study. It was clear that young EFL primary learners are able to go beyond the repetition of formulaic language and are able to discuss aspects of language in the process of creating a story collaboratively.

Judit Golan Ben-Uri from David Yellin Academic College of Education (Israel) explained that non-Jewish minorities in Israel, including Arabs, Bedouins, Druze and Circassians, typically learn Hebrew within their own education systems, in a rather traditional grammatical way, without significant exposure and exchanges with native Hebrew speakers. She presented a new content and language integrated method to encourage those students to actively use all language skills from the start, tailored to their age and proficiency. Shira Farby, from the same institution, David Yellin Academic College of Education (Israel) focused her attention on preservice teachers’ forms of communication in the English classroom. After reading the poem ‘Purple’ (by Alexis Rotella), students engaged in a Mediated Interaction to discuss the communication patterns between teachers and students and their potential effects on students’ feelings. By connecting the topic of classroom communication to their own personal experience, the pre-service teachers were made aware of diversity and were encouraged to develop an inclusive mindset. Liza Lee and Yi Yi Liu from Chaoyang University of Technology (Taiwan) showed how the integration of music technology into Storytelling within the HMEAYC Framework enhanced Language Development and Motivation in Preschoolers in Taiwan.

To finish this year’s conference, Amy Klipp from Leiden University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands) and Sandrine Wu Hoang from INSPE CYU – Hirsch (France) shared with us the experiencesof a real-life student exchange which was a road of adventure and learning for teachers and students, on the way to a more peaceful, just and sustainable world. As Amy and Sandrine pointed out in their presentation, in the words of Robert Alan Aurthur, cultural differences should not separate us from each other as they bring collective strength.

Another very fruitful meeting. Many thanks to PXL University for such a well-organized symposium and many thanks to the presenters and participants in the Language Education TIG.

Categories: 2025 PXL Hasselt, Language Education