1. DESCRIPTION OF THE SUCCESS CASE

1.1    Scope of the initiative

• The initiative involves a network of schools at local level, and is financially supported by the Municipality of the town.
• Target group: Kedainiai Language School is an extra-curriculum educational institution for schoolchildren who attend secondary schools in the town and its outskirts.
• The duration of L2 courses is 4 years for the English language and 1-2-or-3 years for German, French and Russian.
• The initiative involves pupils aged from 14 to 18, eager to learn languages.
• The initiative also involves the establishment of partnerships with schools in other countries: Lithuanian Saturday School ‘4 Vejai’ in Dublin.

1.2    Range of languages studied

• The main language studied is English. The curriculum includes English Grammar, Phonetics, Language Practice, Listening Comprehension, Creative Writing, Translation, and British Studies. Besides, the school offers courses in Lithuanian, German, French, and Russian.  A distance learning course (Use of Lithuanian) has been composed for the children of emigrants who live in Ireland.
• The choice of the English and Lithuanian languages is imposed. The pupils choose L2 freely. Some learn the same L2 at their schools, and want to improve their knowledge and skills. Some take a different foreign language.

1.3    Learning outcomes

• Teenagers come to this school because they find traditional FLT insufficient, thus they acquire specific language skills unavailable through traditional methods.
• The pupils achieve a specific level of competence (inc. partial competences) on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). The results of their final national examination in English are much higher than average, some of our graduates passed the international Cambridge FCE, TOEFL and IELTS examinations and study in Universities abroad.
• Attending so many classes a week (30 at ordinary school and 10-12 at language school) makes pupils arrange time properly; they learn to select the most important activities and materials.  This helps them acquire specific skills relating to academic life.

1.4 Practical realisation

• The pupils have got a possibility to improve their knowledge and skills in various linguistic fields: English Grammar, Phonetics, Language Practice, Listening Comprehension, Creative Writing, and Translation.
• Recently the demand for international examinations in English has increased, and the school provides the opportunity to prepare for external language certificates (Cambridge FCE and IELTS) via an intensive course.
• Novel learning environments are being created. The pupils use computers during the classes of creative writing, translation and Lithuanian. Those who miss classes have a possibility to receive materials by e-mail.
• The teachers involved in L2 teaching are highly qualified. They are active participants of various in-service courses.  The most effective was the programme ‘Good Experience in Teaching Languages in Ireland’, which involved lectures about history, education and culture of this country, given by the teachers themselves. The teachers also attended FCE and IELTS classes at Dublin City University. Visits to the Language School affiliated to Vilnius University and the Translation Office of the European Commission were also useful for professional development.
• The school community participated on several educational projects in European countries: Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Benelux, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Finland and the Baltic states.  The main interests of these projects are the use of English as world language, the importance of knowing as many languages as possible, and getting to know historical heritage as well as culture and traditions of other countries.
• Playing Verse has become a traditional project, with several events being accompanied by poems recited in fluent English, French, German, Russian, and Lithuanian.
• The wisest pupils are awarded with the European Language Portfolio, which helps them to assess their knowledge and skills in using the languages they learn.
• The school has got a partner in Dublin, Lithuanian Saturday School ‘4 Vejai’, and helps the community of the school to learn Lithuanian via a course of distance learning.

 

2. BACKGROUND TO THE INITIATIVE

2.1 Context

• The school was founded in 1991, the first year of Independence in Lithuania, by enthusiastic foreign language teachers, who foresaw the importance of various languages and cultures. The initiative coincided with the official language policy at local and national level and answered the demand of the local community. Dissatisfaction with the learning results obtained at secondary schools and eagerness to master foreign languages in a different environment make teen-agers choose our Language School.

2.2 Strategic goals of the initiative

• Ensuring that pupils have access to language learning and boosting language learning in general;
• applying new learning approaches and introducing new language learning possibilities;
• promoting linguistic competences;
• developing specific communicative skills in the L2:making presentations, improving listening, reading, writing, and translating skills;
• motivating pupils to undertake further language learning, whether in-depth learning of a known language or the learning of a new language or languages;
• linguistic diversity, i.e. the learning of a wider range of languages;
• cultural openness;
• developing pupils’ autonomy with a view to lifelong language learning.

 

3. SUCCESS INDICATORS

• A large number of pupils following language courses;
• the number of pupils successfully completing their language courses;
• objectively verifiable gains in language competence (e.g. national and international  examinations in English);
• greater uptake of language learning possibilities;
• the learning of a wider range of languages;
• increased motivation for learning languages as shown by various objective criteria;
• increased well being of pupils and teachers;
• better test results;
• enhanced classroom interaction;
• the sustainability of the initiative.

 

4. SUCCESS FACTORS

• Strong institutional support for the language initiative;
• languages being made obligatory;
• the pedagogical skills and motivation of the language teaching staff;
• the range of learning possibilities on offer (ICT, the combination of formal and informal learning options, etc.);
• the continuity of the initiative.

5. LESSONS TO BE LEARNED

Learning languages in contexts other than ordinary schools and using unusual approaches is quite challenging. This is the case with our initiative. Teenagers come here in the middle of their 8th school year and take a test. Yearly analysis of test results shows that the average of pupils’ knowledge has a downward tendency, even though most of them started learning English as early as in their 2nd school year. The four years at our Language School make them more self-confident, which contributes to their performance at the national examination in English. The results of this examination are much better than average.

Our initiative also involves other foreign languages such as French, German, and Russian. Even though teaching languages is strongly supported by the state in Lithuania, most schools are unable to provide efficient teaching of  L2 as university graduates are not eager to work at schools.

It’s a shame that for 18 years already we are the only school of this type in Lithuania, other F2 courses being organized on temporary commercial grounds only.