In this blog post, we're introducing an interesting project which attempts to teach languages in a very innovative way. The project SHOPLANG 2.0 is a continuation of the project “SHOPLANG – The Shopping Language Game”, and is supported under the “Lifelong Learning Programme" of the European Commission for the period 2010-2012. Please read more about the project below, in an article written by Roberto Righi from Amitié.
The idea of SHOPLANG 2.0 is to provoke and encourage the interest of the audience in 4 less taught European languages: Polish, Portuguese, Romanian and Slovenian. The aim is to give basic knowledge of the target languages and thus to facilitate the everyday activities of the European citizens who have become more and more mobile. In the informal environment of the local shop people can be easily motivated to learn foreign languages and to recognize that as an advantage.
The project is realised in supermarket chains through promotional campaigns in the target languages. Two campaigns per language are organised in each partner country, involving the supermarket customers in entertaining language games and activities providing information in the target languages related to the theme of shopping. Those activities are supported by learning materials developed under the project.
An important expectation under SHOPLANG 2.0 is the potential for incorporating some of the developed materials and methods in the learning modules of existing language courses. Associated language providers will try out the developed materials with their language students and at a later stage use them as supporting materials in the course of study.
The language campaigns in supermarkets of Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and the Netherlands started in March 2012, and will be finalised in June, providing results and feedback, that will be described in a final Guideline document.
Many training materials have been carried out so far, mainly language word games that can lead language teachers to develop task-oriented activities that engage their students in creative language use. Games offer students a more motivating and relaxing learning atmosphere, leading the participants to learn more quickly and retain the learned materials better in a stress-free and comfortable environment.
The language materials are available to download in the project website http://shoplang2.com, in all the partners’ languages. A special section gives the opportunity to listen to the authentic pronunciation of the language information contained in the products, recorded by native speakers.
A web application resembling an online language supermarket helps to learn more about the target languages, and the e-shopping game enables people to interact in different categories and to test their skills and what already learnt in an entertaining way.
The Shoplang project is coordinated by KuTu (Bulgaria), and the partnership is composed by Amitié (Italy), FLEP (Portugal), Soros (Romania), Inter-Kulturo (Slovenia), English Unlimited (Poland), Pressure Line (Netherlands).
