Co-funded by the Erasmus Programme of the European Union
MOLEHILL HOLDINGS PROJECTS
Our original project, VR4LL 1.0, provided language teachers and learners with the opportunity to use VR technology in a classroom context. One student wearing a headset was given a task to complete in one of our engaging virtual worlds, with instructions being provided by his or her classmates. The success of this initial project can be measured by the large number of language schools that are using our VR materials, and by the fact that the project was shortlisted for the British Council’s prestigious ELTon’s award, in the category of Digital Innovation.
VR4LL 2.0 is a new project, also co-funded by Erasmus+, that has even more ambitious aims. In this new project we will develop two different types of learning environment. In the first type, students will be asked to perform tasks in a virtual learning environment such as a science lab, which may be familiar to some students, but certainly won’t be familiar to all of them. In the second type of environment, students will have to complete a task by navigating their way around a series of virtual escape rooms. In this case, nothing will be quite so familiar; neither the virtual environments themselves, nor the sort of activities students are required to undertake.
Both types of learning environment will allow multiple players, so students will be able to interact with their classmates both inside and outside the virtual worlds, as well as with a wide range of objects and avatars (or non-playable characters).
The underlying aim of VR4LL 2.0 is to leverage recent advances in VR technology to provide students with even more stimulating opportunities to practice and improve their language skills.
Project updates will be posted on our website, as well as on our social media accounts, so if you don’t already follow us, we recommend you do!
VIRTUAL REALITY FOR LANGUAGE LEARNERS
VR can provide language learners with the opportunity to immerse themselves in a wide variety of engaging environments and work collaboratively to perform a range of different tasks. This project to develop VR materials has obtained EU funding through the Erasmus KA2 scheme.
DEMONSTRATING OUR PROJECT RESULTS
As the VR4LL project comes to an end, we were able to demonstrate the materials we have developed during the ADRIES conference in Split, Croatia.
We have also finalised the Teachers' Notes (a complete guide to using VR4LL) which you can download here.
VR4LL NEWSLETTERS
The latest news from the VR4LL development team
BOLETINES
Las ultimas noticas del equipo de desarrollo de VR4LL
NEXT GENERATION PLACEMENT TESTS
The main objective of this project is to develop a computer-based, pre-course assessment tool that will accurately measure the current level of adult language learners. In the first instance, this tool will be available to learners of six languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Russian. The key characteristics of this pre-course assessment tool is that it will be adaptive. In other words, it will select items to present to students from a large data base of options, depending on their previous responses. This will
avoid the need to answer questions that are either too hard or too easy, and home in on each student’s actual level. Another key characteristic is that it will be available online, on computers or mobile devices, with a user friendly interface featuring instructions in a range of languages. Data from the test results will be immediately accessible both by the test takers and by the institutions organising the courses.
NGPT NEWSLETTERS & BOLETINES
REMOTE THEATRE
A summary
The main objective of the Remote Theatre project is to provide language teachers and adult language learners with the resources they need to incorporate drama into their language courses and then share their productions with other language learners elsewhere
CITY STORIES
Rudyard Kipling once said: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” The aim of this project is to use the power of story telling to help learners of English improve their language skills. The stories are set in three of Europe's most attractive cities and learners will navigate their way through them using Digital Escape Rooms...
Here are two of the stories that are set in Barcelona:
And here is a copy of the Teachers' Handbook that explains how the stories can be used with learners, how teachers can develop their own stories, and so on.
GREEN STANDARD SCHOOLS
A summary of the Erasmus project
MAIN AIMS
Language schools across the EU teach hundreds of thousands of students every year. Of course these students attend language schools primarily in order to improve their language skills, rather than learn about environmental issues, but our contention is that we can achieve both goals simultaneously. In other words we can improve students’ language skills while, at the same time, focusing their attention on environmental issues. Given the number of language students the sector has access to, the overall impact could be significant.
The principle objective of this project therefore is to develop a series of study materials designed for adult learners of English, Spanish and French, that focus on environmental issues, while ensuring that students also make excellent progress with their language aims and objectives.
PARTNER ORGANISATIONS
Apart from Molehill Holdings, the project partners include French in Normandy IH Rouen, Jantar IH Split, and British School Pisa. These partners were selected based on their experience in materials development and/or teacher training, as well as their commitment to the values of the Green Standard Schools association.
DEVELOPING RESPONSIBLE GLOBAL CITIZENS
THE OVERVIEW
This project, carried out as a transnational collaboration project within the Erasmus+ KA2 programme, aims to develop a number of innovative outputs for use in language teaching organizations. For example, the DRGC Curriculum Builder is a software tool that will enable Academic Managers and teachers to quickly and easily design a personalised syllabus, from A1 to C2, that incorporates topics based on Community, Health, Environment, Diversity, and Innovation (CHEDI).
PROJECT PARTNERS
International House Sofia (Bulgaria)
International House Palermo (Italy)
Jantar IH Split (Croatia)
Molehill Holdings (Spain)
