The project for the development of a University Programme at Advanced Level (Master's type) in Conference Interpreting, coordinated by Ingeborg Smallwood from the University of Westminster (UK) and financially supported by the European Commission under the SOCRATES programme, is now in its second year. The project was preceded by a pilot project initiated by the Joint Interpreting and Conference Service (JICS) of the European Commission and Wolfgang Mackiewicz, President of the European Language Council and coordinator of the Thematic Network Project in the area of Languages. The programme which is being developed aims at equipping young graduates with the professional skills and knowledge required for conference interpreting. It seeks to meet the demand for highly qualified conference interpreters, particularly in the area of the less widely used and less taught languages and in view of the expansion of the European Union. As from the second year, the institutions participating in the project are: Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz (Graz, AT), Hogeschool Antwerpen (Antwerp, BE), Université de Genève (Genève, CH), Univerzita Karlova (Prague, CZ), Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (Mainz, DE), Handelshøjskolen i København (Copenhagen, DK), Universidad de la Laguna (La Laguna, ES), Turun yliopisto (Turku, FI), Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris, FR), Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem (Budapest, HU), Università degli Studi di Trieste (Trieste, IT), Universidade do Minho (Braga, PT), Stockholms universitet (SE), and the University of Westminster (London, UK). The representatives of the project partners also contributed to the project for the creation of a website for Conference Interpreting, which was financially supported by the Joint Interpreting and Conference Service (JICS) of the European Commission.

For further information contact Ingeborg Smallwood, University of Westminster, London, UK, email: smallwi@westminster.ac.uk

European Masters in Clinical Linguistics

The project for the development of a European Masters in Clinical Linguistics (EMCL), financially supported by the European Commission under the SOCRATES programme, started on 1 September 1999. The application for the project was prepared by the ELC Task Force on Clinical Linguistics, coordinated by Roelien Bastiaanse from the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (NL). The institutions participating in the curriculum development project are the Universität Potsdam (DE), the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (NL, coordinating institution), the Universitetet i Oslo (NO), and the University of Newcastle (UK). The main aim of the project is to develop an advanced level programme (Masters type) in Clinical Linguistics. The representatives of the project partners held a first meeting in Venice (IT) on 22 and 23 October 1999, at which they discussed and agreed on the content and structure of the programme to be developed. The meeting was also attended by representatives of two institutions which will join the project in its second year, the Aristoteleio Panepistimio Thessalonikis (GR) and the University of Reading (UK). The programme will be piloted at four partner institutions during the academic year 2000-2001.

For further information contact Roelien Bastiaanse, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Groningen, NL, email: Y.R.M.Bastiaanse@let.rug.nl

TALLENT
Teaching and Learning Languages Enhanced by New Technologies.

This project, funded by Lingua Action A, involves the development of a sixty-hour in-service module for teachers and trainers in European languages as a second/foreign language. The course, which was piloted in Limerick, Ireland, from 3 - 14 July, 2000, and will be offered in five European countries in 2001, aims:

• To familiarise participants with the major applications in Information and Communications Technologies and language learning
• To provide guidance in the use of the technologies in the light of recent theoretical and empirical research in the area
• To enable course participants to integrate Information and Communications Technologies into their teaching
• Through the application of concepts such as learner autonomy and learning to learn, to provide course participants with transferable skills which they can subsequently apply in their own professional and personal development.

Topics include language learning and ICT; reference tools; using the Internet; creating a webpage for language learning; authoring tools: evaluating, selecting and using them; text corpora and concordancing; the self-directed learning environment and ICT. Project partners include Arhus School of Business, DK and the universities of Vienna, AT, Frankfurt (Oder), DE , Madrid, ES (Autonoma), Jyväskylä, FI, Lille III, FR, Limerick, IE (co-ordinator), Venice, IT, Groningen, NL, Warsaw, PL, and Thames Valley, UK.

Following the piloting of the course in 2000, it will be offered in 2001 in Limerick, IE, Frankfurt (Oder), DE, Arhus, DK, Birmingham, UK, and Lille, FR.

Website: http://www.jyu.fi/tallent/index.htm

ELC Information Bulletin 6 - October 2000
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