Dear readers,
I am pleased to welcome you to our blog. If you have stumbled upon this website, chances are you are interested in language education, or you are learning a new language yourself!
If that is the case, this blog hopes to offer you new insights, knowledge and “food for thought” to guide yourself into the marvelous maze of language education.
So, without further ado, let’s delve into today’s topic.
At the beginning of February 2021 a new project on Japanese language has started at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice: its name, “Virtual Study Abroad Exchange Project”, says it all. International mobility has come to a harsh stop during the 2020 pandemic, and although we have already entered a new year the difficulties in carrying out plans of abroad exchange programs remain. This project was born precisely to address such situation, offering a virtual alternative to international mobility and at the same time creating new internship opportunities. To read all about the genesis and the aims behind the project, our coordinator and project leader prof. Marcella MARIOTTI wrote an in-depth article that you can find here (although it focuses on a sibling project).
However, along with its more pragmatic aspects, the Virtual Study Abroad Exchange project is part of bigger vision that we call “NoLBrick”.
NoLBrick stands for “No-Level Brick Language Education“, a research project and framework developed by prof. Marcella MARIOTTI in the field of Japanese language education that works towards the implementation of transformative language educational practices, the de-standardization of language teaching, and the relevance of glocal e-Learning Ai systems, ultimately aiming at the development of active citizenship and social cohesion.
What stands at the core of the NoLBrick vision is the empowerment of all. In the words of NoLBrick very own creator,
Every person has the right and responsibility to talk
no matter our language ‘level’.
Leaving to technology what it is able to carry off by itself,
can give back to human beings the time to think, feel and create.
(MARCELLA MARIOTTI 2021)
Supported by technology, including new and innovative tools the NoLBrick team has developed, educators take on a mission to see and empower each individual, offering strategies and skills beyond mere knowledge, leaving behind themselves a path of autonomy, awareness and lifelong learning.
The “Virtual Study Abroad Exchange Project was conceived as a step further towards making such vision a reality. In this project, discussion around a main theme is central and each participant is encouraged to think and talk freely through multiple platforms: Slack for written communication, Zoom calls for oral communication and a dedicated section on the NoLBrick blog to tie all those activities together and share them with outsiders too.
There are no language “levels” that separate people and dictate how they should express themselves. In fact, although language classes at Ca’ Foscari University are still bounded to a level system, this semester’s 自由会話 (jiyuu kaiwa, oral discussion classes where the students take an active role) have been linked to the “Virtual Study Abroad Exchange Project” and this enabled students from any language “level” to come and talk together.
As Junior Coordinator, I am participating to multiple such classes and I have been able to get a glimpse of the students’ activities inside their discussion groups: to see students with little less than two years of Japanese language study experience actively participating in the discussions, asking for help when needed in order to express themselves, has been an immense joy and a manifestation that we can and we will achieve empowerment for all.
Sure, there still remain multiple questions we have the responsibility to examine more closely: can we make this project a stable component of the Japanese language teaching reality at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice? How can we also include “zero beginners”? And further towards wider crucial points: how responsibility and freedom are linked together?
To begin with, I would like to pose one question to tackle during the week ahead: how are Japanese language “beginners” coping inside multi-level language classes? What do they have to say about their own experiences?
Stay tuned for answers to these questions! I will post again soon. But until next time,
Have a nice week,
Matteo NASSINI
Junior Coordinator
Virtual Study Abroad Exchange
25 2月 2021 at 17:10
Thank you very much for this opportunity. I’m a second year student but I’m attending first year of Japanese class ( I had various problems). Despite everything, I find that this project is freeing me from shyness and fear. I’m improving my listening too. All this while I’m having fun!
27 2月 2021 at 22:51
Thank you for this first post, Matteo. I’m very curious about the questions you pose at the end, hope to read more next week.
While I’m at it, I want to ask you a question about a thing you said: “has been […] a manifestation that we can and we will achieve empowerment for all”. How did you come to this conclusion? And maybe more specifically, what do you mean by empowerment in this context?
Hope to read more on this as well!