Approach „The Output Hypothesis proposed by Swain (1985) argued that language output may trigger the learners to pay attention to the target linguistic form in order to express their intended meaning. The noticing function of the Output Hypothesis posits that learners may notice the gap in their IL knowledge in an attempt to produce the target language to prompt them to solve their linguistic deficiency in ways that are appropriate in a given context.“ Based on the Output Hypothesis, in this Erasmus+ project, the target language our project students had their focus on was English language. At the very beginning, the pupils were put in international groups so that they work on assignments they were supposed to accomplish prior to each Youth conference. They were also given the opportunity to exchange their contacts through E-Twinning as well as the other social media, thus using the opportunity to speak English as much as possible. In addition, at each International Youth exchange, the students were accommodated in host families. Undoubtedly, our students used English language as the only means of communicating both in their formal (project activities) and informal gatherings. So, as you can see, everybody took part in planning and especially presenting the project they worked on. Results We, the teachers, as their constant observers, witnessed English improvement in all the students, especially the shy ones and those whose English was not as fluent. As previously mentioned, students´initial communication was while doing the digital assignments, so on day 1 at each international youth exchange, students already knew their team peers. However, as the exchange progressed and reached its end, we saw enormous change in students´ English vocabulary. Precisely, their communication was becoming more and more fluent. Speaking of this, I would like to mention the comments of a few students´of mine, that they started thinking in English and the first word they would come up with was English even when interacting with somebody coming from the same country. Moreover, the vocabulary used throughout the exchanges was intermediate level upwards. That became obvious with our third Youth exchange which took place in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. Namely, on day 3, there was a debate happening, with a jury and audience consisted of a number of students from other schools, other than Insula College. Our students, all of them, debated in English so fluently, as if English language was their mother tongue, quite often using idioms and idiomatic phrases, formal expressions and the like. This was actually the moment when we, the teachers and coordinators realized that our students have come a long way regarding their English language skills and fluency. However, we had to prove their English improvement. In order for that to happen students did online self assessment test. The picture on the top is a proof of that. To sum all this up,students´ English reading, listening, writing and speaking skills have improved significantly, as well as their motivation for getting into the core of the language, knowing the fact that proficiency in English served as a prerequisite to participate in this Erasmus Plus project.
Youth Conference "Migration" in Simonas Daukantas gymnasium Šiauliai, Lithuania 16th May - 20th May, 2022
Interactive-images: My diary
Con Amore
Our exchange
Migration and Red Cross Organization
Youth Conference "Active Citizenship" in Insula College Dordrecht, The Netherlands 4th April - 8th April, 2022
Youth Conference "Prejudices" in Yahya Kemal College in Skopje, North Macedonia 27th September - 1st October, 2021
Youth Conference "What do we all have in common? How different are we?" in Rutesheim, Germany 27th - 31st January, 2020