Category: Erasmus+ (Page 1 of 2)

Student Blog: Helen – “And so it ends”

August 14, 2017 / Helen Anne Joules

So here we are, a week after I came back from Tübingen and I’ve only just mustered up the energy to write this post.
In all seriousness, coming home has definitely been the hardest part of being abroad; not exams, not going there – leaving. I don’t want to focus too much on the negatives, but I think there’s definitely a reason people (half-jokingly) call it post-Erasmus depression, and I’d advise some preparation before you go home; plan things to keep yourself busy within the first few days (seeing family, friends etc.), else you (like me) may end up moping around and feeling homesick for abroad.

However, looking back on the past year it’s been incredible. I wouldn’t change my experience for the world. I feel like I’ve grown in so many ways; I’ve met people from many different backgrounds, taken a vastly different range of courses than I’d be able to in Lancaster, and got in touch with my half-German side, meaning that I feel fairly confident speaking to my relatives now. I’ve traveled to different countries, seen people skating on the frozen river, figured out how to sort my rubbish correctly, realised that the Biomüll needs taking out at least every week, and that not all stereotypes are true (shout out to the number 4 bus, which was maybe on time twice).

Going abroad is not easy, it’s not always fun and it’s not always comfortable. It forces you out of your comfort zone, but that’s why it’s so beneficial. There will be great times, and probably some bad ones (these mostly coincide with periods of stress, I’ve found), but with a good support system in place and people around you, it’ll work out well.

Just a tip: don’t underestimate the power of social media at the beginning! Look for international groups, course groups etc. so you can find people to hang out with at the start of the semester.
Also: if you’re invited somewhere I would definitely advise going! You never know who you’ll meet, maybe they’ll be your best friends.

I know I’ll have a hard time piping down about my time abroad for a long while to come, because it’s what I’ve been used to for the last eleven months (but I think if I don’t I might lose all my friends; I don’t want to be that person).

I’d also like to thank everyone who’s made my time abroad the amazing year that it was; my flatmate who made me feel welcome, the Erasmus group that kept me sane in my first semester (fulle ska vi bli alle) with copious amounts of coffee, the ISCL guys (FrieFore, without whom I may not have passed some classes) who were my rocks in the second, and the first, semester, all the great people I met in my classes, and- thinking about it- pretty much everyone I met. Thank you all so much.

Finally, thank you for reading this! I hope you’ve enjoyed getting a glimpse of my year abroad- maybe it’s inspired you to go, or at least made you consider it. I’m sure this won’t be the last time you hear from me, so I guess we’ll talk… soon?

Erasmus+: Continuing longstanding cooperation between Lancaster and Ljubljana applied linguists

July 12, 2017 / Patrick Rebuschat

We have been very honoured to welcome Dr Karmen Pižorn (Vice-dean of Undergraduate Studies and International Cooperation & Associate Professor in EFL in Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) to our Department in June 2017 as part of the Erasmus+ staff exchange programme. During her stay, Karmen presented her work on language classroom anxiety among young learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), offered several research consultancy sessions to post-graduate students in Lancaster’s Department of Linguistics and English Language, and joined the Department’s writing retreat to work on joint publications with Lancaster staff.

This was not Karmen’s first visit, though. The first collaboration between Lancaster’s Department of Linguistics and English Language and Ljubljana’s Faculty of Education dates back to the late 1990s when Professor Charles J. Alderson (Lancaster) helped design a study on a language assistant scheme. The scheme, which involved highly proficient English speakers spending a year assisting in Slovenian classrooms, led to a set of recommendations followed-up by the Slovene Ministry of Education. The collaboration continued when the Slovene government decided to implement national assessments for English and German at Year 9, and five language testing experts from Lancaster (Charles Alderson, Jay Banerjee, Caroline Clapham, Rita Green and Dianne Wall) were brought in to train the Slovene test development team. Apart from the introduction of a more rigorous test cycle, the fruitful cooperation also resulted in the publication of a bilingual Slovene-English handbook, Constructing school-leaving examinations at a national level – Meeting European standards (Alderson & Pižorn, 2004), which to date is still the compulsory textbook for new test writers joining the Slovene national testing teams. The experiences on the national assessment reform have also been reported in the edited volume The politics of language education: individuals and institutions (Alderson, 2009; including a chapter co-authored by Pižorn). Importantly, Karmen and Charles cooperated with others in creating a European network for language testing and assessment (the ENLTA project), which has led to the establishment of the European Association for Language Testing and Assessment (EALTA; www.ealta.eu.org).

More recently, the support of the Erasmus+ staff exchange programme has ensured the continuation and expansion of this productive collaboration between the two institutions. Since 2013, Professor Judit Kormos (Lancaster), together with Dr. Karmen Pižorn and Dr. Milena Košak Babuder (Ljubljana), have trained 100+ teachers in teaching EFL to students with specific learning differences in Slovenia and have conducted joint research on this topic. Furthemore, during visits to Ljubljana in 2014 and 2015, Dr Tineke Brunfaut (Lancaster) ran language testing workshops for novice test writers and in-service teachers, taught pre-service primary school English teachers on innovations in research methodology, and set up a joint study on the rater training needs of teachers involved in the Slovene national assessments. Karmen Pižorn, on the other hand, has been visiting Lancaster on an annual basis, where her research and operational expertise in young learner language teaching and testing – which she has shared through talks and consultancies with Lancaster staff and students – has been greatly valued and has informed Lancaster student and staff projects.

Student Blog: Helen – “Expect the unexpected”

June 27, 2017 / Helen Anne Joules

As the days start to get shorter again (??) it’s still roasting temperature in Tübingen; last week it got to 34 degrees. And, if you’re wondering why I’m still abroad, semester continues til the end of July here (and yes, I am jealous that you have already finished your exams).

If I had a word to describe how the last few weeks have been, it would be “stressful”. I’ve had an exam, a presentation, and more are looming. Other, completely random things haven’t been going particularly well- my kitchen has been redone, so I couldn’t cook anything for a week, and there were people in my flat from 7:15am to 4pm. It’s definitely a strange feeling to feel out of place in your own home.
Due to the heat, I’ve been sleeping pretty badly, and it’s difficult to concentrate when I’m studying, which- with exams coming up- isn’t the best thing in the world.

And, the icing on the stress-cake, is that I managed to (somehow) spill antibacterial hand gel on my phone, and repairing it is expensive, which leads to my next point…

All these things going wrong really makes me appreciate that they usually are fine; it’s like that feeling when you get a cold and your nose is blocked, and you realise how lucky you normally are to be able to breathe easily. The time without my phone has really helped me to be more productive, and to reevaluate how much I really need it. Funnily enough, it half-breaking has inspired me to stay without my smartphone (I still have a brick German one) until I come back to England, as having a month without my phone has always been something I’ve wanted to do, and there’s no better time to be productive than just before exams!

So, I guess the lesson to be learned is to make the best out of a situation, even when it seems that things aren’t going particularly well. There’s often a silver lining, and anyway, you can be almost certain that in a job interview they’ll ask you about a challenge you overcame- these experiences have got to come from somewhere!

Anyhow, I need to get back to revising for my exam (it’s in just over a week now)- talk soon?

Student Blog: Helen – “Spring in Tübingen & weekend break”

May 22, 2017 / Helen Anne Joules

So– it’s been a while. My last post got lost in the computer system, which is why there’s been a break. However, I am evidently back again to tell you about the *cough* interesting weather we’ve had, and about the weekend trip I took to Berlin (and probably some other things too).

Within the past month and a half we’ve essentially had all four seasons- no joke. One week it was around 25 degrees and I (laughably) got a slight tan, then there was a lot of rain- I think all the rain we ought to have had the rest of the year- and hail and snow (yes, snow. In April.) and then we’ve come full circle back to summer weather again. In a word: unpredictable.
I can’t lie though, I love this summer weather. I swear we’ve had more sun within the past month than in a year in Lancaster (see also: reasons to study abroad).

Last weekend (it feels like ages ago) I was in Berlin with some friends who are/were also on Erasmus and I had such a good time! I was there for a day less than the majority of people, as I had class on the Friday and most people didn’t, but it was really nice to catch up with some of the people who left last semester (even for a short while). We really lucked out with the weather as well- originally we thought it would rain the entire weekend but actually it only rained for a couple of hours on the Sunday. It felt great to get away from Tuebingen and be somewhere a bit bigger; whilst I had been to Berlin before, it was at least 5 years ago so I was able to wander around and get a new feel for it. I think to experience Berlin in its entirety I’d have needed slightly more time than I had, but it was great to be there. One thing that wasn’t as great was the transport there and back- 11 hours on the Flixbus (Megabus but for all of Europe) and 12 and a half hours back, due to delays and, excitingly, being checked for passports by the police. To this day I don’t know why.

Whilst the bus was not the best part of the trip, it’s very cheap- a lot cheaper than flying or taking the train- which is why when I go to Amsterdam in Pfingsten (the first week of June) we will also be going via Flixbus. There’s a lot of exciting things coming up soon: my mum is coming to visit in a week and a half, then I’m off to Amsterdam, then I should probably study a bit as I have a midterm (ok, maybe that’s not an exciting thing), but life has good things coming, which I’m really happy about.

That’s about it for now, I’m off to get some rest– talk soon?

Marije Michel: Invited talk at Ghent University

March 28, 2017 / Patrick Rebuschat

Lancaster’s Marije Michel gave an invited talk in Ghent on March 21, 2017, as part of the innovative “New Flavours in Second Languge Acquisition” seminar series, which is dedicated to cutting-edge research in second language acquisition.

Please see below for more information.

Location: Ghent Linguistics Department, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Gent.

Date: March 21, 2017, 19.15

Title: FB me 2N8! Taalleerprocessen tijdens geschreven computerchat

Abstract: Sinds de opkomst van sociale media heeft schrijven een nieuwe plaats verovert in ons leven. We smsen en appen veelvuldig en chatten met vrienden en familie over de hele wereld. Veel van deze chatinteracties vinden plaats in een taal die niet de moedertaal is van interactiepartners, bijv. het Engels of Nederlands als tweede taal (T2). In deze lezing zal ik uiteenzetten in hoeverre chatten in een T2 bijdraagt an taalleren. In verschillende experimentele studies heb ik gekeken waar T2-gebruikers hun aandacht op focussen tijdens het chatten, hoe interactiepartners elkaars taal hergebruiken en hoe dit bijdraagt aan het vermeren van hun kennis van de taal die ze leren. Op basis van onder meer eye-tracking data zal ik laten zien hoe wij in het taalonderwijs gebruik kunnen maken van schrijftaken via chat.

Student Blog: Helen – “Goodbyes are the worst (why you should go abroad for a year)”

March 1, 2017 / Helen Anne Joules

So, it’s been around a month since my last post; exams finished around two weeks ago (thankfully) and all the results I’ve got back so far have been good (this will change with the typology course, rest assured). Once exams had finished I spent a week in Tübingen with friends, meeting up, relaxing and trying to keep sanity around whilst they continued with exams (I think the latest ones finish next week). On Monday I returned to England and have been floating around doing not much until now, but I have several trips around the UK planned for the coming weeks to keep myself busy and make the most of this holiday!

The main point of this post is to convince you to study abroad for a year, rather than just a semester. Here’s why:

If you only go for one semester, you’ll just get to know all these amazing people, and just when you get really close you have to leave. It sucks.
More time abroad = more time for travelling whilst you’re in mainland Europe (everything seems a lot closer)
If you study abroad for one semester, you still have to pay the full year’s fees at Lancaster (which was £9000 for me), whereas if you study abroad for one year you pay considerably less (this year it was 15%, which is £1350)- so there’s a monetary advantage
If you’re worried about getting homesick being abroad for a year, it does fade after the first month. If you choose to stay within Europe, getting home isn’t that difficult anyway- for me it was around 6 hours total to get from door to door.
Goodbyes suck. Let me elaborate.

The thought of leaving Tübingen for a month and a bit wasn’t a nice one, at least for me. I really love it over there, but a lot of what has made that the case is the people I’ve met. People- some of which- are only there for one semester (Master’s/3rd year’s of a 3 year degree) and obviously when I left I was saying goodbye for (really hopefully not) the last time. It does not get easier.
So, save everyone the heartache of doing goodbyes to some people halfway through by staying the full year, then everyone can be sad at one point, ok? Great.

Anyway, I need to pack for my trip to Lancaster tomorrow (time to experience the rain again), so I best get going. Talk soon?

Student blog: Helen – “Winter in Tübingen (and how beautiful it is)”

January 23, 2017 / Helen Anne Joules

A very late happy new year from Germany!

I thought I’d do a bit of a catch-up post from the frosty land of Tübingen, before I properly put my head down to revise for the second lot of exams (how exciting), and the topic today is how *enter exclamative here* cold it is here.
I’m not even kidding. The lowest it’s been (I think) was -12 celsius and these days it rarely gets much above freezing.
Whilst this is an absolute pain (literally, my face hurts from being outside), it’s quite refreshing to be somewhere the seasons are identifiable; I’ve seen proper snow for the first time in several years and it’s amazing.

Speaking of unusual sights in England, the Neckar has completely frozen over (much to my amusement), with a tributary (a smaller river flowing into the main river; I had to google it) containing a street sign.

On a side note, I want to gush about how great Tübingen is for a second.
I really think that once you’ve seen how beautiful a place is/can be (for example I came here for the first time in the middle of July and it was absolutely stunning), then you can never really lose sight of that- even by the train tracks. Every time I walk to my classes or just go on the Neckarinsel it reinforces how much I love the place, especially with a clear blue sky.

Keeping along this theme, one thing that I’ve seen a lot more here than in England is graffiti, especially the political kind (though I may be biased, I live near to a hippie-house). Whilst it certainly took a bit of getting used to, I think it really brightens up the city and can make you think about things you usually wouldn’t (and it also provides something to look at whilst waiting for the bus).

I’ll leave you with the newest addition to the hippie-house, and I guess we’ll talk soon?

Student blog: Helen – “Term differences and holiday plans”

December 12, 2016 / Helen Anne Joules

Life definitely gets busy around this time of year (hence my lack of posts), and unfortunately it’s not just due to thinking about Christmas. Unlike last year at Lancaster, I haven’t got coursework as such to work on (though I did have a 30 minute individual presentation, *gulp*), rather I’ve just had one exam and have another on Thursday- this doesn’t quite allow the festive spirit as much as usual. To avoid thinking about that, I thought I’d give you some information about the term dates in Germany and the differences to those in England.

The academic year over here isn’t the same as in Lancaster; instead of three terms (Michaelmas, Spring and Summer) there are two semesters (Winter and Summer). Winter semester lasts from (for Tübingen) the middle of October until the middle of February, with a two-week Christmas break (from the 24th December until the 8th January). From mid-February to mid-April there is a two month long semester break; I think some subjects have to write essays in this period, but this isn’t the case for my course. I’ve heard that most people use this time to work, travel or return home (unsure which I’m doing yet, but I know it’s not working!). The summer semester then runs from the middle of April to the end of July, and then August until mid-October is their summer holiday.

It’s quite important to keep these dates in mind, as the summer holidays are quite different, meaning that you need to be careful when applying for summer internships or placements, as many start in the middle of June (when there are still exams). Anyway, that’s the boring part over… now a bit about Christmas!

Unlike a lot of Erasmus students I know, I won’t be back in England for Christmas day. This is partly due to the late semester finishing date, but mostly because I’m half German, and nearly every other year we spend Christmas with my German relatives (obviously it makes sense for this to be when I’m already in the country!) After those few days I will be returning to England, to see friends, my cats and celebrate the New Year. Coming home has been a long time in the making, and I’m really excited; whilst there are so many things I love about being here, for me the holidays are a time to be at home, and I’ll definitely make the most of it!

Alas, back to procrastinating revision… talk soon?

Student blog: Helen – “Just thought you ought to know”

November 14, 2016 / Helen Anne Joules

The past weeks have been a blur (as is now becoming the norm), but I wanted to take a couple of minutes to fill you in on (some of) the things you ought to know before studying abroad- especially in second year!

Administration abroad is not necessarily what you’re used to; here there isn’t really a centralised hub of information, so use those friends on your course/lecturers/flatmates to check that you’re not missing out on something important.
Additionally, living together abroad is also not necessarily the same as what you’re used to. Going from a flat of 8 who (mostly) kept their doors open to a flat of 3 where the doors are pretty much always shut is quite a change. See where these friends come in again?
The first few weeks are tough. Make sure that you’re keeping in contact with people back home if you’re struggling with homesickness and/or mental health, whilst also trying to build a network of new friends here. You’ll need people to fall back on.
The workload in second year is a big step up from first year, even if you stay in Lancaster, so prepare to be (more than slightly) overwhelmed when you start the academic year.
Make time to travel- you (if you’re anything like me) do need to set aside time to travel. I can very easily get caught up with work and not give myself a break, but when you’re in mainland Europe it’s so much closer to travel (never before have I been able to do a day trip to Zürich).
The vast majority of people you will meet on Erasmus are in their third year of a four year course. People will ask why you are here. “Because I can” works well as a reply.
Germany is cold. Yes, this needed its own bullet point. Bring long-sleeved tops, hats, scarves, gloves, coats (and anything you can layer), else you will freeze.
On the other side, Germany is cheap. Or England is expensive (it’s definitely England that’s expensive). You’re saving on tuition fees, food and accommodation, which really adds up.
You will meet a lot of people from a lot of countries, and it’s amazing. I know that this is possible in Lancaster, but when you’re in a different country it’s so much easier. This being said, integrating with German people isn’t as easy as I thought it would be (but it does happen- clubs/sports are great for this).

I think that’s all my advice for now. I’ll pop some pictures from Zürich and the Rhine Falls underneath (because it was so pretty), and well… talk soon?

Dr Jenefer Philp: Erasmus visit to the University of Barcelona

November 9, 2016 / Patrick Rebuschat

Our colleague Dr Jenefer Philp just returned from a productive Erasmus visit to the University of Barcelona. Jenefer met with Barcelona staff and students to discuss their research. Highlights included a talk on “Peer interaction and second language learning”, an undergraduate TEFL class on task-based language teaching, and discussing research projects with Dr Roger Gilabert and colleagues. We hope to welcome Dr Mayya Levkina on an Erasmus exchange visit to Lancaster in 2017!

Jenefer’s trip was financed by the Erasmus+ scheme, which provides exciting opportunities for UK participants to study, work, teach, volunteer and train in Europe.