IEREST Symposium
Languages and interculturality for student mobility
Chambéry, 28 April 2015

Venue
Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Chambéry (France)
Jacob-Bellecombette Campus, Building 5

The symposium
The focus of the symposium was on the relations between language training and intercultural education in student mobility. The IEREST project targets all students, not specifically those studying languages, but for any student, educational mobility is likely to involve dealing with other languages and cultural codes and understanding how language and culture interact. The purpose of the symposium was to discuss the theoretical framework of this interaction and to illustrate practical activities that can help teachers and institutions to prepare their students to derive maximum benefit from their international experience.

Programme (download the programme in French and English).

9.00:   Arrival and Registration
9.15:   Greetings
             Ana Beaven, University of Bologna
             John Osborne, University of Savoie Mont Blanc, Chambéry
9.30:   Introduction to the symposium: mobility, languages and intercultural education
             John Osborne, University of Savoie Mont Blanc, Chambéry
10.00: Teaching the intercultural in the language classroom: insights from the IEREST project
             Lucia Livatino, University of Bologna
             Ana Beaven, University of Bologna
10.30: Coffee break
10.45: Breakout sessions: Activities from IEREST modules
             Workshop 1: Experiencing (interculturality through) volunteering
             Basil Vassilicos, University of Leuven
             Workshop 2: Bringing interculturality back home
             Neva Čebron, University of Primorska
             Prue Holmes, University of Durham
12.15: Reflections on the activities from each workshop
             Jan Van Maele, University of Leuven
12.45: Lunch
14.00: Workshop 3. Integrating language objectives in IEREST activities
             Ana Beaven, University of Bologna
            Claudia Borghetti, University of Bologna
16.00: Coffee break
16.15: Roundtable. Languages and cultures in international mobility: teachers, students and international officers
17.15: Conference close

Symposium languages
The working languages of the symposium were English and French. Presentations were in English with accompanying slides in French, or in French with slides in English