Invitation to pilot language course in English

Language courses in the Eurochance project are ready for use, and we now invite visually impaired people to participate in a free pilot English language course!

Story by: Morten Tollefsen - 21.08.2009

At the beginning of June we invited visually impaired people to suggest which languages would be of interest. As expected there were different wishes! The technology is now in place to hold courses in Spanish, Italian, English and German. First we need to test the system, and hope that five people with visual impairments will join the pilot course.

Topics for the pilot course

In Norway the pilot course will be Intermediate English. If you have just a little knowledge of English you will have no problem in following this course.

We have selected five topics. In total there are fifteen topics, and those who wish can take the remaining topics as self-study. The following topics will be part of the course:

• English for Telephone Communications
• English for Finance and Banking
• English for Hotels
• English for Health
• English for Computers

In each module you will learn important vocabulary and grammar. You can then practice what you have learned by completing various exercises. A module should take about six hours. If you are familiar with English you will probably make faster progress, but if you need more time that is fine too. You can study at your own pace! Everything is online, teaching materials, exercises etc., and there will also be half an hour of teaching with your tutor, and personal assignments. This is practical language training which we can recommend for everyone.

Who can participate and what do you need to know?

You must be blind or visually impaired to participate in the pilot course. Furthermore you must have a little knowledge of English, but we emphasize that you do not need to know much!

We will of course teach you how to use the learning environment in the language school. You should be able to:

• Use a browser, including filling in forms
• Use assistive technology such as Window-Eyes, Jaws, Supernova, ZoomText, etc.

All communication with the teacher and other students will take place in the learning environment at the language school. You will need to have a microphone connected to your PC, and if you have a camera you may also use this.

Registration

There are five places on the pilot course, and those who register first will be given preference. But as this is a research project we have some guidelines we must follow, for example that there should be both visually impaired and blind participants.

The selected participants will receive the course for free. Students must sign a contract in which they undertake to attempt to complete the course.

The course will start in September and finish in early December.

Registration to:
Morten Tollefsen
morten@medialt.no
tel: 90 89 93 05

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