Highlights 2012

1. Lyrics and Rap competition

Secondary school pupils prepared lyrics and rap text and perform live, guided by professional rappers. For example, simple rap lyrics could be projected in various languages onto a screen to enable everyone to rap along. The school students had also the chance to act as a DJ.

Organizers: DGT Field Office Copenhagen, Goethe Institute, Institut Français, Denmark
Target Groups: Pupils

2. ”My favorite European place in Australia”

We invited primary school students to present a photograph that reminded them of Europe in Australia. (i.e. restaurants, squares, statues, etc.) The competition was open to students between the ages of 9 and 12. Selected students were then be invited to participate in a photography workshop at Waverley Library on Wednesday,

Organizers: EUNIC Australia, Alliance Francaise Sydney, Istituto Italiano di cultura Sydney, Goethe Institut, Instituto Cervantes Sydney, British Council, Australia
Target Groups: Pupils, students, children

3. TRANSPOESIE 2012

On the occasion of the European Day of Languages on September 26th, around twenty European countries were invited to propose a poem. The texts will be displayed in their original version as well as with their translation in French and Dutch from 22 September until 22 October: they will be exhibited in the metro trains and in the Botanique metro station. 2012 is the European year of active ageing and solidarity between generations. The ageing of the baby-boomers and of the whole society in general urges us to think about inter-generational relations. For this year, EUNIC in Brussels members propose to dedicate the TRANSPOESIE project to those generations: the metro is a place of daily meeting and mixing; as such, isn’t it the ideal place for poetry to ponder about generations? It is the occasion to offer the 3 million daily commuters in the Belgian capital a new way of experiencing their travel…

On 26 September, the Botanique metro station will host the TRANSPOESIE 2012 press conference. This inauguration, which will take place during the European Day of Languages, will be followed by a literary event called “The Poem Factory”: several poets participating in the project will be in the metro station and write on the spot poems which will be inspired by the stories the commuters will tell them. More details about the location of the inauguration evening will be released soon.

Organizers: EUNIC in Brussels Co-coordinator c/o British Council, Belgium
Target Groups: students, general public, adults

4. National Punctuation Day®

National Punctuation Day® is a celebration of the lowly comma, correctly used quotation marks, and other proper uses of periods, semicolons, and the every-mysterious ellipsis. The ninth annual National Punctuation Day®, the September 24 holiday that reminds America that a semicolon is not a surgical procedure, will celebrate the 2012 presidential election with a literary challenge — vote for your favorite Presidential Punctuation Mark in one, highly punctuated paragraph! The rules: Write one paragraph with a maximum of three sentences using the following 13 punctuation marks to explain which should be “presidential,” and why: apostrophe, brackets, colon, comma, dash, ellipsis, exclamation point, hyphen, parentheses, period, question mark, quotation mark, and semicolon. You may use a punctuation mark more than once, and there is no word limit. Multiple entries are permitted. In short, persuade us that your favorite punctuation mark should be the official punctuation mark of the President of the United States.

Organizers: Jeff Rubin, U.S.A.
Target groups: Adults, children, business and commerce, general public, media, parents, participants in adult education, pupils, students, young people

5. Speak-dating

Nine tables in a public space (Masaryk-railway station in Prague), teachers of nine European languages, 5-10 minutes for one language: people can try any language and it is not important if they learn it or not yet.

Organizers: EUNIC Czech Republic
Target groups: General public, Adults (in general)

6. Language Exchange Party

We want to create a database of songs in all languages that can be used for a Language Exchange Party. You know many songs from your country or in any language and want to share them? Go on the following link and write down song titles and singers. Anyone can participate. YouTube links are welcome. The more songs the better! From today to the 70s or even before, feel free to share songs! Thanks for your contribution! Language Exchange International

Organizers: Language Exchange International, France
Target groups: Young (in general)

7. Talking online avatars 

The project will start with the celebration of EDL by creating online collages using images from our towns, schools and adding recorded messages, using VOKI and/or Audacity. Pupils and teachers will get an idea of what other European languages sound like, as well as what other countries look like. From that, we'll go on and explore customs, traditions, flags (how they came to be), anthems, and stories, so on. We'll know more about our big FAMILY and work together in harmony. The talking avatars will encourage and motivate pupils to express themselves in their native language as well as in other foreign ones. The collages and the recordings will be used to create an interactive online map that could be used by anyone, anywhere. An online dictionary that will include pronunciation (by natives) in all the languages involved in the project meant to help students, teachers, and parents.

Organizers: School nr.17 Botosani
Target groups: language learners, language teachers, pupils, young (in general)

8. VOCAB JUNGLE!

Slam performance Slam Poetry Budapest (SPB) presents: VOCAB JUNGLE Exclusive spoken word performance by five Hungarian top slammers, delivering a poetic piece in various languages, supported by public interactivity. The lyrical patchwork will include words given by the audience, while the languages used ranges from German and English through Italian and Spanish to as far as Japanese, sprinkled with Scandinavian singing and other linguistic surprises.  Slammers: Katalin Mavrák /Hugee/ Ádám Bencsik /Ponza/ Márton Simon Péter Németh /Zeek/ Márk Süveg /Saiid/ Péter Závada /Újonc/

Organizers: EUNIC Cluster Hungary
Target groups: general public

9. eTwinning project: Happy EDL 2012!

Postcard Exchange. Students write cards wishing a Happy EDL to their friends in Europe using their mother tongue. They send a postcard from their hometown as well. Students will have a better knowledge of how many different cultures and languages live together in Europe. They will also learn how to write addresses and put stamps since they never use traditional mail. Every teacher receives a list of partner schools addresses. The students write a card with a specific sentence in their mother tongue. They put their card in an envelope together with a postcard of their hometown and send it to the other students. By the 26th September every school will have lots of cards in different European languages and lots of postcards with different European panoramas. We want our students to be aware of the big community we live in. Our goal is also to make them understand how important is to learn other languages to be able to communicate with people. Tools to be used: e-mail, Other software (PowerPoint, video, pictures and drawings), Twinspace

Organizers: Several teachers in several countries: Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, French Polynesia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Spain
Target groups: language learners and language teachers

10. "Cook it!" Gotuj się! City game

Do you like a good, fun team and good food? Want to take part in the city game? Collect 3-5-man team and go to the tasty game city on the occasion of the 9th European Day of Languages in Krakow. At the head of his own catering company you move to conquer Europe."Cook it!" Is a strategy game combines language fun and competition with foreign language learning. Teams will play the role of a newly established catering company, which will start operations in the European Union.

The game starts on Saturday 22 September at.10 in Teatr Groteska. Five hour game will not be a simple science or normal cooking. Players waiting for a number of hilarious tasks and puzzles of language, so that learn vocabulary better.
Each team will develop its own strategy itself culinary conquest of Europe, working together and sharing power between the various orders. Take a shopping complex, cooking, food preparation unusual, tasting, administration, transportation in difficult conditions - are just some of the skills which will be required to demonstrate to the players. Useful knowledge of savoir vivre, the EU food and basic conversations in different languages. But do not worry! Although the task is full of words and phrases in Italian, German, Spanish, French and English, the primary language of the game remain the Polish, and at every stage of the fun you can count on tips. Of course, not for free.

Do not waste time! Application 3-5-passenger teams welcome from 3 to 19 September on the website www.grymiejskie.krakow.pl. Here you will find rules also fun. Detailed rules for the game will be sent to registered teams after September 17. The honorary patronage over the event became Mayor of the City of Krakow Jacek Majchrowski.

Organizers: Instytut Cervantesa Poland
Target groups: Adults, General public, Children, pupils

11. LIVE FLAGS!

Create a European flag, a live flag, which means that a whole class and all the members of that class have to find an idea how to create a "live flag". (They can use colored T-shirts, or color papers or umbrellas, or whatever) We will measure the time students create the flag and after every class created their own we take pictures of it. Of course we invite the local Television too.

Organizers: Éva Pató Csabáné Szebényi, Hungary
Target groups: students, pupils

12. SPRACHENBUS/LANGUAGE BUS

The Language Bus is on the road again! Just in time for the European Day of Languages on 26 September, sponsored by the Holding Graz! The Language Bus Holding Graz and the "linguistic landscape Deluxe", a specially designed exhibition for schools of Graz invited at the European Day of Languages, together delve into the diverse world of languages. Language Bus brings interested people to various places in Graz, with various programs (Academy Graz and Plurilingualism the Karl-Franzen´s-University Graz and Society). The programs are designed for the Language Bus and they will be seen several times in public after that date in different contexts. Program: Production of a short film (animated film by Julia Laggner) on multilingualism in Graz and premiered at the Language Bus ORF Production of a traveling exhibition for schools and other interested institutions, initial presentation and exhibition in the ORF multilingual readings (at different places in Graz) and a multilingual theater project with pupils from the NMS St. Andrew, which is listed in Helsinki and radio broadcast.

Organizers: Holding Graz, Austria
Target groups: General public, Young in general, children 

13. LANGE NACHT DER SPRACHEN

As part of the European "Language Day", the WIFI Vienna participates at the event, Lange Nacht der Sprachen, (Long Night of all languages). WIFI Vienna offers the possibility to improve your language skills. Those interested in languages can choose from a variety of courses offered by the WIFI Vienna “Consider some time to learn a new language or even refresh your old language knowledge!”

Organizers: Wirtschaftsförderungsinstitut (WIFI) Wien, Austria
Target groups: General public, Adults, Young