The Culture and Language Skills Project aims to raise awareness of language and culture in the run up to the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics events in Dorset.

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The Dorset Culture and Language Skills Project

About the Project

Introduction

The Regional Language Network South West (RLNSW) agreed to undertake a pilot project in the Dorset area to:

• meet pre-Olympic demand for local training events;

• develop modules for in-service and pre-service training, and

• develop volunteering capacity.

To download an introductory flyer about the project (550 Kb PDF file) - click here.

Since 2004 the RLNSW has been managing, brokering and networking with exporting companies to promote language learning, the use of foreign languages by business and the need to develop cultural understanding. It has also worked with education to provide speakers, often business people, on the value of learning languages.

This project gave us the opportunity to show that what we have learned and developed in these sectors can be applied to the wider community.

RLNSW prides itself that it listens to demand and then provides solutions to the problems identified.

How it operated

In December 2006 the RLN SW was approached to develop a small project for the LSC in Dorset. After discussion it was agreed that they wished to see work developed on cultural awareness and language for three main groups:

• Volunteers

• Employees in poorly paid work

• Trainers who could take the work forward

The project started in January 2007 with extensive market research being carried out in order to learn what potential participants wanted. This research has been continued throughout the project including all courses being evaluated.

Funding

The LSC committed £50,000 to this project. Most of the funding was used to set up the various training courses and pay trainers/specialist providers. Establishing the web site and some PR was also funded.

Staffing

RLN SW business advisers from Dorset organised the project: Philada Rogers and James Piriou. They are both qualified language teachers who have run a contract for the RLN SW for the last three years. RLN SW resources were used for financial management and administration.

Trainers

A list of the LSC approved training providers, including Dorset Adult Education, Paragon Training and Weymouth College. In addition volunteers and native speakers were used as assistants in the language groups.

Market research

Between January and March 2007 project staff spoke to 22 individuals from partner organisations about the project and what it hoped to discover. From this work it was clear that people wanted courses to be:

• short "bite size chunks" of a maximum of three hours at any one time

• have limited time learning a language and that must include key phrases related to a specific use using work based materials like maps or signs e.g. the National Sailing Academy wanted vocabulary on Health and Safety.

The training courses

There were nine short courses lasting between 3 and 12 hours in Marine French, Marine Spanish, Volunteers in Modern Foreign Language classes-to train trainers, 2 Chinese cultural and language briefings, Language and Cultural briefing for frontline staff, Germans on Tour, Islamic diet and culture and Language Volunteer training. You can find out more about these courses through the training materials which were developed for them.

Find out more about...

Project Stakeholders

Project Tutors

Project Outputs

Project Outcomes

Download the Project Report (August 2007) (333kb PDF file)
Download a detailed breakdown of Project Stakeholder Data (89kb PDF file)

Some feedback comments about the project courses:

"It will make me more aware of the need for cultural understanding"

"It was varied and opened my mind to the challenges and possibilities"