The European Language Label in the new programme - European priorities for 2014-2015 The European Commission has defined the priorities for the years 2014-2015:
* Languages for social inclusion
* Languages and sport
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EUROPEAN LABEL AWARDED TO INNOVATIVE PROJECTS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING European priorities for the 2014-2015 Label Campaigns On the basis of the Commission Staff Working Document, Language competences for employability, mobility and growth accompanying the Communication "Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes", the European Commission hereby defines the priorities for the years 2014-2015.
1. Languages for social inclusion
The term "Social inclusion" is a keyword for allowing people to feel respected and valued as individuals and to secure that their basic needs are met, so that they can live in dignity. It is also imperative to guarantee people to be part of the social, economic, political and cultural systems which contribute to their integration into the surrounding community. From a sociological perspective, social inclusion also means assuring to all individuals and groups in society certain rights such as employment, adequate housing, health care, education and training. Especially within the latter context, but fully in line with the former ones, languages play a relevant role. Following up on successful innovative approaches to language learning for people of all ages and backgrounds, further ways should be found to encourage individuals mostly in need to feel socially integrated to learn languages, e.g. extending their scope to offer help for immigrants, people coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, disabled persons, people who use sign-language, to name but a few.
2. Languages and sport
Several sports clubs are involved in projects aimed to motivate young and adult people to learn languages and other cultures through their passion for sports, which means that sport can make language learning more interesting and appealing. There is a clear link between youth exchanges in the field of sport and the need to understand and practice foreign languages. This is all the more reason for combining sport with best practices in language learning and intercultural dialogue. It is not difficult to motivate people to meet across borders and practice sport together. During such exchanges, language learning often happens in a non-formal way. The goal is not necessarily that the language is learned perfectly, but rather about reducing barriers to language learning and about learning in a playful but constructive way. Label projects should explore how such practices can be proliferated and possibly translated to more formal settings. By looking at innovative learning practices and teaching resources inspired by a cross-fertilisation between international sports and language learning, new approaches should be targeted which can promote multilingualism all over Europe. The world of sport and the world of languages should come together to develop common paths and discover what sport can do for languages and what languages can do for sport; encourage synergies for the development of new multilingual projects involving the world of sports and education; identify areas where further action on languages is needed and discuss new channels, new actions and new methodologies.