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Description
Project "Language Plurality: Promoting Small Languages and their Cultures" will develop bilateral cooperation between the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University and the University of Bergen. It aims to anchor teaching of Nordic and small languages at the Faculty of Humanities for students of humanities. The project will enhance students'' awareness of the linguistic and cultural situation in the North and strengthen the knowledge and competences of students in the field of small languages. The project will develop cooperation with experts on teaching Nordic languages and contribute to innovation of courses and to creation of new curricula for minority language teaching. It will enable creation and innovation of learning practices.
Summary of project results
The project "Language Plurality: promoting small languages and their cultures" developed a bilateral cooperation between the Faculty of Humanities of Charles University and the University of Bergen. The aim was to anchor the non-disciplinary teaching of Nordic and small languages at the Faculty of Humanities and to raise awareness of the linguistic and cultural situation in the North among students and the public, to increase interest in them and to strengthen students'' knowledge and competence in the field of small languages. The project was awarded the European Language Label Award.
The output of the project are:
- The innovation and creation of teaching courses (innovation of five curricula and creation of four new curricula and their implementation in academic courses – Norwegian, Old Norse, Sami language and realia, Nahuatl Indian language, Small languages of the world) for undergraduate students of FHS UK, always focusing not only on language but also on the socio-historical context.
- The publication of both print and online textbook „Norwegian world“, which is the first to systematically combine language training with an introduction to the world of Norwegian society. It is visually designed in an attractive way for today''s young generation. An informative web portal www.severskejazyky.cz on the language situation in Northern Europe, which focuses as much on the minority languages of the North as on the Nordic national languages, showing that their existence is important regardless of the number of speakers.
- The panel exhibition Languages of the North, which provides visual and atractive information about the languages of the North, is also a popularizing outcome. It is oriented towards students, including high school students, and aims to arouse interest in further study. It has been exhibited in eight Prague and regional educational institutions and is travelling further across the Czech Republic. The opening ceremony took place at the European Day of Languages at the Hybernská Campus.
Summary of bilateral results
The project developed cooperation between individual experts in Nordic language teaching in the Czech Republic and enabled them to meet experts in Nordic language teaching from the University of Bergen, which is the most important Norwegian institution in the field of teaching Norwegian to foreigners and Old Norse - Czech and Norwegian university teachers participated together in the preparation of the exhibition and the website and had the opportunity to share their experiences at a seminar on Nordic language teaching.