The Universidad de Malaga (UMA) in Spain, recognized as a Campus of International Excellence (2012) and known for its competent researchers and teaching staff and a wide array of student talents, has initiated the Calesa Project which it proposed to the European Commission via the Capacity Building Higher Education Programme (CBHE).
CBHE is the European Union’s programme whose aim is to improve and modernize higher education systems and to support the cooperation of Partner Countries across different regions of the world such as Asia through university cooperation undertakings. Subsumed in the Calesa Project is a work package on multilingualism which proposes training seminars/three-day conference in partnership with the University of San Agustin (USA) in Iloilo and Ateneo de Zamboanga University (ADZU) for administrators, curriculum planners, teachers, and students, especially those specializing in language studies. Interested parties like those coming from government agencies and media are also very much welcome to participate.
The conference will be conducted following the perspectives of the Common Framework of Reference (CEFR) for the Languages, namely: Learning, Teaching, and Assessment issued by the European Council in 2001 and updated by a Companion volume in 2018 with the end of disseminating “plurilingualism” and interculturality among its member states. As such, it will outline the conceptual framework that supports the Work Package on “Multilingualism in the Philippines and explain the Linguistic Tools for Teaching Vernacular and foreign Languages. It will also provide a background on the use of CEFR which serves as the basis for the construction of several instructional materials like syllabi, textbooks, curriculum guides, and examinations in European member states which the Philippines can learn so much from. The rest of the conference will tackle the language of advertising, the interplay of science, technology, and literature in our contemporary society; the multilingual situation in the Philippines and what their pedagogical, as well as cultural implications, are; and the varieties of English worldwide with the status of Philippine English in the context of Asian Englishes. Summaries of these topics, names of the speakers, and their short bios are attached to this invite for further information. The program of the event is also attached for your reference.
In light of the details above, UMA, USA, and ADZU are cordially inviting selected administrators, teachers, and students to participate in the said conference. This will be done via Zoom on June 23-25, 2021 with ADZU as the main host and UMA and USA as co-hosts. The event comes with no registration cost and is approved by the Commission on Higher Education. All who will participate and will be able to attend at least 70% of the conference will be issued a certificate.
There will also be a live event sometime in 2023 when it is safe to travel for UMA faculty who will visit Zamboanga City to give the talks in person. #CALESA #IbangCLASE
