MULTILINGUAL INTERACTIVE LANGUAGE CAFÉS
English, French, German, Italian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish
“LANGUAGE TEACHING AT UNIVERSITY”

The purpose of an interactive café is to create a lively discussion about the role of teaching and learning a foreign language in the context of multilingualism and cultural diversity at the university level. The interactive café is moderated by the assigned candidate, who with the team of 3-4 invited guests will offer their opinions and respond to audience questions either through the questions curated by the moderator or taken from the online audience via live streaming. The idea of the discussion is to draw attention to the role of language teaching and learning in the development of intercultural understanding and plurilingualism. Special attention could also be paid to the discussion of language teaching and learning in the pandemic and post-pandemic space as well as to present the most successful ways for language teachers to address the needs of the new generation of students. It is also an opportunity to discuss to celebrate an idea of learning a language and enriching your identity through linguistic studies.

A list of tentative discussion questions

1. Why would you recommend studying a foreign language?
2. How has language learning contributed to your personal development?
3. What makes language teaching and learning more meaningful?
4. As based on your personal experience, which language teaching methods are the most effective?
5. How has the language teaching changed during the pandemic?
6. What is the role of creativity in language teaching at University?

Interactive café / structure
o Interactive café moderator asks questions and stimulates the discussion.
o Each of the invited guests has 3-4 min. to answer the question (3 min.).
o Each response is followed by the overall discussion (5 min.).
o The sequence of the questions might vary, in accordance with the discussion.
o Audience questions are welcomed at the end of the panel (15 min.)

Outline
o Moderator (5 min.) introduces the invited guests and overviews the rules of the discussion.
o Question 1 (3 min.) / Question 2 (3 min.) / Question 3 (3 min.)
o Discussion (5 min.)
o Audience questions (15 min.)
o Summary