Online Language Support (OLS)

Dear Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps national agencies and beneficiary institutions/organisations,

Celebrations are in order this month because it’s Europe Day on 9 May, when we commemorate the Schuman Declaration. In New features and content, learners can discover an A1-level course that will help them organise a Europe-Day themed event.

We also present our 3 ‘Welcome to OLS videos’, to help those who are new to the platform discover its great features. 

With the buds starting to bloom, we shine light on a new course to help language beginners prepare for spring, and modules with thought-provoking topics to challenge the advanced learners.

In honour of Portuguese language day on 5 May, we encourage students to join – and participate in – the community of this Romance language (see Community managers and forums). In Feature languages, we highlight the course ‘Portuguese for graphic design’ for vocational education and training (VET) learners.

To make sure we include all the other VET learners, in Tips there’s info about all 10 courses and how to find them on OLS.

Happy reading,

The OLS team

The Welcome to OLS video introduces mobility participants to the platform and invites them to join the communities for an immersive learning experience. 

The Welcome to OLS community video explains what the communities offer, the purpose of the 3 forums, and the role of the community managers. 

How to learn with OLS explains the structure of the beginners’ courses, how to use the dashboard and when a learner can take the end-of-course exam. Find the video under the heading ‘How to Learn with OLS’, at the top of the list of A1 and A2 courses for each language.

New content:

A1: Congratulations on this great news! Attending social events is great for practising a language. Students will learn to write invitations for formal and informal events, and how to say ‘yes, I’ll be there’, or ‘sorry, I can’t make it’. For learners of Portuguese and 28 other OLS languages’.

A2: My beautiful garden. In addition to basic gardening terms, students will learn vocabulary for drawing up a schedule to tend a communal vegetable garden with friends. For beginners’ students of Macedonian and the 28 other OLS languages.

B1: Fully online courses: a good idea? Online courses have advantages, but they’re not for everyone. Students will learn vocabulary to express their opinions about the topic. It’s available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

B2: Is being a delivery person worth it? Learners can join the debate about platform working, to help them decide if it’s something they want to do to finance their studies. The module is available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

The OLS Communities are constantly updated with brand new content for practising a language and diving into its culture. Here are some highlights of content our community managers have published:

• Portuguese learners can enjoy practising the language, meeting their peers and interacting with community manager Juliane in the introduce yourself discussion;
• 12 May marks Finnish Identity Day. It’s also known as JV Snellman’s Day. Learn why in this blog post by community manager Minna;
• In My Language Learning Journey, a Swedish student tells Dutch community manager Marieke how music helped his learning;
• The fidil, cruit, and bodhrán are central to Irish heritage, as community manager Caoimhe tells us in her blog about traditional music instruments.
• From Ashes to Applause: Macedonian community manager Denica puts the spotlight on the history of the country’s resilient performing arts sector.

Our community managers continue organising online speaking sessions. The last 2 were in Italian and Latvian. All the communities will host their own ones in the upcoming weeks and months.

Please remind your mobility participants to stay in touch with their communities, so they don’t miss this opportunity to practise the language with a native speaker.

Help us keep mobility participants aware of new features and developments on the platform by downloading the communication materials for May from the toolbox below. Prepared by the OLS team, it contains posts and visuals to share on your social media networks, and an email to send to participants. Make use of both to reach as many participants as possible.

Kindly note that to download the toolbox with its communication materials, you must first login on the EU Academy and then enrol in this course.

OLS has 4 hours of vocational education and training (VET) content per language, for 10 different subject areas, for levels A2-B1: agriculture, catering, construction, computer science, graphic design, hair and beauty services, health and social care, logistics, mechanics and electromechanics, and tourism.

Mobility participants can find these by going to the ‘learning community and resources’ page for their language and scrolling down to the search page. 

Clicking on the ‘Curriculum’ tab will show the drop-down menu with the list of courses. 

Each course includes: tips for learning the language, activities for communicating in the workplace, reading and comprehension exercises around the theme of a day at work, facts about the industry in Europe, and vocabulary flashcards.