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Hopefully, the article will arouse a great deal of interest.

Original text

AVRUPA Birliği (AB) tarafından desteklenen “HandsonTurkish” projesi, dijital ortamda katılımcılara Türkçe öğretiyor. Özellikle iş görüşmerleri için Türkiye’ye gidecek olanlara dönük olarak hazırlanan projektapsamında internet üzerinden Türkçe dersi veriliyor.

https://turkishonline.eu adresi üzerinden yayın yapan proje, altı kişiden oluşuyor. Projede yer alan altı isimden biri de Türkçe öğretmeni Beyhan Güler. Güler, Türkçe’nin beş dile (İngilizce, Almanca, Fransızca, İtalyanca ve Flemenkçe) çevrilerek hazırlandığı projede önemli bir görev üstleniyor.

Beyhan Güler, diyalog ve hikayeleri hazırlayıp Türkiye ile ilişkisi bulunan ya ticari ilişki kurmak isteyen işadamlarına Türkiye ile ilgili kültürel ve sosyal bilgleri veriyor.

Nasil ögretıyor?

Örneğin diyalog ve hikayelerle Türkiye’ye gelen işadamının uçaktan inip taksiye binmesi, toplantılarda ne diyebileceği konusunda bilgiler verildiği gibi, bulunduğu şehrin kültürel, tarihi ve sosyal özellikleri de anlatılıyor. Projeye katılanlar kursa internet sitesi üzerinden olduğu kadar, akıllı telefonları veya tablet bilgisayarları ile katılabiliyor.

Proje nasil gelıştı

Proje ilk olarak, geçen yılın sonunda ANkara Yunus Emre Enstitüsü’nün düzenlediği sempozyunmda tanıtıldı. Projenin beğenilmesi üzerine bu yıl içinde Belçika’nın Gent kentinde düzenlenen bir sempozyumda yine proje hakkında bilgi verildi. Ekim ayında hazırlıkları tamamen bitmesi beklenen projede ekip, hazırlanan bölümleri Türkçe öğrenen yetişkinlere ve okul- larda Türkçe öğrenen öğrenciler üzerinde test ediyor. Ufuk ELMAS / NEUWİED

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As part of the HandsOnTurkish project, we have developed a new and innovative system of certification for language learning. This article explains what digital badges and digital certification are, how they are related to language learning; the article also provides  information how we built our system.

Certification has always been a key element of education and a prerequisite to entering certain professions or acquiring certain job roles. With the growing ubiquitousness of online business networking profiles (such as LinkedIn), digital certification is all the more important for courses and educational institutions and especially for job-seekers and potential employers.

Creating a digital certificate is a complicated process – it is not just a .jpg file or digital image of a paper certificate.

It needs to be secure, accurate, verifiable, linked to the correct user and have all the relevant information regarding its value.

Our colleague, Jeroen Lichtenauer, is fairly confident that the system we built is more complex than a digital currency or crypto-currency such as BitCoin.

Unsurprisingly, this means – from a security and technical point of view – working with some large numbers and sizes that only computers can calculate. You can read more about that here.

Development

Initially, the digital certification was developed for the “First Steps in Turkish” course, which is a short (12 hour), online introductory course of the Turkish language and Turkish culture. This was deemed to be the ideal testing ground. However, the system will also be extended to and applied to the full 200 hour course.

The First Steps in Turkish course is already accessible on the Hands On Turkish website. Learners have the option of entering the course without any registration. This is to ensure that as large a number of users as possible have an unrestricted opportunity to try out the language without any obligations. This is particularly important for people to see whether the language interests them and whether the course content and structure meet their needs. They can, if they want, complete the entire course without registering – and without being distracted and harassed by adverts (something the project partners feel strongly about).

However, those learners who do wish to have their learning recognised will need to register an account on the site. The registration is needed so that a learner can log in and, subsequently, so that our system can start monitoring their progress as they proceed through the course and register the time spent on the course, information which will be used as evidence for the certificate. Any data is, of course, securely protected on the servers, is accessible only by the learner and only serves to measure the learner’s progress.

The tracking process calculates the time spent on the course together with the learner’s interaction and then compares them both to the minimum expected interaction required for each step. Basically, it means that a learner can’t log in, spend 12 hours staring at the ceiling and drinking tea, coffee or juice – and then claim a certificate. Although the system is by no means regimented, the learner does have to satisfy some fair and reasonable requirements in order to complete the course. The system, for example, won’t take into account if you make mistakes during your learning process.

Upon completion of the online course, learners can then apply for a certificate. They must first take the online test to prove that they have indeed learnt the course content. This is a 40 minute test which covers listening, reading and writing. Each section is weighted according to its importance. For example, achieving a correct answer in the writing section is more difficult than in the reading section. However, because writing is not as important for an absolute beginner and their immediate linguistic needs, writing actually has fewer points. It is, in fact, more important that a beginner can read and understand new words, and this is reflected in the points system.

After successfully completing the test, learners will be awarded a certificate and a digital badge. This is a unique URL, which learners can easily add – with a click of a button – to their LinkedIn profiles or Mozilla’s Opensource BackPack accounts. Future employers or educational institutions can automatically gauge the level of achievement as our course is already referenced to the Common European Framework for Modern Languages (CEF) and European Qualifications Framework (EQF).

Certificates, levels and equality

Why are the CEF and the EQF important? Both frameworks are internationally recognised standards for assessing language learning achievements. Both are, incidentally, also fundamental to the free movement of people within the EU – a core value (and a hot topic). Previously, countries could indirectly erect protectionist measures for employment by not recognising qualifications from other nations – thereby reducing the chances of foreign job-seekers. These pan-European frameworks, for vocational learners now subsumed under the banner of ECVET, ensure that all EU qualifications are accurately referenced and ranked, just like currencies in a bureau de change.

Regardless of whether a user is looking for a job or further education opportunities abroad, it is a fair system for everyone. This is beneficial to both the employee and employer and indeed, on a wider scale, to any successful economic zone. It also means that people, especially professionals, can get the legitimate recognition for educational endeavours that are undertaken outside formal education, just as with the First Steps in Turkish course.

The Hands On Turkish digital certification is transparent and uses technology to improve a well-established system of certification. Should a potential employer, for example, wish to verify the achievement of a particular individual or find out more about a particular course an individual has undertaken, he or she can follow the link on the LinkedIn profile and immediately view and verify the unique URL which contains the certificate, criteria, grades and achievements.

The online profile remains anonymous, but the identity can be verified by entering of the holder’s email address. This means that the anonymity of an individual cannot be abused by someone else.

Earning and receiving a certificate

Once learners have received their certificates, they can log into their HandsOnTurkish account and go to “My certificates”. There the certificate will look something like this:

This, incidentally, is my personal certificate, which I was awarded and which I received from the project. Mind you, I still had to take the test! I managed to pass the test with a score of 70%. So I hope this encourages more people to try.

As you can see, the core information is included. This certificate can be uploaded straight onto a LinkedIn Profile with the click of a button. The URL to the certificate can also be share directly with others, so they can view the certificate.

An example of the certificate on a LinkedIn profile, which adds real value to any CV, is given below.

Alternatively, it is possible to ‘bake a badge’ and add the badge to a BackPack account, which is an opensource initiative from Mozilla.

Verification

See for yourself: Click here to verify this badge.

Of course, if you want to double-check that this digital certificate is really mine and I earned it, then you will need my email address.

Getting your Turkish Language Certificate

The First Steps in Turkish language certificate is available to everybody. Not only can you learn a fascinating new language with our interactive online course, you can also gain the certificate and showcase your achievements on your profiles and to potential employers. Why not give it a try!

• Start with the First Steps in Turkish
• Contact us to find out more about how you can benefit from certification

We are extremely pleased to be able to announce this news. A special mention must be given to the following colleagues: Udo Hennig and Carl Taylor, who did a lot of ground research for the certification and the referencing of the content to the CEF, John Angliss for assisting with the Turkish language test and Jeroen Lichtenauer, whose technical expertise was responsible for the implementation of this new innovative system.

Neal Taylor is one of the developers of HandsOnTurkish. He writes regularly about the project, business developments and language learning.

 

HandsOnTurkish is an innovative online course of the Turkish language and culture and has been developed with support from the European Commission. Learn Turkish online or download the apps and start working towards your certificate for the Turkish language!

 

 

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1st International Congress of Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language
ULUSLARARASI YABANCI DİL OLARAK TÜRKÇE ÖĞRETİMİ KONGRESİ

Carl Taylor, the Project Co-ordinator of HandsonTurkish.Com, and Mrs Beyhan Güler, one of the authors of the HandsonTurkish online course, attended the 1st International Congress of Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language, which was held at Ghent University, Belgium over the weekend April 24-26. They were invited to showcase the innovative and unique software which was built specifically for the Turkish language project.

The conference was organised by Sakarya University, Institute of Educational Sciences and was supported by the Yunus Emre Enstitüsü, Ankara. Speakers addressed various themes related to the study and teaching of Turkish as a Foreign Language.

The touchstone event followed the International Symposium that was held in Ankara in December.

The online course was presented to an audience that showed a keen interest in the project. In particular, the trend away from laptops to access the internet and the role of smartphones and tablet devices such as the iPad as vehicles for eLearning and provision of online language encouraged a lively debate.

A specially designed brochure was distributed at the event and given to participants.

A number of attendees at the conference offered to use the course in their work, and a group of trainee teachers offered their help and support in the further development of the project.

Carl Taylor was able to meet with and discuss the project with Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş, Vice President of the Yunus Emre Institute in Ankara.

Full speaker list can be found here (PDF download).

The HandsOnTurkish presentation was well attended. Carl Taylor gave the following presentation:

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This doesn’t just affect Turkish. It also affects Arabic and a whole host of other, important languages. The decision at first seems bizarre and illogical.

The main importance of an exam is to test and recognise the students and reward them their learning efforts. With a standardised exam, potential employers and further educational institutions can rest assured that the students have achieved a particular, recognised level. In many cases, the exams are a motivation to persist in the learning to achieve this outcome.

Exams are also used for gauging schools and performance. It seems unlikely, then, that a school headmaster will, in the current circumstances, commit too many resources when neither the students nor the school will be able to receive any recognition as as a result.

“Anyone who wants to learn these languages will have a disincentive” if there is no qualification #languagepolicyUK #ModernLanguageDebate

— Speak to the future (@speak2future) March 24, 2015

The exam board, OCR, maintains that there is low demand for these exams / languages. No doubt this is true.

OCR’s development and research costs will, I am sure from working in this sector, be fairly similar whether 200,00o students take the exam or just 500. So the exam board is not entirely to blame since they are, after all, a business (a part of Cambridge University) and therefore require a return to justify the development costs and on-going support.

The very fact that OCR has to even make this move is the most worrying aspect. This consequence reflects badly on Britain’s language learning efforts and policies. It is incredible that there weren’t enough numbers despite the fact that Britain has large immigrant / second-generation families and despite the fact these languages are crucial for trade and diplomacy and should be promoted. Surely we should have had enough learners!

I think this is the issue which needs to be addressed. Since the resources, materials, structures were evidently lacking to teach these languages in schools, the exams weren’t being taken. This recent scrapping of the exams, as already mentioned, certainly won’t help the situation now.

Until languages get more funding, more recognition and more uptake in schools, I cannot see how the situation can change nor how the UK can progress to being an integrated player on the world scene.

This does require a top-down approach to make these opportunities available.

Turkish language learning

We have argued many times that Turkish, a language that is still perceived as strange and difficult, needs updated and suitable language resources and teacher training. The poor state of both lead to reinforcing these perceptions and thus lead to high attrition rates in the classes. Another reason for low exam numbers.

As confirmed in a recent discussion with Prof Jim Anderson from Goldsmiths University earlier this week: even if you have good resources and a learning approach and methodology that is designed for European learners in European schools, this will fail if the teachers have not been trained in these methodologies.

Is it worthwhile?

Bringing the exams back does not simply solve these issues. Such actions require considerable investment. So is it worth it?

if it is difficult to source expertise now, how much harder will it be #languagefutureUK #languagepolicyUK http://t.co/pw6q5mUgDK — Teresa MacKinnon (@WarwickLanguage) March 24, 2015

As we have stated in countless articles , businesses can no longer simply rely on English nor on traditional relationships and attitudes (i.e. let them come to us). Turkey, for example, is emerging on the world stage and so other countries, including Russia, China and the Middle-Eastern countries, are all actively wooing Turkey, much to the expense of UK and EU businesses over the past twenty years. A failure to develop basic language skills and a failure to grasp a good understanding of different cultures (especially those considered ‘high-context’) will decrease chances for success and increase the chances of mistakes and misunderstandings.

It seems somewhat ironic that the Government’s BIS recently announced that it is hoping to double trade with Turkey in the coming years.

Languages are simply not getting the exposure, recognition and support that they so desperately require in the UK.

My hope is that this event will be a huge wake-up call and, regardless of whether the exams are reinstated or not, the underlying neglect of language learning needs to be addressed.

Further action

Current petition on Change.org

Latest news from Londra Gazete who started the petition

SpeakToTheFuture Campaign’s excellent analysis

UK citizens: We’ve just signed the @LondraGazete #Petition re Turkish GCSE and A’Levels – you should, too https://t.co/9NWhPpnRzW

— HandsOnTurkish (@HandsOnTurkish) March 24, 2015

The new EU-funded HandsOnTurkish project gives individuals and businesses the chance to acquire Turkish for vocational purposes and gain a better awareness of Turkish culture and business etiquette.

Businesses can access the free HandsOnTurkish eLearning course – available online or downloadable for iPads andsmartphones via the Apple and Android Appstores.

Neal Taylor is one of the developers of HandsOnTurkish and regularly writes about business, culture and language learning news.

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One of the project partners, Beyhan Güler, is vice-chairman of the Merhaba centre which seeks to promote and foster good relations between Turkish and German communities, particularly in the Rheinland-Palatinate region of Germany.

The students were spoilt rotten with Turkish food, drinks and sweets.

Despite the food bribes, their feedback was very impartial, constructive and positive!

Germany has a large population of second and third generation Turkish families. Many of the younger generations have difficulties with the Turkish language, nowadays. As research in the United States has found, the second generation is key to keeping the language alive, by the third generation it is lost. At this point, English is the only language spoken at home.

Increasingly, the Turkish language is also being adopted into schools as an important language to learn. The focus group comprised of a mix of both Turkish-German students and German students wishing to learn Turkish.

This policy of promoting the Turkish language will not only increase the potential of trade and good relations between the two countries, it will also help second and third generation German-Turks keep their language and thus their identity.

HandsOnTurkish is a free EU-funded course of Turkish available online and via the appstores for mobile and tablet devices.

The Turkish course is available in five different languages including: English, Dutch, German, Italian and French.

To start learning Turkish online, go here.

To see the selection of apps and download them, go here.

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As Jeroen pointed out, words and numbers about how great Turkey’s economy is doing are nothing compared to seeing the facts like this at home. No doubt this news will come as somewhat of a surprise to many Dutch.

Eroglu’s CEO is quoted as saying in the Telegraaf, ‘Mexx has 500 stores in 56 countries and annual sales of €1.2bn. We hope this takeover will allow us to expand our brand in the global fashion market.’

Eroglu Holding has more than 600 outlets in 38 countries, including Russia, Ukraine and Germany. Its brands include Loft and Colin’s. The company says it plans to open 100 new Mexx stores in Turkey within the coming five years.’

Evidently, this decision has been made to expand growth overseas as well as within the domestic market which is seeing a rapid upwardly-mobile middle-class: See this article for how Turkey could become high-income country within five years.

Turkish businesses take over European businesses

This latest news comes after a November takeover of United Biscuits, a British snack manufacturer, which produces a host of famous brands (including McVitie’s) and boasts over 25% of the British snack food market.

United Biscuits was taken over by the Turkish food giant, Yıldız Holding, who outbid the giant American corporations Kellogg’s and Burton’s in a fierce bidding competition.

Yıldız which literally means ‘star’ in Turkish has 160 brands and exports 2,700 products to over a hundred countries. The company employs 41,000 people in 10 different countries.

Interestingly, in a recent interview with Skylife magazine, Murat Ülker, Yıldız chairman, gives us an insight into the Turkish business approach:

‘I believe that travel and tourism are the most important activities that bring people together in the world. This way people can exchange their knowledge about food, traditions, and songs, in short, their own culture. As they learn about these the prejudice against another culture diminishes.

Murat Ülker, whose father founded the biscuit company in 1944 is now worth around $4bn according to Forbes and is now Turkey’s richest man . He continues that, ‘I think that “doing business” opens a just as significant road as tourism does in terms of cultures getting familiar with one another. It was the same for us as well. We made friends in each country we did business, and likewise, our foreign partners who came to do business with us loved our country just as we did. They kept on doing business.’

‘They kept on doing business’

This insight reiterates the importance of building relationships when doing business in Turkey or with Turkish firms.

What is also remarkable about these stories is the quiet, gradual but continued prominence of Turkey on the world stage.

It is also worth pointing out that with this current trend, European companies can no longer take traditional relationships for granted and must now be willing to actively court and woo Turkish business. With a worldwide presence and conveniently positioned on the centre of the World’s axis, Turkey’s companies will no longer need to ‘bend over backwards’ for European business.

HandsOnTurkish believes, from the very outset, that a basic grasp of the Turkish language and business etiquette are fundamental to making inroads into the Turkish market.

HandsOnTurkish is a new and innovative eLearning course of the Turkish language available online and for smartphones and tablets (iOS and Android). Companies can make HandsOnTurkish available to staff to help them prepare linguistically and culturally for doing business with – or dealing with – Turkish companies.

You can start learning Turkish here!

This project has been developed with the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union.

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We put a lot of effort and passion into our work but we do require feedback from our learners to ensure that the materials are useful and appropriate.

Hands On Turkish aims to combine modern technologies and the most up-to-date approaches to language learning to deliver a vocational course of Turkish that meets the needs of European businesses. This strategy will allow learners to have the contact time with Turkish that is needed for sustainable learning to take place.

Many existing courses of Turkish tend to attach importance first and foremost to vocabulary, structures and grammar. In other words, they adhere to traditional concepts and use outdated language learning methodology. They also frequently neglect the ever more important aspect of cultural awareness and fail to recognise that a learner needs to be culturally competent in order to understand a language and interact adequately.

Have you given us feedback?

Please go here.

We deveoped the award-winning ArabicOnline

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They agenda covered the following topics:

• Writing the contents for the main Turkish language dialogues and vocabulary modules for units 1-7
• Planning, structuring and writing a new module for practising pronunciation
• Making audio recordings
• Planning and preparing the language and grammar presentation modules
• Planning and preparing the cultural information modules.

Following on from this meeting, we are aiming to update the Neptune Demo very soon and add more language learning content.

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