2005 – Brussels

9.00 – 9.30 Registration

9.30 – 9.50: Welcome and opening addresses

Welcome and opening by the president of the Federation Prof. Dr. G. Stickel
Opening address by F. Vandenbroucke Ph.D., Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Nederlandse Taalunie and Minister of Education and Labour of the Flemish Community of Belgium

9.50 – 11.00: Plenary speeches (Chaired by Prof. Dr. P. Beltrami, Vice president of the Executive Committee of EFNIL)
Prof. (emer.) Dr. A. Raasch (University of Saarbrücken): Vom Fremdsprachenlernen und –lehren: Wege nach Europa und zurück (Foreign language learning and teaching: ways to Europe and back again).
Question and answer session.
D. Senez (European Commission): Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity in the European Union. Question and answer session.

11.00 – 11.30: Coffee Break

11.30 – 12.30: Plenary speeches (continued)

Prof. Dr. F. Grin (University of Geneva): Peut-on faire confiance au ‘modèle 1+2’? Pour une évaluation critique des scénarios de communication dans l’Europe multilingue (Can we be confident about the ‘1+2 model’? For a critical evaluation of the communication scenarios in Europe).

Question and answer session.
Discussion

12.30 – 14.00: Lunch

14.00 – 14.15: Special Address by Lic. M. Arena, Prime Minister and Minister of Education of the French Community of Belgium

14.15 – 16.30: Cases: The state of affairs regarding foreign language learning and instruction in three European countries.
(Chaired by M. Garsou, Vice General Director of the Service of Literature and Books of the Ministry of the French Community of Belgium)
Belgium – 
G. De Samblanc, Inspector of Education of the Ministry of the French Community of Belgium
Prof. Dr. P. Van de Craen, Professor in Sociolinguistics, Linguistics of the Dutch language, language acquisition and Bi- and Multilingualism at the Free University of Brussels
Denmark – Prof. Dr. P. Harder, Professor of Modern English Language at the University of Copenhagen
Italy – Prof. Dr. C. Robustelli, Professor of Italian Linguistics at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and member of the Accademia Della Crusca of Florence.

Discussion

16.30 – 17.00: Coffee Break

17.00 – 18.30 Working Session 1 (Chaired and introduced by Prof. O. Josephson, member of the Executive Committee of EFNIL)
a. The organisation of foreign language teaching kindergarten, schools, and institutions for adult learning, the number and sequence of foreign languages taught, obligatory or optional languages, primary instruction methods with their advantages and disadvantages.
b. Goals of foreign language instruction and learning practical communicative or cultural aims, active or receptive competence, models and reality of intercomprehension (e.g. experiences of the Nordic and the ‘Latin’ model).
c. Discussion

20.00 Dinner offered by the Service de la langue française and the Nederlandse Taalunie

9.00 – 10.30: Working Session 2 (Chaired and introduced by ir. E. Fernhout, senior project manager of the Nederlandse Taalunie)
a. Teaching national languages as foreign languages abroad. Comparison of ‘smaller’ and ‘larger’ languages (e.g., French, German, Spanish, English vs. Hungarian, Swedish, Slovakian, Lithuanian), differences between institutions, quantities, political aims.
b. Discussion

10.30 – 11.00: Coffee Break

11.00 – 12.30: General Assembly (first part) (Chaired by Prof. Dr. G. Stickel, chairman of EFNIL)

12.30 – 14.00: Lunch

14.00 – 16.00: General Assembly (second part) and concluding plenary session (Chaired by J. Simpson MA, member of the Executive Committee of EFNIL)
Discussion and adoption of a brief resolution explaining the importance of foreign language learning, identifying the major current problems of foreign language instruction in Europe, and pointing at ways and means to overcome them.

16.00 Close