The VIVACE project as a whole has been delivered through individual sub-projects organised by a VIVACE partner in conjunction with a local social care provider or organisation.  A sub-project can be described as a short-term language-based activity designed to raise awareness of the value of learning a foreign language and to provide a direct experience of doing so.  Over the course of the project lifetime VIVACE partners have delivered a total of 23 sub-projects in six different languages.

The nature of the sub-project and the choice of language are always agreed with the social care provider in advance and will vary, depending on the special circumstances of the target group.  For example, for some learners only a short ‘one-off’ event will be appropriate; for others, a day-long session or even a short course of regular sessions spread over six weeks or more may be feasible. 

Other examples of special factors to take into account when assessing the needs of learners include the learners’ ability to concentrate and/or any special requirements they may have arising from the nature of the disadvantage.  Some learners may have a shorter attention span than others and this will affect the duration of the session.  Other learners may have disabilities which require access to purpose-built facilities.  VIVACE groups have included learners with behavioural problems such that the presence of a representative of the social care agency has also been required.  Circumstances such as these will all determine the choice of location.  As a general principle, VIVACE goes to the learner’s environment in order to deliver the sub-project.

The time and effort needed to identify suitable social care providers who may be willing to include language learning among the range of activities offered to their clients, as well as the time and effort then required to secure their agreement and to decide on the nature and content of the sub-project should not be under-estimated.  While VIVACE now has a substantial body of experience of successful collaboration with social care providers to draw upon, there have also been instances of approaches on the part of all partners which have not led to the desired outcome.  There are various reasons for this, many of them of a practical nature such as change in personnel or unsuitable facilities, but the most common is the lack of prior experience social care providers have had in this area.  While it is true to say that VIVACE breaks new ground from a language teaching perspective, the same also applies from the social care perspective.  One of the most challenging aspects of setting up a VIVACE sub-project lies in convincing social care providers of the value and benefit of the opportunity for their clients.  And one of the most convincing arguments to present to them is the experience gathered in VIVACE;  every single social care provider has asked their VIVACE partner to provide further sub-projects and many of them are actively engaged in making their own arrangements where this has not been possible.

As to the choice of language, a feature of the VIVACE project has been a deliberate focus on the languages of the EU.  As VIVACE seeks to provide an experience of language learning, rather than a conventional language course leading to a recognised level of proficiency, VIVACE partners have encouraged social care providers to think beyond English, an automatic first choice in many cases, and to be receptive to the idea of learners experiencing another language, in particular, Spanish, German and Italian.  Our view has been that learners will derive benefit from the experience of learning a foreign language, whichever language, but that choosing the language of a near-neighbour (eg Italian in Romania, Hungarian in Austria, German in Slovenia) as the target language may actually increase learner motivation.  However, while the range of languages taught in the context of VIVACE has been confined to languages spoken in the EU, we have every reason to believe that our approach is transferable to any language.

Because the overwhelming majority of learners are experiencing language learning for the first time, VIVACE sub-projects are normally designed for beginners in the language concerned.  The VIVACE approach is based on three simple messages which inform the design and content of the sub-project.

• Everyone can learn a language; thus VIVACE sets realistic language and other objectives according to the needs and interests of the target group
• Everyone can enjoy the experience: consequently the language aspects of the sub-project are often linked with other activities, eg food/music/singing/games, which encourage co-operation and communication between learners and which can help to develop communication and social skills
• Everyone can benefit: learners will benefit from the flexible and learner-centred approaches adopted by tutors; tutors will gain professional methodological insights from teaching groups outside their normal sphere of experience; social care providers will come to appreciate the value of language learning in helping those in their care to gain in self-confidence and to broaden their horizons.