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VIII
International Tandem Congress, VII International Tandem Congress, 14-15 September
2001 on the Internet After having been convened in Freiburg-Fribourg, Berlin, Bolzano-Bozen, Donostia-San Sebastián, Freiburg im Breisgau, and Madrid, the VII International Tandem Congress - the coming together of Tandem practitioners, researchers and other interested persons - has now been moved east. In the Year of Languages 2001, we had hoped to meet 12-14 September in Southern Bohemia, in Çeské Budéjovice, south of Praha/Prague, under the motto: Awareness in many languages - Tandem At a time, where dozens or hundreds of languages are living side by side in big cities, where the EU reaches the very border of its translation capacity, it will be ever more difficult for people to learn all the languages surrounding them thoroughly. However, as the need for mutual understanding becomes increasingly urgent, it would be preferable to go from 'Babylon' to a 'language paradise'. The didactics of receptive multi-lingualism develop in mankind pre-existing nonverbal communication skills, basic vocabulary, and a sense of international connections. Many teachers draw on this pre-existing knowledge for teaching in a school context. A further resource to help cope with the abundance of languages is often provided by Multimedia and language learning on the Internet. We would like to explore when and to what extent communication is really achieved in this way. And, to this end, we shall use the Internet in the preparation of the Congress with the aim of improving the dialogue between speakers and participants. The above will be discussed, taking as a context the situation of Czech as a foreign language and the Czech Republic, a country which has been regarded as a model by a number of other countries (Poland, Hungary and Slovenia) which, over the last few years, have been involved in the application of tandem principles. And, naturally, the Tandem Congress should offer a further forum in which all those involved in tandem, from backgrounds ranging from open universities, language schools, youth exchanges, adult education or universities, can meet. Congress languages were German, English and Czech, and the Congress was organised by the former Tandem school, Gaudeo ÇB, in collaboration with the South Bohemian University and the Tandem Foundation.
Recent information: After the withdrawal of Gaudeo, the congress took only place on the Internet. On the following pages, you will find the contributions of some speakers whose work was discussed in different chat rooms on 14-15 September. The time table is shown below and participation was free of charge. Registration was not necessary but it was advisable to check the entry to the chatroom 24 hours before the meeting. The chatrooms are now available for the whole tandem movement for exchanges, meetings, etc, to take place. Contributions
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