ABOUT THE LEARNING CENTRE
Orient Express offers literacy and basic education courses (German, numeracy, digital skills) for women with little or no schooling. Our aim is offer a space in our learning centre where participants can feel comfortable and learn well. The courses are openly designed and oriented towards the needs of the learners.
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As a women's organisation, we focus on expanding the scope of action of women on a private and social level as well as their political participation. Together with the participants, we develop tools for an autonomous way of life that includes social participation. Creativity, motivation and joy are important aspects of our educational work that support the development of potential. Our basic education classes are open and oriented towards the needs of the participants.
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We offer literacy courses (Alpha 1-Alpha 4) as well as A1-A2 courses according to the needs of the participants.
How to reach us:
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Email: lernzentrum@orientexpress-wien.com
Phone: 01/728 97 25 30
Course registration: Wednesday 12:30-13:30 (only with appointment)
Opening hours learning centre:
Mon: 8:30-12:30
Tue: 8:30-15:00
Wed: 8:30-15:00
Thu: 8:30-15:00
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Address: Schönngasse 15-17/8 (4th floor), 1020 Vienna
The contents of the basic education courses are based on the following criteria:
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The language level descriptions of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)
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Participants’ interests and needs
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Existing resources and competences of the learners
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Authentic communication situations and materials relevant to the participants
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An appreciative attitude towards the learning pace and progress of the learners. The aim is that each participant receives attention, recognition and encouragement with her individual learning pace and progress.
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our basic education courses
Depending on the needs of the participants, we offer the following course levels:
Basic education for women: Alfa 1
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The course is aimed at women with no or very little previous knowledge of writing and reading. In addition to letters, syllables and words, basic knowledge of the German language as well as basic skills in numeracy and handling digital media are taught.
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Basic education for women: Alfa 2
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The course is aimed at women with little previous knowledge of reading and writing. The reading of syllables, simple words and sentences is practiced. Participants get familiar with first reading and writing strategies. Vocabulary work and speech exercises are oriented towards everyday life. In the field of numeracy, additions and subtractions are practised.
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Basic education for women: Alfa 3
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In this course the participants have the opportunity to develop their reading and writing skills. In addition, there are first grammar topics as well as everyday vocabulary work, conversations and speaking exercises, writing own short texts, etc. Additions and subtractions in the number range of 1-100 are practiced. In the area of digital skills, the use of interfaces, Word, learning portals etc. is practised
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Basic education for women: Alfa 4
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The course is aimed at participants with advanced reading and writing skills. The syllable-by-syllable reading will be deepened, there will be a concentration on language structures (e.g. articles), memorizing language building blocks, as well as focus on first grammatical structures in writing and speaking. Additions and subtractions in the number range 1-100 are deepened.
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Basic education for women: A1
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This course is aimed at participants who have little or no knowledge of German. Contents are basic elements of the German language and writing, greeting formulas, days of the week, the numbers, elementary communication in everyday situations (doctor's visits, leisure activities), time and place information, elementary information about yourself and others, writing short texts about yourself, filling out simple forms and much more. The content in mathematics and digital literacy is based on the interests and previous knowledge of the participants.
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Basic education for women: A2
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This course is aimed at women with previous knowledge of the German language. The learning objectives include: being able to participate in simple conversations, making appointments, planning joint activities, telling the past, expressing reasons, conditions and preferences, talking about wishes and problems, and much more. The content in mathematics and digital literacy is based on the interests and previous knowledge of the participants.
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Childcare
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All courses are offered with childcare and educational counselling (both are free of charge)!
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Educational counselling
For our course participants we offer advice on the following topics:
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Training and further education opportunities in Austria
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Career advice
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Financing possibilities for education and training
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Job application trainings
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etc.
Unsere Basisbildungsmaßnahmen werden aus Mitteln des Europäischen Sozialfonds sowie aus Mitteln des Landes Wiens und des Bundesministeriums für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung gefördert.
Die BASISBILDUNG DES VEREINS ORIENT EXPRESS WIRD AUS MITTELN DES EUROPÄISCHEN SOZIALFONDS ALS Teil DER Reaktion DER UNION AUF DIE COVID-19 Pandemie finanziert.
PROJECTS
EU-Project Erasmus+
“RESET: Building Resilience in Basic Education“
11/2019 - 12/2021
The project aims to improve and extend the supply of high quality opportunities tailored to the needs of adults with basic education needs, to provide lifelong learning support, to promote social inclusion and to extend and develop the competences of educators and other personnel who support adult learners. RESET will develop and evaluate innovative methodologies and toolkits for the promotion of resilience within various settings of basic education and provide pedagogical and psychoeducational guidance for Education Professionals and Stakeholders.
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Partner organisations:
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KENTRO MERIMNAS OIKOGENEIAS KAI PAIDIOU (GREECE)
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CENTRO PER LO SVILUPPO CREATIVO DANILO DOLCI (ITALY)
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VOLKSCHOCHSCHULE BERLIN PANKOW (GERMANY)
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For more information on RESET, visit our project Website:
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RESET tutorials for basic educators are available on the RESET YouTube channel:
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RESET publication are available for download here:
EU-Project Erasmus+
EquALL(ING) - Equality in Adult Education Lifelong Learning (Intersectionality and Gender)
09/2020 - 09/2022
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The project consist of a two year term exchange of best practices. Its aim is to improve gender equality in lifelong learning (adult education). In order to achieve this goal, it will focus on sharing experiences about:
1. Gender equality analysis with an intersectional approach for adult education: sharing experiences, designing a brief guide to identify, analyse and intervene in, taking into account that diversity axes do not exist independently, but are interrelated
2. Best practices decalogue in gender equality with an intersectional approach: contrasting experiences, identifying the elements that build up a good practice when working gender equality, describing best practices in gender equality with an intersectional approach in adult education and trainers training, using mainly creativity and art as means of expression.
3. Identification of teachers competences in equality and intersectionality: contrasting experiences, identifying competences in equality and coeducation that are pertinent to Adult People Educators, who is working with widely different profiles (age, ethnic, skills, socioeconomic levels...), getting to know training models for trainers that have quality criteria, have been tested and evaluated.
4. Design of a model/program of training for trainers: guidelines for the instructional design.
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Partner organisations:
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Centro de Profesorado Territorial Ángel Sanz Briz – Spain
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CPEPA Cella – Spain
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Centro Provinciale per l'Istruzione degli Adulti 2 Bari – Italy
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Association Odyssée – France
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TOPCOACH SRO – Slovakia
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Ljudska univerza Celje – Slovenia
The project includes student mobilities and learning teaching training activities.
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EU-Project Erasmus+
IEDA (Inclusive education: ensuring participation of persons with disabilities in non-formal adult education)
11/2020 - 06/2023
Persons with disabilities are exposed to multiple risks, such as poverty, unemployment, and social exclusion, which are all in great part caused by their low participation rates at all levels of education. For that reason, non-formal adult education is an important resource in increasing the capacities and quality of life of persons with disabilities, to an even greater extent than in the case of non-disabled persons. Nevertheless, only 10% of persons with disabilities participate in lifelong learning activities, including non-formal adult education, which is half the participation rate of the general population at the EU level (Eurostat, 2018).
Accordingly, the specific objective of the project is to develop a structured model for integrating persons with disabilities into non-formal adult education, which will serve as a basis for the implementation of future inclusive practices of non-formal education providers and enable them to efficiently deal with challenges related to equity, diversity, and inclusion in the learning environment at local, national and transnational levels.
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Partner organisations:
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URIHO (Croatia, Coordinator)
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Center Spirala (Slovenia)
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Masaryk University (Czech Republic)
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Ludor Engineering (Romania)
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Topcoach (Slovakia)
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IDEC (Greece)
EU-Project Erasmus+
„10fold. Stories Against Discrimination“
01/2022 – 01/2023
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Addressing participants and trainers of basic education and language courses within non-formal and informal adult education, "10fold. Stories Against Discrimination" creatively links the learning fields of (second) language acquisition with the topics of equality and participation. The project collects ten life stories of participants sharing their experiences with discrimination as well as effective strategies to counter social and intercultural divide. Converted into a textbook featuring written narratives as well as a comic zine, drawn by the projekt partner Blickwinkel – Mut zur Perspektive, these testimonies serve as authentic learning material for adults and pursue inclusion and diversity.
The texts offer the opportunity to both strengthen communicative and linguistic skills and open up rooms of discussion on civil rights, and transcultural and social dialogue.
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Partner organisations:
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Cap Ulysse, France
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Blickwinkel – Mut zur Perspektive, Austria
Access all materials of the 10FOLD project by following this link:
EU-Project Erasmus+
„Successfull Skills to Improve Lifelong Learning for Work“ („S.K.I.L.L.S 4 Work“)
12/2021 – 07/2024
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The main objective of the project is to improve the quality standards among trainers in adult migrants education and empowering them to implement needed “learning to learn” skills in their training and teaching in order for adult migrant learners to maximize their learning process and in further succession to increase their chances of further education and their access to the labor market.
The project aims to design a curriculum for trainers within a learning to learn approach for their learners, to create a powerful web-based resource centre with learning modules, tools, guidelines and external resources to support adult migrant trainers and to agree on a certification for trainers based on common criteria, in order to allow adult training centers to certify their staff.
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Partner organisations:
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Cap Ulysse, France
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Prios Kompetanse AS, Norway
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OLEMISEN BALANSSIA RY, Finland
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EU-Project Erasmus+
„Strengthening inclusion opportunities for women with a migration background with digital learning“ („STRENGTH“)
11/2021-11/2024
STRENGTH picks up on the need and the necessity to introduce women with a history of migration and low qualifications to digitalisation. Adult education today is inconceivable without the use of digital teaching and learning tools. However, in the area of qualification of women with a history of migration and little previous knowledge, there is a lack of suitable concepts and learning materials. This reduces the chances of inclusion and their chances on the labour market.
Concluding from this situation, the project places three needs for action at the centre of its work and its results: To gain insights into the status and need for action in the implementation of the European Digital Competence Frame work (DigComp) among the target group, to develop criteria and guidelines for digital learning in the qualification of the target group and to develop curricula for the use of digital learning arrangements.
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Partner organisations:
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Bildungszentrum Lernen+Technik gemeinnützige GmbH Dresden, Germany
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Ljudska univerza Celje, Slovenia
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Cap Ulysse, France
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Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
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EU-Project Erasmus+
„Ham’avaaz – Polyphonic: Music Pedagogy in Basic Education and Language Learning“ (Ham’avaaz)“
04/2022-01/2024
The Persian term Ham’avaaz has two meanings: while it refers to someone who sings with another person, it may also indicate that two people agree on an issue. We have chosen this double signification to title a transcultural music project, which aims to expand the creativity and self-efficacy of basic education participants and language learners, assuring their active participation through linguistic and music pedagogical methods.
Opening up a polyphonic space, Ham’avaaz wishes to create a safe learning environment that underlines transcultural relations. Through the development and transfer of a methodology on how to implement and benefit from music pedagogy in basic education and language learning classrooms, the project aims at improving the competences of adult educators. By designing practice-based exercises and didactic suggestions, it expands learning opportunities tailored to the needs of basic education participants.
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Partner organisations:
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CFPA Jordi de Sant Jordi (Spain)
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Centro de Profesorado Territorial Ángel Sanz Briz (Spain)
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EU-Project Erasmus+
„10 steps outside“
04/2022-07/2023
In 10 steps, we work on the question of how resilience and digital competences can be promoted in basic education courses through outdoor activities.
Many learners in basic education are limited in their mobility because it is difficult for them to go to unfamiliar places, which also reduces their freedom of movement and action. This makes it more difficult for them to appropriate public spaces and, not least, to find their way to educational opportunities. There is also often untapped potential with regard to the use of digital applications: obtaining information, networking with others, or navigating through the city.
In the course of the project, we will develop a manual with ten outdoor activities and a multilingual tutorial on how to use the Mundraub app.
Partner organisations:
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VHS Pankow Berlin (Germany)
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Terra Concordia (Germany)
EU-Project Erasmus+
„ImmPowerC“
04/2022-06/2023
In the Erasmus+ project ImmPowerC, we are developing a training program for coaches. The participating coaches are to be enabled to advise refugees and persons from third countries who aspire to a higher qualified occupation. In the course, a reflective attitude of the coaches is to be promoted and their transcultural competencies strengthened; the coaching sessions are supervised and evaluated. Also imparted is specialized knowledge on the following topics: Knowledge about causes of flight, migration processes, asylum and residence law, the recognition of qualifications, German as a second language offers and specifics of second language acquisition, access to the adult, higher education and vocational training system, etc.
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Partner organisations:
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Universität Hannover (Germany)
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Bundesinstitut für Erwachsenenbildung (Austria)
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Verein Projekt Integrationshaus (Austria)
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Bundesinstitut für Erwachsenenbildung – bifeb (Austria)
EU-Project Erasmus+
„ImmPowerC“
04/2022-06/2023
In the Erasmus+ project ImmPowerC, we are developing a training program for coaches. The participating coaches are to be enabled to advise refugees and persons from third countries who aspire to a higher qualified occupation. In the course, a reflective attitude of the coaches is to be promoted and their transcultural competencies strengthened; the coaching sessions are supervised and evaluated. Also imparted is specialized knowledge on the following topics: Knowledge about causes of flight, migration processes, asylum and residence law, the recognition of qualifications, German as a second language offers and specifics of second language acquisition, access to the adult, higher education and vocational training system, etc.
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Partner organisations:
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Universität Hannover (Germany)
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Bundesinstitut für Erwachsenenbildung (Austria)
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Verein Projekt Integrationshaus (Austria)
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Bundesinstitut für Erwachsenenbildung – bifeb (Austria)
EU-Project Erasmus+
„ImmPowerC“
04/2022-06/2023
In the Erasmus+ project ImmPowerC, we are developing a training program for coaches. The participating coaches are to be enabled to advise refugees and persons from third countries who aspire to a higher qualified occupation. In the course, a reflective attitude of the coaches is to be promoted and their transcultural competencies strengthened; the coaching sessions are supervised and evaluated. Also imparted is specialized knowledge on the following topics: Knowledge about causes of flight, migration processes, asylum and residence law, the recognition of qualifications, German as a second language offers and specifics of second language acquisition, access to the adult, higher education and vocational training system, etc.
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Partner organisations:
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Universität Hannover (Germany)
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Bundesinstitut für Erwachsenenbildung (Austria)
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Verein Projekt Integrationshaus (Austria)
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Bundesinstitut für Erwachsenenbildung – bifeb (Austria)
Theatre & Dramapedagogical
workshops
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In cooperation with graduates of the Institut für Angewandtes Theater (IFANT) we were able to offer drama and theatre pedagogical workshops for participants of our basic training courses in the winter semester 2019. Topics included:
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Voice and speech training
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Improvisation
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Acting Training
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Teambuilding
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Bodywork
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Reaction Training
TRAINING MATERIAL
In our basic education classes we use authentic learning materials, based on the interests, needs and learning goals of the participants.
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The documents provided here have been developed over the years in literacy classes at Orient Express.