My language biography - Checklist and self-assisment grid

My personal checklist

1) Listening: B2

• I can understand standard spoken language on both familiar and unfamiliar topics in everyday situations even in a noisy environment
• I can with some effort catch much of what is said around me, but may find it difficult to understand a discussion between several native speakers who do not modify their language in any way.
• I can understand announcements and messages on concrete and abstract topics spoken in standard dialect at normal speed.
• I can follow extended talks delivered in standard dialect on cultural, intercultural and social issues (e.g., customs, media, lifestyle, EU)
• I can follow complex lines of argument, provided these are clearly signposted and the topic is reasonably familiar.
• I can follow the essentials of lectures, talks and reports and other forms of academic or professional presentation in my field.
• I can follow most TV news programmes, documentaries, interviews, talk shows and the majority of films in standard dialect.
• I can follow most radio programmes and audio material delivered in standard dialect and identify the speaker’s mood, tone, etc.
• I am sensitive to expressions of feeling and attitudes (e.g., critical, ironic, supportive, flippant, disapproving).

2) Reading: C1

• I can scan relatively quickly through books and articles within my field of interest and assess their relevant to my needs.
• I can understand in detail highly specialised texts in my own academic or professional field, such as research reports an abstracts, though I may want time to reread them.
• I can understand a wide range of long and complex texts in which stated opinions and implied points of view are discussed.
• I can understand formal letters connected or unconnected with my field if I can occasionally check with a dictionary.
• I can read contemporary literary texts with no difficulty and with appreciation of implicit meanings and ideas.
• I can read extensively for pleasure without using a dictionary unless I want to check precise meaning, usage or pronunciation.
• I can understand detailed and complex instructions for a new machine or procedure, whether or not the instructions relate to my own area of speciality, provided I can reread difficult sections.

3) Spoken interaction: B2

• I can participate fully in conversations on general topics with a degree of fluency and naturalness, and appropriate use of register.
• I can participate effectively in extended discussions and debates on subjects of personal, academic or professional interest, marking clearly the relationship between ideas.
• I can account for and sustain my opinion in discussion by providing relevant explanations, arguments and comments.
• I can express, negotiate and respond sensitively to feelings, attitudes, opinions, tone, viewpoints.
• I can exchange detailed factual information on matters within my academic or professional field.
• I can help along the progress of a project by inviting others to join in, express their opinions, etc.
• I can cope linguistically with potentially complex problems in routine situations (e.g., complaining about goods and services).
• I can cope adequately with emergencies (e.g., summon medical assistance, telephone the police or breakdown service).
• I can handle personal interviews with ease, taking initiatives and expanding ideas with little help or prodding from an interviewer.
• I can carry out an effective, fluent interview, departing spontaneously from prepared questions, following up and probing interesting replies.

4) Spoken production: C1

• I can give clear detailed summaries of complex subjects in my field.
• I can develop a detailed argument or narrative, integrating sub-themes, developing particular points and rounding off with an appropriate conclusion.
• I can give a clear, well-structured presentation on a complex subject in my field, expanding and supporting points of view with appropriate reasons and examples.
• I can put together information from different sources and relate it in a coherent summary.
• I can present oral summaries of long, demanding texts.
• I can deliver announcements fluently, almost effortlessly, using stress and intonation to convey finer shades of meaning precisely.

5) Writing: B2

• I can write clear detailed text on a wide range of subjects relating to my personal, academic or professional interests.
• I can write letters conveying degrees of emotion and highlighting the personal significance of events and experiences, and commenting on the correspondent’s news and views.
• I can express news, views and feelings effectively in writing, and relate to the views and feelings of others.
• I can write summaries of articles on topics of general, academic or professional interest, extracting information from different sources and media.
• I can write an essay or report which develops an argument, giving reasons to support or negate a point of view, weighing pros and cons.
• I can write clear detailed descriptions of real or imaginary events and experiences in a detailed and easily readable way, marking the relationship between ideas.
• I can write a short review of a film or book.
• I can write standard formal letters requesting or communicating relevant information, with appropriate use of register and conventions.

My language biography - Intercultural encounters

Intercultural experience

Language: English
Country: Scotland
Dates: 28.6. - 16.8. 2016 (7 weeks)
Type of stay: short-term work

Language learning and cultural experience: I was working on the farm in the countryside of Scotland for 7 weeks in the summer. I was picking strawberries and rapsberries almost every day. During my working hours I had to speak English with other workers but mainly with quality-controllors people and other responsible people on the farm. Because they were native Scottish, they also had very strong accent which made understanding more difficult. Even my English level was pretty good, I had really problems during the first weeks to understand. In my free time I travelled around Scotland with my friends. We also tried hitchhiking, which was beside cheap travelling great experience to practice my English. Later I got used to their scottish accent. But sometimes they didn´t understand me, because I do not have this scottish accent and I had to spell some words in order to understand. My last trip was to the capital city Edinburgh and it was during the most popular festival "Fringe". There were a lot of artist in the streets, so for me it was really nice opportunity to experience their culture through art, music, theatre. I wish I could come back to Scotland and visit more of this amazing country.

Language: English, Ukrainian
Country: Ukraine
Dates: 7.10. - 14.10. 2016 (1 week)

Type of stay: festival with choir, staying as a guest in family

Language learning and cultural experience: In October I had opportunity to visit this interesting country. I went there with my choir I sing in, because we were participated in the festival of spiritual music. I stayed as a guest in one family and spent with them a lot of time. As for the language, it was a little bit complicated. They could not speak English very well and I didn´t know anything from Ukrainian. But it is still Slavic language so I saw there some similarities with Czech. When they spoke very slowly I could understand the context. So they taught me a little bit of Ukrainian and I taught them English. Sometimes our communication was funny. Because I was a part of the family for one week I experienced their culture a lot. They prepared for me typical dishes, we talked about traditions, music and other things related to Ukraine. With my choir we had several concerts on several different places in Ukraine and that was definitely also very interesting culture experience. During my free time I went out with my ukrainian friends and they showed me many interesting places. During this one week, which is relatively short period, I learnt so much about this culture. People are not so rich in this country, but they are happy and they appreciate all the little things. So it made me to think more about my country and what I have in my life.

Language: English, Spanish
Country: Spain
Dates: 25.1. - 25. 6. 2017 (5 months)
Type of stay: Erasmus studying programme

Language learning and cultural experience: Going for Erasmus was one of the best choices I made in my life. I decided to go to Spain because I´ve always wanted to visit this country and also I wanted to learn Spanish. I study at the University of Valencia teaching English. So all my classes are in English. I also have English-speaking flatmates so I have to use English every day here. Definitely I have to say that I improved (and still improving) my speaking skills. As for the Spanish language, I learned basics and actually I understand more or less everything when people speak slowly. But still I have problems with speaking, it takes me a lot of time to create a sentence in Spanish. But I will continue learning this language when I come back to my country and I will take some course. I think I need to learn more grammar and more vocabulary. I can see the cultural experience everywhere. And not only Spanish culture. I met so many people from all over the world so I experienced so many cultures here. During my stay in Spain I also visited other places, for example Andalusia. And I can see that even in one country there are some differences in the way of living and also in the language. In Spain they have several dialects, in Valencia there is very spread. For me as a foreigner it is very difficult to understand Valencian dialect. But everyone here can also speak Spanish. I am sure that this experience abroad was very big for and I´ve changed my opinion and view on life. 

My language biography - Goal settings

Language I want to learn: English

1) My general aims and reflections

I am learning this language because:

• It is worldwide language
• With English I can speak almost in every country
• I like this language
• It is not so difficult to learn

In this language I want to be able to:

• speak fluently
• understand without any difficulties
• be able to express myself in written text

Things I like doing in language class:

• speaking activities
• writing stories about my own experiences

Things I am good at:

• reading 
• listening others
• speaking withnout any strong accent

Things I find difficult:

• some grammar rules
• past participle tense

2) Setting goals and thinking about learning

My next target: speak more fluently without mistakes and learn new words

How well did I achieve it: I try to speak English every day

What have I learnt about myself or about learning: I learn from others, when I hear new words I remember them easily when someone explain me how to use this word in the context

3) How I solve communication problems

Problem: I have problems with past tenses, sometimes I do not know which one I should use. 

Solution: I find some examples when to use particular tense and then I try to put it into real conversation.

Problem: Sometimes I can´t remember the right word.

Solution: I try to describe it in different way.

Problem: Sometimes it´s hard to understand someone with strong accent.

Solution: I ask the person to say it again and slowly or with using different words.

4) Methods I use to learn languages

What I do and why it helps me:

• hear first and then say it  - I like learning new words like that, because I can see how to use them in context
• write it in my notes - sometimes when I can´t remember how to write particular word, I write it into my notes several times
• use it in real situation as soon as possible - have an opportunity to use new word in communication helps me to remember it very easy

 

My language biography - Background information

Presentation of the learner

My name is Anna.
I am 21 years old.
I was born in the Czech Republic.
I use the following languages actively or passively:

• at home: Czech
• with friends: Czech, English
• at school: Czech, English

I have learned or have started to learn the following other languages outside school (travel, visits, exchanges etc.): during my stay in Spain for Erasmus I learned basics of Spanish. 

I learned or have been learning the following languages at school or in language classes:

• English - since my 9 years till nowadays
• Spanish - since my 15 years (classes at secondary school for 4 years)

How I use my languages

I was born in the Czech Republic, all my family members come from Czech Republic which measn that my language first was czech. So with my family and most of the frineds I speak only czech. But I also understand very well slovak as this language has many similarities with czech. 

At my 4th grade at Primary school I started to learn English as well. But till that time I had almost no contact with English. However English language was used only in my English classes, the rest of the classes were in czech. At the beginning it was easy for me as I learned new words but as time went by I started to have problems with English. It was difficulut for me to learn when I didn´t have any contact with English beside my classes. 

When I enrolled at secondary school at the age of 15 I had more English lessons. Beside normal English lessons I also had English conversation lesson, which helped me a lot with improving my speaking skills. So step by step I improved my English skills. During the four years on the secondary school I had also several opportunities to travel abroad and practice my English in real life. Apart from English, I had to chose one more language to learn at my grammar school. I chosed Spanish, becuase I always liked this language and because it is definitely very useful. My relationship with Spanish was complicated, because I really liked this language, I wanted to learn it, but I had pretty bad teacher who made these lessons very boring. 

When I enrolled to university, my Spanish classes stopped but still I had some cumpolsory English. I started use English still more and more. Nowadays I am able to study in English, I feel really confident in that langauge. I read books in English, watch TV and films, when I search on the Internet I also use maily English language. As for the Spanish, since I am in Spain I learned more, but still I am not fluent at all. But in the future I want to improve this language as well.

Language biography in more details

Hello everybody, 

today I would like to tell you something more about Language Biography, which is the second part of the portfolio. What you should include into this part? This article will be exactly about that.

The Language Biography is record of personal language-learning history. It contains goal-setting and self-assessment checklists that expand on the summary descriptors contained in the Self-assessment Grid. There are four parts of biography that you can follow for easier completing. 

1. Background informations - In this part, language learners document personal language-learning history.
2. Goal settings - Simply what do you want to learn in English/ other language.
3. Intercultural encounters - Learners evaluate their  cultural experiences, students explore their feelings, perceptions, and goals.
4. Checklist and self-assisment grid - The checklists and self-assessment grid are from the standard version of LinguaFolio — usually for students in heritage language programs, middle school language programs for high school credit, and high school or university language programs. 

My language passport

Mother tongue: Czech

Second language: English

Self-assessment of language skills for English:

1) UNDERSTANDING

• Listening: C1 - I can understand extended speech even when it is not clearly structured and when relationships are only implied and not signalled explicitly. I can understand television programmes and films without too much effort.
• Reading: C1 - I can understand long and complex factual and literary texts, appreciating distinctions of style. I can understand specialised articles and longer technical instructions, even when they do not relate to my field.

2) SPEAKING

• Spoken interaction: B2 - I can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible. I can take an active part in discussion in familiar contexts, accounting for and sustaining my views.
• Spoken production: B2 - I can present clear, detailed descriptions on a wide range of subjects related to my field of interest. I can explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

3) WRITING

• Writing: C1 - I can express myself in clear, well-structured text, expressing points of view at some length. I can write about complex subjects in a letter, an essay or a report, underlining what I consider to be the salient issues. I can select style appropriate to the reader in mind.

Certificates and diplomas

School leaving exam from English language

• avarding body: Mendelovo gymnázium Opava (seconday school)
• date: 21. 5. 2015
• Level: B2
• parts of exam: speaking 15 minutes on particular topic + answer questions related to the article
• Mark: 1 (scale: 1 - the best, 4 - the worst)

Linguistic and intercultural experience

1) Using language while living or travelling abroad - I travelled to several countires where I had to use English in communication with my host family. (Scotland, Germany, Ukraine). 

2) Using langauge at work - I worked in Scotland for 7 weeks during the summer 2016 and I had to speak English every day at work. 

3) Using language for study or training - Erasmus study programme in Spain for 5 months. I had classes in English and I live with English-speakign flatmates.

Self-assessment grid

Here you can see the self-assessment grid, description for every part and every level of English.

How to complete the language passport

Today I want to share with you instructions how to complete the language passport. You can do fill it online → this page. But you can also download the template. Templates are available in many different languages, depending on what language you are learning. I´m working with English version, but actually it´s the same in every language. 

Templates of language passport

On the top you can can see two bosex, one for mother tongue and the other for other language(s). Mother tongue is language you speak with your family and language(s) you used in your neighbourhood. Into the second box you write languages that your teaacher speak to you in the school. Both boxes include languages in which you feel more or less like a native speaker. You can speak these languages but maybe you are not able to read or write in some of them. For this you can use the table below, which allows you to desctibe more exactly your level in the languages.

For self-assisment it´s good to use Common  European Framework. You can in details desctibe you level in different ways - such as listening, reading, spoken interaction, spoken production, writing. If you are not sure which level you have, don´t worry, because this is coomon problem. There are different ways how to complete it. For example you can shade the box if you think you reached the level you wrote there. Or you can shade the boxes if you think that some of the things described in the level you can´t do with confidence. It´s up to you.

Next part is certificates and diplomas. You can include diplomas from different language courses. You can indicate, for example, how many hours a week the course was, if there was some particular topic. You can also not when you started and ended the course.

The last part is linguistic and intercultural experience. This provide you the opportunity to illustrate your language skills in your personal experiences. There are several types of experiences:

• Using language for study or training
• Usings langauge at work
• Using language while living or travelling abroad
• mediating between langauages

Language passport in more details

Before you start to working on your Portfolio, it´s necessary to know more information. One of three parts is Language Passport and in this article I will talk about that in more details, so then you will be able to understand how does it works and why it´s uselful.

The Language Passport provides an overview of the individual’s proficiency in different languages at a given point in time. Because there is particular point of time, learner should update this passport at regular intervals to see the progress in the language learning.

What Langauge Passport includes?

At first there should be self-assessment Grid from the Common European Framework. The one exception is for very young learners, in this case teachers or parents can do that for children. The self-assessment grid illustrates the levels of proficiency. It presents 34 scales of listening, reading, spoken interaction, spoken production and writing activities. 

Secondly, the Language Passport also records formal qualifications and describes language competences and significant language and intercultural learning experiences. 

A standard Language Passport Summary is part of the European Union’s Europass curriculum vitae. ELP owners may use it to complement or include in their curriculum vitae.