Gate to Languages
Gate to Languages is a project of lifelong education of teachers, organized in the Czech Republic by National Institute for Further Education since 17 October 2005. It is aimed at the development of foreign language skills and methodological competence of Czech teachers. The name of the project was inspired by the book Janua linguarum reserata by Jan Amos Comenius.
NIFE organizes the methodology and language courses for three target groups of teachers at Czech elementary and secondary schools and higher education institutions:
- Teachers without specialized qualification for teaching a foreign language, who, despite this fact, teach or are going to teach the language. This group involves mostly elementary school teachers of English, German and French language who partly speak the language, but who were originally qualified in teaching different subjects. The course consists of 200 lessons and focuses on both teaching the participants the foreign language and provide them with some methodology training.
- Teachers qualified in teaching a foreign language. This group involves qualified teachers of the above-mentioned languages, who want to improve their methodological competence. The course consists of 30 lessons.
- Teachers of other subjects or non-teaching experts working at a school. In this group participants of the courses have a possibility to learn a foreign language, but the courses are not designed to present the methodology of its teaching. The course consists of 150 lessons.