Turkey’s First “Language Cafe” is opened in İzmir.
The language cafe that are a part of the project supported in the framework of Europe Socrates program are established in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, England and Turkey, and it implements a new language learning method outside the classroom. By setting out from the cafe culture that is evolving and growing in Europe, this learning method has started to be executed in real cafes that everyone can access.
Izmir University of Economics is responsible from executing the project in Turkey. The first language cafe is opened at Izmir University of Economics Campus. The students that have selected Portuguese, Greek, Japanese, German, Italian, French, Russian, Spanish languages as a second foreign language, native and foreign academicians and administrative personnel attended that opening. The volunteer instructors sat to the tables allocated for different languages and spoke with the attendees that want to learn their native languages. The instructors began with simple words and later on, they played games with the attendees.
The Turkey Responsible of the project Izmir University of Economics In-Service Training Coordinator Robert Ledbury stated his happiness about the opening of the first language cafe in İzmir and said, “We started to give service with the present instructors. The attendees will decide what and how they will learn together and they will be able to develop their languages in accordance with their own needs and interests. Later on, the project will be carried on with the volunteers that have benefited from language cafes in places that the public can access.” Ledbury stated that anyone interested in learning different languages could make use of the language cafe and said that the Language Cafe that was opened for the first time in İzmir, in Turkey would encourage a social learning environment for other institutions, universities and cafe managers and it would turn learning into an enjoyable process.
The Turkish table attracted the most attention in the first day of Language Cafe. Foreign academicians started to learn Turkish with simple words.
