At Orient Express in Vienna, the next series of Learning Units was inspired by a dialogue with female learners: In summer, we went on a trip to the park to look for elderflowers. To find bushes close by, we used an app that shows ripe plants and fruit in the vicinity on an interactive map. Of course, fruit ripens at different times in different countries. In some countries, something is always ripe, there is always fresh fruit. In Austria, apples are stored and oranges come from Italy at best. European fruit and vegetables are not necessarily perceived as fresh. We started to talk about what grows and is ripe in Austria and when, and what can be stored. How are the products transported? The new learning units for the STRENGTH project’s e-learning platform offer an introduction to the vocabulary of “fruit and vegetables”, “seasonality” and the topic of “climate and food”. One unit deals with waste separation, related rules have just changed in Vienna.
When trying out the new exercises, it was sometimes a challenge for the learners to read and remember new terminology. As an introduction, we read the texts together in class before doing the exercise. We then completed the exercise – with the help of a projection – in plenary. The learners then repeated the tasks individually. The texts on “Agriculture in Austria” and “Climate and food” are rather more difficult, i.e. for levels A1 to A2. At Orient Express, the course instructor worked with an A1 course. Most of the participants have learnt reading and writing while learning German as a second language as adults.