Teaching and learning languages as an instrument of communication and knowledge of customes, traditions and values througout the world: an extract from European Union official documents in the field of education and some reflections on university language centres and the impact of new technology
The European Commission publishes documents containing proposals for Community actions in many different areas. Primarily they are documents addressed to interested parties – organizations and individuals, who are invited to participate in a process of consultation and debate. In some areas, such as education, they provide an impetus for subsequent legislation. These documents, sometimes, follow discussion papers published to launch a consultation process at European level. While discussion papers set out a range of ideas presented for public discussion and debate, document papers contain an official set of proposal in specific areas and are used as vehicles for Community development. The aim of this contribution is to identify through public official European documents some opportunities in the field of education, especially in combating social exclusion, and to assess how important . the teacher's work is in giving students confidence in learning languages. People often speak about "World Peace", but they often don't know how to start turning violence, war, terrorism in to peace actions. Promoting European ideas in the field of education is the first step to develop this aim. My opinion is that school and university must be closely associated in the operation of the EU supporting it with specific programmes.