Centre de Langues de l’UNamur

🌟 Welcoming another colleague to Université de Namur !

This week, we were delighted to welcome, Erin Johnston, a French as a Foreign Language instructor from Creighton University 🇺🇸. The visit was an opportunity to exchange teaching practices and to explore potential areas for collaboration.

The discussions were both stimulating and productive, generating several promising ideas that we hope to develop in the near future.

Meetings like these remind us of the importance of collaboration, not only to learn from one another, but also to create together authentic learning opportunities for our language students.

Thank you for your visit, Erin. We look forward to turning these ideas into reality!

🤝📚 Yesterday, we had the pleasure of welcoming Laetitia Langlois, Mathilde Bataille and Sylvain DEMATTEIS, from the Université d'Angers 🇫🇷 as part of their ‘tour’ of Belgian universities 🇧🇪

💬 Their objective was to explore different pedagogical approaches to language learning and language lecturer–content specialist collaboration, so as to gather inspiration for the ongoing development of their courses in Angers. Throughout the day, we shared our experiences, discussed teaching practices, and reflected together on the different challenges and opportunities we face in higher education.

🤗 A big thank you to our colleagues from Angers for these open, stimulating, and friendly exchanges. Days like this remind us of the value of collaboration and mutual learning across institutions and borders.

📢 Nous recrutons ! Vous êtes enseignant d'espagnol et d'anglais ? Envoyez votre CV.

🌍 Last week, over 2,000 English teachers from around the world gathered in Brighton 🇬🇧 for IATEFL 2026.

Thanks to an Erasmus+ grant, Cindy Tréfois and Aude Hansel had the opportunity to attend this conference and take part in a wide range of seminars and workshops addressing key challenges in English language teaching today:

✍️ Building students’ writing stamina in the age of AI
🎧 Developing listening skills through authentic materials, including UN documents
🧠 Applying insights from neuroscience to support vocabulary acquisition
💬 Understanding how native speakers perceive fossilized errors in language learners

One of the most stimulating aspects of our job is the constant need to reflect on and adapt our teaching practices to meet our students’ evolving needs.

📚 Now it’s time to bring these insights back into the classroom.

👀 We did not expect these students to click so fast!

Last week (13–18 April), Aude Hansel and Natassia Schutz, PhD hosted the UNIVERSEH European University “Science for All” Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) in Namur, in collaboration with AGH University of Krakow and University of Luxembourg.

🌟 Students from universities in France, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Luxemburg and Belgium came together with one shared goal: making space science accessible to everyone. In mixed international groups, they explored how to communicate scientific concepts in a clear and engaging way and created short video clips for social media. 📱

👀 What really struck us was how quickly the groups clicked. From day one, there was a strong sense of collaboration, curiosity, and openness. Through a series of workshops, they progressively developed their ideas, wrote their scripts, and gained confidence in popular science communication. 💪

😌 The week was also about more than just the projects: discovering Namur, a full filming day, starting the editing process, and many informal moments where students shared languages, cultures, and experiences.

❤️ A great example of how much can happen in just a few days when you bring motivated students together around a common goal.

🤗 Another great example of concrete and authentic learning, where students develop their skills through real-life experiences and meaningful interactions.

🚀 In preparation for the third edition of the UNIVERSEH European University Spring School at the Euro Space Center, organized by André Fűzfa, our second-year mathematics students worked with their English teacher, Carole Zimmer, to explore the Artemis mission 🌙 and research the space industry experts invited to the event.

On site, they experienced five intense days and fully integrated into a group of 70 participants from 7 universities within the UNIVERSEH alliance 🌍.

Inspiring encounters, teamwork in international groups, and presentations in English: a fully immersive experience that fosters autonomy, engagement, and self-confidence ✨

Des profs de néerlandais viennent se former au CdL avec le soutien de la Nederlandse Taalunie 👨‍💻 👩‍💻

🗓️ Ce mercredi 8 avril, nous avons eu le plaisir d’organiser une demi-journée d’étude dédiée aux enseignants de néerlandais de l’enseignement primaire, secondaire et supérieur.

📓 Au programme : découverte d’outils concrets tels que la plateforme mijnNederlands ou le projet Hapklaar Nederlands, information sur les dispositifs de soutien proposés par la Taalunie et nombreux moments d’échange autour de pratiques pédagogiques inspirantes directement transposables en classe.

💪 Une journée dynamique, portée par l’engagement et la richesse des contributions des participants. (Les sourires parlent d'eux-mêmes 🤗)
Un tout grand merci à Jo Sterckx de la Nederlandse Taalunie et Eddy Lemaire de la FWB ainsi qu'à l’ensemble des participants.

🎥 Tandem linguistique entre Namur et Barcelone 🇧🇪 🇪🇸

Ce quadrimestre, les étudiants de bloc 3 de la Faculté EMCP – UNamur ont collaboré avec des étudiants du bachelier en Langues appliquées de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra de Barcelone dans le cadre d’un projet de tandem linguistique, encadré par Aurélie Marsily.

🤝 Par groupes, ils ont comparé une entreprise belge/française et une entreprise espagnole (Lotus Biscoff vs. Galletas Gullón, Exki vs. Honest Greens, Delhaize vs. Bon Preu, SNCB vs. Renfe…).

🔎 Ils ont analysé différents aspects : naming, structure organisationnelle, stratégie marketing, présence sur les réseaux sociaux, service client, etc.

🗣️ Objectif : échanger régulièrement en espagnol, analyser des réalités professionnelles et co-construire une présentation argumentée.

🎬 Le projet s’est concrétisé par la création d’une vidéo finale, fruit de leur collaboration et de leur réflexion interculturelle.

Une belle expérience d’apprentissage collaboratif et authentique ! 🌍