Romania - AlphaEU

D19: Implementation Reports
[Romania]
Prepared by UPIT
30/11/2014
Project Title:
Alphabets of Europe
Project Acronym:
AlphaEU
Project Number:
531092-LLP-1-2012-1-CY-KA2-KA2MP
1
Contents
1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 3
2. UPIT Contribution................................................................................................. 3
3. Local Implementation Notice/Invitation ................................................................. 4
4. Local Implementation Plans ................................................................................. 5
4.1. Overview of local implementation ...................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.2. Local time table of implementation ................................................................... 8
4.3 List of invited people to take part in implementation .......................................... 9
5. Participant Profile ............................................................................................... 10
6. Implementation Report ....................................................................................... 11
AlphaEU Implementation ....................................................................................... 11
7. Data Collection Tools ......................................................................................... 17
7.1. Participant consent form................................................................................. 17
7.2. Focus group feedback after implementation.................................................. 19
7.3. Lesson Observation sheets............................................................................ 22
7.4. Interviews....................................................................................................... 25
ANNEXES............................................................................................................ 26
2
1. Introduction
This is the implementation report carried out by UPIT, which follows the guidelines
set out by the Implementation Guide, proposed by the AlphaEU consortium. The aim
of this implementation report is to document on how the AlphaEU digital alphabet
books and interactive activities have been used and experimented in the pre-school
institutions that adhered to the project in Romania, with pre-school children aged 3to 6 during a testing period that lasted between 11-30 May, 2014.
2. UPIT Contribution
This is the UPIT Implementation Report which follows the Implementation Guide
prepared by Meath Partnership & CARDET in May 2014. The aim of this report is to
present the implementation of the AlphaEU digital alphabet books and activities, and
to test the method that is advocated by this project. For the purpose of the project
implementation, UPIT identified and collaborated with 10 parents and caregivers and
10 preschool teachers (most of them are participants already involved in the AlphaEU
Adult Mediators’ Training) in order to implement a series of activities that test the
digital tools developed by the project consortium, and to apply the project’s approach
to their use. The UPIT Implementation Report assesses the success of these tools
and this approach through the AlphaEU Blended Learning Adult Mediators’ Training
Module followed by the Implementation phase in local kindergartens where 10
preschool teachers developed activities using the AlphaEU digital products and
invited parents to assist and then use the AlphaEU material at home with their
preschoolers.
Following the Training Module and the Implementation phase, UPIT met with the
parents, caregivers and preschool teachers involved in the testing and hosted 2
different focus groups (one with the 10 preschool teachers and the other with the 10
3
parents) in order to receive feedback on the use of these digital learning resources,
and to gather any suggestions for improvements to be made to the resources.
UPIT then chose one group, made up of pre-school teachers and parents to
interview. UPIT also observed these participants using the tools and resources in
order to gain a full insight into how useful these resources are. UPIT followed the
guide to the interview and focus group sessions included in this document. Having
gathered this information, UPIT will then compile a detailed case study report. All
aspects from the interviews, focus groups and observations will be contained within
the case study report.
3. Local Implementation Notice/Invitation
The notice proposed by the AlphaEU consortium (see Annex 1) was disseminated by
UPIT locally and face to face to preschool teachers, student preschool teachers and
parents of preschoolers through local educational networks, courses and seminars
held at the Faculty of Educational Sciences (FSEd) within the University of Pitesti.
Students of the Faculty of Educational Sciences are either pre-service or in-service
preschool and primary school teachers who follow Bachelor and Master Degree
programs in 4 locations of the FSE (we have branches in 3 counties: Arges county Pitesti, Câmpulung, Vâlcea county – Râmnicu Vâlcea, Teleorman county –
Alexandria).
The UPIT AlphaEU team has also displayed posters in the premises of the FSEd and
invited preschool teachers, student preschool teachers and parents of preschoolers
to take part in the AlphaEU Training Module (see Annex 2) and handed AlphaEU
flyers.
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4. Local Implementation Plans
4.1 Overview of local implementation
This section provides an overview of the UPIT local implementation plans, including
who was invited to take part in the implementation, and when meetings and
workshops took place. This plan reflects and documents all actions which UPIT
undertook in order to ensure the successful implementation of the Alpha EU digital
alphabet books and activities.
In February 2014, the local coordinator of the UPIT AlphaEU team set up national
project meetings with all the staff involved in the project in order to plan the AlphaEU
Training Module followed by the Implementation phase, according to the
Implementation Guide published on the project’s online platform Active Collab by the
AlphaEU Consortium.
As UPIT was the leader of Workpackage no. 7, The Adult Mediators’ Training, we
developed a Scenario for delivering the Blended Adult Mediators’ Training Course
and sent it via e-mail to the AlphaEU Consortium in March 2014. P4 (IPCB) also
shared a training workshop outline document and all AlphaEU partners were invited
to translate it into their local languages and use it during the AlphaEU Training
Module. All these documents were also posted on the project webpage under
Training for Adults.
The AlphaEU Blended Learning Adult Training Module was designed in 3 stages
(a1st 3 hours face-to-face session, a 4 hours online session and a 2nd 3 hours face-toface session) from March till May 2014. The Training Course, on the whole, gathered
29 participants who registered in MOODLE (preschool teachers – most of them were
also parents of preschoolers, parents of preschoolers and pre-service preschool
teachers). All preschool teachers were working in local kindergartens located in the
Arges county and Pitesti.
The two face-to-face training sessions (21/03/2014 and 09/05/2014) took place at the
University of Pitesti, The Faculty of Educational Sciences. In the 1st training session
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(21/03/2014) 32 participants were introduced to the AlphaEU project and to the
objectives of the training course: getting to know and use the AlphaEU pedagogical
materials; participating in a EU Co-financed multinational project, in the field of early
education; getting to know pedagogical strategies about multilingualism and preschool education. The Learning outcomes were: a first contact with the AlphaEU
educational principles and resources; some suggestions on how to use the resources
with children at pre-primary level; some suggestions on how to involve parents in
using the AlphaEU resources. UPIT trainers: Adriana Lazar and Cristina Lemnaru. All
participants filled in an Attendance sheet for this session.
The on-line session of the training took part between 24/03/2014 – 04/04/2014 and
involved 29 participants and one trainer, Adriana Lazar. Participants received
assistance in using the Moodle platform (it was a first time for all of them), solved the
6 tasks set in the Scenario for delivering the online course (see ANNEX 3) while
exploring the AlphaEU materials and commenting on them; they also gathered in
teams and developed lesson plans for the implementation phase and evaluated the
activities proposed by their pears.
The 2nd face-to-face session (09/05/2014) involved 21 participants who completed an
Attendance sheet (see Annex 6) and the Evaluation Questionnaires for the whole
course (see Annex 7); the other 8 participants registered in Moodle were involved in
other activities but we were able to meet them and get feedback from them during the
Implementation phase in the local kindergartens and primary schools. The 2 trainers
were Adriana Lazar and Cristina Lemnaru. During this meeting the participants
shared their ideas and lesson plans they have designed for the implementation
phase and discuss on the outcomes of the training course as well as implementation
procedures and timeline.
At the end of the Training Course, all participants received Certificates of attendance
from the UPIT manager of the project. (see ANNEX 5).
The Implementation phase took place between 11-30 May in local kindergartens
and primary schools (see the names of the institutions in the Local time table of
Implementation bellow). UPIT decided to invite not only kindergarten teachers, but
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also primary school teachers working with 6 year old children in preparatory classes,
located in primary school institutions, according to the national educational policies.
All the participants in the focus group organized lessons using the AlphaEU digital
alphabet books and activities. 10 preschool teachers implemented lesson plans
focusing on the use of AlphaEU digital products and invited 10 parents of
preschoolers to assist to their didactic activities and become familiar with the use of
these materials.
On 26 May, UPIT observed and recorded 3 preschool-teachers (Ionescu Denisa,
Trașcu Alexandra, Ioniță Grațiela – all preschool teachers working in Albă ca Zăpada
kindergarten, in Pitești) while developing the activities using the AlphaEU digital
material in their kindergarten. Each of the three teachers invited one parent to assist
to the lessons.
UPIT then recorded 3 interviews using the questions included in the AlphaEU
Implementation guide. In each interview, one teacher and one parent expressed the
ideas and provided feedback on the use of the AlphaEU digital alphabet books and
activities.
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4.2 Local time table of implementation
The table below provides an overview of activities leading up to the implementation.
Including when notices and invitations are to be sent out, when teachers and parents
were be recruited, when the implementation was be hosted and the implementation
report generated.
DATE
February, 2014
15 March, 2014
7 March, 2014
ACTIVITY
Planning of implementation with the AlphaEU UPIT team
Send notices, flyers and displayed posters for the AlphaEU
Adult Training Module
Scenario for delivering the online course was sent to all
partners
21 March, 2014
First face-to-face Training Course session, 3 hours
16.00 – 19.00 p.m.
24 March – 4 April, 2014
On-line Training Course session, 4 hours
9 May, 2014
Second face-to-face Training Course session, 3 hours
16.00 – 19.00 p.m
6 April - 30 May, 2014
Implementation of activities in primary schools/kindergartens
in Pitești: Albă ca Zăpada kindergarten, Adrian Păunescu
primary school and kindergarten, Dumbrava Minunată primary
school and kindergarten, Matei Basarab primary school.
Observing the implementation process by AlphaEU
representatives
26 May , 2014
09.00 a.m. -14.00 p. m.
Observing 3 teachers and 3 parents during the Implementation
of the activities in Albă ca Zăpada kindergarten, Pitești
Interview with 3 teachers and 3 parents
26 May, , 2014
Focus group meeting with 10 teachers and 10 parents to
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16.00 – 19.00 p.m.
reflect on the implementation and record best practices for
Romanian case study. The meeting took place in Albă ca
Zăpada kindergarten in Pitești.
May 2014
Collect data for Implementation Reports and Case Studies
31 July 2014
First draft of national Implementation Report
15 August 2014
Final version of UPIT Implementation Report
4.3 List of invited people to take part in implementation
In this table below UPIT provides information on who they have invited to take part in
the implementation and their reason for inviting these participants.
Name of Participant and Organisation
(if applicable)
Role within the field of early education
1. Ioniță Grațiela, Albă ca zăpada
kindergarten, Pitești
pre-school teacher
2. Iordache Monica
parent of pre-schooler
3. Ionescu Denisa, Albă ca zăpada
kindergarten, Pitești
pre-school teacher and parent of preschooler
4. Pîrjol Ioana Mihaela
parent of preschooler
5. Trașcu Alexandra, Albă ca zăpada
kindergarten, Pitești
pres-school teacher
6. Stăncuțu Elena
parent of preschooler
7. Ginavar Ileana Alexandra, Albă ca
zăpada kindergarten, Pitești
pre-school teacher and parent of
preschooler
8. Papan Ileana
parent of preschooler
9. Iacob Ana-Cristina, Adrian Păunescu
primary school and kindergarten, Pitești
pre-school teacher
10. Oprea Anca
parent of preschooler
11. Tudor Ana, Dumbrava Minunată
primary school teacher, preparatory class
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primary school and kindergarten, Pitești
12. Vișan Bianca, Faculty of Educational
Sciences
parent of preschooler and pre-service
pre-school teacher
13. Oprea Daniela, Matei Basarab
primary school, Pitești
primary school teacher, preparatory class
14. Răducanu Laura
parent of preschooler
15. Boșoagă Ana, Matei Basarab primary
school, Pitești
primary school teacher, preparatory class
16. Radu Elena
parent of preschooler
17. Oproiu Ionela, Albă ca zăpada
kindergarten, Pitești
pre-school teacher
18. Brezoianu Florina, Faculty of
Educational Sciences
parent of preschooler and pre-service
pre-school teacher
19. Silveanu Ileana, Matei Basarab
primary school, Pitești
primary school teacher, preparatory class
20. Tomescu Daniela, Albă ca zăpada
kindergarten, Pitești
parent of preschooler and pre-school
teacher
5. Participant Profile
The Participant profile sheet was translated into Romanian and handed to all 20 participants
of the Focus Group as part of the Implementation phase (see Romanian translation of this
document in Annex 3). An Implementation Consent was also signed by all 20 participants
(see Romanian translation of this document in Annex 4). As mentioned above in this
document, the Focus Group was made up of pre-school and primary school (preparatory
class, children aged 6) teachers and the parents of preschoolers invited by the teachers to
take part in the activities they have developed in class. The average age of the teachers
ranges between 25 and 50 and most of them have had some experience in using TIC for
professional purposes to design lesson plans and weekly educational activities or for
individual study. Most of the teachers have little to no experience in using digital books and
activities; some of them have used CDs for preschoolers available on the national market.
They noticed that when using the digital material in class, children find them attractive and
this improves their motivation to learn. On the whole, they are all aware of the necessity to
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expose children to the digital media in their learning process. Some of the parents (aged
between 26 and 40) are using online digital activities at home with their children.
6. Implementation Report
AlphaEU Implementation
Implementation Report Template
Country: Romania
Date: 15 August 2014
Partner Organisation: University of Pitesti, UPIT
Staff Member: Adriana Lazăr, Cristina
Lemnaru, Florentina Bucuroiu
Description of your implementation
Context of
Implementation
Participant Profiles
Please provide some
information about your
participants (age, gender,
education, profession,
etc) : this can be taken
from the Participant
Profile Form
The Focus Group was made up of 10 pre-school and primary school
(preparatory class, children aged 6) teachers and 10 parents of
preschoolers invited by the teachers to take part in the activities they
have developed in class. The average age of the teachers ranges
between 25 and 50 and they all have a Degree in Education (either a
Bachelor’s Degree or a Masters’ Degree). The parents invited to take
part in the implementation phase are aged between 26 and 40. All
the teachers and parents are female.
(200 words)
School and students
Snapshot of school, size,
type of school, numbers,
demographics, past
programs, etc.
Demographics of
students/classes where
implementation took
place - gender, age, etc.
(200 words)
All pre-school/primary school institutions that implemented the
AlphaEU material were located in Pitesti.
1. Alba ca Zăpada Kindergarten, with 2 separate structures, no. 10,
and no. 11; staff: 33 pre-school teachers; 300 pre-school children
aged from 2 to 7 years old. 6 teachers implemented the AlphaEU
digital material with their children.
2. Adrian Păunescu Kindergarten; 11 pre-school teachers, 115 preschool children aged from 2 to 6 years old. 1 teacher implemented
the AlphaEU digital material with her children.
3. Dumbrava Minunată Kindergarten, 12 pre-school teachers, 140
pre-school children aged from 2 to 6 years old. 1 teacher
implemented the AlphaEU digital material with her children.
4. Matei Basarab Primary School, 5 preparatory classes, 5 primary
school teachers, 187 children aged 6 to 7 years old. 3 teachers
implemented the AlphaEU digital material with their children.
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The UPIT AlphaEU team observed and interviewed 3 pre-school
teachers in Alba ca Zăpada Kindergarten and 3 parents:
- Ionescu Denisa (33 years old), a class of 19 pre-school
children (15 girls, 4 boys, age: 4, 5);
- Trașcu Alexandra, (24 years old), a class of 22 pre-school
children (6 girls, 16 boys, age: 4, 5);
- Ioniță Grațiela (37 years old), a class of 27 pre-school
children (14 girls, 13 boys, age: 3, 4);
Objectives of the
Implementation
(200 words)
To promote benefits of early foreign language learning and language
awareness in pre-school institutions.
To promote the use of digital resources in early education.
To introduce pre-school teachers and parents to the concepts and
suggested pedagogical aspects of the AlphaEU project, in the field of
early education.
To get to know and use the AlphaEU digital alphabets and activities
in pre-school setting.
To promote multilingual and intercultural aspects of language
learning and literacy for preschoolers.
To find ways of integrating the AlphaEU material in the pre-school
curricula.
To encourage collaboration between teachers when developing
lesson plans and language units.
To promote teacher-parent collaboration.
To motivate parents to use the material at home, with their
preschoolers.
To demonstrate the usefulness and invite parents to use the digital
material produced by the AlphaEU consortium.
To get feedback and collect data from teachers and parents on the
use of the digital material.
To suggest further improvement of the digital material.
Description of
Implementation
How often were the
alphabet books used
during the
implementation?
How were they
used?
(200 words)
In Alba ca Zăpada Kindergarten the AlphaEU digital products were
used for two weeks, in May, to raise language awareness and
reinforce pronunciation of words both in Romanian and English. They
were integrated in the weekly activities on different topics: the school,
farm animals, pieces of furniture, the house. Children aged 3 to 5
explored the alphabets together with the two characters Alpha and
Zara and discovered images connected to words they had to repeat
both in English and Romanian. They focused on the pronunciation of
letters and words and matched words to images.
Another activity in this kindergarten, with children aged 3 and 4,
started from presenting the two characters in the Romanian farm
alphabet book, Alpha and Zara, discovering animals and then
produce role plays, in which children played the roles of animals, and
talked to the teacher as Alpha. Each child had to imagine she/he was
a talking farm animal and produce a short dialogue. (Alpha: Hi little
ant!, Ant: Hi Alpha! Alpha: Where are you going? Ant: I have to find
some food for my little ant sisters, in the woods. Alpha: What do you
like to eat? Ant: Sweets and bread.) Then, the children are invited to
take turns at the computer and do the Test your memory digital
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activity (connected to the Farm alphabet book) to match words and
images and to recognise the first letters of each word.
In Matei Basarab Primary School the AlphaEU digital products
were used during the week from 6 to 11 April, by children aged 6 in 2
preparatory classes (the Champions group - 36 children and the Little
Scouts group – 34 children). The School Alphabet book was used
(with the help of a video projector), during interdisciplinary activities,
to talk about objects related to the school setting and to recognize
capital and small letters and write words connected to school.
Children were then asked to draw as many objects as they could
remember from the School alphabet book. Together with the parents
that were invited to take part in the activity, the children made posters
of the ideal school. Parents shared their experience from the first
time they stepped into their schools.
Another activity developed in this school, in another preparatory
class (33 children aged 6) involved the use of the Farm alphabet
book to introduce farm animals and birds, both in Romanian and
English. The activity lasted one week and included 5 topics: the
library (when students used the Farm alphabet book to talk about
animals found in different literary excerpts and encyclopaedia); art
(when children were helped by parents to do pieces of art, drawings
after observing the animals from the Farm alphabet book); science
(when children found out things about birds); table game (puzzles,
animal lotto, etc.), buildings and role plays.
In Adrian Păunescu Kindergarten, children aged 4 and 5 explored
the Country alphabet books during the week 4 to 9 May. The main
activity focused on celebrating Europe’s day, on the May 9. Children
were asked to make a collage, arrange and stick pieces of paper
representing the flags of the EU countries to make a poster. The
digital activity Match the language was used to learn words and
discover sites from other EU countries: Italy, Portugal, Cyprus.
In Dumbrava Minunată Kindergarten the AlphaEU Farm alphabet
books were used with children aged 5 to learn letters (h, H) and
words in Romanian and Italian. The topic of the week was
Professions. The digital alphabets were introduced at the end of the
activity included in the curricula to exercise recognition of images and
pronunciation of letters in Romanian and Italian. Children also
learned words representing animals in Italian.
Which alphabet
books were chosen
for the
implementation
(including which
languages) and why
were they chosen?
(200 words)
School Alphabet Book – Romanian
Farm Alphabet Book – Romanian, English, Italian
House Alphabet Book – Romanian
Portugal Alphabet Book
Italy Alphabet Book
Cyprus Alphabet Book
All these alphabets were chosen because their themes were
connected with themes explored during a particular week. They were
used to introduce new letters, sounds of letters and words, develop
pronunciation and writing.
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The pairing of Romanian and English was mostly chosen because
English is the most commonly taught foreign language in each of
these preschool centres.
Which activities were
used in the
implementation and
why were they
chosen?
Test your memory – Farm – Romanian
Match the language – Country alphabet: Italian, Portuguese, Greek
These activities were used to reinforce the learning of letters and
words.
(200 words)
Data Collection
Description of data
collection activities; the
material that was
collected, interviews,
focus groups, etc.
(200 words)
All data for this report was collected during the Training and the
Implementation phase of the AlphaEU project when pre-school
teachers and parents of preschoolers explored the digital products
and provided feedback of their actions. Teachers gathered in groups
and produced lesson plans that were used in class, parents were
invited to take part in the activities and then invited to use the
alphabets and activities at home with their children. The UPIT
AlphaEU team observed the teachers, interviewed them as well as
the parents and recorded the activities and the interviews. Teachers
and parents shared impressions and ideas during the face to face
training sessions and the focus group meeting. The UPIT AlphaEU
team recorded evidence of the activities by filling in Observation
sheets for each lesson.
Findings
Which elements of the
alphabet books and
activities worked best
together and why?
How were the books
actually used?
Were the books
integrated into the
curriculum or were they
extra-curricular?
Did the children’s
language awareness
improve? How do you
support that?
What was successful in
the implementation?
The teachers who implemented the Alpha EU books and activities
consider them very attractive and useful for learning the Romanian
alphabet or any other foreign language in a funny and pleasant way.
They consider the AlphaEU project a good opportunity to integrate it
in their preschool curricula or to use it during different activities, being
an inspiration for each teacher, highlighting the thematic organization
of the digital alphabet books as well as of the digital activities.
Teachers’ opinion is that such alphabet books are very important for
the preschoolers’ daily spoken and written activities and can both
contribute to the development of preschoolers’ language and
communication competence and enhance the social interaction,
motivation and attitudes toward learning. They also noticed that the
alphabet books should not only stop at developing children’s
attention, but at increasing their competitiveness spirit, at developing
the relationship between work (effort) and reward (appreciation).
The books offer colourful pictures and a plot that is easy to follow,
preschoolers having the opportunity to repeat the tasks when they
make mistakes. They include the most important areas of knowledge
for preschool age. The Country books, for example, provide
important information about the culture and civilization of each
Teachers’ views/feedback country in the project, being like a mini-encyclopaedia, enriching the
What challenges did the
teachers/parents/students
face? How were they
overcome?
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Parents’ views/feedback
*Evidence from the data
analysis should be used
to support all
findings/claims*
(1000 words)
culture and the vocabulary of the preschoolers. The language used in
describing the objects, landmarks, institutions is accessible to them.
Thus, AlphaEU books and activities increased an impressive interest
among preschoolers who were very enthusiastic in finding more
words for every letter of the Romanian alphabet, although they
expected a little reward at the end of each task. The images captured
their attention and they learned new words in a very short period of
time. All the digital materials invite preschoolers to develop their
vocabulary associated to their own interests.
Preschoolers enjoy such activities like discovery activities- finding the
objects that start with the letter on the page but the reward should be
more obvious: Well done!, Good job! etc. They noticed immediately
that all the books have the same storyline, featuring the two
protagonists, Alpha and Zara, who explore different settings, taking
photos for their own alphabet books, capturing their attention.
Parents were particularly interested in the digital products as they all
recognised the importance of exploring educational programs for
children on the computer as well as the necessity of introducing
foreign languages at an early age. As their pre-schoolers started
learning the alphabet letters in school, parents started doing
reinforcement activities at home, while looking at one or two pages of
the digital alphabet books at a time. Parents helped their children
explore the letters that they have already learnt at school or the initial
letter of their names, in each digital alphabet book. They explored the
different sounds at one point; or a specific theme at another time.
They encouraged their children to repeat words as much as possible
and then reuse them often in play. Some of the parents explored,
together with their children, languages that were unknown to them –
this indeed show the children that learning foreign languages is
valuable and entertaining.
For example, many parents used this activity: after going through the
alphabet book, children were asked to draw certain objects the
parent pronounced in the language chosen; children were then asked
to look for objects under the Home alphabet book, while the parent
pronounced it; when finding an object, children were asked to repeat
the pronunciation in the language chosen.
AlphaEU project helps parents who want to continue at home
different activities started by teachers during classes and to guide
their children in learning the alphabet in a pleasant way. Both
teachers and parents see AlphaEU as a game which captures and
trains preschoolers in exploring different activities and consider the
project particularly valuable by its complexity.
The main difficulty the teachers encountered during the
implementation phase was the fact that they didn’t have many
computers in kindergartens. They all had to use the video projector
(there was only one in each kindergarten) and their personal laptop.
The children had to take turns in accessing the computer and this
took a lot of time.
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Recommendations



Recommendations
on how the books
and activities could
be improved
Recommendations
for teacher
preparation and
support
10 reasons to use
digital alphabet
books and activities
in education
The books need reviewing because more words are missing. For
example, while studying the Home alphabet, a child was a little
disappointed when he found words starting with the requested
sound but the images were not recognized ( F-for foc(fire) or floare
(flower), C-for canapea (sofa), P –for pai (straw) or perdea (curtain)).
But it was a good opportunity for his mother to notice that her child’s
sense of observation is quite developed. Another child found in
AlphaEU books a possibility of checking his English knowledge. His
only complaint was that the number of the words used for the
alphabet letters is too small.
One of the suggestions was that the teachers have the possibility to
organize a didactic game in which one of its tasks should be the use
of the computer-the digital alphabet. Together with Alpha and Zara
the preschoolers should recognize objects starting with the
respective sounds and then to pronounce them correctly and to
associate the sound with the letter. The objectives of the game
should be: to give examples of words which start with the required
sounds; to recognize the objects which start with a particular sound;
to recognize a letter from a group of more letters or a word; to
pronounce correctly the sounds of the respective language.
We came to the conclusion that preschoolers enjoy using AlphaEU
materials because they have the possibility to explore foreign
languages and improve their knowledge. The interactive activities
motivate them to learn, improve their critical thinking and stimulate
their curiosity, improve their abilities in problem-solving, creativity,
communication, collaboration and develop their civic and cultural
awareness.

Any other
recommendations
that emerged
through the findings
(400 words)
Recommendations on the Romanian alphabet books and activities.
ALL BOOKS
Replace the A phonetic sound. It’s the same as the letter sound (A –
shortly)
Replace the K letter sound (the same as the first phonetic sound)
Replace the Y letter sound with the one provided in the e-mail.
CITY BOOK
Acoperiș (roof) can be also marked and named with letter A
Autobus – wrong spelling – AUTOBUZ is right
Navă (ship)– wrong picture; the right picture is behind the small boat
Hanorac – can be excluded as the image is not relevant for this word
For LIBRĂRIE – the building with the books should be marked, not
the one next to it!
COUNTRY BOOK
Babele –audio missing
Bran –audio missing
Garofița Pietrei Craiului – audio missing
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Herghelie – audio missing
Ilic – replace picture
Opinci – wrong audio
Sfinxul din Bucegi – wrong audio
FARM BOOK
A letter – wrong phonetic sound – please replace it with the sound
we have provided for A (it’s the same as the letter sound)
On the first page: Vizită la ........ should replace Vizităla!
Letter V: is the animal named as VULPE a FOX or something else? I
cannot be sure...
SCHOOL BOOK
B- Baie is actually the whole room, you should expand the black
circle. It’s not bathtub.
S – also include SOARE (sun); the audio is provided in the e-mail
Pronunciation is provided for both S and Ș but in the image it is only
S that can be seen!
HOME
C: CANAPEA (coach) can be added
E: EVANTAI is different from that electrical device; the FAN we refer
to is paper or fabric made!!
F: we can use FOC (fire) and FLOARE (flower)
O: OALĂ is generally something belonging to kitchenware category,
and not a vase!
7. Data Collection Tools
In this section the tools that UPIT used for data collection are provided.
7.1. Participant consent form
This was signed by all teachers, parents, who agreed to participate in the
implementation phase.
17
Formular de consimțământ pentru
implementare
Proiectul Abecedarele Europei (AlphaEU) este se înscrie în axa 2 LLP Key Activity
care se focalizează pe prioritatea Comisiei europene de „Promovarea învățării
timpurii a limbilor străine”. Scopul său este să promoveze dobândirea conștientizării
multilingvismului și a abilităților de limbă la preșcolari în diferite țări europene, prin
dezvoltarea, pilotarea și implementarea abecedarelor digitale, precum și a activităților
interactive corespunzătoare abecedarului. Abecedarele/limbile țintă sunt: engleza,
germana, greaca, italiana, portugheza și româna. Punerea în contact a copiilor foarte
mici cu limbile străine poate avea ca rezultat învățarea mai rapidă a limbilor,
îmbunătățirea abilităților în limba maternă, precum și o performanță mai bună în alte
domenii.
Prin semnarea acestui formular de consimțământ, vă declarați de acord să participați
la etapa de implementare a proiectului AlphaEU, care implică implementarea unei
serii de activități create în cadrul proiectului, fie în clasă (de către educatori) fie acasă
(de către părinți/tutori). În timpul acestei etape, un cercetător va strânge datele, va
lua notițe și va face fotografii și se va organiza un grup țintă cu toți participanții. În
plus, s-ar putea să vi se ceară să participați la un interviu la sfârșitul implementării.
Toate datele adunate vor fi anonime, vor fi confidențiale și vor fi folosite doar pentru
scopurile declarate ale acestui proiect.
Vă mulțumim pentru participare și valorosul aport!
________________________________________________________________
Subsemnatul,
_______________________________________________,
(nume)
sunt de acord să particip la etapa de implementare a proiectului AlphaEU care este
finanțat cu sprijinul Comisiei Europene și este implementat în România de către
Universitatea din Pitești.
Semnătură: __________________________________________
18
7.2. Focus group feedback after implementation
This semi-structured guide was used to conduct one focus group with the teachers,
and one focus group with the parents.
1. After using the AlphaEU books and activities, what are your overall reactions?
Please elaborate and explain your points. Please be as specific as possible,
and if relevant, also give specific examples.
All pre-school teachers and parents agreed that the AlphaEU digital products
are very appealing to children as they have colourful images and sound as
well as attractive characters and storylines. This is new material for the
Romanian children, as there are no such digital alphabets with contrasting
languages on the market. Digital material is rarely used in Romanian
kindergartens and schools, not because this would be unattractive to children,
but because there are just a few opportunities (educative CDs) that can be
easily used in early education. They also agreed on the importance of
introducing foreign languages to children in pre-school in order to develop their
phonological awareness and intercultural skills at an early age. The digital
alphabets and activities are very useful when teachers want to switch from the
regular curricula to introduce something new in the educational process and
keep the children motivated for learning.
2. In your opinion, what are the strengths/positive points of these books and
activities? Please elaborate.
Teachers and parents agreed on the following positive points of the alphabet
books: the colourful pictures and a plot that is easy to follow, the thematic
organization of the digital alphabet books and digital activities, the native
pronunciation of words in many foreign languages, the storyline and the
characters (the personification of Zara, the dog is very appealing to children),
good association of sounds with letters and images, very useful either to
introduce or complement a familiar topic, they are interactive and motivate
children to develop phonological awareness in foreign languages in a pleasant
way, they can be easily used at home where parents can play with their
children and develop creative and educational activities together.
19
3. In your opinion, what are the negative points of these books and activities?
What challenges arise? Please elaborate.
Focus group members suggested that it would be easier if the books were
designed for CD-ROM lessons to be used along with an interactive whiteboard
as Internet connection is not always available in public kindergartens in
Romania. (But this suggestion has already been taken into account, at a later
stage of the implementation, as CARDET already provided the off-line version
of the books.)
There is also a slight there is a concern regarding the children’s exposure time
to the computer and they say this should be kept to a minimum. The digital
activities and the books should be followed by other communicative activities
for reinforcement.
Focus group members also suggest it would be good to include more objects
on each page, for each letter (or sound) and more animation to make the
books more appealing to children.
4. How do you think these books and activities can be integrated in the school
curriculum? How can they actually be used in the classroom? / at home?
Please provide specific examples.
Focus group members think the digital books could be introduced together
with the week’s theme, following the design of the national preschool curricula
– one theme is developed throughout a whole week. For example: if the
weekly theme is Autumn, children could look for words in the digital books that
connect to this theme, for each letter of the alphabet – falling leaves (letter F frunză), migratory birds, (letter P – pasăre), apples (letter M – măr). The same
happens for other themes like Domestic Animals, Winter, School, Road signs,
etc. Teachers can start from the Romanian words and then introduce the
same words in other languages, then use the digital activities for
reinforcement. However, it is not recommended for the native language to be
associated to more than one foreign language at a time because, in many
cases, at the preschool level, the native one may appear just as “foreign” as
the other languages.
20
For example, one teacher suggested that Country alphabet books can be
integrated in the pre-school curricula on a weekly basis, to add information
about the different countries: cultural facts, sites, specific food, then introduce
letters and words.
Focus group members would use these books with preschoolers (4 to 6 years
old) in the following way: for younger children – just to recognize certain
objects they may find in the digital books and pronounce words in one foreign
language; for the elders – do the activities and even come up with other words
connected to the weekly theme, or give the plural for each word, etc.
Any parent who is interested in his/her child’s preschool activity would be
willing to use such books. Although they do not like it very much, parents
admit that children are more attracted to computer activities than to printed
books and they would be more willing to collaborate in this kind of activities.
They would learn foreign languages while playing and having fun. Most
parents are willing to keep their children updated with the new technologies
applied to learning, but at the same time they will ask the teacher to do these
activities during classes because of the lack of time or because they might be
afraid they won’t manage to do these activities well.
5. In what ways can these digital alphabet books and activities help to
improve/raise:
a. Cognitive development?
b. Language development?
c. Phonological awareness?
d. Cultural awareness and expression?
e. Intercultural competence?
Teachers’ opinion is that the AlphaEU digital alphabet books and activities are
useful for the preschoolers’ daily spoken and written activities and can both
contribute to the development of preschoolers’ language and communication
competence and enhance the social interaction, motivation and attitudes
toward learning.
21
All the digital materials invite preschoolers to develop their vocabulary
associated to their own interests, both in the native language and other foreign
languages. The Country book, for example, provides important information
about the culture and civilization of each country in the project, being like a
mini-encyclopaedia, enriching the culture and the vocabulary of the
preschoolers.
The native pronunciation of the words and letters is quite useful (however,
there is a slight disappointment about the English sound; it is not very clear
and has an Irish accent) as it contributes to developing the phonological
awareness of foreign languages.
6. What feedback do you have for improving the AlphaEU books and activities?
Please explain your rationale.
First of all, teachers and parents suggested that the English sound should be
improved as it is not always clear and children couldn’t follow the
pronunciation. Then, there are some missing sounds and special attention
should be paid to diacritics in Romanian. They also suggested introducing
sound rewards, (not only visual reward) like “Well done!” to motivate children
when doing the digital activities. Adding more words (where images are
already available) for some letters would also be more appealing to children.
Some of the images are not very clear, and some of them don’t really match
with the meaning of the matching word. It would also be useful to introduce the
translation of the definitions in the country books, on each page. The UPIT
team provided the translations into Romanian, on paper, to each teacher.
7.3. Lesson observation sheets
These observation sheets were filled out during the observations of the selected
teachers (3 pre-school teachers).
Lesson Observation (I)
Kindergarten: Alba ca Zapada, Pitesti
22
Teacher: Trașcu Alexandra, (24 years old),
Class: 22 pre-school children (6 girls, 16 boys, age: 4, 5);
Date: 26 May, 9 a.m.
AlphaEU staff member: Florentina Bucuroiu
For the first 10 minutes the introductory activity took place as following:
T: “As I know you were very delighted with the visit we paid to the school nearby some days
ago, I decided to prepare a surprise-guest for you: a SCHOOLBOY! Aren`t you curious to
discover what is inside his schoolbag?!”
Ps: We are very curious!!! Can we see???
T: Ok, let`s see together! What could this be?
Ps: A picture!
T: What can you see in the picture?
Ps: A school!
T: What letter does this word start with?
Ps: ȘȘȘȘȘȘȘȘȘ….
T: X, please, come, find the letter S and stick it to the magnetic board!
Now, let`s look into the Digital School Alphabet Book and find letter S! What other words on
this page start with the same letter?
Ps: Școală (school)
T: What other interesting thing can we find in the schoolbag?
Ps: A pencil-case!
T: What letter does this word start with?
Ps: Pppppp…
T: Let`s stick this letter to the board too!
Y, come and find letter P inside the Alphabet Book!
What other things the name of which starts with letter P can you find on this page?
Ps: Pensulă, pătrat!!!
T: What other words starting with P do you know?
Ps: porc, pom, pasăre, pastă.....
The activities continue in the same manner for 15 minutes. Then the teacher comes up with
an idea:
T: Would you like us to study a few English words now? Alpha and Zara prepared something
for us in this regard!
Ps: Yeeeeees…
T: (pointing to a letter)
What letter is this?
Ps: Bbbbbb…
T: What word can you find with letter B there?
Ps: Book!!!
T: What can you see in the image?
Ps: Carte (book)
T: How will you translate book?
Ps: Carte!!!
The next 15 minutes are dedicated to discovering and translating English words.
The teacher insists on the pronunciation of the capital letter of every word both for the
Romanian and the English words.
The preschoolers show high interest in the activities developed, and each and every girl and
boy is invited to the computer to click the mouse and discover the “speaking images”!
The teacher has to promise them the same type of “trips” will be made every day, and even
in the afternoon, so as not to get them upset with having finished the activity for the
respective day.
Lesson observation (II)
23
Kindergarten: Alba ca Zapada, Pitesti
Teacher: Ionescu Denisa (33 years old)
Class: 19 pre-school children (15 girls, 4 boys, age: 4, 5);
Date: 26 May, 10.30 a.m.
AlphaEU staff member: Cristina Lemnaru
For the first 10 minutes the introductory activity took place as following:
T: Today some guests have come to see us! And they are not alone here: Alpha and Zara,
some good friends of theirs joined them. Alpha and Zara want to invite us to visit a very nice
farm. Have you ever visited a farm? If not, let`s do it together now!
Do you know the name of the farm animals?
Ps: Yes, I do, I do……
T: I brought you this device; it`s called The wheel of the animals! Who wants to come here
and rotate it?
Where has it stopped??
Ps: Cățel!!! (dog)
T: What letter does this word start with?
Ps: C!!!
T: Now let`s start our farm visit! We`re opening the Farm Alphabet Book and look for letter C.
X, come and open it to this letter!
What other words are there on this page?
Ps: Cal, cățel.... (all the preschoolers repeat them in a voice)
T: How many syllables are there in the word cățel??
P: The word is made of 2 syllables: că-țel! (they clap their hands every time they utter a
syllable)
T: How many syllables are there in the word cal??
P: There is only one syllable in the word cal.
T: What other words staring with the same letter do you know?
Ps: catâr, căruță, copil.......
The activity continues like that for 15 minutes and all the kids get involved with mouse clicks
and answers. They often turn impatient and the teacher has to give them the chance to
express themselves as many times as possible.
The next 15 minutes are dedicated to a different approach of the activity.
T: Now, Alpha and Zara invite us to help them with a special task. They tell us the sounds
and we are required to write the letters on the board. What do you think of this?
Ps: I want to click!
Ps: I want to write!
A preschooler comes to click on the mouse then all of them repeat the letter sound. The
teacher chooses one preschooler to write the letter. Another one is supposed to give
example of other words starting with the same letter. Sentences are being made with the
words discovered.
The activity implied only Romanian language practice!
Lesson observation (III)
Kindergarten: Alba ca Zapada, Pitesti
Teacher: Ioniță Grațiela (37 years old), a class of 27
Class: 27 pre-school children (14 girls, 13 boys, age: 3, 4);
Date: 26 May, 11.30 a.m.
AlphaEU staff member: Adriana Lazar
For the first 10 minutes the introductory activity took place as following:
24
T: Kids, today a surprise-message was sent to us by the computer. Some kids your age
asked us to help Zara find in her house as many things as possible, on condition that they
start with certain letters. Would you like to try this activity?
On the table over there you`ll find a lot of very nice photos and letters.
Who wants to come closer and choose a letter?
What letter is written on the cardboard?
Ps: Aaaaa
T: Let`s repeat it in a voice: Aaaaaaaaaaa!
Now I want somebody to come and click on the letter A to help us open the door to Zara`s
house!
Here we are inside the house!
Let`s see who else wants to come to the computer to click and find other things the name of
which start with letter A!
What is this?
Ps: Acvariu!!!
T: How many syllables are there in the word acvariu?
Ps: In the word acvariu there are 3 syllables.
T: X, pls come and find the cardboard with letter A on the table!
What can you see on the other side of it?
What is there in the image?
P: Arici!
T: How many syllables are there in the word arici?
P: In the word arici there are 2 syllables.
T: What is the first letter of this word?
P: Aaaa…..
T: Let`s take the mouse and check if your answer is good!
Listen! Was your answer correct?
P: Yeeees!
T: Bravooo!
After 15 minutes of activities like the ones described above, the teacher passed to another
set of exercises.
T: Let`s see, who can tell us the Romanian letter-sounds?
For each Romanian letter sound you`ll listen to the English correspondent and repeat it
together!
After this stage the teacher and the preschoolers will discover one English word for every
letter.
7.4.
Interviews
The UPIT team recorded 3 interviews with 3 teachers after they were observed
during the implementation phase. Each interview contains testimonials from one
teacher and one parent who were invited to assist in class, during the lessons. We
will translate the interviews and use the transcripts and videos to author the
Romanian case studies at a later stage of the AlphaEU project.
25
ANNEX 1 – AlphaEU NOTICE
Alphabetele Europei (AlphaEU)
Take part in the AlphaEU Implementation!
If you are a pre-school teacher, support worker, parent or guardian of a child aged 2 –
6 and you are interested in Early Foreign Language Learning, you can participate in the
testing phase of a suite of new and innovative digital resources for pre-school children.
These resources will help you facilitate children’s language awareness and learning
through alphabet books and related activities. The AlphaEU project team has
developed 5 bespoke digital alphabet books and corresponding activities, all of which
are available in English, Greek, Portuguese, Romanian, Italian, and German. As part of
this implementation and testing, participants will be asked to use these digital
resources in their daily routine or as extra-curricular activities, and then provide us with
their feedback.
AlphaEU uses digital media (ICT-supported image, sound, video, animation, hypertext,
etc.) to enhance interactivity, stimulate curiosity, and encourage children to explore
differences and similarities between languages and begin to formulate general ideas
about how languages work.
The implementation will take place in May-June 2014, and places are limited so
booking is essential!
For more information or to register your interest in participating in this implementation
phase, please contact adriana.lazar@upit.ro
For further information on the project, please visit the project website at alphaeu.org
26
ANNEX 2 – AlphaEU POSTER
27
ANNEX 3
1. Profilul Participantului
Nume: ____________________________________
Sex:  Masculin
Vârsta:
 Feminin
 18-25
 26-35
 36-45
 46-55
55+
Naționalitatea: __________________________________
Ultima formă de educație absolvită:
 Învățământ secundar
 Învățământ vocațional
 Licență
 Master sau Doctorat/studii postdoctorale
 Altele, vă rugăm să specificați: __________________________
Poziția ocupată în Educația Preșcolară:
 Profesor
 Personal ajutător
 Îngrijitor
 Părinte/Tutore
 Altele, vă rugăm să specificați: _________________________
Dacă sunteți profesor/îngrijitor sau persoană ajutătoare, vă rugăm să specificați
experiența dvs în domeniu: _______________________________
Experiența TIC:
Folosiți TIC zilnic în scopuri profesionale? Dacă da, vă rugăm să descrieți cum.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Experiența în folosirea cărților și activităților digitale:
Ați mai folosit cărți/activități digitale pentru copii? Dacă da, vă rugăm să descrieți
experiența și reacția dvs privind aceste materiale.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
28
ANNEX 4
Formular de consimțământ pentru
implementare
Proiectul Abecedarele Europei (AlphaEU) este se înscrie în axa 2 LLP Key Activity
care se focalizează pe prioritatea Comisiei europene de „Promovarea învățării
timpurii a limbilor străine”. Scopul său este să promoveze dobândirea conștientizării
multilingvismului și a abilităților de limbă la preșcolari în diferite țări europene, prin
dezvoltarea, pilotarea și implementarea abecedarelor digitale, precum și a activităților
interactive corespunzătoare abecedarului. Abecedarele/limbile țintă sunt: engleza,
germana, greaca, italiana, portugheza și româna. Punerea în contact a copiilor foarte
mici cu limbile străine poate avea ca rezultat învățarea mai rapidă a limbilor,
îmbunătățirea abilităților în limba maternă, precum și o performanță mai bună în alte
domenii.
Prin semnarea acestui formular de consimțământ, vă declarați de acord să participați
la etapa de implementare a proiectului AlphaEU, care implică implementarea unei
serii de activități create în cadrul proiectului, fie în clasă (de către educatori) fie acasă
(de către părinți/tutori). În timpul acestei etape, un cercetător va strânge datele, va
lua notițe și va face fotografii și se va organiza un grup țintă cu toți participanții. În
plus, s-ar putea să vi se ceară să participați la un interviu la sfârșitul implementării.
Toate datele adunate vor fi anonime, vor fi confidențiale și vor fi folosite doar pentru
scopurile declarate ale acestui proiect.
Vă mulțumim pentru participare și valorosul aport!
________________________________________________________________
Subsemnatul,
_______________________________________________,
(nume)
sunt de acord să particip la etapa de implementare a proiectului AlphaEU care este
finanțat cu sprijinul Comisiei Europene și este implementat în România de către
Universitatea din Pitești.
Semnătură: __________________________________________
29
ANNEX 5
30
ANNEX 6
Attendance sheet
31
32
33
ANNEX 7
Evaluation questionnaire of the AlphaEU Blended
Training Course
34
ANNEX 8 – pictures from the AlphaEU Training Course
35
36
37
ANNEX 9 – Pictures from Implementation in
kindergartens/schools
38
39
40
41
ANNEX 10 – Focus Groups pictures
42