Abstract:

Information presented in this article are, in fact, conclusions of three cross-border projects funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania whose beneficiaries are “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, Romania and the General Directorate of Education in Gagauzia, Moldova. The current research was made possible by the existing Cooperation Protocol between the Moldovan Education Ministry and Ministry of Education and Scientific Research in Romania, reinforced by the Association Agreement signed between Moldova and the EU authorities in 2014. The projects are designed as part of the Eastern Partnership on educational programs meant to help teachers overcome ethnic inequalities in the educational systems in the attempt to ease their students’ transition from school to work. The short-term target of the projects are teachers who learn how to deal with possible communicational conflicts their students might have to surpass, but the long-term target is in fact these students who must find the motivation to accept and properly manage multilingualism and multiculturalism of their everyday life in UTA Gagauzia, Republic of Moldova. The study began in 2015 with a group of 10 bilingual language teachers teaching L2 and came to be extended to 47 teachers in 2016. Our first aim is helping them discover relevant motivations adapted to their teaching environment (they are teaching Romanian, which is the state language in Moldova, to Gagauz native students who are, in fact, using Russian as current language of communication) and making them aware that they need to teach functional language in this respect. The next step is determining teachers to adopt a student-oriented approach in their teaching process in order to help them internalize learning motivations. Last but not least, the aim of the project is helping teachers integrate technology and modern ways of creating teaching materials in order to arouse students’ interest in learning more languages. Most of the teaching strategies were observed and analysed in real life class situations since Moldovan teachers and students were invited to observe Romanian Language classes in Romanian schools. Obtained results at the end of the project are: modern and functional approach of L2, more creative teachers and students understanding the benefits and importance of their bilingualism/multilingualism.

Keywords:

Multiculturalism, multilingualism, learning situation, ethnic & political issues.