Abstract:

Language learning is a necessary instrument for the dissemination of culture and its cultural assets, testimonies of its artistic, symbolic and historical past. In recent decades, the use of ICT applied to language learning and cultural heritage has augmented, offering experiences that add value to society.

In this communication, we will present the educational materials called La Ruta de la Seda, produced by the SILKNOW project (H2020 EU funded) they were designed to learn the Spanish language (levels A2-B1). There was a twofold objective in this moodle platform: on the one hand, we intended to improve language learning skills, and on the other, to disseminate European silk heritage. It allowed us to promote the European Silk Road as a source for ideas, knowledge, techniques and cultures linking it with language learning and the existing relations between different cultures. To do so, la Ruta de la Seda is based on audiovisual materials that include games and other exercises that are thought to encourage student participation. These materials were possible thanks to an interdisciplinary team formed by philologists and teachers coming from the Instituto Cervantes and art historians and computer scientists from the University of Valencia, both members of the SILKNOW consortium.

Along with this communication, we will show the rationale behind these materials, their adaptation in language learning curricula, followed by the results of using them in several Instituto Cervantes’ centres for Spanish language learning. Finally, we will demonstrate how projects like this facilitate language learning while facilitating the development of heritage education in the classroom and beyond it.

Keywords:

Moodle platform, language learning, interdisciplinary.