“Workshop on Teaching Turkish to International Bilinguals” was held at our University

"Workshop on Teaching Turkish to International Bilinguals" was organized on 22-23 May 2024, hosted by our University in cooperation with our University and the Turkish Maarif Foundation, in order to evaluate the processes of teaching Turkish to bilinguals in Europe in various aspects and to share the results with the relevant institutions and the public. Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, our Rector Prof. Dr. Cemal Yıldız, Director General for European Union and Foreign Relations at the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) Tuba Korkmaz, President of the Turkish Maarif Foundation Prof. Dr. Birol Akgün, representatives of relevant institutions such as the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Family and Social Services, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Turkish Language Association, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities, academicians, education consultants and field experts attended at the workshop.

The program that started with the opening speeches made by Our Rector Prof. Dr. Cemal Yıldız, Ministry of National Education (MoNE) European Union and Foreign Relations General Director Tuba Korkmaz and Turkish Maarif Foundation President Prof. Dr. Birol Akgün continued with the speech of Prof. Dr. Natalia Gagarina from Humboldt University titled "A Critical Look at the Formation of Typical/Atypical Grammatical Systems in Turkish-German Bilingual Children from the First Words to Primary School". Afterwards Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ali Akıncı from Rouen Normandie University gave his speech titled "Language Teaching to Bilingual Children: Latest Developments with the Example of Turkish in France".

The Workshop Continued with Sessions, Presentations and Workshops
Following the opening speeches and presentations made by academics in the field, the workshop continued with sessions, presentations and workshops that lasted for two days. In this context, on the first day, in the first session titled "Education Policies for Bilinguals in Europe and the World", held in a negotiation format under the chairmanship of our Rector Prof. Dr. Cemal Yıldız, "Policy makers and objectives, cultural adaptation in the context of bilingualism, intercultural communication, intercultural interaction, intercultural competence and mediation, identity, belonging, and so on. , Turkish population in Europe; accessibility to the Turkish population, language proficiency of bilinguals in Europe, education policies and studies for bilinguals in Europe and the world, the place of Turkish lessons in the curriculum of the relevant country, policies of the Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages) for the education of bilinguals and documents" topics were discussed. Afterwards, in the second session titled ‘Institutions and Their Activities’, which was chaired by Mahmut Mustafa Özdil, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Maarif Foundation of Turkey, with the participation of Tuba Korkmaz, Director General for European Union and Foreign Relations at the Ministry of National Education, and Abdulhadi Turus, Vice President of Turks Abroad and Related Communities, ‘The activities of institutions and organisations related to bilingual education in Europe, policies and strategies, curriculum and material studies (MoNE, YTB, NGOs, activities of states, associations, public education centres, municipalities), accessibility to the Turkish population within the scope of the activities of the relevant institutions, inter-institutional cooperation (11th Development Plan, cooperation opportunities of relevant institutions for Turks abroad) were analysed.

The second day of the workshop started with the presentation of Prof. Dr. Christoph Schröder from the University of Potsdam entitled ‘The Position of Turkish in Germany and Implications for Turkish Language Teaching’. After the presentation, in the third session, which was held as a workshop under the title of ‘Learning Contents’ with the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. İbrahim Gültekin, Head of Turkish and Foreign Language Teaching Department of Maarif Foundation of Turkey, the following topics were examined: ‘Evaluation of Maarif Foundation of Turkey's Teaching Turkish to Bilinguals Model, MoNE's Turkish and Turkish Culture Curriculum and materials, educational materials of Presidency of Turks Abroad and Related Communities for bilingual Turkish children, educational materials prepared locally and their features, digital materials and accessibility’. Then, in the fourth session, which was organised as a workshop titled ‘Teaching Qualifications’ under the chairmanship of our Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Aysel Uzuntaş, the following topics were discussed: ‘Current situation and problems in teaching qualifications; needs analysis for determining teaching qualifications, teaching qualifications vision and TGU's teaching qualifications model, development of teaching qualifications in higher education’.

Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş graced the workshop with her participation
The afternoon sessions of the second day of the workshop were held with the participation of Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, Minister of Family and Social Services. Göktaş addressed the participants with her speech on the role and function of the family within the scope of teaching Turkish to bilinguals. Following Minister Göktaş's speech, the fifth session, which was held as a workshop under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Yüksel Ekinci from Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, and which was entitled ‘The Role and Function of the Family’ tried to find out answers to the following questions: ‘How does the attitude of the family affect the Turkish language learning of bilingual Turkish children? How can the attitude of the family be changed in a positive way? How can the role and function of the family be improved in teaching Turkish to bilingual Turkish children? What should be done for family participation in education processes?’. Then, in the sixth session, which was organised as a workshop under the title of ‘Measurement and Evaluation/Certification’ with the chairmanship of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayfer Sayın aimed to answer the following questions: ‘How to effectively monitor and feedback the in-class development of bilinguals within the scope of formal education? How to effectively monitor and feedback the in-class development of bilinguals within the scope of non-formal education? How to utilise certification and validity, digital and online evaluation processes?

The International Workshop on Teaching Turkish to Bilinguals ended with the Evaluation-Closing Session with the speeches of our Rector Prof. Dr. Cemal Yıldız and Ahmet Türkben, Member of the Board of Directors of the Maarif Foundation of Turkey, after evaluating the educational activities for bilinguals for two days. Our Rector and Türkben stated that the workshop was very productive and thanked those who participated in the workshop and those who contributed to the organisation. Expressing that a result booklet will be prepared after the workshop, our Rector stated that the outputs obtained will be seminal for future studies. The International Workshop on Teaching Turkish to Bilinguals ended after good wishes.