The LEA (Language Educator Awareness) training kit comprises a set of practical

instruments designed to help teacher educators introduce the essential aspects of

plurilingualism and pluriculturalism to language teachers and learners. It consists of a

printed booklet setting out the rationale for a series of training activities, which are

contained on an accompanying CD-Rom.

The kit encourages language teachers to reflect on the notion of diversity, which is so

fundamental an element in the process of linguistic and communicative education -

the "dialogue with the other". Its ultimate goal is to contribute towards building a

school capable of providing local and global perspectives on the language curriculum,

of offering communication opportunities with peoples and cultures from far away as

well as nearby and of promoting the ability to speak languages with different statuses

and functions.

The co-ordinating team of experts and all those who took part in LEA project run at

the ECML between 2004 and 2007 hope that this publication will help raise educators'

awareness of the need to build up fairer and more democratic societies, enhancing

the concepts of mutual respect and the promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity as

principles to be followed in language teacher education.