Is there a solution?

In 2005 a transnational EU project funded with support from the European Commission was launched under the name of Stella (Stepping up the E-Learning of Langiages). Stella was part of the Socrates Minerva programme with partners from the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark and Germany. The Co-ordinator was Carl Taylor. The aim of the project was to create and produce a comprehensive, internet-specific web-based course for language learning that targets European language learners at beginners level and fulfills the requirements of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

The benefits of the Stella courses can be summarised as follows:

• Stella Courses are written and created by a team of professional writers, educationalists, designers and programmers, working as a team to realise the courses as genuine online products.
• Stella Courses fulfil the requirements of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF). This is the benchmark for schools, colleges, language teaching organisations in Europe. It provides clear guidelines for teachers, authors and all those involved in the language teaching and learning business throughout Europe and aims to establish common standards.
• Stella Courses help learners to achieve level A1 of the Common European Framework. Level A1 is also knows as the Basic User. It is the first level of language learning achievement for absolute beginners and assumes no prior knowledge.
• Stella Courses have a clearly defined syllabus and distribution of topics that correspond to the requirements of the CEF for level A1.
• Stella Courses are based on a cognitivist-constructivist approach to language learning. This approach is also known as ‘learning by doing’ or ‘discovery learning’. The learning process is learner-centred and learners are actively involved in the learning process. Learning is not equated with reading. The learner is an active participant in the learning process and not a passive or receptive companion to the process.
• Stella Courses are amongst the most comprehensive on the web. The courses contain input dialogues, vocabulary work, extensive exercises, multimedia web seminars on grammatical topics, cultural information and lists or topic-related words and phrases for consolidation.