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ABOUT USGENERAL INFORMATIONThe Teacher Training College in Toruń (TTC) educates future English, German and French teachers. These three languages are spoken during all classes except psychology and pedagogics. The English and German departments offer both day and extramural education, the French one - day studies. The period of study lasts 3 years (6 terms), and day studies are free of charge. The College has about 350 students . The curriculum has been developed by the College teachers in co-operation with researchers from Nicholas Copernicus University, Toruń.Graduates receive the diploma of the Teacher Training College and after fulfilling specific conditions they can obtain a Bachelor\'s degree of Nicholas Copernicus University. The University, which exercises academic supervision over the College, enables students to continue their studies to the level of Master\'s degree. The members of the College have access to a well-equipped library, reading room, media library and a computer laboratory. The achievements of our graduates - whether as teachers, or MA students at Nicholas Copernicus University or other universities both in Poland and abroad - is evidence of the high standard of teaching in our college. OTHER ACTIVITIESTTC organises various forms of teacher training. It invites Polish and foreign experts to give lectures, run seminars, workshops and courses in linguistics and methodology. In co-operation with the Methodological Consultancy and Teacher Training Centre in Toruń we run refresher courses for teachers of English. We also organise methodological conferences. The College closely co-operates with the British Council. Among other things we run together an annual Practical Language Teaching workshop for college teachers from Northern Poland. The workshop aims to improve the Teacher Training College curriculum. We also organise methodological workshops together with linguistic publishers. These courses are open for teachers from Toruń and the region. In the school year 2005/2006 we are planning to introduce language courses addressed to a wider range of people.In association with the US Embassy in Warsaw the College has organised two conferences addressed to teachers of American history, culture and literature. The first one, 'The American City: Past and Present' (2003), was dedicated to the history and the present day of American cities. The second conference entitled 'Negotiating Identity: What Does It Mean to Be American' (2004) was devoted to identity problems in multicultural American society. Among the conference participants were lecturers from the United States, Polish universities and about 50 tutors from different colleges in Poland. In co-operation with the Centre of Continuing Education in Toruń we publish Silva Rerum College Bulletin, which possesses an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN). Through Silva Rerum we aim to reach a wide circle of recipients interested in education. We are convinced that teachers, educators and students will find it interesting. As the title of this periodical indicates, we cover various subjects, however, we want to lay a special emphasis on teaching methodology, educational issues concerning children and teenagers, and challenges facing teachers at work. To provide readers with appropriate knowledge we make use of a wide range of research particularly in the fields of educational psychology and language teaching methodology. Our periodical is a forum where teachers and students can exchange experiences. Therefore, we encourage everyone who cares about the quality of education in Polish schools to share their views in Silva Rerum. For many years, the College has served as the headquarters of the District Committee of German Language Olympiad. It holds the first and second stage of the Olympiad for high schools. It also participates in organising the German Language Contest for secondary school pupils. In the Teacher Training College library there is a media library 'Primar', courtesy of the Goethe Institute in Warsaw. It is possible for students of German to obtain there the latest professional literature, textbooks and young learners' methodology materials. In our college there are methodological consultations for teachers of German from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie province, held by TTC teachers. We also celebrate annually such cultural events as Francophone Day and Spanish Day. The Erlebnispädagogik project is an interesting, cyclic undertaking in the German language speciality. For the last six years, second year students have been participating in a twenty-hour workshop on the pedagogy of nature, as part of methodology classes. These classes usually take place in the second half of May in Wierzchy near Tlen in Bory Tucholskie, and are led by Mr Krzysztof Szupryczyński according to an original programme drawn up especially for our students. The TTC also co-operates with foreign institutions, e.g. as a part of the specialisation seminars in the German language section for a couple of years internet projects have been carried out with the participation of College students and international partners. It has also been possible for our students to obtain assistant placements in other EU countries within the Socrates education programme. Over the past few years students have undergone training in second language teaching in Belgium, Spain, Italy and Cyprus. |