EMU School of Foreign Languages and English Preparatory School Wins First Place in Cambridge Sustainable Classroom Challenge

Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) School of Foreign Languages and English Preparatory School (FLEPS) won first place in the international Cambridge Sustainable Classroom Challenge with its “Community Service Project”. This achievement carried the school's educational approach, which combines language education with social sensitivity and sustainability awareness, to the international arena.

The Cambridge Sustainable Classroom Challenge encourages language educators to share practices aimed at developing students' sustainability skills using the Cambridge Sustainability Framework for ELT. The framework forming the foundation of the competition guides educators in instilling sustainability awareness and skills through language learning.

Success Brought by the Community Service Project

As part of the first-place winning Community Service Project, students were first introduced to the Sustainable Development Goals and evaluated goals and issues that hold importance for their own communities. Subsequently, researching the issues they identified, the students worked together to develop proposed solutions.

Actively using English throughout the project, students enhanced their critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, research, and communication skills alongside their language skills. The project concluded with presentations in which students shared the issues they addressed and the solution proposals they developed.

Sustainability-Focused Educational Approach

Evaluating the achievement, EMU FLEPS Director Asst. Prof. Dr. Mutlu Kale stated that the school carries out its activities in alignment with EMU’s sustainability goals. Noting that they continuously improve their curriculum and teaching methods in line with this vision, Asst. Prof. Dr. Kale emphasized that they place great importance on raising students who are sensitive to global issues and possess a high sense of social responsibility while developing their language skills.

Expressing that the international award won is a tangible result of the shared vision put forward as a team, Asst. Prof. Dr. Kale stated that it demonstrates they are on the right track in their sustainability-focused educational endeavors.