International Telecollaboration on Teaching English to Children at Risk

Abstract

This chapter describes a service-learning (SL) project designed through telecollaboration aiming to improve the linguistic competence in English as a foreign language (EFL) and the intercultural awareness of children at risk of social exclusion studying in a local association in Málaga (Spain). Due to the restrictions posed by COVID-19 in spring of 2020, the project was based on telecollaborative service-learning (TSL) and carried out through several online workshops designed by a pre-service EFL teacher and held by international students doing an exchange program in the city of Málaga. This case study shows that this TSL project provided children at risk of social exclusion with the opportunity of being in contact with international students, other cultures, and using the English language in a real, meaningful context, while initial teacher training also improved by facing real-world situations.