SPICES – Social promotion of intercultural communication expertise and skills – aims to provide both a methodology to assess communication needs and also the materials with which to learn the necessary skills. The project focuses on any type of institution which has regular dealings with workers from other countries – local councils, hospitals, schools, universities, immigration services, legal centres. The target is trainers in these institutions who will be able to develop expertise and skills amongst other employees who have direct dealings with mobile workers. The approach is based on a needs analysis of various institutions carried out specially for the project. Written and spoken texts and audio/video recordings of real-life interactions were collected and analysed.