ValIda gives paramount importance to the issue of internationalisation of education. It is difficult to define internationalisation because it varies according to context. It is a word that signifies change and this, in a world that is itself constantly changing, makes it necessary to adopt a frame of mind that is ready for this dynamic.
We love to start from the roots and we feel that the first step towards turning the school into an international space is to bring the school closer to the community around it and to reduce the boundaries between the school and society even if at a local or regional level.
We see that at times education in school is inert to what is happening outside at least at the levels of strategy and curriculum design.
Language is a great vehicle for internationalisation and we see CLIL as an efficient means whereby the use of a foreign language can become an efficient way of turning the school space into a bilingual environment at least as a minimum element of change. CLIL can also become the platform for internationalisation especially if it is used in the implementation of cross curricular and cross disciplinary methods of learning.This is over and above the benefits identified from people who have looked into or used CLIL as a a teaching method of a foreign language. CLIL is used by us in project oriented learning contexts in order that it may offer an opportunity for a “learning journey” where teachers and students are involved together in very much the same manner.
In the way we implement this training teachers are invited to identify challenges and issues related to change in the local context within the community around them and they are inspired to create a learning environment in which students enrich themselves within a multi linguistic and potentially more readily multicultural classroom. We endeavour to get teachers to be agents of change for internationalisation in education and explorers of new glocal dimensions.
In this training VisMedNet exploits the experience of its team in the RICK’S cafe network that works for internationalisation of education and its relationships with English language school where foreign languages as a vehicle for learning and discussion is the order of the day. It also exploits its network around Europe to help teachers from sending schools to come together in this training so that, through community building and multicultural learning context they may grow together and discover themselves through this experience.
This course is intended for teachers in mainstream education teaching students from the age of 10 years up to VET levels of education, future teachers, teacher trainers and management staff in the school who wish to explore CLIL as a strategy for the internationalisation of the learning environment, improved ways and strategies for learning a foreign language and a more exciting career in education. In keeping with our philosophy of introducing media in education our training also offers active exposure to the world of video production in the classroom as part of project work that implements CLIL in school.
| Portugal | Italy | Malta |
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Preparation before the course
Before the start of the course the participants will be invited to join an online discussion on the social media spaces of the RICK’S cafe network where they will have the opportunity to exchange views with participants coming from other sending schools, they will also be indirectly helping the trainers to get to know the participants and their cultural, social and geographical background. This preparation will be online because it will be held on a forum that will then be continued in the follow up to the course to maintain continuity and start up a community building exercise that is so important for community building. It will also establish the lines of discussion that will be developed during the days of the course.
Objectives of the course
– the excitement of the minds of the participants to active and constructive networking first within the school, then between the school and the community and later on with schools and educators outside their locality, region and context.
Methodology
The content of the course is oriented towards practical implementation of CLIL as a teaching methodology and the fostering of a new form of learning environment. The session will be divided into plenary didactic sessions, break out groups and workshop environments so that the course will have offered an insight into the practical possibilities of implementing a number of pre determined avenues of CLIL namely :
- Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
- Content-based Language Instruction (CBLI)
- English Across the Curriculum (EAC)
- English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI)
- Teaching Content Through English Teaching English Through Content
The trainers will guide the participants through project work, discussion formats, video production projects and other interactive activities that are, especially when implemented in a cross curricular manner, very beneficial in making a foreign language a vehicle for communication, thinking and self-expression. It will also bring into the activities the four skills that usual pertain to language teaching and learning this within different contexts all however within an autonomous form of learning for the student. The participants will work together under the direction of the trainers in order that they may work with others to discover common issues arising in the communities around their respective schools and, together, they explore ways of how CLIL can be a new strategy to bring these issues as topics of discussion into the school. They will also have the opportunity to share contexts and analyse results after the carrying out of practical project work during the days of the course. Participants will be induced to look at CLIL from a lesson planning point of view in micro way and at the same time in cross curricular fashion thus in a macro form of approach.
Follow up
At the end of the course the participants will develop a hypothetical short and medium term plan for their respective sending school for the implementation of CLIL and this will include the implementation of a small pilot activity emulating what they did during the course within their school. The pilot activities will be evidenced with a video testimonial by the participants (individually or as groups if they come from the same sending school) about the experience, the experience in the school with the pilot activities and about the reaction of colleagues, students and school management about the results.
Training Programme
What is CLIL ? CLIL stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning and refers to teaching subjects such as science, history and geography to students through a foreign language.
The term CLIL was coined by David Marsh, University of Jyväskylä, Finland (1994): “CLIL refers to situations where subjects, or parts of subjects, are taught through a foreign language with dual-focused aims, namely the learning of content and the simultaneous learning of a foreign language.” However, CLIL teaching has been practised for many years, from the Babylonian era to the early sixties when bi-lingual education was introduced in many schools around the world. Even if you are unaware of the term CLIL, you may already have been using CLIL methodology for many years.
Are you a CLIL teacher? There are many ways of describing the characteristics attributed to CLIL. You may already be following and using many of its principles.
If you are teaching on a programme or following a methodology listed below then onestopclil is for you. Bilingual Integration of Languages and Disciplines (BILD) Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Content and Language Integration in Primary CLIP Content-based Instruction (CBI) Content-based Language Instruction (CBLI) Content-based Language Teaching (CBLT) English Across the Curriculum (EAC) English as an Academic Language (EAL) English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Foreign Language Immersion Program (FLIP) Foreign Languages as a Medium of Education (FLAME) Languages Across the Curriculum (LAC) Teaching Content Through English Teaching English Through Content Information taken from http://www.onestopenglish.com/clil/what-is-clil/ Our training helping teachers adopt CLIL in school focuses on a number of specific forms. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Content-based Language Instruction (CBLI) English Across the Curriculum (EAC) English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Teaching Content Through English Teaching English Through Content.