Two-week course for teachers of English

Exeter College in the UK was recently the venue for a two-week in-service course for European teachers of English. Participants included teachers from Italy, France, Spain, Slovakia, Turkey, Poland and Malta.

The course was funded by the Comenius 2.2C in-service course programme, which in Malta is managed by the EU Programmes Unit with the Education Division.

Lectures were delivered by Silvana Rampone (Italy), Annetta Sadouska (Poland), Dr Diana Hicks, Mark Skipper and Paul Bress (England). All are experts of teaching English as a foreign language at primary level, focusing on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).

This course explored features and advantages of CLIL, through the expertise of teacher trainers. CLIL refers to situations where subjects are taught through a foreign language with dual-focused aims, namely the learning of content, and the simultaneous learning of a foreign language. CLIL was originally defined in 1994 and launched by UNICOM in 1996.

Even though there may be a difference in how the brain works as a child grows older and becomes an adult, a key issue in picking up languages relates to the opportunities we have for learning languages. This is where CLIL can be of interest. One reason why very young children seem so good at picking up language often has to do with the naturalness of the environment around them.

The course involved a lot of discussion and workshops, where all the participants spoke about their own national curriculum. All teachers involved agreed that the primary curriculum provides a great variety of topics that can be used for CLIL projects. A lecture was also held on the education system in Finland.

Several initiatives have been launched by the EU in the field of CLIL. One of the first pieces of legislation regarding European co-operation in CLIL is the 1995 Resolution of the Council. It refers to the promotion of innovative methods and in particular to "the teaching of classes in a foreign language for disciplines other than languages providing bilingual teaching." A more recent document by the European Commission, "Promoting language learning and linguistic diversity", says that CLIL

• can provide effective opportunities for pupils to use their new language skills now, rather than learn them now for later use

• open doors on languages for a broader range of learners, nurturing self-confidence in young learners

• provides exposure to the language without requiring extra time in the curriculum

All in all, I feel that the course was fully beneficial to all participants, with regard to education and culture. It was a very positive experience enjoyed by all. This course has surely increased my understanding of the potential of the CLIL methodology and has provided me with a variety of new teaching ideas.