M.I.U.R.- Direzione Generale Ordinamenti BILINGUAL EDUCATION ITALY Stepping into the future of Primary School Education Roberta pugliese, USR Lombardia Relazioni Internazionali e Lingue Straniere
BEI/IBI Getting started Call for candidate schools Jan.2010: 42 applications Requirements: whole school project at least 50% of the incoming 1st classes development plan required over 5 years teacher s proficiency at least B2 level of CEFR needed
BEI at a glance Memorandum of understanding signed by BC, Ministry of Education and USR Lombardy in Feb 2010 The pilot will last 6 years- Sept 2009 to June 2015 6 schools chosen 24 first forms and 20 teachers involved in 2010/2011 and 24 being trained for the years to come
Long-term aims to develop: successful and motivating bilingual education experience Learning through the medium of Italian and English, without detriment to the learning of subject-matter or the command of the Italian language knowledge, attitudes & skills suitable for citizens of a global community Fruitful international links (principally Spain, UK ) a model to be transferred to other regions of Italy (good practice in teaching, learning, management, teacher development and progression to Middle School)
Short-term aims: Learning Science, Art, Geography, through English using content-specific lexis Reading and writing in English without detriment to L1 Learning to use English to learn Learning cooperatively
The SCHOOLS 1st forms BEI 1st forms Hrs x week Hours for BEI IC Como Lora Lipomo 3 3 27 7.00 IC Ciresola, Milano 7 4 40 6.00 IC Diaz, Milano 7 5 40 6.00 IC Copernico,Corsico (MI) 4 4 40 6.00 IC Via Cialdini, Meda (MB) 3 3 40 6.00 IC Fermi,Villasanta (MB) 5 5 40 6.00
Phase Description People involved 1 Training teachers and headteachers 2 Experimentation in class Period 44 teachers Sept 2009- July 2010 24 first forms From Sept 2010 3 Monitoring the project End of school years 11 &12 4 Evaluating the whole project 5 Expansion to other regions End of 2015 2015-16
Phase 1 MOBILITY 8-12 March 2010: Italian teachers visit to Spanish bilingual schools
26-28 April 2010 Italian Headteachers visit to Spain
15th-18th Nov. 2010 Italian leg of the exchange: Spanish headteachers and teachers
Phase 1 Professional Development 1. Coral George: Reading and Writing in English: the Synthetic Phonics method (2 days) 2. Margaret Locke: Linking literacy and language with Science, Art, Geography and PE in the early primary bilingual classroom (3 days) 3. USR in-service blended training for BEI (year 1) 4. Jan Beard and Liz Nairn: Authentic Progress in Reading and Writing - Alcala de Henares 5. USR in-service blended training for BEI (year 2)
A Few Examples of activities
ACTING OUT THE WATER CYCLE: The sun is hot. The sun is hot. It shines down on the sea.
The water evaporates, evaporates, evaporates. The water evaporates from liquid to gas- up, up, up! The wind blows the clouds. They re moving! They re moving! The wind blows the clouds. Blow wind, blow!
Raindrops fall. Raindrops fall. Into streams and rivers, raindrops fall!
Rivers flow. Rivers flow. Quickly, quickly quickly rivers flow!
Rivers flow. Rivers flow. Slowly, slowly into the sea.
Developing literacy through story telling
Fixing new lexical items
USR Lombardia Relazioni internazionali e lingue straniere
MONITORING and DOCUMENTING TOOL The teacher s LOG a weekly committment of time and energy BEI Subjects Hrs for BEI T.U Summary activities carried out in class Class Management Strong points/ Weak points Assessment Changes suggested
Further measures in support of BEI Comenius scholarships Mothertongue assistants 6 school kits consisting in a selection of books provided by the British Council 6 Jolly Phonics kits supplied to the 6 pilot schools Extra in-service training course offered by Trinity online course Primary Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Institution MIUR USR Lombardia British Council, Italy MIUR Dir. Ordinamenti British Council, Spain British Council, Italy MIUR USR Lombardia MIUR USR Lombardia STAFF INVOLVED STEERING COMMITTEE Steering Committee Name Gisella Langé Kevin McKenzie Carmela Palumbo Teresa Reilly OTHER STAFF MEMBERS Alison Driver Enrica Dozio Roberta Pugliese
OUR NEXT STEPS 1. Setting up another course on linking literacy to the English-mediated subjects in mid-june 2011 2. Course scheduled in early Sept. 2011 3. Liaising with British Uni and schools to offer short visits/jobshadowing experiences 4. Devising a way to get the most of the language assistants help as the No. of BEI classes increase 5. Keeping an eye on sustainability PER ASPERA AD ASTRA