Description
This engaging and fun course uses the city of Florence as content and aims at developing academic and language teachers’ knowledge of planning, preparing, and implementing reading, writing, listening, and speaking activities for non-native speakers of a language in their classrooms.
It also takes a multidisciplinary approach to understand CLIL (or content-based) methodology and introduces course participants to how the theory of teaching language and specific course content (academic or otherwise) can relate to their own classroom practice.
This course includes lots of activity planning, CLIL resources, and aids in the preparation of creative and engaging materials for second or foreign language learners of any language.
By the end of the course, participants will learn the key principles of material development and how to integrate attractive content into effective second language teaching. Participants will become more aware of how to create appropriate activities that are also motivating and engaging to non-native speakers of a language.
Both academic content and language teachers will feel more confident and inspired to teach their subjects. Participants will also leave Florence having learned more about the history, people, and places that have made the city of Florence a one of a kind city with a very unique past and present.
Suggested English Proficiency Level: ADVANCED
Learning outcomes
The course will help the participants to understand how to:
- Integrate the four skills of English or any foreign language into the classroom and any school curriculum;
- Design creative and engaging activities aimed to achieve learning objectives in language and content;
- Create an interesting classroom environment where learning is fun and focused on very specific (and relevant) content;
- Become knowledgeable about using English in the classroom while engaging learners in collaborative and communicative activities;
- Enhance the learning of languages with new ideas for increasing student interest and motivation by using stimulating and “authentic” materials from the real world;
- Develop ease with using English in your second or foreign language learner classroom as a teacher.
Tentative schedule
Day 1 – Course introduction & Art in Florence
Course introduction
- Introduction to the course, the school, and the external week activities;
- Icebreaker activities using drama for trust and ensemble building;
- Identification of needs and goals for each participant and relevant populations.
Art in Florence
(an excursion that relates to the day’s topic is included)
- Personal teaching experiences shared;
- Teaching Content through the four skills and incorporating variety through pair and group work;
- Participants will learn more about pre-teaching before an activity begins and creating comprehension questions for both listening and reading activities.
- Group activity;
- Presentations of the participants’ schools.
Day 2 – Love in Florence
(an excursion that relates to the day’s topic is included)
- Participants will learn how to carry out effective reading and listening activities using important historical figures from pre-Renaissance Florence;
- An “authentic material” listening activity from the real world of native speakers will be incorporated;
- Sharing through writing and speaking using poetry that relates to a theme of context will also be covered.
Day 3 – Food and fashion in Florence
(an excursion that relates to the day’s topic is included)
- How to incorporate “authentic materials” or those created by native speakers of a language that relate to content;
- Creating both reading and listening activities by sharing and learning through the context of well-known Florentine personalities and places;
- Further emphasis on checking on student comprehension in our classroom and how to carry out pair and group work activities will be demonstrated.
Day 4 – Focus: music, news, and cinema in Florence
(an excursion that relates to the day’s topic is included)
- How to create a cloze activity using lyrics;
- Participants will also create a reading activity using a well-known Florentine newspaper that was written for and by native speakers of English;
- They will also learn how to carry out effective classroom presentations that are relevant and include all classroom learners;
- Using video clips that relate to classroom topics for encouraging discussion and reflection will be incorporated.
Day 5 – The godfathers of the Renaissance
(an excursion that relates to the day’s topic is included)
- Dictation activities, making predictions, organizing a Jigsaw activity, information gap, summarizing and paraphrasing, speaking about quotes;
- Games and fun!
- A final look at history, art, and culture from a Florentine perspective;
- Reading, writing, listening, and speaking activities along with pair and group work.
Day 6 – Course closure & excursion
- Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussion;
- Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance;
- Excursion and other external cultural activities.