A. Language teachers: training for a new paradigm

[mstrubell]

The first symposium (Udine, September 7-8 2010) is on Language teachers: training for a new paradigm, and the discussion starts here!

Please read this introduction and then move on to the next message, which will present the first topic for discussion. We hope for the views of teachers, teacher trainers, employers, and organisations.

Participants should feel free to choose the language of their interventions.

"Path-breaking advances are needed for the new European policy to maintain and develop language-learning diversity. The use of education by the diaspora and by minorities to sustain multilingualism and cultural continuity is relevant, in the face of the demands of wider globalization and assimilatory forces. Immigration changes the composition of societies, bringing a rich diversity to teaching/learning systems. Schoolteachers need support (new strategies and methodologies) in their educational efforts; students need training to be able to benefit from lifelong learning opportunities.
"Higher education bodies are responsible for training future teachers. They need a solid level of cross-cultural communicative competence. Universities also need to research issues such as the adaptation of teacher training curricula to prepare language teachers for new contexts; the pedagogical implications of working in diverse contexts, and their inclusion in teacher-education courses, etc. Effective comparison will be made of approaches across locations and systems. The main policy and socio-cultural drivers and constraints will be considered, and how to respond to them imaginatively."

[mstrubell]

The first issue related to this topic (Language teachers: training for a new paradigm) is this one:

1. "In what ways is the information society changing the needs of the foreign language classroom?"

[ecarrasco]

Cette réponse sera courte car je tiens, avant tout, à vérifier que mon compte dans de forum et bien activé et que je peux y déposer un message. Cependant la question posée me semble fort pertinente et je m'attellerai, bientôt, à y répondre.

[mstrubell]

The second issue related to this topic (Language teachers: training for a new paradigm) is this one:

2. "In what ways is the coexistence in the same classroom of increasing numbers of pupils of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds affecting the contents of initial and in-service language teacher training courses?"

[Henno Parks]

The question of how a multicultural classroom environment affects teacher training and materials is a very timely topic. I have personally noticed that my courses are becoming increasingly multicultural, with local students almost becoming a minority in some situations. This also has to do with the fact that Estonia has a negative population growth, and the baby boomer population is aging. This means that there are less students in classrooms, and in fact, many schools are closing all over the country due to lack of students. This forces institutions of higher education to seek alternative populations with which to fill their programs and meet their quotas. Erasmus programs bring in a great diversity of students into the patchwork of classroom make-up, however, there is also an enormous push for recruitment of students from neighboring countries and more distant ones as well in order to meet enrollment goals.
This has led to an increase in the percentage of students from different cultural backgrounds in the classroom setting, and as a result, many teachers are not prepared or have not had the time to develop alternative, functioning, and effective methods for teaching said students. I know that I have had to modify my teaching materials almost on a semester basis to account for the diversity in the classroom, and to make the material interesting and relevant to students from other backgrounds. I don't think, however, that much awareness training is happening in the pedagogical institutions that are responsible for turning out new teachers and training older ones.

[ecarrasco]

Je vais essayer de mettre dans l'ordre les idées qui me sont venues à l'esprit à propos de la problématique du prochain symposium à Udine.

Je pense que pour repenser la formation des enseignants de langue/s sur la base d'un nouveau paradigme il faut partir de certains principes et constats.
Premièrment, et comme l'a signalé M. Strubell, être conscients que nous vivons dans la société de l'information ce à quoi je rajouterai une ambition de coloration et dimension européennes : que la société du XXI siècle devienne également celle de la connaissance. Et précisement, s'il y a une perspective que devrait revêtir la formation initiale et continue des enseignants en langue/s c'est bien l'européenne.
Par ailleurs je tiens à signaler que pour répondre au pari que représente une révision réfléchie et pertinente de la formation des enseignants de langue/s nous comptons déjà sur des ressources et outils que peuvent nous servir de références. Je pense, par exemple et notamment, au PEPELF de D. Newy, au Profil européen de l'enseignant en langues de M. Kelly, au Cadre de référence pour les approches plurielles de M. Candelier, ou encore, bien évidemment, au CECRL du Conseil de l'Europe et le PEL qui s'en dérive.
OR, mis à part ces outils et les quelques principes et constats signalés plus haut, je pense également que pour revisiter la formation des enseignants il faut tenir compte des enjeux sociaux, économiques, éducatifs et culturels auxquels sont confrontés nos pays respectifs et notre continent dans son ensemble. Dans cette perspective il nous serait bon d'envisager, par exemple, une étude de nature empirique, une analyse des besoins en direction des trois principaux partenaires de l'acte formatif,

- des futurs formés eux-mêmes : de quoi pensent-il avoir besoin pour être formés les (futurs) enseignants de langue/s ? ;

- des formateurs : dans quelle mesure/direction et dans quels champs croient-ils que la formation des enseignants devrait-elle évoluer pour s'adapter aux nouveaux défis et aux conditions changeantes du travail des enseignants (de langue-culture en particulier) ;

- des experts et cherheurs en éducation, formation et en didactique : que devront savoir(-faire/-être) les futurs citoyens de demain mais actuels élèves (sur un plan national et international) ? Et, par voie de conséquence, que devrait-il leur offrir/apporter l'éducation en général et l'enseignement des langue/s-culture/s en particulier ? Nous sommes tous persuadés de la dimension humaine que renferme l'enseignement de langues et du pouvoir de changements et transformations profonds qu'il peut (et doit !) entraîner.

De la triangulation des données provenant de ces trois types de public surgiraient d'intéressantes pistes de travail que pourraient par la suite être croisées avec, au moins et pour commencer, les outils et ressources précédemment citées.

Voilà donc le fruit de mes réflexions ainsi que quelques pistes de discussion et travail.

[Miquel Strubell]

3. "What evidence is there that the teaching of foreign languages is moving from a concentration on form and grammar to a focus on social practice?"

[glyn]

In a recent paper 'Increasing bilingualism in Bilingual Education' in D. Morris ed. 'Welsh in the 21st century" UWales Press, Colin Baker claims that teachers tend to nuse two languages but they are not trained to use two languages. Despite many years of bilingual education in Wales there is no uniformity in the nature of the 'bilngual' in the curriculum. Indeed he says that we do not even know the extent of the different kinds of uses of the respective languages. Each language is often in different ways and different contexts. He asks the question 'what is bilingual about bilingual education?' The exchange of experience among language teachers would be interesting.

[Natalia Marrugat]

This is the fourth issue!!!related to the topic

4. What resources outside the classroom can or do support /encourage / facilitate the learning of languages by students, and how can the language teacher take advantage of them?

[Sònia prats]

In relation to issue number 3:

As a director of studies in a university language center, I have had the pleasure to observe many foreign language classrooms, throughout about 10 years. In my experience, EFL teachers at my university (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) have been successfully using a communicative approach for many years, and both students and teachers seem comfortable and happy with it. The teaching of other foreign languages, such as German or Catalan and Spanish, and from what I've been able to observe, has also gradually adopted a communicative approach; the difference seems to me that some students of German, Catalan and Spanish (as FLs) expect to get a basically lexical and/or grammatical approach and are even disappointed when they are asked to actively participate in class, in communicative tasks...

[Natalia Marrugat]

And the last topic before the symposium is this one
Open for discussion!!!!

· 5. How does language education have to change to accommodate current social and economic developments, which make new demands as regards language needs?

[ondinamorpurgo]

I hope I am doing this right It's the first time I take part in this forum...
I am a Middle School Language teacher, teaching English in Udine, Italy. I am English mother tongue, but have studied at the U of Udine in the '70s.
Anyways, I attended the symposium in Udine on the 7th, 8th of this month. The presentation by Sonia Prats got me thinking... ELF...
My question is:
if we dissociate the Eng. language from the English culture, and as Sonia said correctly, non native speakers add their cultural connotations/background to the Eng language when speaking, couldn't the communicative purpose of the language spoken by 2nd language speakers be hindered in the long run? I thing that implications coming from the English culture (voice tone, non verbal language, social rules, moral values etc...) are all necessary in interpreting the meaning of the words said in English. If we don't associate the culture of a peoples language to the language itself, and different peoples speaking the language (Eng. in this case) speak the language with only their 1st language culture, the message could be misunderstood. I fear this because when I speak Eng. to non mother tongue speakers I often have trouble understanding what they want to imply due to these cultural differences. I am fortunate to speak Italian also and often have to ask confirmation in Italian for what they wanted to express with English words.
I do not deny, and consider a richness, the new elements that entre the Eng. language, of course, but worry that if there is no formal knowledge of the Eng Culture to add to...the end result in time would be non-commnication.
I hope what I mean is clear enough...please forgive my abrupt intervention. Perhaps it's due to my Canadian formation

[neilnachum]

I have just retired as an English as a Second Language teacher in New York City Public Schools. While my largely hispanic children may remain bilingual for most of their lives, as citizens of the United States, their children are destined to be monolingual Americans, as the vast majority are. How can all citizens be bilingual or trilingual. That is a question I asked myself at age 16. My conclusion was that if a cross between English and French (using it's shared roots)was planned with no irregular verbs and no irregular spelling, and minimal idiomatic expressions, it would be 5 times easier than English and French. This language fortunately already existed, called Esperanto. Since then, the average college educated person tells me that despite thousands of translations and original works in Esperanto that it lacks a culture, necessary for it's popular usage. These people do not understand linguistic history. Repeatedly Second Language Learning is highly linked to the most militaristic ethnic groups, be it the French, Germans or Russians. Esperanto is linked to its non-violent origins of its creator, L.L. Zamenhof. It has been shown that Esperanto makes an excellent basis for third language learning (linguistically and culturally). I have been motivated to live abroad by my Esperanto-speaking friends and living with fluent speakers is an excellent learning tool. While doing so I, as so many other Esperanto-speakers, have aquired fluency in Portuguese and Hebrew and completed a degree in Arabic. I am a farely typical in the Esperanto community. I blog on the subject at EsperantoFriends.blogspot.

[kyolive11]

Check with your doctor New Jersey Escorts for specific recommendationsNew Jersey Asian Escort As for timing your injections and meals New Jersey Escort[/usl] then switch your watch New Jersey Asian Escorts and your schedule

[kyolive11]

case your blood new york escorts original pharmacy prescription new york escort necklace that alerts ny escorts[a href=" that you have Diabetes and provides ny escort"] that you have Diabetes and provides ny escort[/a] traveling by plane
212-537-6915 36 Central Park South #603, New York, NY 10002