06.11_SCUOLA MEDIA PROBLEMS

06.1 OUR COURSES IN ITALIAN SCHOOLS. Introduction

06.2 Program for our visits to schools in 2002-04

06.3 Proposal for a more ambitious program of visits

06.4 Comments from 18 year olds in a "superiore" in Bolzano

06.5 Comments from a "media" in Capriolo in Bresica

06.6 Comments from a "media" in Lumezzane in Brescia

06.7 Comments from a "medis" in Taio in Trentino

06.8 Comments from teachers who have seen our work

06.9 25 page diary of visits to 5 schools

06.10 Problems of teaching English in "superiore"

06.11 Problems of teaching English in "media"

06.12 Problems of teaching English in "elementare"

06.1 OUR COURSES IN ITALIAN SCHOOLS. Introduction

06.2 Program for our visits to schools in 2002-04

06.3 Proposal for a more ambitious program of visits

06.4 Comments from 18 year olds in a "superiore" in Bolzano

06.5 Comments from a "media" in Capriolo in Bresica

06.6 Comments from a "media" in Lumezzane in Brescia

06.7 Comments from a "medis" in Taio in Trentino

06.8 Comments from teachers who have seen our work

06.9 25 page diary of visits to 5 schools

06.10 Problems of teaching English in "superiore"

06.11 Problems of teaching English in "media"

06.12 Problems of teaching English in "elementare"

06.13 Comments scuola media Brunico

Brief description of Experience in Scuole medie

Il corsi d'inglese tenuto alla scuola media di Capriolo (BS), Settembre 2002:

Lunedi a Venerdi pomeriggio. (4 ore X 5 giorni).

Arrangements .

Oraria. Grammar, verbs, phrases, plays con 4 insegnanti.

Lezione 1. 20 minuti lezione insieme.

Lezione 2,3,4, (3 X 40 minuti =2 ore - vedendo 3 insegnanti),

20 minuti di "break",

Lezione 5,6 (2 X 40 minutes = 1ora 40 minuti - vedendo 2 insegnanti).

"Per noi, imparare le cose a memoria e' abbastanza difficle perche' a scuola ci fanno solo studiare. (!) Ma le scenette, sono proprio obbligatorie?? Comunque, io mi sono divertita e penso che sia stata molto istrutivo. Ciao!"

This response is typical of those we have had for our 20 hour intensive courses in the Scuola Media. They all speak a lot about "work" but also about "divertimento". They often tell us that they have learnt more in 5 days than in 3 years.

Despite all our experience of visitors in the Middlesmoor, and their knowledge when they arrive for the summer courses, we are always surprised by the relative instability of children's knowledge. It's as if everything were seen dimly through a fog.

It has strengthened our conviction that the very diluted form of the "communicative approach" behind most text books has had a bad influence on learning in schools.

When we go to the schools we simply start again from the beginning. This is because, whether the material is new or old, the knowledge has a very fragile base, and it certainly isn't very accessible to speaking. We can depend on some knowledge of the pronouns and a little acquaintance with the 2 presents and "do" and the sentence order changes but none of this is very secure.

The chief cause of this weakness and vagueness seems to have been the bad influence on text books of what was a key concept: namely the distinction between "learning" and "acquiring" a language.

It is true that a young child can be said to "absorb" a language. (Absorb seems to deliver more sense than "acquire") However this "absorbing" should not be looked at as some easy, fun- loving, passivity. The young child, as I have noticed in the case of my 3 year old daughter is very concentrated on language tasks of all sorts. A young child furthermore is continually immersed in language. Thus our adult belief in those miraculous "total immersion" courses! A young child's life really depends on their growing language skills. Their mastery of their surroundings is dependent on their mastery of language. It needs to understand. It has to communicate.

For our Scuola Media courses, we divide the language into 4 areas.

•  Clear and repeated verbal description of grammar with plenty of illustration. This is backed up by photocopies from our book of the whole grammar" island" with illustrations and very abbreviated 3 or 4 word "rules". While helping them to understand this simplified grammar, we are always sceptical about the effectiveness of mere grammar teaching, and we give a great deal of time to speaking practice of plays containing these structures. Learning by heart and repeated use of the grammar sentences (nuggets) in fun activities is an essential further support.

•  We also emphasise those areas of language use where certain grammar structures are a natural and useful aid to communication.

•  We give 25% of our time to vocabulary learning activities.

•  The use of the video-camera is a very important support and stimulus to all the speaking activities.

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