CLIL
Start date: Jun 1, 2015,
End date: May 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
Project background
The use of the method CLIL (content and language integrated learning) in all classes from the eleventh grade onwards (72 credit hours per school year) is a basic requirement of the Austrian curriculum for higher technical colleges (HTLs). Due to the fact that several of the teachers of the higher technical college in Braunau studied the English language some time in the past and often had no need to deal with the foreign language in their private sphere afterwards, they now feel a reserve towards the use of English in class. In order to give the teachers more security concerning the English language in their theoretical lessons, as well as with the along coming classroom management tasks, the HTL Braunau requires trained CLIL propagators and role models.
Project objectives
The objectives of the CLIL project are the acquisition of new teaching methods and materials by these CLIL propagators; Language skills should be strengthened on the part of educators, as well as on the side of learners (everyday language and technical/topic-related vocabulary; receptive and productive skills).
The European dimension will be strengthened through increased cultural competences of staff and students, as well as an increased ability to exchange ideas in general but also about specialized subjects in the foreign language.
The teachers of the HTL Braunau should be enabled to meet the requirements of the Austrian curriculum for higher technical colleges without any language-related difficulties.
Number and profile of participants
In order to cover all sectors and disciplines represented in the higher technical college in Braunau, seven different teachers will be sent to two different English-speaking countries (U.K. and Ireland):
1 technician in the mechanical engineering field, 1 technician in the electrical engineering area, 1 technician in the electronics field, and 1 teacher of political education as well as 3 natural sciences/mathematics educators represent all the main branches of the school and the general education branch.
Description of activities
The teachers will participate conscientiously in the courses selected in cooperation with the school administration and the coordinators. They will collect and share materials from the courses and, if possible, of other course participants. Furthermore, they will try to make contact with course participants from other countries to establish longer-term relationships, to be able to work on the topic of CLIL together with these colleagues. Maybe even contacts for further international Erasmus+ projects can be found.
In addition, the teachers will participate in cultural activities that may be organized at their destinations and thereby strengthen their language use in daily life as well as their knowledge of the different foreign cultures.
Collected materials, contacts and acquired knowledge will be passed on later to the school administration, interested colleagues, and students.
Project implementation
Ahead there will be a broad range of information on the topics CLIL, English as a working language, as well as British and Irish cultural studies in the context of meetings with the participating teachers held by the coordinators (CLIL representative and coordinator for Erasmus+ → teacher for English). Additionally, the participants will be informed of material that already exists at the school (library) and other recent publications will be purchased for use at the school. The CLIL project is strongly supported by the school administration.
Impact and effect
The teachers of the HTL Braunau should no longer shy away from the use of the English language in subject teaching and should be able to move safely in the foreign language. Starting from a set of role models, a positive attitude of the teachers towards CLIL, the English language and culture should spread and their readiness to use English as a natural working language should rub off on the students of the higher technical college. In addition, the trained teachers can pass on intercultural experiences to their students and thereby help them to gain these, nowadays in the economy but also in the private sector so important, intercultural skills.
Long-term benefits
In the long term, CLIL, as a teaching method, should be implemented as a natural part of the school culture of the higher technical college in Braunau. Through in-school teacher training, supported by colleagues having taken part in the Erasmus+ programme, the teachers of our school should increase their confidence in the use of the English language in their subject lessons. Moreover, through the participation in the Erasmus+ project, they can acquire intercultural knowledge they will pass on to our students. Intercultural skills are, besides a security in the use of the English language (including technical vocabulary), a requirement that regional, national and international companies, which will employ our students later, impose on