Runway - Startbaan
Start date: Aug 29, 2016,
End date: Dec 28, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
Wellantcollege has included internationalisation in their strategy 2015-2020. Working towards a healthy and sustainable future by excelling in green education. In this strategy one of the priorities is internationalisation, besides, e.g., "sustainability". The preparation of pre-vet students towards the green vocational education or on entering the labour market within the green industry will always have an international perspective. 80% of the Dutch green products are exported. This requires international conscious future employees. In the first two years of green Vmbo (pre-vocational) the teachers start to organize international events, in the last two years awareness of being an European citizen will be important for the students, including E-Twinning contacts with peers outside the Netherlands. Wellantcollege is known as a reliable partner within Europe, their properly maintained contacts with partner schools is crucial.Wellantcollege wants to start in the near future with t.t.o. This needs professional development of the teachers and this course on Malta is especially focused on the green and related subjects in Technical English. This means that mainly the skills and competences are going to be taught in English and that this group of teachers will be trained in Technical English based on agricultural skills and competences.Our partner school MCast, on Malta, offers similar courses in the vocational education as Wellantcollege does. The vocational education which they provide here on Malta is similar to the Dutch situation. This will be the chance for Wellant to get a good and technically-based language course in the field of the agricultural sector. The objective of this project is to give 36 teachers the opportunity to up-grade their English language skills in the area of their practical fields of education towards a higher level. In addition the teaching skills, needed for working in a multicultural setting, are acquired. Within this project the teachers will get the opportunity to become ambassadors of their school for internationalisation and they are the international coordinators of the school at visits by foreign delegations. Within the strategy for 2020 that Wellant will have bilingual education, these teachers also play an important role.The 36 teachers who participate in the course, take care of the practical courses mainly in the pre-vocational secondary education or in the related subjects such as physics, chemistry and biology. After a general information round the selected teachers invited to a meeting organized by the international office. This will be the first information about the what, where and when . Then the teachers make a LLA test to determine their English level and the outcomes will be communicated with the provider of the MCast course. The teachers then go two full weeks to Malta. In the morning the focus is on the English language skills and technical vocabulary and in the afternoon the group will visit relevant agricultural companies to increase their vocabulary in the context to apply what they have learned. During the course, assignments such as presentations and prepare courses are created and tested and at the end a lesson in the field of the teacher will be presented and discussed. MCAST evaluates the course with the participants and certifies them. After returning the participants have to do the LLA progress test to determine if the level of their English skills have been improved.The course focuses on applying new teaching methods and pedagogical skills within multicultural groups of pupils. For testing the levels of the teachers we use Deviant-studie-meters LLA test. This course provides proficient teachers capable to provide a part of their subject in English at the Vmbo. In addition, the teachers get a better understanding how to take care of classes to foreign students. In these settings, they use their international and intercultural competences gained during the course Technical English provided by MCast.For the pre-vocational education this course delivers motivated, skilled teachers, who are aible to teach their own subject or parts of it in English. In such a way that the students have a better basis for further education in the field of English and internationalisation and awareness of the importance of the English language, within the agricultural sector. Schools in the same region as Wellant can also benefit from the outcomes, as the teachers will become ambassadors for internationalisation and tto within the collaboration of these Vmbo’s in their region. In 2020 internationalisation and bilingual education will structurally be included in the curriculum of Wellant Vmbo.