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EXPERIENCE OF TEACHING IN ITALIAN SCHOOLS.

SEE ALSO THE PROPOSAL PRIOR TO THE BOLZANO PROJECT

For 25 years we have run 3 week summer courses for foreign children in Middlesmoor. As a result of this experience, a Preside of a scuola Media in Brescia, who was also a parent of 2 daughters who came to Middlesmoor, asked us in 1999 to do a 20 hour intensive course for a week. We and our summer student helpers have returned each year to that school and also to other schools in Brescia and Trentino who wanted similar courses. In these schools we emphasised that our visit needed the support and interest of the teachers. Either they needed to be present during our lessons or to attend an aggiornamento illustrated with videos of our lessons at the school. Since my first experiences of giving aggiornamenti I have always thought that the only fair and useful sort of teacher course is that which puts the "experts" in the sort of exposed position of putting their ideas into practice; in a real class in front of the teacher. That way the work becomes a genuine cooperation. This would in fact be a useful job for inspectors!

In November - December of 2002, as a result of these experiences and because of the grammar we have published with Bulgarini, ("Make Grammar Talk"), the Istituto Pedagogico of Bolzano invited us to do similar courses with 12 schools.

At the moment we are working in Elemenaray schools, whereas the Bolzano experience prior to Christmas had been in Superiori and medie schools, but I think our approach is useful in all the schools.

For 2003, a further 6 schools in Bolzano want us to visit them.

I have held more than 20 aggionamenti in Germany and Italy and published at my own expense a teachers resource book "The Teachers, Kaleidoscope" (It weighs 2 kilos!). This book was conceived as a way of giving a more specific practical help to teachers attending aggiornamenti.

However, despite the increase in practicality brought about by the book, I felt that there was only one fair and useful way to do these teachers courses and that was to visit and teach with the teachers. At conferences we say what we mean. In schools I have to show what I mean and also prove (or not) that it makes a difference.

The original intention had been to do something more ambitious than the single week. I wanted to look after a group of 6 or so schools for a year and undertake a genuine experiment that would prove that there was a way to radically improve the learning of children at school.

A group of schools (Media or Superiore) would freely decide to carry out a year’s radical experiment. In this year we would be allowed to influence the materials and methods that were used in class and we would actually teach with the teachers of the project.: working together, pooling ideas and above all, slowly putting together over a year, those "kits" that I believe are the valid alternative to the course books that are not working.

In all the visits to schools we have filmed the lessons and this is most important. The children enjoy seeing themselves, and the films are useful in the follow up sessions with teachers. These are not abstract and wordy but draw upon real lessons with their own pupils. Now that I think is the way to help teachers without patronising. "Seeing is believing",

I think that by such bottom bottom-up experiments we may eventually change the guiding wisdom of the last 20 odd years. We may prove by demonstration that there is an alternative to the text books. At the moment teachers are all working independently, rediscovering the wheel for lack of the support of a group that has consciously decided that an alternative is needed.

At one school in Brescia out of curiosity we asked the 57 pupils to write anonymous comments on the week’s teaching. I think there could be no better description of out methods and aims and some of the attitudes that school has fostered in them than these droll comments.

The chief ingredients of these courses both in Middlesmoor and Italy are these. The basis, the home base continuously returned to is a very simplified grammar, arranged together in what I call "islands of grammar". That is to say, larger units of related grammar than is traditional. I think that a large area has more communicative logic and after all, who need be afraid of grammar once we have decided that it is simply the system of consistencies that allow people to be understood by each other. ("understood" has a fresher appeal than the sorely consumed "communicate"!)

These grammar islands are taught in very simplified, non abstract way, and immediately carry on into speaking activities or to grammar plays. These plays are situational but also full of "poetically" concentrated grammar constructions. Though this may scandalise believers in the political correctness that "grammar is bad for teaching", there are in fact 2 kinds of grammar! One is useless and very common: it is fussy and rule dominated, pedantically worrying students with too much rule and little use. Good grammar is very light and directly passes to speaking.

Grammar forms ARE in fact communication! In our grammar, "Make Grammar Talk", the situational plays and the "culture charts" of the grammar are aligned to 30 groups of words so as to tackle the problem in Italian schools of Vocabulary being the Cinderella of teaching. In these situational activities, using grammar and vocabulary sets, we also try to activate our list of 250 basic English verbs.

In plays and vocabulary work what matters is simply the stimulus to memorisation. If we don’t remember, we can’t say anything. Of course there are many paths to memory.

After the recent experiences in schools and 25 years of receiving students at Middlesmoor we are convinced that the conventional wisdom on language teaching is mistaken. There is an alternative. It is teaching material that is in the form of a "library" of some 300 modular" (yes, truly modular!) kits. I use the word to indicate their self sufficiency and autonomy. These kits are all directed to stimulating the speaking practice that the conventional wisdom of text books and their "communicative approach" are not delivering.

Biographical details.

For teaching material see www.middlesmoor.com "Teachers" "Grammar Plays" "Vocabulary sets", "ideas for teaching vocabulary", "13 Shakespeare edited extracts with Italian vocabulary", "thoughts on didactics", "description of Italian school experience", description of "Teacher’s Kaleidoscope".

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