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I chose this project because it was done in the town where I actually live. the project is addressed to the students of scuola media ( secondary school of first grade) but I think it could be useful also to my students who attend the first year of secondary school. The activity is related to the territory in which they live and moreover, they can improve not only English but they can practice other languages.

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European Commission - European Language Label

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I really like that video. I think that creating a multilingual dictionary is a very good and effective idea. This activity not only increases student's language awareness but also increases their spirit of collaboration and their feelings of friendship. The multilingual dictionary is a very effective tool to overcome racism and prejudice.

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I think that the Language Passport is a very interesting activity but I don't know how to adapt it to my secondary school students. I think that they are not still properly aware of the languages they use and in which context so this kind of activity could be very useful but certainly not enough. The activity should be finalised to something as for example collecting data from all the school and elaborate them with graphics, diagrams and so on using ICT tools.  It could be a good idea, students can use English  to improve their linguistic competence in L2 and they can learn how to elaborate data worksheets and how to learn and comment them

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Technology tools for CLIL and other resources

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Technology tools for CLIL and other resources

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In this video Letizia Cinganotto, PhD researcher and moderator of the course, illustrates useful tools for CLIL

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As there are no CLIL activities in my school, I have never experimented it.

I was only involved in a mechanics project by a colleague with the aim of teaching students tech vocabulary.

If I had to start this collaboration or any collaboration again, I would ask my colleague to design this activity together in order to use CLIL approach during the different activities of the project and not only to teach vocabulary after that all the activities were completed.

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I think that CLIL should be intended not only as a method to teach technical vocabulary to the students or to ask them to describe any procedure in L2 but it should be done through PBL approach.

This implies a strict collaboration between the technical teachers and the language teachers as often technical teachers don't have the linguistic competence and the L2 teachers don't have any technical knowledge. This collaboration often implies management problems as changes in the school timetable, buying tools and materials and so on.

This means that it could be difficult to organise CLIL PBL projects in those schools in which CLIL is not planned in the school organisation.

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CLIL ( Content and Language Integrated Learning) is a cross curricula approach which is not simply to teach a subject in L2 but implies different teaching methods. It is an approach which involves different cognitive skills and abilities and it is often associated with Project Based Learning. All activities should be done in L2 and vocabulary is taught through practices. CLIl is a way to learn contents though the use of L2 and is a way to learn L2 through the use of contents.

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What does the 4Cs framework consist of and how can CLIL teachers benefit from it?

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I have never experimented CLIL using PBL as shown in the previous videos as I don't teach technical subjects. I was involved in a mechanical project designed by a colleague, and I had to teach his students some technical words in English. I created a Kahoot for the specific purpose and I made them create a slide share with images and drawings of what they were designing, and I asked them to describe the slides using only English language.

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Six videos demonstrating CLIL used in classes from primary schools and vocational colleges

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I think that Nell's ideas are very good but according to me these ideas could be applied only in primary school. What kind of activities should I propose to my students? My task is to teach them a foreign language and not a mixture of languages. I can study the common mistakes that different foreign learners can do, I mean I can help them using the principles of contrastive grammar.

The only activity that comes up to my mind is that of sharing common phrases that also the other students can easily understand and analyse them in a cultural context in order to overcome prejudices

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As my students are all of an age between 13 and 18 years old, I think it could be “dangerous” to allow them to speak their own languages because they can offend some other students or say any vulgar words.

It is possible to let them use their language in controlled activities where they can share some common and simple expressions that can be easily translated with the help of internet.

It is also possible to allow them to study some topics in their language but if they were asked any questions they should be able to answer in the language used at school.

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I completely agree with Nell's analysis. I think that exchanging roles could be a good idea to reinforce foreign students' self-esteem. Thy have the opportunity to show and analyse the differences between their mother tongue and the language used in classroom. For example they can show the teacher and the classroom how to translate idiomatic expression in their languages. They can also translate proverbs and this could be a starting point to analyse the cultural differences between the foreign students and the rest of the classroom. This could give everybody the opportunity to overcome prejudice and to enlarge their point of view.

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Benefits of Linguistic Diversity for your Classroom

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As I teach English in an Italian School, I try to focus my lessons on the main analogies and differences between English and Italian in order to prevent the mistakes that an Italian student could make.

However, because of the increasing number of foreign students attending my school, I usually try to take a look at the grammar structure and at the phonological structure of their mother tongue in order to help them. As I cannot learn all the languages spoken in the classroom, I cannot understand all their problems.

I avoid to use translation exercises because I think that it will be harder for them to translate from English into their mother tongue and from their mother tongue into Italian.

Even if managing more than a language could be a good cognitive exercise, I think that their mother tongue should be a resource and not an obstacle for my students, that's why I avoid translations.

I prefer to help them in analysing their common mistakes due to the mother tongue interference.

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The benefits of learning another language

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The benefits of learning another language

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Learning another language has positive effects on the brain as it can increase our cognitive resources.
The positive effects of learning another language are:
- a better focus on tasks
- development of abstract thinking
- development of metalinguistic skills which can be used to learn further languages
The benefits of learning another language in adulthood are:
- to provide mental exercise which  lead to a better brain health and to an increase in “cognitive reserve” resulting in a later onset of dementia
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Our Healthy Linguistic Diet (HLD) approach is based on an analogy between physical and mental health. Regular physical activity and a healthy diet are important factors in maintaining physical health. In the same way, the learning of languages and their regular use provide essential mental exercise, leading to a better brain health and an increase in "cognitive reserve" resulting in a later onset of dementia and an improved cognitive outcome after a stroke.

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Our Healthy Linguistic Diet (HLD) approach is based on an analogy between physical and mental health. Regular physical activity and a healthy diet are important factors in maintaining physical health.

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Language Awareness and contrastive analysis ( personal considerations)

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Language Awareness and contrastive analysis ( personal considerations)

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A current definition of LA is that of the Association for Language Awareness (ALA), which states that LA can be defined as “explicit knowledge about language, and conscious perception and sensitivity in language learning, language teaching and language use” (ALA, 2012). Their definition continues: “i]t covers a wide spectrum of fields. For example, Language Awareness issues include exploring the benefits that can be derived from developing a good knowledge about language, a conscious understanding of how languages work, of how people learn them and use them…”
this implies that a teacher should know not only the language he/she is teaching but also the way in which the language works. A teacher should know how languages work and what are the main  linguistic functions of the language.
A teacher should know also some principle of contrastive grammar in order to encourage the learning of an L2.  I think that a teacher should be trained in the acquisition of some principles of contrastive grammar as it is almost impossible that he or she could know more than 3-4 languages.
Another important aspect of Language Awareness concerns not only the metalinguistic question but also the cultural aspect of the language.
All the language have the same linguistic functions so it is also important to consider how these functions are used in the students' mother tongue.
As Hawkins said it is also important to reinforce the metalinguistic awareness of the student's mother tongue as there is a common cognitive basis on the way language is acquired and used.

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Language competence

In her video, Daniella mentions that language competence is a key tool for communication within multilingual societies and the work environment. How do you think this can be related to language awareness? Share your views in this Padlet.

I think that language awareness could help students to learn new languages. Knowing how a language works, could be helpful to improve student's competence in a foreign language. Language awareness should not be referred only to foreign students who have to improve their skills and abilities in communicating in the language used at school but also to local students who have to learn a second language.

I think it is not necessary for a teacher to study all the foreign languages the students use in the classroom but only to undertsand the basic pronciples on which these languages works. Foreign students could help to show and translate typical or idiomatic expression in their language in order to furnish a basis on which it is possible to start a discussion about cultural differences.

Talking about cultural differences could be a way to fight prejudice and a way to encourage foreign students.

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Get started with language awareness

What about you? What kind of activities do you do with your students at the beginning of the year to get to know them? Do you think they work? Why/why not? Reflect about the most effective activities that you do or that you would like to integrate in your classroom and share them with us in this Padlet! We are looking forward to seeing many activities!

It  could be a good idea to design  a presentation activity to involve all the students and to exchange their different cultural experience. I have never thought about this opportunity.

I only asked them to introduce themselves in L2 and make them change their seats periodically in order to mix the classroom

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Language awareness

What about you? Can you give some other examples of why language awareness is important for teachers? Have you faced situations where greater language awareness would have helped you to design the learning for the students?

As a L2 teacher I have a lot of problems not only with my foreign students who have to learn a third language, but also with my Italian students because they all  perceive the foreign language not as a  way to communicate their ideas and eventually meet new friends, but as a sort of mathematics of which they have to learn all the grammar rules to solve the exercises.

It is not so easy to teach a foreign language avoiding to explain the grammar rules as we don’t have much time to make the students acquire the language in a “natural way”.  Moreover , it is also very difficult to explain the grammar rules to my students because sometimes they are not conscious of the linguistic structure they use also in their mother tongue.

That’s why I try to use original materials  ( videos, recorderd conversations) as much as I can, and as the majority of my students are not of Italian origins, I always avoid to use the translation exercises contained in our course book.

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The importance of being language-aware

Now that you know more about Language awareness, we ask you to reflect about this. Do you feel like a language-aware teacher? And if so, Why do you think it is important to be a ¨language-aware¨ teacher If not, what aspects of language awareness do you still need to develop? Please share your reflections in the padlet below.

Hi I am Antonella , I am from Italy and I teach English in a secondary school. I can speak 4 languages and I am learning another foreign language interacting with a mother tongue speaker avoinding usings books and specific courses. Notwidstanding this, I cannot define myself as a language - aware teacher:  Even if I am conscious of the importance of language awareness I still have problems in making my students aware of the importance of learning a second or a third language. Many foreign students who are socially integrated in my country completely reject their “mother tongue” and their parents’ culture because they perceive themselves as Italian.  They considered their difference not as a richness but as a kind of “ punishement" which makes them feel different from the other Italian students.

On the contrary, many other students use their first language as a "secret code" in classroom in order to not being understood by the other students and the teachers.

I think that this course could be very helpful to me to understand the dynamics of language acquisition and awareness

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 ongoing investigation of language as a dynamic phenomenon
 learners talk analytically about language, often to each other.
 involvement of learners in exploration and discovery is essential.
 aims to develop learners’ knowledge about and understanding of language
 aims to develop learning skills, thus promoting learner independence.
 aims to involve learners on both a cognitive and an affective level.  University of Leichester
Agneta M-L Svalberg
http://www.vu-tlc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Amsterdam-Language-Awareness-principles-and-practice.pdf

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 improve cross-cultural understanding or communication skills
 enhanced critical understanding and skills (using language as a political or persuasive tool )
 greater interest in learning languages
 more independent language learners
 enhanced language skills (reading, writing etc)  improvement in linguistic form, i.e. better grammar.
University of Leichester
Agneta M-L Svalberg
http://www.vu-tlc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Amsterdam-Language-Awareness-principles-and-practice.pdf

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Cummins' interdependence or iceberg hypothesis reveals the relationship of the first language to the learning of another language.
The Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) model affirms that proficiencies involving more cognitively demanding tasks (such as literacy, content learning, abstract thinking and problem-solving) are common across languages. The CUP model is represented with the "dual iceberg metaphor" and is the basis of the hypothesis called the linguistic interdependence hypothesis.

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He is considered the father of LA because he thought  that explicit reflection on language (native and foreign) should form part of the school curriculum.
He reconsidered the procedure of language acquisition and language learning being aware that foreign students often fails at school because they have great difficulties in express themselves in a second language.
Reflection on language does not implies the return to the study of grammar but it is centred on the communicative aspect of language learning.

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LA is the explicit knowledge about language, and conscious perception and sensitivity in language learning, language teaching and language use.
It includes awareness of how language works as a formal system (grammar, phonology, lexis, etc), socially, politically, and culturally.

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Put simply, bilingualism is the ability to use two languages. However, defining bilingualism is problematic since individuals with varying bilingual characteristics may be classified as bilingual. Definitions of bilingualism range from a minimal proficiency in two languages, to an advanced level of proficiency which allows the speaker to function and appear as a native-like speaker of two languages. A person may describe themselves as bilingual but may mean only the ability to converse and communicate orally. Others may be proficient in reading in two or more languages (or bi-literate). A person may be bilingual by virtue of having grown up learning and using two languages simultaneously (simultaneous bilingualism). Or they may become bilingual by learning a second language sometime after their first language. This is known as sequential bilingualism. To be bilingual means different things to different people.

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Nowadays, because of the effects of massive migrations,  there are a lot of foreign students in our classroom. Some of them are born in Italy, they perceive themselves as Italian and they learnt Italian at school as a first language. They can easily understand and speak the language of their parents , the language of countries which their parents are from but they hardly know how to write in that language.
Other students are newly arrived in Italy. they don't know Italian and they have a lot of difficulties in studying in Italian schools because they don't know properly the language, they still continue to use their mother tongue in informal situations, in their families and they have to express contents and their knowledge in Italian at school. Sometimes they are very good at some subjects like mathematics but they don't know how to show their skills and abilities in Italian. They sometimes perceive themselves as less intelligent than the other students of the classroom or think that they are not able to understand only because they don't manage Italian language good.