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Professional development programme offered by ADC ..
Professional development programme offered by ADC College
Start date: Jul 1, 2014,
End date: Jun 30, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
As part of our commitment to continual education among our teachers and desire to widen the intercultural experience of staff, we enrolled two of our staff on courses in ADC college, London.
Firstly, the course Creative Methodology was tailored towards language learners. As a School with a particular Focus on the development and teaching of languages we found this course to be exactly what we were looking for. The objectives of the course were to provide teachers with more Tools to teach languages, to encourage continuous professional development and to provide a Forum for the Exchange of ideas. There was also an element of language development, but that was not applicable to our case. We sent one of our English teachers, Fran Baker, who has been with the School for two years. He has worked with Realschule and Gymnasium classes. He took part in this course and found it very rewarding. A normal day on the course, for example, would entail two classes in the morning session on Topics like developing the 4 skills, pronunciation, classroom Management, games and warmers or vocabulary and lexis. The second part of the day would then be given over to language development. While this was not entirely relevant to Mr Baker as a native Speaker, he took part in the classes and acquired more material and ideas in particular for assessment and feedback. Of particular interest and use were the sections of the course that dealt with British culture and Online resources. Being in Britain it was clear that there would be an advantage learning about British culture there. The trainers were well-versed and provided multiple resources so that we could develop our students' interest further. Online resources were also of great value. These, we felt, were of great use as the changing nature of communications mean keeping up to date can be increasingly difficult. As students are usually the foremost users of social media and Technology, integrating their use into lessons can be incredibly valuable. the final day of the course was given over to sample lessons from the participants, which provided the opportunity to try out new ideas and get constructive Feedback from Peers.
Secondly, the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) course provided by ADC was attended by our History, Geography and Politics teacher, James Zanotti. James has also been with the School for two years and works with all Levels, from 5th to 9th class. The CLIL course at ADC had as aims developing teachers' ability to teach with foreign languages, highlighting specific issues relevant to the CLIL classroom, providing Support Networks for the teachers and of course, giving practical examples of CLIL lessons that can be developed and adapted in the classroom. The course followed the lines set down in the Creative methodology course, in so far as the first week was taken up by more theoretical aspects of CLIL teaching; defining CLIL, its benefits and challenges, methodologies etc. The second week was then given over to more practical aspects. The particpants were given sample lessons that could be changed to suit various Topics. There were Group Tasks to complete, in line with giving a CLIL lesson. One of the Major challenges in taking a CLIL Approach to teaching has been the dearth of available, appropriate material, so this was of great value for Mr Zanotti's lessons. In Addition the sections that dealt with assessment and Feedback were dealt with in a positive manner. The Focus was always on positive, constructive Feedback that would encourage the learner. This was put Forward in practice when the participants gave their own, short CLIL lessons at the end of course, which were to be reviewed and critiqued.
The Impact on the work of both our staff has been overwhelmingly positive. Both teachers came back from the course motivated and encouraged to try new methods and encourage the students to the best of their abilities. Both participants have commented on the practical and tangible effect that the course has had on their lessons, from the development and introduction of new material to the more considered way that Feedback is given to the students. Both staff members have used aspects of their courses in lessons and have encouraged others to use new techniques. At our monthly conference Mr Baker and Mr Zanotti spoke about their positive experiences, with a view to encouraging other teachers to also take part in further education. Some of the relevant material has been circulated among the teachers so that they can also feel the benefit of the course. We have also circulated emails to our Partner Schools, in the hope that they too will take part. Finally, the opportunity for continuous development remains as ADC provided a platform for all previous participants of the course to stay in touch and initiate new Projects. This may in the future be used by many of our faculties for exchanges.