CALP in the classroom. Academic vocabulary

I am now involved in the fascinating task of enhancing my students’ Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency. Although it is supposed that students at tertiary education have been exposed to this type of languagefor many years, it comes as a surprise that they return written assignments using poor and basic vocabulary. It is time to expand their vocabulary and help them build up appropriate discourse.

At the moment I’m using two strategies. One is to provide students with Academic Phrases (sometimes related to Oral Language, sometimes related to Written Language) in small cards. Students are asked to laminate and compile them. This is proving successful in some cases, specially for the written assigments (not so much for the oral ones).
Another resource I’m using is a web my colleague prof. Ana Halbach suggested:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~alzsh3/acvocab/index.htm
It can be very useful to spot academic language used in text and to raise students’ awareness on the use of vocabulary and structures.

Finally, I’m also researching on didactic materials for Infant Education. I was curious to know if they are developing CALP in any way. Many bilingual teachers have told me that the vocabulary included in textbooks for this level is not useful for their “classroom life”, and does not help to develop cognitive skills. I find this a really interesting and intriguing topic.
What about you?
Are you CALP-aware in your lessons? Do you work on CALP? What has proved successful to you?

Source of image: <a href=”Image: Boaz Yiftach / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“>Boaz Yiftach / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

BoW! Bilingual Open Workshops at the Escuela Universitaria Cardenal Cisneros

BoW is a new initiative of the Bilingual Project at the Escuela Universitaria Cardenal Cisneros (Alcalá de Henares, Madrid). It is Bilingual, because Workshops will deal on aspects related to bilingual education and CLIL in infant and primary level.

It is Open because in-service and pre-service teachers, as well as Teacher Training Students are welcome.

It is a Workshop because we want to look at the practical side of education by providing resources, tools and materials, and FOOD FOR THOUGH to reflect on our practice and improve it!

We open our BoW Workshops on 17th November 2011 (from 17.30 to 19.30) with a talk given by Alexandra Basile, who was collaborating with us in our I Bilingual Campus. The Workshop will be centred on literacy and storytelling and has been entitled: BRING STORIES ALIVE IN THE BILINGUAL CLASSROOM.

If you are interested in attending this session, you can register at the reception desk (EU Cardenal Cisneros) or, if you are unable to register onsite, you may contact us using our e-mail: bilinguismo@cardenalcisneros.es

JOIN US!

Classroom English Course (2nd edition)

This Saturday (1st October) the Escuela Universitaria Cardenal Cisneros launches a new edition of our Classroom English Course directed to Primary teachers working in Bilingual contexts. This is a blended course recognised by the CAM to get training credits for in-service teachers. Registration has been opened for pre-service teachers and TT students.

Assessment and bilingual education

Thanks to prof. Ana Halbach I had the chance to meet some of the teachers who started the bilingual project in Madrid in 2004. We were researching their training and perceptions about the project. At that time, many of them stated that they wanted to seize this opportunity as one that would grant students an authentic experience of language learning. “Communication will be the focus now “, most of them said.

Seven  years later many of those teachers find that, although they have achieved a communicative classroom working THROUGH English, assessment fails to be parallel to this progress.  “I don’t understand why children should be exposed to such a pressure when their language gains are evident”. “ I sometimes think that the administration does not trust us as evaluators of their progress” “English exams move the focus to language again, and everything we we’re fighting for is lost with this kind of assessment”. These are some of the comments I have heard along the last months and that prove that something must be done with assessment procedures.

I believe that good bilingual teaching does not need for external evaluators to check children’s language proficiency. What is more important is that children can use the language in natural contexts and can engage in high-order thinking process using English. This can be checked by observing students work in the classroom.  Language exams could be then used to check progress after some years (at least let’s wait for children to reach 11-12yrs old and have some abstract thinking!).

Watch out. We run the risk of teaching “for the exam” again. I see many teachers working at bilingual schools preparing long lists of vocabulary and structures which “are in the exam”. If that’s the only reason to teach them and not communicative aims, English will again be a dead language.

How is assessment organised in your country? Which other types of assessment could be included?  Do you consider Trinity/Cambridge exams a good option?

Bilingual Campus at our Teacher Training College (11th-15th July)

Up to  now we’ve been offering one week 30-hour courses on specific topics related to Bilingual Education. This year we wanted  to host a richer and more varied event, and that’s why we decided to offer a BILINGUAL CAMPUS at our Escuela.

The Campus is organised into two different sections. In the mornings we have Discover CLIL, focused on developing workshops working on different subjects through English; and in the afternoons we offer Discover English, interactive and dynamic sessions to practise your English and get to know more strategies to help your students’ produce correct output and build up their confidence when communicating in English. The morning sessions are divided into two, one programme has been designed for Primary teachers, and the other for Secondary Teachers.

Registration is now open, you can have more info here. If you have any question, you can write an e-mail to secretaria.campus@cardenalcisneros.es

II International Congress on Bilingual Education – Call for Papers

The University Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid) in collaboration with the Madrid region Department of Education is announcing the celebration of the II International Congress on Bilingual Education from 20th to 22th October. The call for papers and the registration is now open. More information here.

XXV GRETA ANNUAL CONFERENCE – Call for papers

The English Teachers Association of Andalusia is announcing the celebration of their XXV Annual Conference, entitled “Listen to your heart, speak your mind”, and to be celebrated at the Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, University of Granada from 8th to 10th September,2011. Among their main topics, they will deal with Bilingual and Plurilingual Projects.

If you wish to attend this event, you should know that university students have a reduced fee. Please check more details here

First-aid session

On 10th May we’ll hold a session to know how to give basic emergency medical treatment. The session will be conducted by Alicia Sanz, a bilingual expert who has been trained to provide assistance in case of emergency situations.

The session will last from 16 until 19 hours, and will take place at the Escuela Universitaria Cardenal Cisneros. Registration is now open for teachers and students of any educational institution. For more information please click here.

A bilingual literacy experience at tertiary education

You can know read an article about a literacy project developed last yeat at the Escuela Universitaria Cardenal Cisneros.  The abstract is the following:

The following article is focused on the study of a literacy experience I developed in a teacher training college in Spain (Escuela Universitaria Cardenal Cisneros). A group of students taking an optional subject on English language and literature took part on three activities which aimed at promoting a more aesthetic reading (Rosenblatt, 2005), and increasing their awareness of the importance of enjoying reading and writing books. The activities were the creation of a Spell Book, a newsstand and a bookcrossing experience.

It is available here

New book on Content and Language Integrated Learning

Much has been written about bilingual education, but there is still much to say about multilingual contexts… One example of this is this book, which has just been published (January 2011). This volume has been edited by Yolanda Ruiz Zarobe, Juan Manuel Sierra and Francisco Gallardo del Puerto,  and contains interesting contributions on the multilingual educational context. It can be accessed here or using Google Books