Page 8 - ELG1601 Feb Issue 433

ELsummer special
Page 8 February 2016

Clil teacher courses listing

With interest in Clil spreading outwards from Europe to the Middle East
and beyond, the question remains, who is going to teach the teachers?
The number of Clil training courses in the UK and Ireland has grown
exponentially to meet global demand. We’ve made every effort to make
this list comprehensive, but if we’ve missed anyone out please tell us

Centre name Course name Course Start dates
length
ADC College Clil & Language Development 1 or 2 weeks Dates vary
Contact institution for other courses
Alpha College of English Theory and Practice of Clil 2 weeks Mar, July, Aug, Oct
Anglolang Academy of English Clil 1 or 2 weeks Jan, Apr, May, June, July,
Contact institution for other courses Aug, Sep, Oct
Bell Teacher Campus, Clil (Primary) 2 weeks July, Aug
Cambridge Contact institution for other courses
British Study Centres, Oxford Primary Clil 2 weeks Apr, July, Aug, Oct
Secondary Clil 2 weeks Apr, July, Aug, Oct
Colchester English Study Centre English for Teachers – Clil 2 weeks July
Cork English College Clil: a practical classroom approach* 2 weeks Feb, Mar, Apr, July
Cork Language Centre Clil and Language Interpreted Learning* 2 weeks July, Aug
Dublin School of English Clil 2 weeks Monthly
ELC Brighton Clil 2 weeks Jan, Mar, July, Aug, Oct
Bridge Mills Galway Teacher Refresher Clil 2 weeks July, Aug
Language Centre
Hilderstone College Clil 1 or 2 weeks Jan, July, Aug
Inlingua Cheltenham Clil 1 or 2 weeks Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May,
June, Aug, Oct, Nov
International House London Clil 2 weeks Jan, July, Aug
International Projects Centre Clil for Humanities and Arts Teachers 2 weeks Monthly (not Jan and Feb)
Clil for Maths and Science Teachers 2 weeks Monthly (not Jan and Feb)
Clil Practical Ideas for the Primary Classroom 2 weeks Feb, Apr, May, June, July,
Sep, Oct
International Study Programmes Language Development and Clil 2 weeks Feb, Mar, June, July, Aug,
Contact institution for other courses Sep, Oct
ITTC TKT Clil 2 weeks Jan, July
Liverpool School of English Teacher Development Course with Clil 2 or 3 weeks Mar, May, Aug
Mulberry School of English Clil 2 weeks Year round
Nile Clil 1 or 2 weeks Jan, Mar, Aug, Oct
Clil for Primary Teachers 2 weeks July
Clil for Secondary Teachers 2 weeks July
Pilgrims Clil: Content and Methodology for Primary/Secondary Teachers* 2 weeks July
Contact institution for other courses
Richard Language College Clil 2 weeks May, Aug, Oct
Clil Methodology in Practice 2 weeks Jan, Feb, Mar, May, June,
Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov

Poor outcomes mask deeper issues

Melanie Butler discovers that demographics rather than cultural
differences might account for why Emirati teens do badly in Ielts

ow far can cultural dif- national outcomes for Toefl, the the rankings for Arab speakers, bright students with scholarships
ferences account for other major international test of with Bahrein and Lebanon at or are children of the social elite.
Hdifferent outcomes in academic English, according to the top, and Yemen and Saudi at Except, that is, in the Emirates.
English language tests? One research from Taiwan. The fact the bottom. The age range of Emirati stu-
researcher working in the UAE that Arabic speakers on average So what is going on? Is this dents taking Ielts may be the
has found that Emirati teenag- score worse on EFL exams than to do with the difficulty of the same as students from other
ers perform poorly in Ielts, not the northern Europeans may be exams? If so, why do Emiratis countries – school leavers apply-
so much because it is culturally more to do with the language and Yemenis find the EF test ing for higher education – but the
biased – although some of the they speak than their schools’ easy while the Yemenis struggle size of the test population as a
topics tested are too Western to curricula. with Toefl and the Emiratis get percentage of the national whole
fit into their world view – but So why are Emiratis the through? Of course, some of this is much, much higher. Every
because they believed they are worst English speakers in the may be to do with test design Emirati applying for university
biased. Arab world? The short answer and task types – perhaps Emi- at home – and level of applica-
Looking at the results of two is, they aren’t. Or at least they ratis struggle particularly hard tions are very high – has to take
research studies she undertook, aren’t when judged on their with graphs. the exam. This is not a prese-
Dr Hilda Freimuth, a senior lec- outcomes in all international More likely, though, the dif- lected group of the academically
turer at Khalifa University, also English exams – only in Ielts. ferences in scores are down to able or the socially advantaged;
found that the Emirati school According to the widely quoted demographics: the population it includes absolutely everybody.
system did not equip students EF International Language Pro- samples for the three exams are Emiratis aren’t bad at Ielts
with non-linguistic academic ficiency Index, which is based completely different – at least in because they are from the UAE.
skills, including graph literacy on the results of English tests the Emirates. The EF test is self- They are not even bad at Ielts
and critical thinking. However, in three skills taken for free on selected – it is taken by whoever because Ielts is particularly cul-
while there clearly are both cul- the web by at least 400 nation- turns up on the web and takes turally challenging for them.
tural and academic differences als, the Emiratis are actually the it – but the demographics sug- Their poor Ielts scores are largely
in the Emirates, these are hardly best English language speakers gest most test-takers are adults due to the fact that the Emirates
more marked in Dubai than they in the Middle East, with Saudi in their twenties to forties. Both appear to be the only place in the
are in Riyadh or Sana’a. Arabians and Libyans coming in Toefl and Academic Ielts are world where the exam is taken
Nor is it only cultural dif- as the worst. taken by school leavers and by most school leavers regard-
ferences at play. A linguistic In Toefl, which like Ielts is a undergraduates planning to go less of their linguistic aptitude,
difference, the language distance test of academic English exam- on to further study abroad – their academic ability or simply
between your mother tongue and ining all four skills, the Emiratis that is 18–24-year-olds who are their interest in going on the web
English, is the best predictor of are somewhere in the middle of either extremely academically and sitting a test. n