Page 18 - ELG1711 Nov Issue 452

ERASMUS COURSES
An Eras-must

for teachers

What are the new hot issues in EU
funded teacher training courses?
Melanie Butler explores what is on offer

or this year’s listing of Erasmus courses, we have
concentrated on including those designed specifically for
state school teachers because the EU funds the scheme
Fprimarily with these teachers in mind. We have also limited Providers offering general courses only: Excel Eng-
the UK entries to accredited courses. lish, ITTC, Leeds Language College, Lewis School of
One reason, naturally, is space. This is also why we have English, Oxford House College London.
simplified some of the course titles, gently removing many of the
adjectives that marketing departments have carefully included, Providers not accredited by the BC in the UK:
and introducing tick boxes for the most popular non-specific Confluence Scotland, International Study Programmes
courses. These include not only the ever-popular English language
development for teachers and general methodology, but also the
‘refresher’ programmes that offer a mixture of both. The burgeoning
number of options covering the use of technology in the classroom
get their own ticks. A list of providers offering general refresher
courses, along with non-BC accredited centres, is on the right.
So what trends can we see when we examine the listings? Primary
and secondary courses are holding steady and Clil is still strong.
But there are perhaps fewer age- or subject-specific courses, while
Wimbledon School of English is focusing on English as a Medium
of Instruction (EMI). What is the difference between EMI and
Clil? One EMI professor put it this way: ‘Clil teachers worry about
whether students are learning the language, we worry whether they
are also learning the subject.’
Culture and language courses remain strong and drama seems
to be experiencing a renaissance, but the offering for pre-school
teachers appears to be on the wane – even as demand for pre-
school English takes off across the world. The problem here may
be funding; with much of pre-school provision worldwide offered
by the private sector, few governments feel the need to fund the
necessary training, and even fewer pre-school teachers can afford
to fund it themselves. The big growth area this year is teaching
language to children with special needs – and about time too!
Why do we spend so much time worrying about kinesthetic versus
auditory learners when up to 10 per cent of our students will have
language processing deficits like dyslexia? A shout here for Oxford
International Study Centre, who also cover language learning
and autism, and to Nile, whose practical introduction includes
dyscalculia and dyspraxia.
Learning how to help your learners deal with these problems is
another 21st Century skill to go with the creativity, collaboration
and computer literacy that feature in the courses under that title.
This year also sees the emergence of a new major player in
the Erasmus field: British Study Centres, where a recent set of
acquisitions and mergers have built an impressive teacher training
resource centre. Will they soon rival the grand old names like
International House London and Bell?
The future in the era of Brexit is hard to foresee – except, of
course, for the many Irish providers of Erasmus listed here. The
British government has declared it wants to stay in this programme,
which has transformed the lives of so many teachers and learners
across Europe. We must wait and see.
18 November 2017 editorial@elgazette.com 19