This INSET plan refers to a training project for foreign language teachers of Scuola Media Inferiore, devised by the Italian Ministry of Education [MPI], in which I will actually be involved as a trainer at the very beginning of next school year. The initiative finances one hundred 30-hr training courses all over the country, and by the end of September 2001 will have involved two thousand curricular foreign language teachers of Scuola Media Inferiore, representing 10% of their total number.

The general aims of the course are stated by the Ministry of Education, and read as follows:

- to make the trainees aware of the most relevant innovations introduced by the Projects "Introduction of a second European language in Scuola Media Inferiore" and "Lingue 2000";

- to get trainees to explore and possibly investigate the feasibility of importing such innovations into their curricular FLT.

The training course is therefore supposed to cover the following main "innovative" issues related to the two projects mentioned above:

- the Common European Framework

- the Portfolio of Language Competences

- modular syllabuses

- assessment and certification

- NICT in FLT

This wide range of course "contents", proposed by the MPI, sounds quite ambitious, particularly when related to the number of hours assigned to the course (30). This is the main reason why I will formulate the general objectives of the course in terms of "understanding" and "awareness", on the assumption that these are the first steps for a teacher to question and possibly improve his/her own teaching styles and skills.

At the end of the training course the trainees are expected to:

1. understand what the C.E.F. is and be aware of the teaching potential and possible

problems deriving from the application of its contents to FLT issues such as:

- syllabus design

- development of learners' productive, receptive, interactive and mediating skills

(with particular emphasis on the oral component)

- identifying descriptors for the expected outcomes

- devising tasks suitable to descriptors

- assessment and certification of final outcomes

2) understand the difference between teaching unit-based syllabuses and modular

syllabuses;

3) understand the principles underlying the proposal of a Portfolio of Language

Competences for learners and be aware of related issues still to be resolved

(format, validation, role of learners/teachers/institutions, etc.)

4) be aware of the teaching and learning possibilities offered by N.I.C.T., with particular

According to the relevant ministerial circulars, the training course will be addressed to a group of curricular English teachers of Scuola Media Inferiore and will take a total of 30 hours. In the Province of Vibo Valentia, where the course is to take place, all the teachers who applied for participation have been admitted, since their total number corresponded exactly to the maximum number fixed by the M.P.I. According to the "condicio sine qua non" imposed by the Ministry of Education, they must not already have attended any training courses within the Projects "Introduction of a second European Language in Scuola Media Inferiore" or "Lingue 2000". Since they all volunteered for the training programme, they are supposed to be fairly interested and motivated towards the contents announced. They are supposed to have just heard about issues like the Common European Framework and the Portfolio of Language Competences. As for Modularity, they will certainly have more than a smattering of knowledge, as a result of all the talk about it and the many attempts to implement it throughout the whole Italian school system in the last few years. Being fairly young, all the trainees are expected to be reasonably principled in terms of the communicative approach to FLT. Apart from these possible shared common features, participants are likely to be quite heterogeneous in terms of linguistic competence, previous knowledge and attitudes to teaching.

The approach to the course will be mainly experiential and only in part theory-driven, on the assumption that teachers already possess professional knowledge and skills when they join a training programme. Reflecting on and sharing ideas will be the key-note of the course. The trainees will be involved in pair- and groupwork throughout and will debate their professional beliefs with colleagues. Sometimes they will also be asked to work individually, particularly when some homework is necessary (and they can not do it with colleagues since they come from different towns in the province).

The trainer will provide them with different stimului and ideas, as well as with materials and pedagogical activities. He will be trying to "make sense" of the ongoing discussion and debates by encouraging brainstorming, collecting, summarising, mediating and mapping different ideas in the plenaries following pair or group work. He will be constantly encouraging trainees to express their opinions freely and, above all, he will try to never to let them feel that he is underestimating any individual's point of view.

During pairwork and groupwork he will go around monitoring the activities and will intervene to stimulate discussion when necessary. Sometimes he will give short lectures on topics which he thinks require some theoretical introduction but always after eliciting the trainees’ previous knowledge.

Frequent pair and group-work activities will include

• reading short passages and responding to them
• formulating answers to question written on board or OHP
• role-playing according to given clues
• matching activities
• drawing mind maps

Every phase of pair- or groupwork will culminate in a plenary which will involve reporting back to the whole group and general discussion. Every session will be pre-planned and timed in detail, but the trainer will be ready to modify and adjust the programme syllabus according to more or less predictable events.

The course will be held in English, on the assumption that the training experience might also be an opportunity for trainees to develop their linguistic competence, in a social context which otherwise provides them with very few opportunities to practise the foreign language.

This should not cause any particular problems since before applying the trainees already knew, from the ministerial circulars, that the course would be in English. As for possible language mistakes made by trainees, the trainer will not intervene as long as they do not inhibit communication, and even in this case he will never correct overtly; he will instead reformulate their utterances to facilitate comprehension. This attitude towards language errors should foster communication and make the trainees feel fairly at ease.

The participants will know from the very beginning that since this is going to be an "orientation" course, there will be no form of final assessment for them, though they will be asked to fill in a final evaluation sheet at the end of the course.

Apart from the final evaluation, there will be other in progress course-evaluation tools such as graphs, maps, short comments, etc.

All the ones I know are already available at the Centro Risorse Territoriale: white-board, cassette recorder, video-recorder, notice board on the wall of the training room, OHP, beamer, computer lab + files /ring binders for teachers to keep and organise materials in. An expert on computer hardware and software will assist me in the sessions on N.I.C.T.

Session 1: Let' get started (3 hrs).

• through "ice-breaking " activities create a friendly and cooperative atmosphere
• elicit trainees' expectations of the course
• get the trainees to understand the general aim of the course
• inform trainees about main features of previous project (Lingue 2000);

Session 2 : Exploring the Common European Framework (3 hrs): see below for step-by-

step description

Session 3: What is modularity? (6 hrs).

• make trainees aware of the different levels at which modularity can be applied

( curricula and syllabuses)

• make them understand a broad definition of "module"
• make trainees reflect on what "models" of modularity could best fit language syllabus design and /or interdisciplinary learning pathways
• make trainees reflect on necessary components of a language module
• ( pre-requisites, expected outcomes, timing, assessment tools, etc.)
• get trainees to outline hypotheses of modules which could fit their students' needs, starting from expected learning outcomes formulated in terms of "can do" statements at global or more specific levels
• make trainees aware of the "added value" of modularity in terms of flexibility, short term goals, learners' motivation, efficiency, etc
• make the trainees aware of how the "incremental" philosophy of modularity questions traditional assessment, credit giving and certification

Session 4: Assessment and certification (6 hrs).

• make trainees aware that assessment must be continuous, a process and not an event

• get trainees to reflect on different features of proficiency and achievement tests
• make trainees understand the basic principle of alternative assessment (self/peer/portfolio assessment) and make them reflect on the issue of authenticity in assessment
• get trainees to understand what a Portfolio of language competences is, explore different possibilities of format and make them reflect on the benefits of portfolio assessment in terms of learners' motivation and involvement, definition of learning outcomes, awareness of learning process, organisation of work, transparent assessment criteria
• make them reflect on criteria to assess portfolios
• get trainees informed about main features of some "external" tests proposed by the Italian Ministry of Education for students of Scuola Media (UCLES KET, Trinity grades 3 and 4, ESB foundation 3)

Session 5: Hypertexts ad multimedia in FLT ( 3hrs).

• make trainees understand what hypertexts and multimedia are

• get trainees to understand the possible benefits of ready-made multimedia products in terms of students' motivation, activation of individual learning styles and paces, wide range of activities, etc
• let them actually try some ready made materials and involve them in the discussion of evaluation criteria;

Session 6: Authoring programs (3 hrs).

• get trainees to understand what general, communicative and linguistic competences their students could develop in making simple hypertext and multimedia products through the use of some user-friendly programs like Powerpoint, Amico , Front Page, etc.

Session 7:The Internet: a giant CD-Rom (3 hrs).

• Get trainees to understand how the Internet can provide very motivating class activities provided they are integrated into principled lesson and syllabus plans
• show trainees useful searching techniques and provide them with evaluation criteria for materials found on the net

Session 8: Communicating through the Internet (3 hrs).

• make trainees reflect on how the Internet can be used to get students to activate and develop their communication skills
• get them to reflect on the linguistic knowledge, competences and strategies involved in e-mailing, messaging and chatting.

• make the trainees understand the descriptive and taxonomic nature of the document
• get them to understand the specific terminology of the document
• get them to explore some main issues in the Document;
• make them aware of how the CEF levels of competence and descriptors are formulated
• get them to start reflecting on possible implications of CEF descriptors for language syllabus design and language assessment.

Starting up (5 mins)

• Trainer asks trainees what they know about the CEF
• Trainees formulate different answers

• Trainer invites trainees to consider the title of the CEF document and points out the words "common", "framework" and "reference", suggesting the idea of something non- prescriptive within which you can find options.

Comment: Trainees’ answers may range from "Nothing" to "It’s a European document on FLT" or "It’s the most recent approach to FLT". It is important for the trainees to understand from the very beginning the descriptive and taxonomic nature of the CEF. This may soften the impact of such a broad and thick document.

Activity 1: How do you teach grammar? (30 mins)

• Phase 1: Trainer invites trainees to think individually about how they usually get their

students to develop grammatical knowledge and competence.

• Phase 2: In pairs trainees discuss and contrast their ideas on how to teach grammar

(Trainer goes around and monitors).

• Phase 3: Trainees are given a photocopy of page152 of the CEF where several ways of

learning grammar are described and are invited to check whether their personal

views are included.

• Phase 4: In plenary, trainees are asked to consider:

- Does the CEF suggest the best way to teach grammar? (Trainees are expected to say it

does not)

- Does it show different options? (Trainees are expected to say it does)

- What was the true aim of the activity?

Comment: Initially the activity appears to be aimed at making trainees confront different methodological approaches and they may get quite involved in the discussion; their views may range from "No grammar in my lessons" to "I explain rules in Italian".

Activity 2: What are the political and educational aims of CEF? (40 mins)

Phase 1: Trainees are given photocopies of the paragraph 1.1 of the document and in pairs

Phase 2: In plenary, one person for each pair reports by saying something like: "The

expressions that we consider particularly important are…"

Trainer draws on board a simple map like the example below and sums up some key

issues, commenting on them.

Comment: Trainees continue direct exploration of the document; the activity reinforces their understanding of its descriptive nature and gets them to reflect on its announced political and pedagogical aims.

Activity 3: What do you understand by…? (50 mins)

In groups of 5 trainees are given photocopies of CEF pages (11-14, 44, 51, 53, 57) and a worksheet with a two-phase task:

Phase 1: Trainees are asked to define some terms according to their previous knowledge.

(Terms listed are: general competence, skills and know-how, declarative knowledge, existential competence, ability to learn, communicative language competence, , linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, pragmatic competence, language activities, domains, situation, task, strategies, communicative themes)

Phase 2: Trainees are asked to look at how the terms are defined in the CEF.

Phase 3: In plenary trainees discuss about differences (if any) between their previous

understanding of terms and CEF definitions.

Trainer invites them to suggest a possible hierarchy of terms according to broader or

more restricted meaning. Then ,via beamer or data display projects the following

map, commenting and involving trainees:

Comment: The activity is intended to get the trainees deeper into the CEF and focus some basic terms and concepts starting from their previous understanding of them; it paves the way to further even outside course exploration of Document. The final map is intended to provide them with a global view of how the CEF categorises the various aspects of language use.

Activity 5: It is high time for a brief interactive lecture! (30 mins)

Phase 1: Trainer invites trainees to say what terminology they generally use to describe their

students' levels of proficiency. Trainees are supposed to answer with such terms as

"sufficient", "good", "elementary", "intermediate", etc., which is the official

terminology used in state schools. Trainer writes terms on board and asks

trainees to describe what language competences each term refers to (Trainees are

supposed to do their best, but the difficulty of the task should soon become evident),

- Through beamer or data display trainer projects CEF global scale of descriptors

(page 24) and uncovers it gradually from left to right. He asks trainees to guess what

the terms "basic", "independent" and "proficient" may refer to, then gradually

shows descriptors from bottom to top; reads descriptors and points out some

expressions such as "can understand", "can interact", "can produce"; refers to the

increasing degree of learner autonomy from level A1 to C1; invites trainees to

reflect on the applicability of the global scale to their students’ learning outcomes .

- Trainer goes on showing main categories of descriptors (communicative activities,

communicative strategies, qualitative aspect of language use, etc., particularly

focusing on levels A1 and A2 (expected final levels for Scuola Media Students),

then shows an example of sub-categorisation (e.g. descriptors for "listening to

announcements and instructions")

- Finally, trainer very briefly hints at issues deriving from CEF descriptors for

syllabus design, assessment and certification.

Comment: A brief interactive lecture at this stage of session should be welcomed by trainees

Trainees are given photocopies of all CEF descriptors and are asked to do some individual homework consisting in:

- identifying descriptors which sound realistic and feasible in their school context;

- Start thinking about what the pursuit of those learning outcomes would imply for syllabus

design, assessment and certification, course-book evaluation.

Session evaluation and farewell:

- Trainees are given 5 minutes to write a brief anonymous comment on any aspect(s) of the

session.

• Trainees might find it difficult to do the activity within the fixed time

• Thanks to previous knowledge trainees might perform tasks quicker than expected

Getting language teachers to explore the Common European Framework is a very demanding task for any trainer; difficulties arise from the constraints of time and from the nature of the document which, being broad and thick may discourage those who try to go through it thoroughly. This is the main reason why I have devised limited but (I think) feasible objectives and tasks for the session, which could generate further insights. Nonetheless, I am well aware of how unpredictable the trainees’ response may be, and therefore I am ready to apply to my session and course plan the same slogan which many wise people involved in FLT apply to methodology: ADAPT, NOT ADOPT.