Lifelong+Learning+Programme

Title: **Alternative holidays for teachers of English**

Being a second language teacher is not an easy thing to do. In fact, it is a constant challenge! It requires a constant engagement and practice in the language you teach. I know because I am an English teacher at a Government School in Norway (Nannestad High School). I am Polish and had my education, including learning English, in Poland. So I found teaching English to Norwegian students particularly challenging but determined to make a great success of it. Naturally and initially, this year I spent a lot of time looking at some of the programs offered by Comenius. Finally, after 2 months’ research I found one, filled out all the papers and sent them to The Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education ( [|SIU]) which is a public Norwegian agency that promotes international cooperation in education and research. In May I got a letter advising me that I have been successful in my application and would be awarded a grant to participate in a two-week course for European Teachers of English at Secondary Level in Ipswich.

On the 27th of June I started my greatly anticipated journey to Ipswich-which I pleasantly discovered on arrival to be a picturesque county town of Suffolk, England situated only 1 hour from the busy and crowded streets of London. My first day turned out to be a little bit tiring because of the flight connections and tube connections leading from Gatwick Airport to Ipswich. In hindsight, I know that the easiest way to get there would be to land on [|**StanstedHYPERLINK "http://www.stanstedairport.com/" Airport**] from where you get direct connections to Ipswich within an hour whereas it took me 4 hours to do that journey. So remember if you are going to Ipswich, book your flight to Stansted without giving it a second thought. From the beginning I knew that I would love to spend these two weeks living with a host family because it seemed like the best idea of enhancing my English skills by speaking the language 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The host family I was assigned to live with consisted only of 1 member- a remarkable 75- year old lady named Daphne Colthorpe who has spent her whole life living and working in Ipswich. Not only did she offer me to stay in her house but she also cooked, washed and showed a lot of interest in my visit in her city. Many of us would assume that a 75 year old person would spend her whole day in front of the TV or sitting in one place, but not Daphne. I really enjoyed her company every day and I have to admit that we have become good friends and I truly believe that one day she will come to Norway and spend some time with me and my family.

In the two weeks of our stay in Ipswich different types of activities were organized for our group compromising of 3 other teachers: Sirpa from Finland, Anico from Hungary and Lydia from Slovakia. This small number of participants for the course turned out to be extremely effective and let us concentrate on things we were particularly interested in and develop different types of skills we needed to take away for our particular teaching environment. As we all teach English as a second language in our schools we were particularly interested in school visits arranged by [|International Study HYPERLINK "http://www.international-study-programmes.org.uk/"Programmes] (which was responsible for the whole programme.) [|**Ipswich School**], a public school, was the first school we during Day no.2. Never before have I seen such a boarding and public school that has such great facilities as this one. What’s more impressive was that the students were so well-behaved, smartly dressed in their school uniforms. The English and overseas students in the school were extremely eager to answer our questions and showing us what they can and do during two last weeks of their school time. This school has made a great impression on all of us and the possibility of looking at their way of teaching seemed to be very interesting. Even though we do teach English as a second language which is different from teaching a mother tongue, our observations will help us teach about British educational system and understand all small nuances within this field which belongs to Norwegian curriculum. Other schools we visited were [|**ClaydonHYPERLINK "http://www.claydonhigh.suffolk.sch.uk/" High School**] and [|**KesgraveHYPERLINK "http://www.kesgrave.suffolk.sch.uk/" High School**] all being part of the state schools system. The latter two schools were pretty similar but they offered different programmes to their students. Each time we visited a school, the deputy headmaster would start the visit with a tour of the school facilities and introducing us to the teachers. We found it fascinating because we could freely ask about everything we were wondering about. As we were observing different classes at different levels, I could easily notice differences between English and Norwegian educational school system. During the breaks we were given an opportunity to talk to other teachers and try out English cakes and biscuits at the coffee breaks.

The other type of activities organized for us were workshops run by Mr. Chris Crofts. This more formal part of the program covered 3 days and in my view, was the best thing we could have experienced during our stay in Ipswich. Our experienced and entertaining lecturer engaged us completely in his workshops and showed us a lot of new ways of motivating our students and making our lessons more enjoyable and pleasant for our students. Besides we were very busy working, we never thought about the end of his lectures. The most important topics mentioned by Chris Crofts were: -activities used to increase motivation and inclusivity in the classroom -activities for mixed-abilities classes -use of dictogloss in the classroom (speed control, gapped dictation, whistle or tap dictation, the teacher’s autobiography) -use of songs in L2 teaching -involving students in classroom decision making -deep and broad explanation of British educational system -types of reading tasks -receptive and productive skills -guided discovery versus PPP approach to language teaching -auctions in L2 teaching

The last type of activity during our course was excursions. Some of them were tailor made for us but during the weekend we were also given time to explore different places on our own. It helped our group integrate easier and faster and speak English even though we were free. The ones that will really stay in my memory will be our one-day visits to [|Cambridge], [|Norwich] and [|Felixstowe]. These places have charms and offer plenty of different activities for tourists. Despite the fact that time flew quickly, we could also participate in a guided tour of Ipswich Waterfront and Ipswich by a talented guide Chris Terry. Our days were busy but it was a good feeling at the end of the day to have experienced so many things.

I would like to thank all the people who played a part in making this stay so inspiring and exciting. If you feel like improving your language skills (including classroom language and new developments in the English language) and exchanging ideas and developing links with teachers from different European countries, there is no other way than give it a try! In case of any questions, feel free to contact me via my email addresse: barbara.anna.zielonka@gmail.com.

Written by Barbara Anna Zielonka Article submitted to Lektorbladet:

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