CITA project-Budapest meeting 25 -27 October 2015

 

The fifth meeting of the CITA project was held in Budapest at Eötvös Loránd University from 25 to 27 October. All 12 members of the CITA partnership attended. The meeting began with the consideration of the external evaluator’s, Neus Lorenzo’s, report. There were a number of specific recommendations in the report, the most important of which was the need to refer more to European values in the project outcomes. The report noted that the quality of cooperation between the three associations was positive an efficient and concluded that the project would have a substantial positive impact.

The meeting continued with an update from the previous meeting in Vilnius, noting new activities that had been implemented by each association from the practice of one of the other associations. We also discussed ideas for sharing expertise on management and administration and drew up a list of good practices that we could share and include in the guidelines. This included the idea of compiling an archive of document templates that were used by each association and might be useful for other associations.

Next came an evaluation of the five-day CLIL course that was held in Lithuania from 29 June to 3 July, 2015. Each association gave a brief summary from the feedback from the participants from their country. The benefits and points which could be improved were focused on and the overall conclusion was that the course had been extremely successful, particularly in allowing teachers to work together and learn from each other. It was decided that a report would be written with the aim of identifying the keys to success of an international course.

The first part of the job shadowing activities were also evaluated and the arrangements for the next job shadowing in Palma were discussed. Finally, the preparation for the next transnational meeting in Lithuania and the preparations for the dissemination conference in Palma at the end of the project were also discussed. Communication of the activities and outcomes of the project was also looked at, as well as the details of the publication of the “CITA Guidelines” to be published during the final conference. A timeline revision of the CITA Workplan was made.

The last points to be covered in the meeting were an update on the last minute preparations for the English Teacher Profile course, which was being held concurrently with the meeting in Budapest, and an evaluation of the needs analysis questionnaires which had been administered earlier by each association (CLIL Teachers Questionnaire and the Novice Teachers Questionnaire), looking at the overall trends from each questionnaire.

THIRD CITA MEETING IN VILNIUS 28th JUNE -1st JULY 2015

AGENDA

The third transnational meeting of the CITA project was held in Vilnius. The usual evening get-together took place at the centrally located “Holiday Inn”, where the guest members were staying.

There was a friendly and relaxed atmosphere since we had already worked closely and had become truly familiar with one another. This time we were joined by our external evaluator, Neus Lorenzo, who is at present Inspector at the Departament d’Ensenyament at Generalitat de Catalunya and professor at “Postgraduated Diploma in CLIL”. Her task was to assess the development of our programme and analyse our performance sharing with us her professional expertise and knowledge.

On Monday the 29^th our agenda included a review and update of the tasks carried out at the Budapest meeting. LAKMA, IAETFL-Hu and APABAL submitted their report and presented tasks to be fulfilled in the future as a result of the information exchanged among the three associations.  We realised that some of the activities that had proved successful in one country had been well adapted in a different context, such as the Creative Cafe, the film forum series, the student contest or the mutual collaboration in existing publications and blogs, among others.

We also learnt that we still had to face some new challenges, such as implementing new practices, strengthen collaboration, improving management and administration, increasing membership or reaching out to the international community. Some ideas were also presented on how to make our associations grow.

Part of the day was focused on the preparation of the next Budapest course to be held in October 2015: “The new teacher’s profile”. The course will be addressed to high profile experienced English teachers from the three associations. Topics will include the specific skills teachers need in order to face new challenges, reflection on professional development, the role of emerging World Englishes, mixed ability classroom management, ways of connecting the classroom with real life and the English teacher’s role in CLIL courses.

It was also agreed that a needs analysis questionnaire would be sent out to novel English teachers. Feedback on the existing CLIL questionnaire and the new one should be provided and analysed at the Budapest meeting.

Tuesday the 30^th was split into two sessions. The morning was dedicated to planning the “job shadowings” which are to take place in Budapest, Vilnius and Palma. Two English teachers from each association will travel to the corresponding country in order to observe the educational system, exchange experiences and do some peer teaching. The teachers involved will be committed to present a brief project about their experiences.

The afternoon session was centred on setting and discussing the agenda for the next transnational meeting in Budapest. The remainder of the afternoon session was devoted to updating the budgets allocated to our programme.

SOCIAL PROGRAMME

 Apart from the usual exchange of courtesy gifts, maps and folders, the social programme included an informal lunch at “The Green Hall Restaurant”, a beautiful place in the open air overlooking the city of Vilnius and a dinner party at a popular pub “Republican Sole” located close to the bank of the Vilna River. It is an unofficial republic inhabited by artists and bohemians, which was founded in 1887. An unusually surprising place and environment

Our last evening was spent on a stunning walking sightseeing tour organised by the Lithuanian association. This activity was joined by all the teachers who had just arrived from the different countries to take part in the Vilnius CLIL course which was due to start on the following day.

We were also taken to a restaurant in Belmontas, a recreation complex established inside an old mill that is surrounded by the most incredible nature landscape, with ponds and waterfalls. There we had the opportunity to taste the typical Lithuanian food in the open air.

All these activities took place in a most familiar and cheerful atmosphere.