Nr:  2002/3

English in England 2000 - 2001

Forfatter:  Stenersen, Josephine

ISBN:  82-7824-042-6

Pris:  100,-

This report covers two summer courses with different contents from the previous ones, as the course was for vocational teachers, who do not teach English, but who wanted to improve their own English in the vocational subject area.

The contents of the two reports are based on comments from teachers from vocational colleges in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, who attended the summer course at University College, Worcester, England in collaboration with the Department of Learning and Teacher Education (PLP) now ‘the Department of Education’, University of Tromsø. The courses were mainly financed by the Education Offices in the three counties, but in 2001 there was some extra external financing from Norway Network Council.

The reports tell about the participant’s evaluation of their experiences, but they are also a record of who attended, their personal aims for attending and the reason why English is important for them as teachers of vocational subjects. The main requirement for attendance was that participants could understand English reasonably well.

This course was concerned with teaching English as a foreign language and involved lectures, workshops, school visits and other excursions in connection with specific vocations. The reports point out that although the participants wanted to improve their vocational vocabulary, they also needed to learn more everyday English and about its social context in daily life in the UK. This type of course lends itself very well to network building between teachers, and is important for teachers who sometimes feel rather isolated in the three most northern counties of Norway.

The course ended with a small written and oral test. This documented quite clearly a considerable improvement in their own English, which surprised the participants, as they had not realised that such a short intensive course could have such positive results. The report contains their actual answers to the open questions in the questionnaire. The social aspect of the course was very important as can be seen from the documentation given. The information about who attended the course and other contacts can be used as a source for building up a network of competent and interested teachers.

For those who have attended the course this material is also a thorough documentation of what was experienced, as answers to the questionnaire are mainly based on the logbook contents that each participant kept during the course. It also contains photos of some of the participants.

The report is also an important source of information with regard to the organisation and running of a longer intensive course in the UK, for adult learners. It documents the importance of the social aspect of a course of this length, and points out that a short intensive course of this kind does boost and improve language proficiency, which vocational teachers have realised is an important asset in vocational education.