Linee guida della conferenza, a cura di Lamberto Bozzi

Lamberto Bozzi

1

The purpose of this language conference

Along the guidelines of the school reform

And of the approved framework of reference

Is to take the language issue by storm

2

Backed up and spurred by the Minister’s wish

(A wish I duly take as a command)

I give pride of place to the Queen’s English

And its Yankee variety on demand

3

English is taught to kids from the first grade

Through State school middle and secondary 

For thirteen long years but I am afraid

The results are far from exemplary

4

The reasons for all this are manifold:

few teaching hours lack of proper pay

An undetermined school leaving threshold

scarce inservice training along the way

5

An exception are the courses based upon

The Primary Teachers English Language Plan

An inservice Plan not yet bygone

And a veritable training talisman

6

To be soon replaced by a new Plan

run the times being hard with parsimony

backed up by a nationwide online span

to wrap up the classwork in harmony

7

But then article 10 of a Decree

Reads that after the first training course year

Any willing but struggling green trainee

Whose mastery of English is unclear

8

Will be recklessly allowed to teach

small children up to the second grade

An ability still well out of reach

To English teachers not yet fully made

9

Can the Minister cut this Gordian knot?

I don’t know but she can do quite a lot

To make sure English is properly taught

By a close-knit teachers’ community

10

Well versed in each language ability

Well paid well treated and as a reward

And a sign of responsibility

Well trained at home as well as abroad

11

I approve of the way she wants to spread

The use of English to teach all subjects

 But is the picture clear in her head

Of this high goal and its after effects?

12

Or has she bit between me and you

A lot more alas than she can chew?

Unless she thinks by aiming very high

That subject teachers will aim at the sky 

13

The words of the Minister are just fine

But where’s the money? Because without it

To put all subject teachers on cloud nine

Would be an impossible target

14

Well now without the shadow of a doubt

The Ministry is not so destitute

But only slightly down and out

As to need a TTS substitute

15

Or a low cost Teacher Training Service

Low cost for the Ministry but not cheap

Because well tested and matchless

And like still waters running very deep

16

Short courses are but courses with no frills

With Trainers paid Euro 41.32

An hour to teach the four skills

Up to level C1 or C2

17

At a such rock-bottom cost

It’s easy to scrape up the resources

(but seeing to it that not one cent gets lost)

To start a string of successful courses

18

It has been done and it’s being done

In a few schools as an experiment

In the Marche in many a town

And the school Headmasters are quite content

19

The Trainers have impeccable CVs

As a proof of their linguistic prowess

They know how to motivate their trainees

With a cross curricular English stress

20

These short courses are an offfshoot of CLIL

Content Language Integrated Learning

That is the strategy devised to instil

 Bilingualism in everyday teaching

21

Teachers lack mobility as a rule

And have no use for courses out of reach

The place where to hold them is the school

Not far from home where they usually teach

22

And these trained curricular teachers

Will be part of a regional school net

With a sound language project that features

Bilingual classes as a good asset

23

The teachers trained by the Ministry

Up to the B1 level of competence

Through the “Piano” covering Italy

have now a further chance of advancement

24

By way of a weekly e-mail

Which helps them build up a videoclip library

With English captions to grasp each detail

Aimed at the teachers of the primary

25

A native speaker will carefully tackle

The problem of peer teaching: motivation

Which is a fickle flame quite hard to sparkle

And if snuffed out a source of frustration

26

CLIL an author says is a word that does

Have that distinctive enjoyable buzz 

Which adds a new-fangled turn and finish

To her task based approach called “Green English”

27

From San Marino’s schools of quality

An American teacher will relate  

A successful science–based activity

She carried on in that great tiny State

28

Science is taught in English on the coast

By a teacher who does maths too

With a colleague in a school that can boast

Sound CLIL teaching as an added value

29

The school of Gabicce broke new ground

Years ago in bilingual education   

As subjects done in English get profound

When subject teachers conduct the session 

30

A young lady employed by the Chinese

To teach in Beijing and in Shanghai

Used her experience as a basis

To do CLIL in a local junior high

31

The worthy Marche Region President

Aware of the urgent necessity

of the diffusion and the betterment

Of English in the community

32

Has used European resources

To boost the performance of some schools through

A series of extra English courses

Part of a project called English 4U

33

After the long awaited secession

A school in Novafeltria got a gift

From the old USR a helpful progression

from “English 4U” to “English makeshift”

34

Of course Europe’s funds seem to be bottomless

That kind of money would be a good thing

If made available to run and assess

Everyday projects run on a shoestring

35

To prove the goodness of the enterprise

And the validity of the money spent

Two teachers will be springing a surprise

 Along with a reportlike document

36

Three of their students will in turn report

On their experience with the B2 test

 A competence level of some import

Efficiently achieved and then assessed

37

The reform has a fly in the ointment

The classes assigned to the native speakers

That is causing a lot of discontent

To the tenured foreign language teachers

38

 Alarmed not for the loss of their place

But for the loss of their teaching load

And for the infringement of their space

Which will in point of fact be curbed and slowed

39

Rai’s interest in English goes way back

To the fifties when Jole Giannini

Taught it from a small screen then white and black

Today we have Mario Orsini

40

Searching the market for the best products

At one time funny and educative

With which RAI teaches and instructs

In a manner fresh and innovative

41

After the big National CLIL venue

At Imperia in 2008

 The Marche CLIL school net started a slew

Of  CLIL actions and a brisk CLIL debate

42

With the help of the University

Of Macerata hometown of Matthew

Ricci a man of versatility

Also known in China as Lì Mădòu

43

The Maceratans brought out linguistics

To prop up CLIL in a scientific way

The school net provided the logistics

And all the data for a CLIL survey

44

An agreement was made with another net

Linking the school libraries in all

The five provinces which has worked well yet

And is at everybody’s beck and call

45

Upon Urbino’s windy hill

In a famed University

Is kept alive the flame of CLIL

And of its methodology

46

A full course addressed to secondary

 Teachers with a good English competence

To reach a working CLIL mastery

  Will be presented at the conference

47

Courses adapted to diversity

 have long been in Ancona under way

At the CSAL of the University

In the former barracks of Villarey

48

The language experts will relate with grace

The blending of a course with a refresher

And the teaching problems they had to face

on the spot with great grace under pressure

49

A teacher who once lived in the US

Will come to the conference as a guest

He taught Italian literature at Amherst

the renowned University of Mass

50

And he lectured in English no mean feat

As most Americans are no bookworms

And Italian classics may sound obsolete

To those ill versed in literary terms

51

The best way to keep one’s limits unknown

Is not to exceed them wrote a wise man

A video on whose life will be shown

From a teacher who visited Japan

52

The man is Leopardi poet supreme

And this small region’s most distinguished son

Whose melodious pessimism is a theme

Dear to the People of the Rising Sun

53

“He twice gives who quickly gives” the saying goes

This conference was started with chickenfeed

but “The Beautiful Province” won my applause

meeting my requirements at double speed