Classe d’acollida???
I think only few schools have a classe d’acollida. It is easy to guess what it means. Foreign students that arrive to the school spend some time attending these classes, which allow them an adaptation period. There, they basically learn the language and get used to the new learning environment, with easy lessons on different subjects (maths, geography..).
Many students in my school have started in that group because many of them have arrived from a foreign country. Moreover, quite a few of them join the course at half term (families don’t plan their migration taking into account the school term).
Students of different age are mixed in the classe d’acollida. They don’t spend the whole day there, but attend some lessons with their regular group and join the aula d’acollida the rest of the day. Therefore each student has a different schedule.
As a general rule, they spend one semester in that group. After this adaptation period they join the regular group. One semester is never enough to master the language, but it is usually enough to follow (more or less) the classes.
What impressed me the most was seeing how difficult is for newcomers to understand our language. They always say kids pick up a new language very quickly. However, it is not so easy. It was sad to see teenagers (even those coming from Latin America) trying to read a book for preschool kids and not being able to pronounce a single word properly. And not to talk about their understanding!! They teach them to read mechanically at a first stage, so they try to read the letters but don’t understand what words mean.
Can you image a class with students aged 13, 14 and 15, all from different nationalities, with different educational background, unable to say or understand a word in the language, unable to communicate with each other, trying to read a book for kids? I felt like in a refugees’ camp. They don’t feel like rich students learning English in Brighton in a summer camp!
They know they are in a normal school, they know they are immigrants, they know they are not able to learn and some of them have hardly been to school before. At least, this is how I felt. Some of them were trying hard to overcome this situation but some of them had no motivation at all.
I think only few schools have a classe d’acollida. It is easy to guess what it means. Foreign students that arrive to the school spend some time attending these classes, which allow them an adaptation period. There, they basically learn the language and get used to the new learning environment, with easy lessons on different subjects (maths, geography..).
Many students in my school have started in that group because many of them have arrived from a foreign country. Moreover, quite a few of them join the course at half term (families don’t plan their migration taking into account the school term).
Students of different age are mixed in the classe d’acollida. They don’t spend the whole day there, but attend some lessons with their regular group and join the aula d’acollida the rest of the day. Therefore each student has a different schedule.
As a general rule, they spend one semester in that group. After this adaptation period they join the regular group. One semester is never enough to master the language, but it is usually enough to follow (more or less) the classes.
What impressed me the most was seeing how difficult is for newcomers to understand our language. They always say kids pick up a new language very quickly. However, it is not so easy. It was sad to see teenagers (even those coming from Latin America) trying to read a book for preschool kids and not being able to pronounce a single word properly. And not to talk about their understanding!! They teach them to read mechanically at a first stage, so they try to read the letters but don’t understand what words mean.
Can you image a class with students aged 13, 14 and 15, all from different nationalities, with different educational background, unable to say or understand a word in the language, unable to communicate with each other, trying to read a book for kids? I felt like in a refugees’ camp. They don’t feel like rich students learning English in Brighton in a summer camp!
They know they are in a normal school, they know they are immigrants, they know they are not able to learn and some of them have hardly been to school before. At least, this is how I felt. Some of them were trying hard to overcome this situation but some of them had no motivation at all.
posted by Marcal | 17:45
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