Chandigarh
24 April 2018
DIVYA AZAD
A five days International Training Programme under the (Content Language Integrated Learning) CLIL@India initiative of Erasmus+ (European Union programme for education) to propagate and promote regional languages (Punjabi and Hindi) in the region was inaugurated today at Chitkara University, Punjab campus . “Boot Camp- Seasoning to Enhance Teaching Learning Experience” themed informative Training Programme will highlight CLIL powered teaching.
Ms Harjinder Kaur, Chairperson, CCPCR (Chandigarh Commission for Protection Child Right) was the Chief Guest and Key note speaker in the inaugural sessiontoday. In her address, she expressed her concern that today the education system is only focusing on developing the professional skills using English as a medium of instruction. Due to this, language development has taken a backseat. She suggested that the textbooks and curriculum needs to be amended to provide space for regional languages. In her conclusion, she shared that language is to be adored and not imposed.
The session was followed by Introduction to CLIL@India by Prof. Neeta Inamdar, Coordinator CLIL@India & Head – Department of European Studies, Manipal Academy of Higher Education. In her key note address she expressed concern over textbooks in higher education in India for various subjects, which are largely published in English. She compared the scenario with Germany, where in order to preserve their own language; the medium of instruction in classes is their mother tongue. She highlighted that since India is a multilingual nation, it faces many challenges in adopting the European CLIL model. So, CLIL@India can come as a rescue to protect the regional languages.
Chitkara team conducted an orientation session –An Ice Breaking Digestive Walk Through. This was further followed by a session on ‘CLIL Methodology’ which included comprehension strategies and activities. A workshop was also conducted today by Dr. Luciana Pedrazzini & Dr Andrea Nava, Department of Foreign Language and Literature, University of Milan, Italy for the in-service Private and Government Primary School Teachers with an objective to promote innovative teaching practices, innovative learning practices, mother-tongue-based education and multilingual pedagogy.
Recounting her experience as a student, Vice Chancellor of Chitkara University, Dr. Madhu Chitkara reiterated the need for multilingualism as a way to connect with people, and voiced out her opinion on how training professionals immensely benefits the learner. She also added, “Eventually our forth coming generation is losing the touch of mother tongue in their daily life, which is of equal importance. Therefore, to bridge this gap the pedagogy should incorporate the usage of vernacular language as it has better impact on the students”.
The day 2 of the program will focus on interaction strategies and activities followed by methods to enhance interaction in a CLIL class. Hon’ble Vice Chancellor Prof. Gurmeet Singh, Pondicherry University will be giving a felicitation address. A workshop devoted to going through the books of grade 4 government and private school students will be organised wherein participants will be given an overview to frame learning objectives based on ‘Bloom’s Taxonomy’ .
Day 3 will be an academic tour of Chitkara International School, cultural mediation, focus on material evaluation, implementing material for a CLIL class, active learning strategies with respect to Indian classroom perspective and hands-on – developing active learning strategies.
The fourth day of the session involves rolling out of production strategies and activities, developing a CLIL lesson plan, presentations of CLIL lessons followed by feedback by all the partners.
The day 5 of the programme will be dedicated to an assessment in a CLIL class. The prominent points of the workshop to go on air on Radio Chitkara 107.8 FM.
