French preparation course for teachers’ mobility

After announcing the course, both in schools and in the IUFM, two teacher students and two in-service-teachers confirmed their interest in taking part in the course. Italian language is studied only in a few schools in France.
Both students attended a DNL course in English (preparatory course to teach mathematics in a foreign language: CLIL), and it was worth waiting for the end in order to take advantage from this experience. That is why the course took place from May 2008 till the end of November 2008.

The preparatory course was divided in eight units of three hours.

Unit 1	May 2008	Cultural and linguistic preparation of the teacher. General presentation of the host school. First contact with the foreign school language and its area.
Unit 2	June 2008	Classroom language Discussion about the document Fare lezione in italiano
Unit 3	June 2008	Mathematics curricula Discussion about mathematics curricula in lower secondary school of the hosting country and especially in the participating classes.
Units 4, 5,6	September - October 2008	Work on the selected topics Introduction of the two selected topics (equivalence of fractions and theorem of Pythagoras). Discussion and elaboration of a teaching unit for each selected topic using workbooks of guest and hosting country. Learning required mathematical language for each topic. Use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology).
Units 7,8	November 2008	Teaching units test Presentation of the two selected teaching units (equivalence of fractions and theorem of Pythagoras). Discussion about language, content and eventual problems to anticipate. Last pieces of advice.

All points described in units of the previous document were carried out. We added on three visits for the two teachers (trainee and teacher in service) who will go to Italy, in “Liceo italiano Leonardo da Vinci” in Paris. The head master and teacher Renata Peruffo gave them a warm welcome.

Some more explanations:

The project was explained. The Italian school system was introduced.

The hosting school and its area were described.

Classroom language

The document Fare lezione in italiano has been discussed.
The participants who had already thought about the subject asked for more precisions and we added some elements to the initial glossary.

Preparation of the test teaching

Special vocabulary, differences between curricula.

We worked with the participants using the Italian text books. By reading the chapters about theorem of Pythagoras and equality of fractions, we observed differences in the way of saying mathematical notions or writing some mathematical notations. The discussion about our observations was useful for the preparation of the test teaching.

Visit to the «Liceo italiano Leonardo da Vinci» in Paris

The mathematics teacher of the Italian school in Paris kindly accepted to receive our participants in her courses. They attended to three lessons. That was a great opportunity for them before going to Pisa to become aware of the concrete differences between French and Italian school systems, to observe the way which the Italian teacher conducts her lessons and compare it to their own practice. They added classroom language or specific vocabulary to our glossary.
Discussion about the visits: language questions; working rhythm and working methods of pupils, exchanges between pupils.

Test teaching

The two teachers who will go to Pisa presented part of the lessons and were filmed.
Language corrections and discussion about the tested units followed these presentations.