The Adventure of Teaching and Learning

CNES and the English Language Teaching in the IGK

My vision guiding the CNES is that all students must have the opportunities and resources to develop the language skills they need to participate fully as informed and productive members of school and community society.  The standard assumes that language growth begins as soon as children enter school as they experience and experiment with language activities—reading and, a bit later, writing, and associating spoken words with their graphic representations.  Recognizing this fact, the CNES encourages the development of curriculum and instruction that make productive use of the emerging language abilities that children achieve at school.  Furthermore, the standard provides ample room for the innovation and creativity essential to teaching and learning.

European national education standards (Finish, Irish, Norwegian and others) are excellent models to develop Croatian original standard which will be compatible to our national and international needs and interests.

CNES is not a prescription for particular curriculum or instruction.  I want to emphasize that it is not distinct and separable; it is, in fact, interrelated and should be considered as a whole. Correlation between different school subjects is essential and, according to my experience so far, the most demanding task for teachers.
Here are some reflections I have assumed in my teaching since September 2005.

1.  Reading English texts has been neglected as a category of pupils' assessment. That's why I encourage my pupils to read a wide range of texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of Croatia and the English-speaking countries; they acquire new information and respond to the needs and demands of their education and our society in whole, but mostly for their personal fulfillment at this stage of their schooling. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction stories, printed and non-printed materials, check lists, self-assessment rubrics, newspaper articles, etc.

2.  Pupils are encouraged to apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other pupils in the class, their knowledge of word meaning, their word identification strategies using dictionaries during each English lesson, they often use graphics and evaluation forms in group work.

3.  Pupils adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. (guest-speaker, correlation to Math, Music, Geography, History...)

4.  Pupils employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. (language portfolio, planning a debate, invitation for debate, mind maps.)

5.  Pupils apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language (metaphors), and genre to create, critique, and discuss in their spoken production and interaction.

6.  Pupils conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people, ICT) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience. (Stage editorial staff, international communication, class/school projects)

7.  Pupils use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., school library, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

8.  Pupils develop their presentation abilities using ICT in regular and extra-curricula classes creating posters, mind maps, PowerPoint presentations, audio materials on various themes to understand and respect the diversity across cultures, different ethnic groups, geographic regions and social roles.

9.  Pupils who learn English as their second language develop competency in the Croatian language as well in other school subjects so they can also develop understanding of content across the curriculum.

10. Pupils use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information). In that way pupils can recognize the varieties of formal and informal knowledge.