Project Bilingual education.

MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed

by the European Union under the European Social Fund

1
Study visit report

STUDY VISIT REPORT

STUDY VISIT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF
LJUBLJANA

23-27.03.2015

Participants name: Zahrah Nasser Alsadiq

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

2
Study visit report

1. General comments
The study visit report was prepared as the result of the study visit to
the University of Ljubljana 23-27.03.2015, that focused on singling
out the diffrences of the language learning and teaching of Poland
and Slovenia.

2. Purpose of the visit

The main purpose of the study visit was to obtain an overviewof the
Slovenian educational system. And to:
Compare the language education and language teacher
education in Slovenia and Poland
Know about the process of preparing teachers for CLIL
teaching
Using English in content teaching
Observing CLIL classes

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

3
Study visit report

Slovenia with its geographical position in the Central Europe and a

population of only about two million is a country where foreign
languages are highly valued and appreciated. Over 90% of the
population speak Slovene. In areas where Italian or Hungarian
ethnic communities reside, the official language is also Italian or
Hungarian. Serbian, Croatian and German are widely spoken
minority languages. That is a reason which supports learning
languages in Slovenia.
The formal starting age of foreign language learning in Slovenia
has been upgraded to begin with the 2nd graders. The Slovenians
followed the idea of M +2 according to which every citizen should
learn his\hers first language, plus two others from a very early age.
The main languages that are taught are English or German. I think

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

4
Study visit report

the circumstances of Slovenia and of the languages in it demand the

implementation of CLIL as a natural necessity.
The Implementation of CLIL within Slovenia is due to reactive
reasons which are the respond to an already created situation,
whereas proactive actually create new situations. CLIL Is carried out
for reactive reasons, with minority languages, such as Italian and
Hungarian in Slovenia. CLIL in Poland, Canada or in Spain will
defiantly differ from CLIL in France or any other country due to social
and cultural differences including linguistic diversity and attitudes to
English. And due to the flexible and dynamic nature of CLIL the
integration of foreign language with other subjects will be a
beneficial way to provide value-added educational outcomes for the
widest possible range of learners.
During our study visit we observed three CLIL lessons which
were examples of how a good CLIL lesson should be like. What were
the reasons behind this success is what fascinated me. From the

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

5
Study visit report

lessons of Nina Triller I have found the teachers availability and

strong and capable personality is a crucial starting point for lively
and energetic classes. Another reason was the schools atmosphere
and how the teachers and other faculty members are helping each
other so they can reach their aims. That was obvious from the
principles way of believing and encouraging her teachers.
The enthusiasm and passion which the teacher has can be
seen through her commitment to her work and to her students
good. Even though the way to reach the students well being may
take a lot of time and energy, a passionate teacher will do it. An
example of this can be Bernarda whose work extends the time of
the class or the subject of the lessons. She links her CLIL lessons
with out-of-the school or extracurricular dimension. She does that by
cooperating in projects with other schools from around the world.

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

6
Study visit report

Through which she addresses the culture part of CLIL.

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

7
Study visit report

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

8
Study visit report

Another important thing was that the teachers emphasized

the role of the language more than the language itself. What I mean
by that is that the teacher teats the language as means of
communication and not just as a system that governs the speech.
That was done through the assessment and the feedback. They did
not correct the student language mistakes rather they cared more
about the information. Throughout the 45 mints Nina did not correct
language mistakes except one time.

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

9
Study visit report

Teachers mostly use parsing and positive comments as the

way of assessment. Which I think motivates the students more than
grades. And what was really a great thing is when the teacher Nina
was checking the home work. First she associated it with a happy
thing when she calls it a surprise not home work. And she praised
the students publicly by displaying their work.

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

10
Study visit report

A thing which I could not understand is that in Slovenia They

do not expect the students to read or write until the 3rd grade. And
that is why they assess the spoken language and they emphasize its
importance. But in the 3rd grade the students were asked to write a
short description. I see that as a huge transition between no written

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

11
Study visit report

languages to write a number of sentences, although they did it in

pairs which made it easier.

One of the most important lessons which I got from the study
visit is that in order to understand the learning process in a
classroom one must understand the culture. Culture can be viewed

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

12
Study visit report

as system that guides and bounds life practices. It cannot be

inherited but it can be learned. People may share cultural
tendencies and pass them to the next generations; however,
cultural frameworks are never strict, and they are continually
developing.
A person who wish to live or work in a different culture than
his, should Have cultural awareness. And he should try to Increase
his knowledge about the cultural of the new place and to
understand the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of it.
Developing cultural skills and having a cultural encounter, that is to
be exposed to
People from different cultures, should be considered as an aim of
living and working in other cultures. On the other hand, this does
not mean to forget about his own culture but to reserve it and to
share it with the other.

Project Bilingual education. MA in teaching English to young learners as a second and foreign language co-financed
by the European Union under the European Social Fund

13
Study visit report

Especially for the teacher the ability to employ cultural

sensitivity and diplomacy is a key to understand the students and
their needs. The teacher should respect the students' culture and to
be proud of his\hers so the communication is clear and beneficial.