T.I.P.D. Bulgaria February, 2005
The
Teachers International Professional Development is a Government funded
initiative which allows
primary and secondary teachers to visit other countries
which are having success in a particular area of pedagogy.
In February half-term
a group of seven teachers from Shropshire, accompanied by Languages advisor
Mike McAleavy, spent six days in Sofia, Bulgaria looking at the teaching
of foreign languages to children of primary school age. This visit was
made
to support our own work in introducing languages to all primary schools by
2010.
Of course, the status of languages in Bulgaria is radically different from
the UK. All businesses and banks as well as the hotel and tourist industries
have a vested interest in speaking a foreign language. Bulgaria is a relatively
poor country, keen to attract Western trade and holiday-makers and English
is overwhelmingly the language of choice for workers in these areas.
Equally, if someone is looking to leave Bulgaria for work abroad
- Bulgaria is hoping to become a full member of the EU - then a working knowledge
of a foreign language is essential.
Consequently pupils generally are more motivated then their UK counterparts - and receive much parental support. Having said that, there are still the pockets of dissent familiar to languages teachers here.
It will be interesting to see how universal foreign language provision is greeted in the UK...
Below are some images from our visit with accompanying notes and clarifications.
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Parents
place a great deal of emphasis on the learning of foreign languages
- especially English but also German. Some send their children to private schools and many more enroll their children at language schools which take place outside school hours and at weekends. |
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Pupils
at a private school. The class size was 17 and the children
explained in English the difference between |
The
last traces of the previous week's snow out side the school. Temperatures
had fallen
as low as -22°C |
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Some
schools in Bulgaria have special bilingual status. Most of the
curriculum in these institutions is taught through the medium of
a foreign language and one whole year is spent studying only Bulgarian,
maths,
science and the
foreign language. |
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Outside
a bilingual State School. In one part of the school much
of the curriculum is taught in Spanish. Similar schools exist for
German
and English. |
English
lesson at the blingual school. Classes still impressively
small and a good standard of English from most of the 10 yr-olds. |
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 |
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Lino
cuts by pupils of the Todor Minkov school. |
Shropshire
County Languages advisor, Mike McAleavy presents a souvenir to the
Headteacher of the |
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Unfortunately,
when we were in Sofia the schools were all closed after two days
owing to an outbreak of influenza - something which occurs every
two years or so. We still visited schools to discuss methodology with colleagues - but it did mean we had more time for sightseeing! |
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The dramatic opening of the spectacle This
is Bulgaria! Impressive
- if long at over two hours with no interval. |
The TIPD group outside School 20 - Todor Minkov |