As a visiting teacher, the focus of the after-school English 'top-up' classes I teach is predominantly on speaking. These classes give pupils from local primary and secondary schools additional opportunities to communicate with others in English. Due to the diverse classroom environments, I need to draw on a variety of teaching approaches, including materials-light teaching such as Dogme.
I have also taught week-long immersion courses in which school pupils spent several hours a day in an English-speaking environment. They explored different topics through listening and reading authentic materials, as well as discussions and group presentations. In this context, my role is to facilitate language learning by responding to the students' spontaneous spoken or written English. I have enjoyed experimenting with various teaching methods that include Project-based Learning (PBL) and Inquiry-based Learning (IBL).
I have recently started teaching CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) courses
at a local primary school in Milan, for which I use different curriculum
subjects as the 'content' of my lessons. After identifying the vocabulary
related to a curriculum subject, I combine it with grammar and
create/design a range of communicative practice activities for my
students.