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Bridge Partnership Provides Professional Development for Colombian University Faculty
A focus on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
Bridge recently partnered with Colombia’s Universidad del Rosario to provide Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Methodology training to the Bogota-based university's faculty. This initial professional development opportunity for faculty in the English and Business departments has been well-received. Given the excellent results and reviews, both Universidad del Rosario and Bridge hope to continue cultivating a successful partnership.
Challenge
A Lack of Engaging Materials
Universidad del Rosario is dedicated to training their faculty to deliver high-quality CLIL classes in areas such as Business, Engineering, and Humanities in English. One of the more pressing challenges that the university faced was providing the faculty with interesting and engaging materials focused on communicative functions rather than grammar and vocabulary.
“Most of the English teachers are interested in exploring the real use of the language in diverse contexts and all they have is textbooks that limit the experience of the students,” explained Fray Martín Martínez Páez, the program coordinator at the university.
With access to the Bridge 60-hour Specialized Certificate: Advanced CLIL Methodology, the university faculty addressed this issue, as well as the lack of modern teaching strategies and teaching tools that make English more accessible to students and help them through their learning process.
According to Fray Martínez Páez, certified training (especially from foreign institutions) is sought after for professional development throughout Colombia.
“Most of the English teachers are interested in exploring the real use of the language in diverse contexts and all they have is textbooks that limit the experience of the students.”
- Fray Martínez Páez, Internationalization of Curriculum Officer
Solution
Innovative Approaches
With access to the 60-hour Specialized Certificate: Advanced CLIL Methodology course, the Universidad del Rosario faculty went through six modules of interactive exercises and practice activities that check comprehension. The trainees engaged with course content that differed from the teaching strategies that they were used to.
In addition, this course provided a personal tutor who gave feedback on assignments and answered any questions throughout the course. Fray Martínez Páez also highlighted the exchange of ideas and experiences with other trainees around the world on the class discussion boards.
“More than resources that they can easily find online, both teachers and learners enjoy and are encouraged to learn when there is a conversation club or a collaborative project with other English speakers,” he explained.
“More than resources that they can easily find online, both teachers and learners enjoy and are encouraged to learn when there is a conversation club or a collaborative project with other English speakers.”
- Fray Martínez Páez, Internationalization of Curriculum Officer
Results
Satisfaction Across the Board
The course licenses for faculty across different university disciplines proved to be a success. After completing the modules, 100% of trainees said the program helped them improve as English teachers, 100% of trainees would recommend Bridge to a colleague, and 100% overall satisfaction rate was reported by teachers in the program.
“It is a very interesting course. I learned a lot.”
– Pilar Salazar, local area teacher
“It is a very interesting course. I learned a lot,” said Pilar Salazar, a local area teacher currently enrolled in the university’s business school.
With the high satisfaction rate, Bridge is hopeful that this partnership will continue to develop. Fray Martínez Páez agreed.
“Although we have only worked with Bridge in this CLIL course, I have seen another three Bridge courses that seem really interesting for our teaching development program,” he said.
Overall, the partnership has given excellent results because the faculty who had access to the Bridge course have found in both the methodology and the linguistic approach an opportunity to enhance their teaching experience. “In the classroom, they feel more confident to do any new CLIL activity rather than keep on using the same old materials they used to work with. They don’t have to spend so many hours thinking on how to teach the language, but they can now concentrate on finding new references and content according to their discipline instead,” concluded Fray Martínez Páez.
“In the classroom, they feel more confident to do any new CLIL activity rather than keep on using the same old materials they used to work with. They don’t have to spend so many hours thinking on how to teach the language, but they can now concentrate on finding new references and content according to their discipline instead.”
– Fray Martínez Páez, Internationalization of Curriculum Officer
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