Teaching Italian as L2 for immigrants

Teaching Italian as L2 for immigrants Emilio Porcaro CTP «Besta» - Bologna

Where? • Centri Territoriali Permanenti per l’Istruzione e la formazione in età adulta (CTP) – Territorial Permanent Centre for adults Education and Training • State organizations under the authority of Ministry of Education (MIUR) • Formal and institutional learning • 542 centres in Italy • 39 centres in Emilia Romagna • 8 centres in Bologna Province

What do they do? • Courses to get “licenza media”, final diploma of first education level • Linguistic and social integration courses for foreigners (Italian as L2) • Basic operational courses (computer, foreign languages etc.)

Who teaches? • State teachers, under the authority of Ministry of Education • Teachers directly employed by CTP for short courses

CTP users • Academic year 2009-2010 = 134.410 foreign attendees (national figure) • 20.359 in Emilia-Romagna region Source MIUR

Courses organization • Level groups • Reference standard is Common European Framework Reference for Languages (CEFR) • About 60% of participants is at A1, A2, B1 levels • There is also a great number of participants at pre-A1 level, mainly foreigners either with lower education level or completely illiterate in their country of origin

Critical points: • In Italy is missing a law ruling teaching Italian as L2, neither in public nor in private sector • There isn’t a specific qualification/certification for teachers of Italian as L2, while there is for subjects as Maths, History, Physics etc. • There are qualified and up-to-dated teachers as well teachers with a lower qualification and not up-to-dated

Adult Education reform • Adult Education reform is at State level • Change from CTP (542) to CPIA (150) • CPIA: Centri Provinciali per l’Istruzione degli Adulti – Provincial Centres for Adult Education • advantages: more authonomy • disadvantages: resources cut (e.g. Italian language courses for foreigners will be reduced up to a maximum of 200 hours)

Solutions • To maintain a good level of service it’s important to create links and networks with other organizations , especially with private associations and volounteers organizations • Working together in an effective way means to set down shared agreements and standards • Several Regions, Emilia-Romagna among them, are working to reach this result

New elements Mainly two new elements: • Foreigners have to know Italian language if they ask for a long period residence permit • New entry foreigners asking for residence permit have to know Italian language

Italian Language knowledge test • Since 9th December 2010 all foreigners asking for “long period residence permit” must pass a test to prove their knowledge of Italian language at CEFR level A2 • Test is done at CTP venues

Long term residence permit can be obtained by immigrants regularly resident in itali since five years; they have to demonstrate to have a regular employment contract and a house (either as owner or rented) • This permit is permanent and allows to have several services and rights (e.g. It allows to enter in Italy without visa; to be employed; to participate to public activities; to attend courses; to use the services provided by public administration

How does the test work? • Test to assess knowledge of Italian language at CEFR level A2 • Test is made of three parts: • listening comprehension • written comprehension • written interaction

Who and how many pass the test? • The test is point based (from 0 to 100, the minimum for passing is 80 points) • In Emilia-Romagna about 10% of people fail to pass (about 13% at a national level) • Mainly because they don’t know Italian

What can we do? • To strengthen the network with associations • To identify the people with lower Italian knowledge and convince them to learn Italian • There are also people living in italy since ten years that have never attended a language course • Test helps to bring out these situations

Integration agreement • The integration agreement is related to foreigners new entry in Italy • The agreement is not a law yet • It foresees a complicated two years point system (the foreigner has to get at least 30 points in two years • If in two years the person doesn’t get 30 points he/she loses the residence permit

The agreement foresees the knowledge of italian at A2 level (oral comprehension) • It also foresees a basic knowledge of some simple citizenship elements (e.g. State, basic rights, local administration, health system, etc.) • It also states that 30 points can be acquired attending Italian language courses for foreigners at CTP (or also passing the first education level exam)

Positive element: • The foreigner attends the courses and learn Italian in a formal context Negative elements: • Learning is strictly related to a bureaucratic act • To learn the language is simply an obligation, a requirement to have the permit

An outlook • To valorize the qualified teachers • To create networks between formal (CTP) and non-formal systems (volounteers, associations etc.)

Final Seminar 27th October 2011 Bologna, Italy Project number 1 43337-LLP-1 -2008-1 – DE -KA2-KA2NW

Teaching Italian as L2 for immigrants