EXPERIMENT PROGRAM

What is essential in the education of today's youth? What skills are indispensable and how can education contribute to the project of internationality and Europe?

In our globalized world the knowledge of multiple languages is a quality that's essential for an international dialogue. Knowing foreign languages improves career prospects and allows students from all over the world to connect on a common basis namely language.

As an exchange student I am experimenting this international atmosphere and learning a new language. I have been in Italy for 3 months now and, thanks to Experiment and its High School Program, I have had the opportunity to live with an Italian family and attend the fourth year (4CL) in this linguistic school (Capriotti).

I come from a Berlin high school and my great desire was to learn Italian. In this linguistic school I am fulfilling this wish but at the same time I can practise my English with my classmates and my teachers.

I feel really lucky to be in this wonderful school! The school atmosphere is broadening my horizons. My classmates study three languages and while I am learning Italian my classmates and my host ‘sister’ (the girl who is hosting me) are practising English and German with me.

Learning languages has never been so enthusiastic for me and for them: we help one another in communicating, we have debates, we learn from our mistakes. We really develop multiculturalism, thanks to the different activities that our teachers propose.

Among these the one that I like the most is CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning. Adapted by the Italian government this approach has its focus on connecting content and language in a new subject. In the school I am attending, we regularly have the subject called “civic education” where lessons are held in English. In these lessons we discuss the question of human rights, international migration and the latest news concerning international & national political and social developments. The lessons become a dialogue between teacher and students and while we are improving our English by speaking we also bettered our general knowledge.

While studying I find that this subject has soon become one of my favorites because other students are often much more confident in speaking English, as the focus is not only on grammar but also on the content of what they are saying. In addition to this my competent History and Philosophy teacher, Mrs Fiorella Marchei, has given me the leadership role in the civic debate and, of course, I am very proud of it!

I think that CLIL is a very good tool and that it should even be extended.

Multilingualism is a key feature of European and international communication, comprehension and collaboration.