INTEGRATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL BILINGUAL PROGRAMS WITH SCIENCE COMMUNICATION FOR CONTENT AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

This study describes the experiences of an initiative that has been carried out in close collaboration by La Eria High School of Oviedo, the University of Oviedo and several European researchers to enhance the bilingual High School training program (BP). Nowadays, the ability to speak more than two languages is of considerable relevance: career opportunities significantly rise according to the number of languages one can speak. In Spain, where historically there exists a lack of English speakers, a remarkable investment is currently underway to reinforce English language instruction. Consequently, BPs have been promoted both in Elementary and High Schools (ES and HS) as well as in Higher Education (HE) and universities. The main idea of BPs is that teachers with suitable English skills will teach core subjects in English; thus, students indirectly improve their English abilities while they are actually studying other subjects. Obviously, the number of subjects ranges from one or two in the ES and HS, to the whole courses in the HE. In the former, the subjects usually taught in English include Music and Arts as these subjects promote more interaction among the students.
This initiative started to take form when a seventh year BP student's parent proposed that the BP coordinator inviting two European researchers to deliver a scientific talk to the BP students covering some general topics tailored to age and interest. The aim of the initiative was twofold: on the one hand, the students would take part in a challenging English activity and, on the other hand, it would awaken their interest in science activities and eventually help students to decide on possible career paths. The University of Oviedo Student Bureau was invited to present its bilingual degrees so the students could be aware of the possibilities of higher education in English. The researchers’ talks did not require prior knowledge on the topics addressed and the Q&A discussion after each talk incorporated the students’ English communication skills and a certain understanding of the talks.
The experience took place on a Field Day, when BP students from a second HS of the same city came to visit and spend the day at La Eria HS as part of an exchange event. Therefore, a schedule for the Field Day was arranged with several activities promoting the interaction in English among BP students from both HSs. According to this schedule, in the middle of the morning, the University of Oviedo should start its talk about the offered bilingual degrees followed by the talks from the two European researchers via the Internet. All these talks took place in the La Eria HS meeting room, which has the capacity for the expected amount of BP students and the technology required for supporting the science communications and discussions over the Internet.
The Field Day was arranged for March 26th, 2013, before the Holy Week holiday. All the students gathered in the meeting room, and the tension was thick in the air; once the proceedings started all of them relaxed and ultimately enjoyed the event and the discussion on the science topics was very captivating. The experience, which seemed to encourage the BP students to enhance their English skills, was evaluated using questionnaires and interviews. The organizers expect to periodically repeat the workshop. Plans have been made to contact the FameLab –a British Council program– to recruit researchers who might carry on the science talks.