Abstract:

Mastering a second language is a necessity in today’s complex and interconnected world and for that reason it should be a top priority in any educational system, particularly in Higher Education.
At university level, teaching staff and student mobility is part of our daily activity and it implies a high level of proficiency in a foreign language. Although in recent years, the concept of plurilingualism has grown in importance due to the Council of Europe’s approach to language learning, we must recognise that English has a dominant position in international communication.
From this framework, the new Spanish curricula, based on the European Credit Transfer System, will demand from our students to accredit their competence in a foreign language at level B1 (according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).
At present, universities are in a process of discussion and proposal of their new curricula. Particularly at the Faculty of Education and Humanities in Melilla, we are mainly working on two Degrees: Infant and Primary Education.
According to the Ministerial Orders for these courses, it is not explicitly clear how students can reach the level B1 as contents in foreign language have been significantly reduced compared with our present courses, already insufficient.
Concerned for this unfavourable situation of our students, a group of professors of this Faculty are participating in an Innovation Project, with the objective of adapting our classes to a bilingual education (Spanish and English). We will also promote a collaborative learning methodology including some students of English as a Foreign Language as advisor in the groups of professors who need linguistic assistance.
The project will last three academic years. In January, 2009, all the professors will take a course in English until June. At the same time they will begin working on theoretical and practical activities in small heterogeneous groups. From October, 2009, onwards, and following the content-based approach, classes will be in English.
We hope that in the end of this project all the participants (professors and students) have improved their communicative competence in English. In order to control their levels, professors are doing a placement test which will be used, firstly, to form groups and, when the project finishes, it will be repeated and test the final level reached.

Keywords:

innovation project, bilingualism, collaborative methodology, teacher training.