Case Studies

The information for the Case Study was collected during an interview with Daniela Salis, teacher at the Linguistic High School “Giuseppe Mazzini” of La Spezia, Italy. Daniela Salis represents the promoting institution of the “Nouvelle approche en classe de maths: le français au service de la géométrie euclidienne”.

The background of the “Nouvelle approche en classe de maths: le français au service de la géométrie euclidienne” project is represented by the possibility to carry out an innovative idea: to join the study of Geometry and French language. The CLIL approach will be a standard procedure in the future. Thanks to this project, the Linguistic High School “Giuseppe Mazzini” decided to establish a first contact with the CLIL approach in order to develop the skills and the know-how of the students.

The project target group is composed by the students of the Linguistic High School “Giuseppe Mazzini” of La Spezia.

The project target language is French.

The “Nouvelle approche en classe de maths: le français au service de la géométrie euclidienne” project aims to spread the main Euclidean contents in a non conventional way in order to stimulate the active participation of the students. The project allows the students to acquire those specific abilities thanks to the help of a software and the use of the French language. In addition, the project encourages the teamwork and the synergy between different subjects.

The “Nouvelle approche en classe de maths: le français au service de la géométrie euclidienne” project started from the fact that Maths is not the favourite subject for a linguistic high school. From this, the idea of an alternative process based on a more practical contact with the Euclidean concepts and a more direct dialogue between two different subjects. Then, the active participation of the students and their constructive feedback guaranteed the success of the project.

The main results of this project concern both the students and the teachers. Students were more enthusiastic studying a subject they considered a difficult one and more confident using French as a vehicular language. Teachers understood the benefits of the CLIL approach and began a more open dialogue among them.

The Linguistic High School “Giuseppe Mazzini, the “Nouvelle approche en classe de maths: le français au service de la géométrie euclidienne” project promoter, decided to submit the application for the European Language Label without a particular objective. The application form was filled in by the headmaster of the school, who asked for the support of the teachers.

The Label confirmed the excellence of the project, which is highly transferable and innovative: an international award is the best way to show the activities carried out by an institution within a European context.

The logo of the Label was used on the Linguistic High School “Giuseppe Mazzini” website and on the official documents. The news was also spread among the local newspapers. Finally, on the occasion of the “open day”, when the school was presented to potential future students and parents, the initiative that was awarded the Label was used as the example of the quality of the activities carried out by the school.

The official recognition confirmed the quality of the work carried out by students and teachers, who were positively convinced about the utility of the CLIL approach.

In order to develop a quality project in the field of Language learning, the Linguistic High School “Giuseppe Mazzini” advices to hardly work on it: every detail has to be precisely planned.

The European Language label in an important international award which is not well known in Italy. According to the project promoter, the Italian public bodies in charge of education should be more aware of the meaning of the European Language Label and recognize the quality of the schools who were awarded it.

The NELLIP Network selected the “Nouvelle approche en classe de maths: le français au service de la géométrie euclidienne” project for its consistency with the political priorities of the European Commission in the field of language learning. In particular, the excellence of the “Nouvelle approche en classe de maths: le français au service de la géométrie euclidienne” project lies in its capacity to promote new approaches to language teaching and learning, developing the specific skills of the students and helping the collaboration among the teachers.