Teaching English to Refugees in Italy: A Case Study

The story begins with a desire to make a difference in an Italian community by offering English classes to refugees. The intent was to help participants integrate into the local community and increase their chances for success if continuing on to another country. In practice, many of the things teachers thought they knew about teaching, from prior experience, mostly with adults, were based on assumptions that simply were not relevant in this specific context. In short, it quickly became clear that a thorough needs analysis and thoughtful consideration about participant and teacher expectations were essential in order for the course to reach its objectives. In this case, needs analysis was an opportunity for teachers to question and re-examine their teaching styles to better assess and effectively confront the real-life immediate needs of their students and update the course design accordingly. Trial and error and subsequent careful reflection directed teachers to move away from the teacher-centred approach

often relied on in the adult English classroom at the Associazione Italo Americana del FVG/American Corner Trieste and instead take a closer look at the success of the children's program to see if the strategies employed there could be adapted for an adult audience with varying levels of ability and prior educational exposure. This led to a shift towards experiencebased learning. Unlike the children's program, however, which used STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) principles as a general approach, it was hypothesized that teaching so-called Life Skills in English would meet the real-life needs of refugees in their new context and, at the same time, allow all participants to thrive in their own individual way. The change to experience-based learning proved successful in the refugee classroom and was later applied to all adult courses at the Association. [Publisher's Text]

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