Proud to be tvmbo - Kortlopend Onderwijsonderzoek

Some students accept that I only speak English, others not. It is very difficult when the
levels of English are so diverse within a class to make sure that everyone has understood
the content of the lesson. I resorted to putting the Dutch translation so they have
a better idea. However, with the weaker students I spend more time with assignments
to give them all the help they need. These after lesson sessions with only a few students
seem to have a lot of impact. Having said that, students seem more than happy
talking in English to me outside the lessons, and only outside English lessons do I
really speak Dutch.’ This quotation is representative of what other teachers believe.
Some teachers are optimistic about the future: ‘I think tvmbo in my school will be
very successful. At this point we are busy developing lessons and I think it is too early
to tell if it is a success. We could share more practical assignments.’ ‘We're developing
a strong curriculum with supporting subject, EIO lessons, project week, trip to
England, etc. the fact that we have a wide range of activities is what makes it successful.
For myself, I think I can use English more in my lesson, to get the children to use
it more themselves.’
Other teachers talked about the fact that tvmbo has just started and drew careful conclusions
about their schools. For example, ‘We just started! Wait and see... A lot of
students can't speak proper Dutch...They have now to do with 3 languages.’ ‘We still
have a long way to go. Haven't started with EIO yet.’ ‘Het is nog geen succes. We
zijn een kleine school met te weinig CAE (Cambridge Advanced English) leraren.
Meer collega's moeten hun CAE halen, meer lestijd moet in het Engels. E-twinning
gaat niet zonder problemen.’ ‘We have just started so at this stage it is difficult to say
if tvmbo is a success. There is still a lot of development to do and I think it will need a
lot of time and willpower to make tvmbo a success.’ ‘I can’t say it is a success yet,
we just started. A few students couldn’t handle the English and will not go to 2
vmbo T.’
One teacher mentioned that ‘The participation of the colleagues makes it a success’
and another mentioned the other side of the question: ‘We don’t work as a team and I
think that is necessary to create a good tvmbo TTO program’. Apparently building a
team is important for teachers.
From their remarks, it appears that the general feeling about tvmbo that schools are
relatively optimistic about the future and that it is important to create a team which
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