Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

248taught in the foreign language exclusively. Moreover English is used as a mediumof instruction in about 200 Austrian Secondary Modern and Grammar Schools.(Abuja 2001) Recent data show that the number of students using English as aforeign language in non-language subjects is still rising. In the school-year 2003/0416,226% more students were taught one or more non-language subjects in a foreignlanguage than in the year 2002/03. (data from ÖSZ (Ed.) 2005, to be published inthe summer of 2005)Teacher-trainingAbout 82% of the teachers in “bilingual” classrooms of any type in Austria have ateaching diploma in the language and the non-language subject they are teaching inthe foreign language. (Grogger and Oestreich, 1997) The subject combination witha foreign language, however, is not required for teaching the “special” classes. If ateacher feels able to take up the job, he or she can do so. Neither of the two groupshave a specific didactic training for teaching non-language subjects in a foreignlanguage. Thus the design of and the practice in “bilingual” learning environmentsare predominantly based on personal experiences of teachers and to some degree onknowledge and insights obtained from in-service teacher-training. Teacher-trainingat universities has scarcely offered anything in the field, apart from some courseson the topic.The situation is a little different, though, at the “Pädagogischen Akademien”, wheresecondary modern school teachers are trained in Austria. Secondary modern schoolsin Austria are for 10−14-year-old students who do not attend grammar school. Thegrammar school is supposed to focus more on academic abilities whereas secondarymodern schools have a focus on preparing their students for an apprenticeship orsome other kind of vocational career. Some of the “Pädagogischen Akademien” offerprogrammes in which their students and practising teachers are trained together.As none of these “large-scale” activities has so far taken place in Salzburg theauthor has begun to offer special training for English as a medium of instruction forfuture Geography teachers on a regular basis at Salzburg University. This trainingincludes theoretical didactic background, designing lessons and practical teaching ofgeography in English at a Salzburg grammar school. Special consideration is givento moder teaching methods.Many researchers in this field found out that teachers in “bilingual” classroomsspend more time on structuring the contents of their teaching and on their teachingmethods than average teachers – this actually seems to be a necessity as there is the“language difficulty” which has to be managed. In addition to that D. Wolff (2002,p. 48) states that“The topics relevant in the content and language classroom help learners understandthe relevance of forms of collaboration which are unknown in the traditionalclassroom, for example group work or project work. ….On the whole, then, CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) createsa learning environment which corresponds much better to modern pedagogicalprinciples than do traditional learning environments.”