From Teacher to Learner to Teacher - Primary School Teachers as learners of English: the experiences in Parma, Reggio Emilia and Salsomaggiore Terme

As English language trainers of Primary School Teachers over the past few years, in this paper we aim to present our own experiences and the experiences of our teacher-learners. Our learners are 'unusual' students in that they are not only learners who are also working, but are teachers themselves who will go and teach what we have taught them in their own language classroom. This is a challenge for us as trainers, as we are constantly judged by students who, in a way, are our colleagues. Being experienced teachers, they are often able to understand the underlying methodology of what we are doing, and are looking for strategies and techniques they will be able to adopt in class with their own pupils. At the same time they are dealing with teaching children at school as well as a new course. Sitting behind a desk as a student after several years of teaching is a challenge for them too. All these elements have contributed to increasing our own self-awareness as ‘teachers of teachers’ and their self-awareness as ‘teacher learners’ of the English language. Indirectly, this implies both self-development and teacher development for both ourselves and our students. What we are interested in as trainers is not only the immediate reaction of our learners but also, and especially, what happens when the course is over and they enter their classrooms as teachers. Our aim is to produce motivated teachers who want to continue improving both their English and their teaching skills.