Strasbourg 26 27 June 2008 THE LINGUISTIC INTEGRATION

Strasbourg, 26 -27 June 2008 THE LINGUISTIC INTEGRATION OF ADULT MIGRANTS Ministero della Solidarietà Sociale Direzione generale sull’immigrazione INTERGOVERNMENTAL SEMINAR “The new pilot project in Lombardy for adult migrant newcomers: “Certify your Italian. A language for knowing and making yourself known” Certifica il tuo Italiano. La lingua per conoscere e farsi conoscere” Direzione Generale Famiglia e Solidarietà Sociale Regione Lombardia - ITALY 1

Linguistic learning and migrants’ integration n Basing on these assumptions, the Lombardy Region, through decree n° VIII/001519 of December 22, 2005, adhered to a programme enacted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies meant to promote Italian language learning actions through the experimentation project called… 2

…“CERTIFY YOUR ITALIAN. A language for knowing and making yourself known” n n Free Italian courses foreigners Aimed at preparing them to get the “Italian Certification as a second Language” (Certificazione Italiano L 2) “Certifica il tuo italiano. La lingua per conoscere e farsi conoscere” 3

The project n n The project is a set of integrated actions among different institutions, which deal with immigration and foreign citizens’social and cultural integration. To carry out this project, and in order to regulate implementing the foreseen activities by specifying their purposes, the Lombardy Region (Family and Social Solidarity Department) signed a preliminary protocol with: q Osservatorio Regionale della Lombardia per l’integrazione e la multiethincità q Fondazione Ismu q Ufficio Scolastico per la Lombardia 4

Main objectives n n n 1) Improvement of Italian language skills for lately immigrated young and adults (in view of their full social and professional integration); 2) Spreading of the Italian Certification practice, according to the reference standards provided by the Common European Language Framework (in view of an improvement and enhancement of acquired skills); 3) increasing the number of issued certifications on a regional scale, and strengthening partnership and mutual cooperation among the institutions dealing with immigration. 5

The project’s main actions n n n Project promotion among migrants Teachers’ training courses (general and specific training on certification procedures) Implementation of free courses of Italian language for adult beginners with flexible and modular Implementation of the international certification (treshold levels) quantitative and qualitative monitoring 20 interviews (students, 4 focus groups (teachers), 169 questionaries (teachers), 664 questionnaires (students) 6

Progetto “Certifica il tuo Italiano” Ministero della Solidarietà Sociale Direzione generale sull’immigrazione La lingua per conoscere e farsi conoscere INTEGRATED ACTIONS 350 school teachers and volonteers 117 teachers of the Teachers’ training project courses Multilingual advertising Certification courses Italian l 2 • 125 schools, associations • 270 courses • 3. 100 new migrant adults involved • 1800 CILS, IT, PLIDA certificates issued IIS. Frisi Managerial and economic monitoring REGIONAL COMMETTEE Quantitative monitoring • Albanian • Arab • Brasilian • Chinese • French • Hindi Qualitative • English monitoring • Romanian • Russian • Spanish • Interviews • Tagalog • focus groups • questinoaries for teachers • Database migrant and students and teachers Dati del monitoraggio quantitativo ISMU 2007

The project network: different organizations n n network includes 122 members (local authorities, schools, territorial training centres, and other associations) The high number of different organizations that have adhered to network agreements is an evidence of the q q high visibility of this project Fulfilment of the objective to enlarging the territorial cooperation network among local authorities, school and private social organizations 8

Collected data n Preliminary analyses on collected data underline that the project reached 3. 100 new migrants: q q Women 69% Men 31% Women employed in the elderly’ assistance, young unemployed, emarginated adult migrants involved: q a network of 120 schools and institutions q 350 teachers in special training 9

Progetto “Certifica il tuo Italiano” Ministero della Solidarietà Sociale Direzione generale sull’immigrazione La lingua per conoscere e farsi conoscere Positive action for adult new migrants Felexible and modular duration: Università per 20 – 30 – 40 hours. Chance to take Stranieri di Siena the final examination CILS after 20 hours as well after 80 hours, in 1 month as well in 18 months Certification Università Roma 3 courses Italian L 2 IT Certification 125 School time: in the morning in the afternoon in the evening Società Dante Alighieri schools PLIDA Certification and different associations Dati del monitoraggio quantitativo ISMU 2007

Positive feedback from students’ questionaries “I have appreciated a lot Italian conversation at school, because outside I do not speak Italian. I do not have Italian friends” Their best motivations on attending these courses are the following: 1° For my job 2° To feel myself more confident 3° To go on my studies 4° To live better in Italy 11

Conclusion: some students’ final comment “Just yesterday night, I dreamt in Italian. This morning I told my husband: «Do you know that I have dreamt in Italian for the first time in my life? » “Writing a letter in Italian to express my gratefulness to those who helped me gave me a great satisfaction” Regione Lombardia - Direzione Generale Famiglia e Solidarietà Sociale For more info write at clara_demarchi@regione. lombardia. it 12

For information about projcet “Certifica il tuo italiano “ For more info on this project write at : clara_demarchi@regione. lombardia. it e. rinaldi@ismu. org nella. papa@alice. it Regione Lombardia Direzione Generale Famiglia e Solidarietà Sociale www. famiglia. regione. lombardia. it Ministero del Lavoro, della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali Direzione Generale dell’Immigrazione www. solidarietasociale. gov. it