A Long Hard Climb – Getting from the Bottom to the Top of the CLIL Incline / Une ascension longue et difficile – comment gravir la pente de l’EMILE

Even in an educational system which imposes many formal restrictions, has limited financial resources and is not renowned for its success at language teaching and learning, English Medium Programmes (EMP) implementing a CLIL approach can be successful. This success depends on multiple factors: the support of management at all levels; a belief in the (added) value of EMPs; determination to identify and achieve shared objectives; an awareness in all stakeholders of what EMPs entail with particular consideration of the implications of teaching/learning in an “international” classroom; and a high degree of interaction and cooperation between discipline teachers and language teachers. Only when this cooperation is fully operational can we talk about CLIL rather than ESP/EAP running alongside the core disciplines of the EMP. This paper outlines the pitfalls, challenges and achievements of the transformation of an Italian “Laurea Specialistica” into an International English Medium CLIL Programme.