Teachers who have been involved in the VIVACE/ALLEGRO experience have come from different backgrounds: university lecturers, trainers working in adult education, teachers from secondary education, student teachers. Some language teaching has been done by experts or professionals in other fields, occupational therapists for example.  They have come into contact with learners with very different needs from those they normally teach, giving them an opportunity for professional and personal growth.  They have had their perceptions about what is possible and achievable in terms of language teaching challenged.

All those who have worked in VIVACE/ALLEGRO have found the experience a positive one.  Many were concerned at the start about how they would relate to these very different kinds of learners and were pleased at how they built strong and relaxed relationships with them, often in relatively short periods of time. Teachers learnt valuable lessons about themselves, overcame their own prejudices and learnt new skills.

This is summed up by a comment from a teacher in the UK working with a group of adults with long-term mental health issues. She reported, “I have learned as much from the people I have been teaching as they have learned from me.”

In the Czech Republic, VIVACE initiatives were taught by volunteer student teachers from the University of South Bohemia who were training to become language teachers and also by practising teachers following courses in professional development.  Some of the trainees went on to make teaching languages to learners with special needs the subject of their MA theses.

In Germany in the ALLEGRO project Spanish was taught not by trained language teachers but by the staff in the institution.  This was the only case where a VIVACE or ALLEGRO initiative was taught long- term - over almost three years while the project was funded and then continued by the partner after ALLEGRO ended.  The occupational therapists and others who were involved reported that a major benefit for them had been new insights into what their clients were capable of and  new working methods for staff.

"In my role as a teacher in VIVACE in the UK, I found both freedom and satisfaction.

Freedom from established curricula and the constraint of formal testing, which allowed me to explore less conventional teaching methods and create a more open classroom where movement around the room was encouraged, and games and manual tasks an integral part of the activity. There was the opportunity to be creative and experimental. 

The satisfaction of finding that the learners enjoyed the experience and that, contrary to what one might have expected, their concentration was good and they were very interested.  This was one of the most worthwhile experiences of my 25 year teaching career."