Training EFL students in cultural event planning and implementation

The academic year 2009/2010 has seen the birth of a new post-bachelor degree in “Languages and Intercultural Communication in the Euro-Mediterranean Area” at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, Italy. The nature of this degree is unusual since it represents a joint venture between the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures and the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy. Graduates are meant to leave the program with a keen awareness of the importance of the multilingual and intercultural approach required to mediate, re-mediate and inter-mediate the ties that keep members of the multi-faceted Mediterranean reality connected. In order to satisfy some of the degree goals and cultivate “mediation skills” via verbal, non-verbal, and persuasive communication, first-year students attended a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) course on communication, with a special focus on Peace Education. Theory and practice combined and culminated in the implementation of the first academic convention entirely organized and run by EFL students. Peace Open Day 1 (POD 1) was held on May 26, 2010. Organizers, participants, academicians, and radio interviewees attested its full success and hoped for a POD 2 to see the light in a near future. Recent developments demonstrate that the obtained success was not ephemeral. This paper supports CLIL methodology; traces the main steps in the implementation of a cultural event as the outcome of a laboratory for foreign language learning, presents original data taken from the convention, and advocates the inclusion of peace education in foreign language curricula.