Lecturer education for English Medium Instruction

This paper reflects on the concept of English Medium Instruction, a growing activity at Spanish universities and a consequence of the European Higher Education Area, the internationalization of universities and the gradual interest in the different CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) models. The forces behind CLIL are presented along with the benefits for institutions and practitioners involved. Special attention is given to methodological implications with the purpose of demystifying the belief that English language competence is the only requisite and benefit of bilingual programs. The paper offers an overview of the spread of this practice in Spanish Universities as well as references to sources for further information. Another section presents some of the aspects related to the implementation of bilingual programs, mainly those referring to planning. Teacher education, competences required and linguistic needs are dealt with in the final section. The main contribution of the article could be some indications for trainers or for those who may undertake autonomous training to teach through English. The paper points at three areas from which knowledge about the linguistic needs can be obtained. In addition, these areas may help the content teacher to understand the different language types used in the classroom event.