APPInep or the Portuguese English Teachers Association’s núcleo de ensino precoce, according to its original name, was established at the 14th annual APPI conference in Oporto in 2000, in an attempt to provide a support structure for teachers working with English in Portuguese pre-schools and primary schools.
APPInep is a Special Interest Group within APPI which focuses on teaching children under 10 years old. In 2000 the acronym APPInep stood for Associação Portuguesa de Professores de Inglês-núcleo de ensino precoce. Since the recent inclusion of English within the compulsory provision of extracurricular primary education, the concept precoce (premature, before a statutory time) now seems inappropriate. After much discussion it was decided that the acronym should remain APPInep, as it had become well-known as such, however it now stands for Núcleo de Ensino no Primeiro Ciclo e Pré-Escolar.
Since 2000, APPI has been working continuously with this teaching level, to contribute for a high quality of educational practice. APPI’s activity is largely focused in this field and as such, involves several different areas of interest within this field. As a result APPInep participated in some of the activities listed below.
The APPInep Bulletin, with practical ideas for teachers working in Portuguese primary and pre-schools has been published in every issue of the APPI Journal (www.appi.pt) , as well as appearing as a Special edition in September 2005.
APPI co-organised two international conferences in Portugal on the theme of teaching English to primary and pre-school children. The first on November 2001, at Escola Superior de Educação, Lisbon, and it was organized in a partnership with IATEFL (www.iatefl.org). The second one was organized with British Council British Council (http://www.britishcouncil.org/portugal.htm) on October 2005, also in Lisbon, at Sana Malhoa Hotel.
In-service training courses have been promoted through APPIforma. Non-accredited courses for teachers have also been run for teachers interested in learning about teaching young children.
APPI colaborated with the Portuguese Ministry of Education to write the Orientações Programáticas (click here) for the Programa de Generalização do Inglês no 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico, that is English teaching in 3rd and 4th years of primary education, organized and written by the and APPInep committee.
APPI was asked by the Portuguese Ministry of Education to write the Orientações Programáticas (click here) for the 1st and 2nd years of primary education, creating a speficic group for this task.
APPI and APPInep is collaborating in the publication of a Portuguese version of a European Primary Language Portfolio.
More recently, a special day for APPInep has been included at the APPI annual conferences, with a plenary speaker and a whole day of presentations focussing on working with primary and pre-school children.
In April 2006 APPInep set up a virtual discussion group for Portuguese English Teachers working in primary schools. This discussion list features organised discussions as well as impromptu ones, and provides a forum for teachers to meet and support each other.Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/primary-english-teachers