SAMPLE CLIL LESSON PLAN – PRIMARY SCHOOL ART
Grade and age group 2nd Grade, 7-year-olds
Level Pre-A1 (beginners)
Subject Art
Duration / Time Single, isolated lesson
available 2 hours
Topic Calder mobiles
Aims/goals • To increase students’ knowledge of art, specifically modern art and
sculpture
• To develop students’ knowledge of functions and content-related lexis,
specifically geometric shapes, art materials, commands, motion
• To develop all four language skills, with emphasis on listening (instruction)
and speaking (answering questions posed to them)
• To engage the children with a fun, hands-on activity
Expected outcomes • Students will be able to identify a 3-dimensional structure as a work of art
and will be able to follow step-by-step instructions to produce a copy of
mobile sculpture
• Students will reinforce their knowledge of geometric shapes, colours and
classroom materials
• Pupils will learn the fundamentals of balance and symmetry and understand
how a work of art can interact with the world around it
• Students will become familiar with the style of Calder
Materials • A photo collage of various artists (preferably while painting and sculpting)
and types of artwork (paintings and sculptures), including modern art
sculptures
• A photograph of Calder
• Photographs of Calder mobiles
• A ready-made Calder mobile
• Geometric shape flashcards
• A4-sized bristol board in various colours (one for each child and the teacher
plus three small squares in different colours per person); cut the ends off
one of the A4 sheets to make a large square for each child
• Metal wire (two pieces for each child + for the teacher, pre-cut in two
different lengths: 35cm and 35cm approximately)
• Scissors
• Glue
• A rubber
• A pencil
• Small stickers (one per person)
• Scotch tape
• A stapler and/or paperclips (4 per child)
Functions • Interacting by answering questions, and asking for clarification
• Following instructions related to making things (cut, paste, etc.)
• Classroom language (“Can you repeat that please?”, etc.)
• Asking for things (“Can I have…?”)
• Thanking
Structures (through • Imperative forms
context) • Present simple (BE and other verbs)
• Present continuous
• Simple questions
• Short answers
Vocabulary • Shapes
• Colours
• Classroom materials (scissors, scotch tape, etc.)
• Art-related vocabulary (artist, sculpture, etc.)
• Topic-specific vocabulary (mobile, moves, wire, change, etc.)
Premise The topic and tasks will impart knowledge of the chosen subject and topic
whilst allowing the students to practice their English comprehension skills and
learn new lexis and functions
Procedure
Lead-in: introducing • The teacher shows a picture of artworks (art) and points out which are
the basic subject and paintings and which are sculptures.
topic-specific lexis • The teacher shows a picture of artists painting and sculpting. (He/She is a
(5-10 minutes) painter/sculptor).
Introducing the topic • The T shows pictures of Calder mobile art; explains that it’s a famous
to the students(5-10 sculpture by an artist named Calder.
minutes) • The T shows the ready-made Calder mobile; makes it move; asks the Sts
what’s happening. Tell them it’s moving. (TPR – moving with the wind –
mime wind and moving with the breeze – sts copy).
• T explains that it’s a sculpture that moves and therefore changes. Show how
it looks different as it moves.
• That type of sculpture is also called a mobile. (write mobile on board, elicit
meaning)
• Explain that the pieces are balanced (mime balance – get children to do
standing yoga poses for balance) and move with the wind or by people
interacting with it.
• Say that we’re going to make a Calder-style sculpture.
Pre-teaching task- • Draw shapes on the board (circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval).
related lexis (15-30 • Elicit or teach names.
minutes) • Drill them with Sts, including asking the wrong question (ex. “Is this a
square?”) to elicit short answers (ex. “No, it isn’t! It’s a triangle!”)
• Optional physical activity: place flashcards around the class and command
pairs of students to “Go to the red triangle” or “Bring me the black
rectangle”
• Add colours to the shapes. Practice adjective-noun order by drilling the
complete description. Insist on complete sentences (“It’s an orange circle”).
• Do a drawing dictation (“Draw a square”, “Show me your drawing.” Etc.).
• Do a pairwork activity to test comprehension and practice speaking: two
children come up to the board. Show one child a flashcard with a coloured
geometric shape on it. That child tells the other child to draw the shape and
colour (“Draw a blue circle”). Rotate pairs until all have come up to the
board.
• When all have come up, practice question forms. On a rotation basis, the
children play teacher. They point to a coloured shape and ask “What shape
is this?” and the class answers.
Step-by-step • Do all actions with the children in real time
instruction and task • Show them one of the coloured bristol board squares. Elicit the shape name
(30-45 minutes) and colour.
• Point to the corners and teach corner. Ask how many corners. Count
together.
• Ask a student to hand out the large coloured paper squares and stickers.
Use this opportunity to practice “Here you are.” “Thank you” and “You’re
welcome”.
• Show the different sized squares and teach “big” and “small”
• Ask them to stick the sticker on a corner of the big square (make a song out
of it: “Stick a sticker on the big rectangle, on the big rectangle, on the big
rectangle”. Tell them the sticker is important.
• Teach FRONT and BACK (illustrate meaning with body and with a book)
• Look and listen and wait (mime)
• Make a triangle by folding corner to corner (finger down the middle
technique).
• Ask them “What shape is it now? Is it still a square?” Elicit “triangle”.
• Open it up (what shape is it now?) and fold the other way, corner to corner.
(What shape is it now?)
• Now turn it over. Is the sticker on top or on the bottom (demonstrate top
and bottom)?
• Fold it in half with the sticker inside. What shape is it now?
• Open it (what shape is it now?) then fold it in half the other way (what
shape is it?)
• Open it up. Point out all the lines that intersect. Put their rubbers on their
desks and centre the coloured paper on the rubber. Punch a small hole in
the centre of the paper with the point of their pencils.
• Ask a student to hand out one piece of wire to each student. (Elicit “thank
you”, etc.)
• Prepare pieces of scotch tape
• Instruct students to poke about a finger’s length of wire through the hole
and tape it to the vertical line on the back of the square (the side that has a
sticker on it)
• Rub glue on all the outside edges of the wire side (the side with the sticker)
• Sticker-side in (wire in), gather the edges together. It should look like a
star/pyramid.
• Staple or paper clip the edges closed until the glue dries
• Straighten the wire so that it stands vertically
• Bend the top into a horizontal S shape (draw that on the board)
• Ask 2 students to hand out the small coloured paper squares (2 colours per
child) (Thank you/You’re welcome routine)
• Students cut two big ovals of the same size in one colour and two of a
smaller size in the other colour
• Cover the smaller ovals with glue
• Place the ends of the short wire on top of the larger ovals, one on each end,
then stick the smaller ovals to the bigger ones, sandwiching the wire ends to
the big ovals
• Bend the wire a bit to make a sad mouth
• Balance the curved horizontal wire on top of the vertical wire
• When they’ve found the balance point, bend the wire into a point like an
inverted V in that spot, then bend the sides up again, to form a W
Four skills: additional • Worksheet(s) (gap fill, matching exercise or other) to evaluate knowledge of
or complementary key vocabulary (shapes, colours, art words)
tasks and activities • Students think of a name for their creation and create a labelled diagram of
(20-30 minutes) their sculpture
Assessment • Informal assessment through students’ oral replies, through perceived
understanding of oral instruction and correct completion of worksheets
Optional activities • DURING: create a “making of” hyperlapse video of the work in progress
• DURING AND AFTER: students create a picture collage of their creations
• AFTER: students place all the completed sculptures together on a table or
on the floor and open the window or use a fan to create a breeze, and take
a slow-motion film of the sculptures in motion
Evaluation/Notes • Students were engaged, and enjoyed the lesson. Learning outcomes were
met and positively assessed.