CLIL

Content and Language Integrated Learning

CLIL - Classroom principles

 Language is used to learn as well as to

communicate

 It is the subject matter which

determines the language needed to
learn
CLIL

 Subject – in simple, easily

comprehensible ways, using diagrams,
illustrations, graphs, practice and
highlighting terms.

 Language – subject based vocabulary,

texts and discussions.
WHY?

 The ability to use a language is much

more than knowing its words and
grammar, and speaking in perfectly
formed sentences.
 Language learning is surrounded by
myths.
 We could usefully re-consider some of
these beliefs and views.
Main aims

 Acquire knowledge using target

language
 Acquire necessary skills in the target
language
 Acquire necessary skills in the mother
tongue
 Understand and value both cultures
 Develop cognitive and social skills
 A successful CLIL lesson
should combine elements of
the following:
 Cognition - Developing thinking skills which link
concept formation (abstract and concrete),
understanding and language

 Culture - Exposure to alternative perspectives and

shared understandings, which deepen awareness of
otherness and self.
 Content - Progression in knowledge, skills and
understanding related to specific elements of a
defined curriculum

 Communication - Using language to learn whilst

learning to use language
Can do

 In CLIL, we provide a situation in which the attention

of the child is on a form of learning activity which is
not the language itself.
 It can be very successful in enhancing the learning
of languages and subjects, and developing in the
youngsters a positive ‘can do’ attitude towards
themselves as language learners.
Outcome

 The language classroom is essential for the learner

to understand the ‘nuts and bolts’ of language – the
architectural plans.

 Learners need time to build things with the ‘nuts

and bolts’ – to build the house which they see in
theory on paper.
CLIL - obstacles

 New concepts always difficult to accept

 Lack of qualified teachers

 Heavy load and shortage of materials

 Lack of support
CLIL model

Thinking
(outcomes,
analysis,
assessment)

Belonging Subject Communication

(interests, (integration, (involvement,
partners, implementation, support mat,
local/global) skills and culture) discussions)
CLIL – main aspects

 Multiple focus – integration of subject

and language teching, blending
subjects and topics, out-of-class
projects, analysis

 Learning environment – typical

tasks, lots of aids, overcoming fear,
authentic materials
CLIL – main aspects

 Authenticity – student is the speaker, topics

related to their needs, everyday life and
interest; contacts with target language users;
use of authentic materials
 Active learning – students talk more, help to
rephrase the outcomes, assess progress, co-
operate, discuss. Teacher is a guide and
provider.
CLIL – main aspects

 Support structure – learning is based on

prior knowledge, skills, attitudes, interests and
experience; information is provided in student-
friendly forms paying attention to different
learning styles; critical and creative thinking is
supported; new challenging tasks.
 Co-operation – courses / classes / topics are
planned in co-operation with subject and
language teachers; parents are informed and
invited to support students; learning reaches
outside the common classroom
CLIL ways

 Language camps
 Student exchange
 Project work
 Language practice abroad
 Immersion (keelekümblus)
 Language showers
 One or several subjects
 CLIL modules
In a CLIL lesson, all language
skills should be combined
and seen as:
 Listening is a normal input activity, vital for
language learning
 Reading, using meaningful material, is the major
source of input
 Speaking focuses on fluency. Accuracy is seen as
subordinate
 Writing is a series of lexical activities through
which grammar is recycled.
CLIL lessons exhibit the
following characteristics:
 Integrate language and skills, and receptive
and productive skills

 Lessons are often based on reading or listening

texts / passages

 The language focus in a lesson does not

consider structural grading
CLIL lessons exhibit the
following characteristics:
 Language is functional and dictated by the context
of the subject

 Language is approached lexically rather than

grammatically

 Learner styles are taken into account in task types.

How to begin

 Lesson framework

 A CLIL lesson looks at content and language in

equal measure, and often follows a four-stage
framework.
Tasks for students

 There is little difference in task-type between a

CLIL lesson and a skills-based ELT lesson. A
variety of tasks should be provided, taking into
account the learning purpose and learner
styles and preferences
 Tasks designed for production need to be
subject-orientated, so that both content and
language are recycled.
Typical listening activities
include:
 Listen and label a diagram / picture / map / graph /
chart
 Listen and fill in a table
 Listen and make notes on specific information (dates,
figures, times)
 Listen and reorder information
 Listen and identify location / speakers
 Listen and label the stages of a process / instructions /
sequences Listen and fill in the gaps in a text
Typical speaking activities
include:
 Question loops - questions and answers, terms and
definitions, halves of sentences
 Information gap activities with a question sheet to
support
 Trivia search - 'things you know' and 'things you want to
know'
 Word guessing games
 Class surveys using questionnaires
 20 Questions - provide language support frame for
questions
 Students present information from a visual using a
language support handout.
Planning CLIL lessons

 Teaching a subject in the first language of your

learners there are at least two things which
you can count on: basic language ability and
academic language proficiency.
 Learners in CLIL programmes are learning
basic language skills, academic language skills
and new subject concepts all at the same time.
 To overcome the language barrier, CLIL
teachers need to plan their lessons to include
language support as well as content teaching.
Difficulties

Learners have to be able to:

 listen to and understand teachers
talking about subjects – can they
do that?
 talk about subjects themselves –
to each other in groups and to
the teacher in the plenary
classroom– can they do that?
 read subject textbooks, and write
about subjects – can they do
that?
Language problems

 The language is likely to be an issue at either the

word or text level (grammar is less of an obstacle to
listening or reading).
Support strategies for
listening
 To help learners listen, subject teachers highlight or
explicitly teach vocabulary. At the text level they
help learners to follow them by using visuals and by
adjusting their talking style: they enumerate points,
give examples, explain, summarise, more then they
would in L1.
Support strategies for
speaking
 To help students talk in the plenary classroom,
teachers adjust their questions (asking, perhaps,
some cognitively demanding but short answer
questions); they prompt (for example they start
learners’ responses for them); they provide
vocabulary, they may allow some L1 responses.
Support strategies for
speaking
 To help them talk in groups, they provide support at
the word level by listing key words to use; to help
with making sentences they can offer supportive
task types such as talking frames, sentence starters
or substitution tables; or they ask students to use
their L1 when discussing but their L2 when
reporting.
Support strategies for
reading
 To help students with reading teachers may check
that students understand key vocabulary before
they read; they may provide them with pre-reading
questions to reduce the reading demands of the
text; or they may offer help at the text level by
giving reading support tasks, such as a chart to fill
in, a diagram to label, etc.
Support strategies for
writing
 To students with writing, teachers can offer support
at all three levels by providing a vocabulary list,
sentence starters, or a writing frame. They can also
ensure that the learners talk through their writing at
the word, sentence and text level, with each other,
probably in L1, before they write.
 Conclusion
From a language point of view the CLIL 'approach' contains
nothing new to the EL teacher.
CLIL aims to guide language processing and 'support language
production in the same way as ELT by teaching strategies for
reading and listening and structures and lexis for spoken or
written language.
Conclusion

What is different is that the language teacher is also

the subject teacher, or that the subject teacher is
also able to exploit opportunities for developing
language skills.

This is the essence of the CLIL teacher training issue.