CLIL

Practice II Practice Paper N° 14 Student: Amorella Fantino

THEORY

I) After Reading www.clilcompendium.com, Chapter 5 “Opening windows for personal achievement” by David Marsh et al and Chapter 4 on CLIL from “Towards a Didactics of ELT at Primary School level”. Answer the following questions:

1) Which are the five dimensions of CLIL? Do they act in isolation?

David Marsh mentioned five fundamental dimensions that characterize CLIL as an instructional approach: culture, environment, language, content and learning. He pointed out that the dimensions should not be viewed as standing alone, because they are usually heavily interrelated in CLIL practice. It is useful to distinguish the dimensions because it allows to identify the separate, yet inter-locking reasons why CLIL is implemented in different contexts.

2) Explain each of them in detail.

1. Culture dimension: contributes to the growth of intercultural knowledge resulting in most of the cases in cultural understanding. Similarly, culture dimension helps to introduce wider cultural context, learning at the same time about specific neighboring countries, regions and minority groups. It emerges as a means to handle issues relating to regional-political conditions where even if cross-border contact has been minimal in the past, the future invites much greater contact. CLIL is used to promote both understanding and awareness through language-enhanced methodologies.

2. Environment dimension: CLIL prepares for internationalization. The programme curriculum may be influenced by specific environmental needs or opportunities identified in the institution. In the same way, thanks to this internationalization, there is an international certification access. Students have preparation for future studies or work that involves different languages, so they are ready to face any culture with all the necessary skills to take an exam in which their proficiency is valued. When integrating content and language, students have the opportunity to acquire both Basic Interpersonal Communications Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALPS) with the former being all the social language skills and the latter the language skills to cope with academic requirements (Cummins, 2000). Being able to communicate academically and socially opens new borders and encourages students to explore and travel around the world.

3. Language dimension: CLIL is a significant approach to improve overall target language competence. This focus stresses language competence in general and therefore includes reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. In the same way, this dimension provides opportunities to use the language as a tool to communicate. This

http://www.clilcompendium.com/


means that methods to be used are the ones that lead to a high degree of interaction within the class. In such cases, it is not necessary for a teacher to have native-like competence in the target language; what matters is the ability to interact and transmit knowledge by means of the target language.

4. Content dimension: CLIL is seen as helping to provide opportunities to study content through different perspectives. Marsh et al (2001) claimed that “Languages, and the cultures associated with them, sometimes reveal differing world-views that can be seen in the ways in which some content is taught.” One obvious example lies in how educational curricula in different countries may describe shared historical events. However, traditions in the different disciplines can lead to significantly diverse ways of approaching and understanding similar phenomena. CLIL enables learners to study through these different perspectives that can lead to achieving a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Tackling a topic from different perspectives fosters critical thinking and broadens students’ perspectives on different issues. The Moreover, the content dimension enables students to acquire specific target language terminology. Students learn new lexicon in order to understand concepts or express academic language accurately. CLIL is suitable for all levels of education, from elementary to graduate or vocational to professional education.

5. Learning dimension: CLIL complements individual learning strategies. CLIL is specifically geared to learner-centered methodologies that attempt to improve learning by giving attention to individuals’ needs in terms of social and thinking skills. Likewise, this Learning Dimension suggests that CLIL helps to increase learner motivation which is at the heart of all education.

3) What are the advantages for acquisition/learning in young children?

CLIL follows basic insights into foreign language acquisition by young children, for example that children can develop the use of two languages simultaneously until the age when lateralization occurs. Thus, they have an enormous potential for cognitive and social development.

Other positive aspects as regards CLIL approach which will make learning easier are the concepts of comprehensible input and authenticity. Krashen and Biber referred to comprehensible input to the fact that students have the necessary background knowledge needed thanks to their L1 which turns beneficial when working with the same content in English. Authenticity refers to learning a foreign language that builds on content related to the rest of the school curriculum. In this way it is authentic as opposed to artificial situations.


4) How do you think the following CLIL key terms interact in a CLIL lesson? Target language, exposure, ICT, Intercultural knowledge and understanding, language awareness, learning styles and learning strategies.

The teaching school subject content that uses the target foreign language increases the amount of exposure the learner gets in the foreign language and provides him with richer L2 input.

In classrooms, the most common scenario is to find various learning style preferences which need to be taken into account as they can act as bridges that enhance communication and learning.

5) How do visual organizers help to scaffold students’ learning? Provide graphic examples.

The use of visual organizers such as webs, diamond frameworks or fishbone graphic organizers will allow the students to classify, categorize or summarize the information provided. By dividing long texts into chunks of meaningful information we favor the understanding of our students.

6) Explain the impact of Bloom’s taxonomy to help students reach higher order thinking. How can we achieve this at Primary School level?

In education circles, perhaps one of the most widely known models of critical thinking is Bloom’s taxonomy. He states that all learners need to develop both lower and higher thinking skills. The six levels of difficulty start with practical lower order thinking (e.g, labelling a diagram) and move upwards to more abstract and complex higher order skills ( (e.g, critical evaluation). However, not all teachers have found all levels of Bloom’s model easy to use.

Creativity employs cognitive as well affective skills explained as fluency (ability to generate ideas), flexibility (ability to change categories), originality (being able to come up with a unique idea), and elaboration (expanding on one’s idea). Basically, teacher’s intervention is needed to help students achieve these intellectual processes of observing, interpreting, comparing, classifying, generalizing, inferring, analyzing, synthesizing, making predictions and evaluating outcomes. In this way the teacher will be a guide who will support learner’s critical thinking and who will help them develop their creativity.

II) Design a CLIL lesson plan for Primary School level. Follow this format to design the class: Aims, content, language (lexis, grammar, functions, macroskills); preparation, procedure, students’ production, extension.


OUR

DIET


CLIL Project: Food and health

Aims - To review vocabulary related to food and drink.- To encourage them to make healthy food choices.- To identify the risks of a poor diet for our health.

Language

-Reading-Writing

-Listening-Speaking

-Food groups (cereals-fruits-vegetables-dairy products- fats-meat).

-Healthy and unhealthy food.-The four meals of the day (breakfast-lunch-tea-dinner)

-Illnesses: heart attack- diabetes

-Use of the verb to be.- Use the structures: What do you like for….?

I like / don’t like…Do you like…?

Yes, I do / No I don’t


*Warm up:- The teacher will show students the Food Pyramid making emphasis on how important is to eat the right amount of each type of food to be strong and fit. Moreover, she will explain them the significance of eating natural food. She will ask the students different questions: What is this? Which food group is this one?

*Activities:Activity 1: The teacher will give students a copy with the food pyramid chart that does not have the names in the category written on it. They will have to complete the chart and list five healthy food items and five unhealthy ones.

Activity 2: -The teacher will show students this Power Point presentation about “The eat wellplate”: http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/sheet.aspx?siteId=15&sectionId=64&contentId=50

The teacher will give students a copy of the “The eat well plate” and the students will have to complete with the information provided about the portions of each food group that they have to consume daily or weekly. Moreover, they will have to write the name of three food items per section.

Activity 3: The teacher will give students a short text describing the importance of each food group in our diet. The students will have to match the name of the food group with the nutrients that they contain.

Activity 4: The teacher will present the topic “Sugar in food and drink” by showing the students different food and how much sugar they contain by measuring it in teaspoons.

The teacher will give the students a copy with all the food that children eat for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. Moreover, they will receive another copy with a chart containing the recommended maximum intake of added sugar suggested by the World Health Organization. They will have to work in pairs and calculate the total amount of teaspoons of sugar that the boy or girl eats and how many teaspoons of sugar other than recommended for his/her age has consumed. Half of the class will receive a copy of a High Sugar day for Susan, and the other half a copy of a High sugar day for Tom.

Activity 5: The teacher will present a poster with the risks of too much sugar intake. (It would be a great idea to invite a nutritionist to explain children all the illnesses that they can suffer from if they do not care about their own diet).

http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/sheet.aspx?siteId=15&sectionId=64&contentId=50


She will distribute a copy containing different pair of pictures containing different realities connected with obesity. They will have to circle the most suitable and write what children are doing in that picture.

Activity 6: The teacher will give students a copy with different food items and the students will have to write four sentences following the structure provided (I like/ don’t like chocolate and it is good / bad for teeth).

Activity 7: The teacher will give students a copy with different situations and the students will have to tick the ones that are good for their teeth.

*HomeworkThe students must write down what they eat for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner for two days.

- Suggested activities: at school, they will have to look at their dairy and write five sentences about their diet following this structure: (I have ….. for breakfast/ lunch/ tea/ dinner). What is more, they will have to choose one of their meals and calculate the total amount of calories following the “The food intake chart” and produce a poster.


Activity 1: Complete the chart. List five HEALTHY food items and five UNHEALTHY ones.

HEALTHY UNHEALTHY


Activity 2: Complete with this information:

Eat 5 portions everyday- Eat lots (all meals) - Eat some everyday- Eat two portions per week- Limit the number- Eat small amounts

*Name three food items per food group.

Activity 3: Read. Match.

*calcium Fruit and vegetables


*Minerals Bread and cereals

*Vitamins Meat, fish and eggs

*Proteins Milk and dairy products

Activity 4: Look at the chart and complete.

* Total Number of sugar teaspoons that Susan eats:

*Estimated sugar intake for a child of her age:


*Number of extra sugar spoons:

Susan is 9 years old and in grade 4.

Age Daily amount in teaspoons4-8 8

9-13 10.514-18 13

Tom is 14 years old and in 8 grade.* Total Number of sugar teaspoons that Susan eats:

*Estimated sugar intake for a child of her age:

*Number of extra sugar spoons:


Age Daily amount in teaspoons4-8 8

9-13 10.514-18 13

Activity 5: Circle the best option to AVOID obesity. NAME what you circle.


Activity 6: Write four sentences. (I like/ don’t like…. and it is good/bad for my teeth)

*I LIKE APPLE AND IT IS GOOD FOR MY TEETH

*I DON’T LIKE APPLE AND IT IS GOOD FOR MY TEETH


Activity 7: Tick what is GOOD for your TEETH.

*Homework: Write down what you eat for breakfast/lunch/tea/dinner for two days.

My diet!


Education

CLIL