CONTENT

AND

LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING

The field of English Language Teaching is one which loves acronyms: EFL, ESL and TESOL, just to name a few. CLIL is a relatively recent addition to the wealth of acronyms which defines TESL/TEFL (Yes! Two more of those). It stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning. CLIL is not a teaching method or a language teaching approach. It is a framework for curriculum development. In a CLIL-oriented curriculum academic subject matter is taught through a second or foreign language. For example, fifthgraders learning about how oil is processed would also have the opportunity to learn/practice using the passive form of the simple present: Crude oil is not processed in the oil rig area. It is transported through pipelines or in tanker ships to refineries where it is refined. Students would also learn vocabulary that does not come up in everyday conversations with their peers: crude oil, refinery, pipeline The content for the example above comes from the science course book used in the 5th grade of Greek Elementary Schools ( , pg. 20): Such material is easily accessible and adaptable. The fact that young students have become familiar with the content in their native language makes it easier for them to acquire the foreign language. At the same time, the cognitive schema incorporating the particular content is enriched with the foreign language as well. Any subject taught at school, any theme or topic, any issue our students are interested in qualifies as content. It is this broad interpretation of content that has resulted in so many different types/models of CLIL: Content-Driven Programs Programs Language-Driven

Total/Part ial/Dual Immersio n

FL Enriched Content Courses

Shelter ed Course

Adjun ct Mode

Content ThemeBased Courses EAP/ESP Busines s English

Contentrelated language

(Source: http://www.carla.umn.edu/cobaltt/index.html University of Minnesota Center for Advanced Research on Second Language Acquisition Content-Based Language Teaching with Technology) Within the Language-Across-the-Curriculum program adopted by the Hellenic Ministry of Education in the last few years, more and more content theme-based courses are being developed in the elementary and secondary school system. This trend toward content-based education can be reinforced by language schools in the private sector seeking to enhance their programs. Different types of CLIL

programs (e.g. Immersion, FL enriched Content programs) are being developed in other EU countries. Content provides context which is meaningful for our students as well as meaningful tasks for them to carry out. Doing grammar exercises does not have any meaning or purpose for our students other than practicing grammar. Writing an e-mail to a child in Ireland explaining about Greek Christmas customs and traditions or asking about St. Patricks Day in Ireland is meaningful, exciting, and fun While exploring a topic or an issue, students could listen to a radio program or an interview, watch a documentary film, read a story or an article. They extract and classify information, form an opinion based on the information they have collected and present this opinion or decision orally or in writing. Their presentation can take the form of an opinion essay, a proposal or a report. In other words, there are ample opportunities for the development of all language skills. Content, through this rich context it offers, also provides cognitively demanding language, which enhances the development of critical thinking, concept formation and understanding. In a CLIL-based program students are given opportunities to develop not only Basic Interactional Communication Skills but also Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency. We owe these two acronyms to Jim Cummins who later came up with a third one: Common Underlying Proficiency. We have often puzzled over those students of ours who speak quite well - they can go shopping and get what they are looking for in a country where the target language is spoken, or talk about their favorite music - but when it comes to reading and understanding an article, listening to a radio program on the importance of saving endangered species or writing an opinion essay, they cannot function as effectively. the cause of this inconsistency in students performance is the fact that Basic Interactional Communication Skills (BICS) are context-specific, therefore easy to develop, while CALP involves higher level skills, such as comparing, classifying, evaluating, inferring, and synthesizing, not simply more sophisticated vocabulary. As far as CUP is concerned, our experience as language teachers confirms that students who have good reading skills have them in their native language as well as in other languages they may be learning as second or foreign languages. Students who can organize and express their thoughts in writing effectively write well in all of their languages. Factors determining the effectiveness of CLIL Quality CLIL curricula incorporate authentic material as much as possible. Authentic material reflects the culture of the linguistic community where the target language is used as the main language of communication. We should, of course, be careful not to select material which would be too difficult for our students. At beginners, elementary, or even at intermediate levels we may have to select or construct authentic-like material. We can even use first language materials so that our students can compare different cultural perspectives; for example, we can provide content so that they compare the way Christmas is celebrated in two different cultures. Thus, young learners learn to accept the fact that different people have different cultures, which eventually leads them to define their own perspective.

A CLIL curriculum provides opportunities for pair and group work within the classroom, but also between or among classes in different parts of the world. For example, if we work on the topic of mass media, one group may be working with text on types of mass media, another group on a narrative about a persons first experience using the Internet, a third group might be doing research on areas of the world where mass media are not developed in the same way as in the students community. Each group has to carry out a task and report on results to the rest of the students. Later they could compare their findings with those of their peers in another part of the world, with whom they would be communicating via e-mail or synchronous chatting. Obviously, the target language is used all along. We should take care to provide students with opportunities for developing effective communication skills, for example, negotiation of meaning, or negotiation skills in order to reach a consensus; turn-taking, agreeing or disagreeing, making a formal presentation, etc. Helping our students learn how to learn is, perhaps, the most valuable service we can offer them. CLIL lessons are excellent for acquiring effective reading and listening strategies, doing book research and web quests. With its holistic approach to content, language, communication and learning, CLIL is a comprehensive strategy to deal with the challenges the multilingual society of the 21st century poses to its citizens. Caterina Skiniotou Spring 2009