Teaching with CLIL

If there is something we have learnt all along these courses is that teaching with CLIL is not just teaching a subject in a foreign language. It is an educational approach in which we use the foreign language to teach both content and language. This requires a double effort to adapt the language used in class and the type of activities developed.

To ensure a correct CLIL implementation school curriculum, methodologies, materials and evaluation need to be adapted and redesigned. Teaching through CLIL is a great opportunity to reconsider the educational practice and to aim to reach a better level of performance from our students.

Although it definitely involves a lot of work and a training and adaptation process for teachers, it also means a lot of advantages for our students and for our educational system, such as promoting a natural and real way of learning a second language and the possibility of adapting better to our students different learning styles.

Moreover, this year we have had the opportunity of working through PBL. It gives the students time to investigate and learn about a topic related with real-world problems while they cooperate, collaborate and gain skills which they are going to need when they face real life.They also become much more autonomous and the real main characters of their learning process. Implementing this type of education might not be easy at first, but it is definitely worth the time and the effort.

Getting our students involved in CLIL lessons without giving them the tools they need is impossible. During these years we have seen the importance of language, instructions and scaffolding to give our students the possibility of developing and expressing their ideas/thoughts/doubts... It is important that we have this need in mind every time we plan a session, otherwise lessons won't be as productive as expected and we can even generate a feeling of frustration in our students. For this reason, language activities are included in every session so as our students can understand better and feel more comfortable and secure with the content they are working with. It is also important to remember that every activity of the project is linked to the Catalan curriculum and its goals. We can not forget that the projects are student-related and, although teachers collaborate and guide, they will learn even more by making their own decisions and becoming the real protagonists of their learning process. To do so, we have realized that sharing with them the assessment criteria and materials that we are going to use is really useful, as they will know from the very beginning what they are expected to do and learn.

When designing a project, creativity floods everything and we may lose the focus a little bit. It's important to remember that every activity of the project must be linked to the Catalan curriculum and its goals. We can't also forget that the project must be student.related and, although teachers must collaborate and guide, they will learn even more by making their own decisions and becoming the real protagonists of their learning process. To do so, sharing with them the assessment criteria and materials that we are going to use is really useful, as they will know from the very beginning what they are expected to do and learn.

Due to the confinement and the situation with the Covid-19, we haven’t been able to carry out our CLIL activities in class with our students as we would have liked to. During GEP 1, our students were confined and during GEP 2 the school year has been atypical and we have had to adapt our project to the reality of the class and to this course rules. Even so, planning and implementing CLIL lessons have resulted into a learning about the process of creating and using teaching units and educational materials from a different point of view and the real need of change of some aspects of our educational system and some of our traditional methodologies.