Module 1 - What is CLIL?

Module 1 – What is CLIL?

In this Module, you will think about what you already know about CLIL. You will learn about CLIL from a video and a written text, and you will consider the benefits of using CLIL.

In this and in all other modules, you will be asked:

• to note some of the techniques used in the CLIL approach to teaching

• to reflect on your learning

Learning Stages:

1.  Go to your Learning Diary and do Task 1 – What do you know about CLIL? 

2.  Watch a video about CLIL.

 Read this summary before you watch: 

The video gives a definition of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), a system of teaching and learning which focuses on two things:

• • content

  • the language in which the content is taught.

            The presentation highlights three important aspects of CLIL:

• 1. Both language and content are taught at the same time. CLIL is the integration of both the language and the content.

  2. The language used for both teaching and learning is not the students' or teachers' mother tongue, but an additional language. So the methods of instruction used need to change in order to make the learning process easier.

  3. For any given level, the content curriculum is already established, but what language to teach also has to be decided before classes can begin. Making sure that content and language can be taught to pre-defined levels is an important part of the planning process.

The video presentation concludes by listing some important requirements that teachers need to be aware of when teaching through CLIL:

(a) the adaptation of the curriculum 

(b) the revision of teaching methods and teaching materials

(c) the introduction of new ways of:

• assessing learning processes and results 

• approaching the teaching / learning process

Watch the video – it lasts for five and a half minutes.

Go to your Learning Diary and do Task 2 – What did you learn from the video?

When you do a reading task, you might find an online dictionary useful. We suggest you use Multidict. Multidict allows you to access a number of online dictionaries for a large number of languages. Type in the word you want to translate,    and select the language you want to translate into. You can choose a different dictionary if you need more help.

                Click here to go to Multidict:

   Continue working in your diary and do Tasks 3 and 4 - The benefits of CLIL

   Other videos which might be interesting:

                David Marsh

                Joan Alberich