CLIL 2011/12

2011/12 CLIL Course “Electrical Energy and Global Warming: make the connection”

Motivation and methodology:

This CLIL module has been done within the framework of a new project developed in our Institute, called “Progetto Energia”, whose purpose is to introduce in each subject some issues related to the Environment and the Production and Consumption of Energy. In particular, Global Warming is a scientific evidence and a real threat to future generations, but it is still poorly debated in the news and the media and completely neglected by schools curricula. The purpose of this CLIL module is to clarify what is Global Warming, what are its main causes and what can be done to mitigate its impact. By dealing with this issue, we hope this course could be inspiring to vocational and English teachers willing to introduce in their subject lessons some of the materials offered in this course or available in the Internet about Global Warming.

There is another important novel aspect in this CLIL module: the teaching methodology. Transmissive teaching is substituted by Task Based Learning (TBL): students work in pairs or groups of four to solve a particular task explained by the vocational and/or English teacher. This is to elicit communication and discussion among peers and between students and teachers. We want them to learn to communicate some concepts in L2 without minding about grammar or pronunciation errors. Only at the end of each tasks, during the review process, the main errors will be signalled by the English teacher. TBL is also better suited to develop the transversal key competences recommended by the European Commission (see http://ec.europa.eu/education/school-education/doc830_en.htm): learning to learn, social and civic competence, initiative taking and entrepreneurship, and cultural awareness and expression. We hope the new methodology used in this CLIL course could also be inspiring to vocational and English teachers interested in experimenting new teaching methodologies more suitable to transversal key competences development.

For more information on TBL and CLIL see the CLIL training page.

Assessment and feedback:

Assessment will be performed mainly on the run, during student-student interactions and student-teachers interactions. The attitude and effectiveness of the students to communicate will be evaluated as well as their correctness.

At the end of the course, an individual assessment based on the main scientific concepts developed during the CLIL module will be done by the vocational teacher, to evaluate the effectiveness of the module, its weakest and strongest parts. A feedback form will also be submitted to students to understand their perception of the new teaching methodology, what parts of the course they preferred, what improvements they suggest.

Note: the target class is a second class of our Institute with 'A2' average English level. They already know the subject of the connection between Electrical Energy and Global Warming because it has already been developed in Italian by the vocational teacher within the subject “Scienze e Tecnologie Applicate”. So their only difficulty is to explain concepts they already know in L2.

Course material:

    1. Student paper: one paper each group of two students is given, in order to elicite communication and discussion between peers. The student paper contains some brief reading with pictures and several tasks or exercises to be solved in groups of two or four. At the end of each task a discussion and review will follow. You can download here your copy of the student's paper.
    2. Teacher paper: each teacher has one copy of the teacher paper. It is the same of the student paper with the only difference that a possible solution is proposed for each task. The teacher can use it to help students in solving the task and elicit discussion. Click here to download your copy of the teacher's paper.
    3. Addendum paper: it contains the main words for each lesson and some material for further reading. It is intended for teachers only and should be used only if one lesson doesn't last enough. Click here to download the copy of the Addendum paper.
    4. Teacher's guide: contains the main instructions for the teachers on how to manage the course: classroom setting, how to perform each task, how to use the material. You can download here your copy of the Teacher's Guide.
    5. Assessment form: it is the final test to assess the effectiveness of the course and to what extent students have learnt to express its basic concepts in English. Click here to download your copy of the Assessment form. Click here to download the ASSESSMENT RESULTS.
    6. Feedback form: it is the feedback from the students attending the course. We want to understand the level of difficulty perceived by them, if the duration was right, what kind of tasks they preferred and what tasks they disliked, and so on. Click here to download your copy of the Feedback form. Click here to download the FEEDBACK RESULTS.
    7. Course Schedule: click here to download the course schedule.
    8. Exposure to English: personally, I do not believe those who think we (Italians) aren't so good at English as Germans or northern European citizens because our language is too different from English. I think the real difference is exposure to English. In Germany and other northern European countries there is much more exposure to English than in Italy. Students practice it at home each day, watching TV, movies, listening to the radio, independently of school. Thanks to technology, today we can fill the gap. The following guide gives you some tips (9 golden rules, but there are many more...) on how to improve your exposure to English and build your confidence. Click here to download it.