What is CLIL? As you can read in the title it´s "Content and Language Integrated Learning", a concept describing both learning another subject through the communication in a foreign language and learning a foreign language by studying a content-based subject.
I find this methodology very interesting since my main goal in teaching is that children and adults, change their vision about the English language. With this change, I mean to motivate them in such a way that they understand English as a way of communication and not just as a subject to pass at the end of the term. This is a difficult task due to the languages culture in our country (I´m talking as well about coofficial languages in Spain), because the curriculum establishes the languages as simple subjects, it doesn´t integrate them in real communicative situations.
Last week I carried out a Science experiment in one of my lessons with 5th and 6th grade children. When I told them what we were going to do, their first question was, "In English? how can we do it in English?". They are not able to connect that they can communicate in English in any situations of their lives, therefore they thought this experiment was impossible to do.
Afterwards, I explained them that we were going to inflate a balloon without blowing and we needed a plastic bottle, bicarbonate and vinegar. Easy words that they perfectly understood.
The experience was very rewarding for both, me and the students and I think this has helped them to understand that English is a language, not a subject. I hope so!
I leave you some links where you can read a little bit about CLIL.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teacher-training/clil-essentials
http://www.ub.edu/filoan/CLIL/teachers.pdf
http://clilforsuccess.blogspot.com.es/
Nice work, Eva – CLIL is certainly shaping up to become an important way in which we open up learners’ potential for mastery of non-mother tongues, so I’m glad you chose this topic! I like the way you brought in your own experience, too – simple but effective☺
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