Page 63 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom
P. 63

Teachers and YLs in CLIL Classes


              Table 3.1 Attributes of Teachers and Students in CLIL Teaching
               Teachers  • Have a high level of proficiency in both the target language (the language of
                          instruction) and the content language
                         • Show a deep understanding of the subject matter
                         • Are mentors, supervisors
                         • Are open to exploring and teaching cultural elements
                         • Use a variety of scaffolding strategies
                         • Explain subject contents by using demonstration, gestures, visual aids
                         • Include higher level cognitive skills in their teaching
               Primary FL  • Actively participate in activities and discussions
               learners  • Acquire authentic experience by experiential learning (e.g. forming hypothe-
                          ses, checking them out, drawing conclusions)
                         • Engage in cooperative learning and work together to understand content and
                          complete tasks
                         • Use higher-order thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, and problem-
                          solving
                         • Are independent learners as they research on their own
                         • Can switch between languages and adapt to different teaching contexts




             &Sešek,2012).AccordingtoCoyle et al. (2010,p.1). ‘CLILis content-driven,
             and this is where it both extends the experience of learning a language, and
             where it becomes different to existing language-teaching approaches.’
               As is typical for student-centred teaching, in the CLIL classroom the fo-
             cus of instruction is shifted from the teacher to the student and puts the
             teacher in the background. The teacher is no longer a transmitter of knowl-
             edge or the only source of information about a topic but, above all, a mentor,
             supervisor and creator of effective learning spaces. Such a division of roles
             stimulates students’ development and contributes to their success. Pupils
             are thus active participants in the learning process, who take responsibil-
             ity for their knowledge. They gain new understandings and comprehension
             through their own mental effort by giving meaningful interpretation to the
             given data and being aware of problem-solving as a basic learning technique
             (Skela, 2008). As emphasized by Coonan (2007), by dealing with content in a
             foreign language, learners are faced with an extra cognitive burden which
             affects the way they learn. This can be a positive experience for them, espe-
             cially if the teacher helps them overcome the communicative and cognitive
             challenges. The key attributes of CLIL teachers and pupils are laid out in Ta-
             ble 3.1.
               CLIL may be taught by different types of teachers who need to be both
             ‘content- and language-sensitive’ (Ellison, 2019). Elementary teachers are


                                                                            63
   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68