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

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

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