Page 66 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom
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Content and Language Integrated Learning


              Table 3.3  Aspects of Planning a CLIL Lesson
              Subject con-  • What are some good subject topics for CLIL lessons? (some topics are more
              tent and     appropriate for CLIL instruction as they provide opportunities for YLs to de-
              learning     velop both content and language skills)
              objectives  • What will YLs know or be able to do by the end of the lesson? What are the
                           learning outcomes of the lesson?
              Language    • What specialized vocabulary and structures do YLs need to learn? Which do
              objectives   they already know and can be recycled?
                          • What language do YLs need to know in order to be able to take part in class-
                           room activities and complete tasks?
                          • What strategies will we use for scaffolding classroom talk?
              Teaching    • How will we ensure that the language input is comprehensible (for example,
              techniques   by using the same language structures repeatedly and in different contexts or
                           demonstrating the instructions)?
                          • What scaffolding techniques will we use (pre-teaching vocabulary, role play-
                           ing, guessing from context, etc.)?
                          • What kind of activities can we use (interactive and engaging activities allow
                           students to actively participate and interact with the content and provide op-
                           portunities for language use and content exploration)?
                          • How will feedback be provided?
              Encouraging  • What kind of questions can we ask? (display questions are used for eliciting
              higher-order  pupils’ prior knowledge and checking understanding, while referential ques-
              thinking skills  tions encourage them to give opinions, clarify a point or predict content)
                          • What kind of problem-solving activities can we include in the primary class-
                           room? (hands-on science experiments, critical thinking stories, collaborative
                           projects, simulations, etc.)
                          • How can we foster creative and critical thinking at primary level (for example,
                           in a lesson on animal habitats, pupils may be asked to analyze information
                           and make informed decisions about which animal belongs to a specific habi-
                           tat)?
              Assessment  • How can we assess YLs learning in CLIL classes?
                          • Do we assess only language or only content or both?
                          • What assessment methods can we use? (besides traditional tests, other meth-
                           ods can be used, such as project-based assessments, presentations, or written
                           reports)




                  carry out a CLIL lesson efficiently, CLIL learners need a lot of extra support
                  from the teacher in the form of various scaffolding strategies, such as visual
                  support, movement, extra explanations and other supports. Another scaf-
                  folding strategy often discussed in CLIL teaching is translation. While its role
                  in CLIL instruction has been questioned, Canepari (2020) points out that the
                  useoftranslation isin synergywith CLILmethodology,especiallysinceit con-
                  tributes to the development of various disciplinary and communicative skills.


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