Clil_lesson Planning Primary

Module 2, Planning, Getting started with Primary CLIL, Comenius 2.

Planning CLIL classes and units of work Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) CLIL) is a term relating to any educational situation where subject content is delivered to some degree via the medium of a foreign,second, foreign,second, or third language. As in every other field of teaching, planning planning for CLIL classes is a pre-condition to successful teaching. Although approaches to planning CLIL overlap in many aspects, each teaching situation and the way we plan CLIL depends on the context. There is a lot of diversity in the design and delivery of CLIL units and materials, but there are also similarities. As you read through the following summary, think about the differences and similarities between each of the approaches described.

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1 TIE-CLIL Professional Development Course In Lange’s ‘TIE-CLIL Professional Development Course’ (2002), the writers briefly summarise aspects of planning that need to be taken into account when preparing a CLIL lesson for Primary school pupils:

Timing

How long is my lesson? What is the concentration span of my pupils?

 Teacher’s communicative

What skills do I need to carry out the lesson/activities

skills

in English?

 Activities to support the

What activities can I include to teach the content?

content

 Pupils’ physical

What activities can I include to allow the young

involvement

learners to be physically active?

 Motivation tools

What tools/strategies can I use to motivate my pupils?

 Materials

What materials can I use to support the content teaching?

 Expected outcomes

What do I want my pupils to be able to do at the end of the unit?

Imagine that you are asked to put the above aspects of planning into an order of priority. Which two aspects would you place at the top of your list?

2 Integrating English In Enright and McCloskey’s ‘Integrating English’ (1988), the writers state that planning an integrated [CLIL] unit varies depending on a teacher’s specific needs, teaching materials and thinking style.

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 They believe that the aim of the planning process is ‘to have a set of learning activities that allow your students to explore different subject matter areas using different thinking processes and language processes… that are exciting and enjoyable… [that] have authentic goals… [that] build on students’ previous cultural and linguistic experiences… [that] involve students working cooperatively… and provide success to students at many levels’ (p49). In their approach to planning CLIL, they suggest the following framework: (i) Identify the topic/content to be taught (ii) Brainstorm activities and ideas using a topic web (iii) Use the topic web to develop learning objectives  The learning objectives we identify need to reflect our content aims as well as the language that we need to deliver the content. The needs of the pupils, as well as the school curriculum, will shape the whole planning process.  Their approach to planning is summarised in a flowchart on p66 of their book:

Select and develop activities

Brainstorm; create an ideas web

Select and develop objectives/ potentials

Select a topic or theme

Sequence activities

Implement

Revise

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Sequencing activities  The sequencing of activities should fit into the existing teaching cycle and start by motivating and engaging the pupils. By engaging pupils’ interest from the beginning, we provide them with a ‘route’ into the content area. Opportunities for pupils to interact with the material are then created. The skills and knowledge that pupils gain through working through the different activities are incorporated into later lessons and units of work ie what goes before builds on what comes next. This helps to make each unit of work coherent and cohesive.

Imagine that you need to plan a content topic on the life cycle of a frog. Brainstorm 6 or 7 ideas that you would include on your ideas web. Use this to identify one content and one language learning objective for the topic.

3 The SIOP approach A further approach to planning CLIL can be adapted from the SIOP principles outlined in Echevarria, Vogt and Short’s ‘Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol’ (2000). In lesson preparation for learners in their context (who have English as a second, third or foreign language) Echevarria, Vogt and Short suggest taking the following aspects of planning into account:

Content objectives

What do I want the learners to learn and k now about by the end of the class?

 Language objectives

What is the main language that I need my pupils to be able to understand and/or use during the class?

 Content concepts

What are the concepts that my pupils need to understand and are they suitable for their age and level?

 Supplementary materials

What visual back up and other support can I use to help me get my message across and help my learners understand the content?

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 Adaptation of content

What teaching strategies can I employ to make the content more accessible to my pupils, in terms of language, but without compromising the content being taught, in terms of concepts and level?

Meaningful activities

What concrete, hands-on activities that are age appropriate and relevant to my pupils’ world can I include?

Content concepts  The content concepts outlined in guidelines for the first language curriculum should not be diminished in any way. Pupils should be taught the same content concepts that they would be taught in their mother tongue. It is just the language and approach to teaching these concepts that needs to be modified. SIOP model According to the SIOP model, when planning for second language (L2) instruction in a first language (L1) classroom, we need: (i) To identify our content objectives ie those statements that identify ‘what pupils should know and be able to do in particular content areas’. These content objectives are frequently linked to school or national curricula outcomes. (ii) Plan for the systematic development of pupils’ language skills. This includes identifying the language objectives for our unit ie the key words and phrases needed to deliver the unit,  plus the functional language that we will need to facilitate classroom interaction. Supplementary materials  To enhance our teaching and provide learners with sufficient support to master the content of the subject, we need to take into account the range of supplementary materials that we can use. Echevarria, Vogt and Short state that the purpose of these supplementary materials is to ‘create context and support content concepts’ (p33).They suggest using plenty of realia (real life objects) to back up what we say, as well as plenty of pictures and other visuals, including multimedia and demonstrations, as well as hands-on experiences to support the content message that we want to get across. Modifying the language that we need is also key to ensuring that our message has meaning and is understood by the pupils. One way to do this is by presenting the content to our pupils through using traditional ‘language learning’ techniques. This could include asking pupils to use graphics to illustrate ideas, to complete jigsaw readings as a pair in class, to use graphic organisers to sort and categorise their ideas and/or complete scaffolded writing tasks. Echevarria, Vogt and Short’s approach to planning and the relationship between the main

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aspects of the SIOP approach are illustrated in the flowchart they provide on p22 of their book: Lesson Preparation

Content Objectives

Language Objectives

Appropriate Content Concepts

Supplementary Materials

Meaningful Activities

Adaptation of Content

Make a list of the supplementary materials that Echevarria, Vogt and Short suggest using as outlined in this summary. Can you think of any more ways to support pupils’ learning?

4 Into, through and beyond: A framework to develop contentbased material Brinton and Holten (1997) offer the following guidelines on planning content-based materials. Once you decide on your content concepts, you plan for activities that meet the goals outlined below. In other words, you choose effective activities for each stage of their ‘ Into, through and beyond’ framework to plan the core of your unit of work. Brinton and Holten suggest that the selection of individual activities should be shaped by ‘the ultimate goal which is for students to comprehend the concepts, gain mastery over new language items, and be able to present and analyze these concepts using their burgeoning [growing] linguistic skills.’ Although their framework does not directly address the individual aspects of planning a CLIL lesson, it presents a clear outline of the goals behind the three stages of the ‘Into, through and beyond’ approach:

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 Into

• • •

Through

•

 Beyond

• •

to gain an ‘entry’ into the topic to recognise the depth of pupils’ prior knowledge to be better prepared for the new content materials the pupils are about to encounter

to practise new language skills while demonstrating comprehension of the basic concepts

to demonstrate both conceptual and linguistic mastery to provide a forum for communicative language practice

See Module 2 in the eLibrary for a link to Brinton & Holten’s complete article.

5 Content and language integrated learning: Motivating learners and teachers In ‘Content and language integrated learning: Motivating learners and teachers’ (2006), Do Coyle breaks the planning of a CLIL curriculum down into five stages. Based on the 4Cs framework , she states that this encompasses ‘progression in knowledge, skills and understanding of the content, engagement in associated cognitive processing, interaction in the communicative context, developing appropriate language knowledge and skills, as well as acquiring a deepening intercultural awareness’ (p9).  The 4Cs framework  focuses on the following aspects of learning: •

Content

•

Cognition

•

Communication

•

Culture

Content refers to the content that we want to teach and our pupils to learn in the CLIL lessons/ units of work that we prepare. Cognition refers to the cognitive experiences that we want our pupils to experience as part of the learning process, ie opportunities to employ a range of thinking skills such as hypothesising, justifying choices, categorising and/or applying knowledge and concepts, etc.

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Communication refers to the key language that we will need to deliver the topic and achieve our content aims. Culture refers to the pupils’ awareness of a world beyond their own. In Coyle’s example lesson plan (p13) this is reflected in the fact that as pupils will be learning about the structure of castles in French, they learn about this through the context of castles built in France.

Planning a CLIL curriculum in five stages Stage 1 In Stage 1 of planning our CLIL curriculum, Coyle states that we need to make specific decisions about CLIL teaching in our context, such as the objectives of our CLIL programme, outside influences and our guiding principles for learning. Stage 2 In Stage 2, she says that we need to analyse the teaching curriculum and create an overview of our planning for the content topic. It is at this point that we use the 4Cs to identify our teaching objectives and learning outcomes in the four areas of content, cognition, communication and culture. Under teaching objectives we list what we plan to teach (and our pupils to learn/experience) for each of the 4Cs in the lesson. Under learning outcomes we list what each pupil should be able to do/show at the end of the lesson/unit and again relate this to the 4Cs. Stage 3 In Stage 3, we prepare the learning context. We plan the tasks and materials that we want to use. Stage 4 In Stage 4, we monitor the progress and organisation of the programme. Stage 5 In Stage 5, we evaluate the teaching and learning process and use it as a springboard for future CLIL planning.

See Module 2 in the eLibrary for a link to Coyle’s complete article. See p13 of her article for an example lesson plan and p15 for her CLIL curriculum planning checklist.

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References Brinton, D. & Holten, C. (1997). Into, through, and beyond: A framework to develop contentbased material. Forum, 35 (4), 10-21. Retrieved June 12, 2009 from http://eca.state.gov/forum/ vols/vol35/no4/p10.htm Coyle, D. (2006). Content and Language Integrated Learning: Motivating learners and teachers. Retrieved July 16, 2009 from http://www.strath.ac.uk/media/departments/curricularstudies/ scilt/slr/issues/13/SLR13%20Coyle.pdf  Echevarria J., Vogt, M. E., & Short D. J. (Eds.). (2000) Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners: The SIOP model. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Enright, D. S., & McCloskey, M.L. (1988). Integrating English. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. Lange, G. (Ed.). (2002). TIE-CLIL Professional Development Course. Milan, Italy: M.I.U.R.

© The Partners, Getting started with Primary CLIL, Comenius 2.1, 2009.

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