CLIL Basics: Methodology and Planning

Alberto Lanzat Garca

An aspect that clearly differentiates CLIL from

Specify the possible links both with the local

other teaching approaches is the way in which

community and global culture, as well as with

teachers adapt teaching methodology and prepare

the cultures and communities of any foreign

for teaching (planning), given the demands of

students enrolled in the school. Content may

integrating

refer to a communitys:

content,

language,

culture

and

cognitive skills in teaching units and projects. In

History

fact, every CLIL project, unit and lesson may

Festivals

require specific methodological adjustments and a

Traditions

different planning strategy. There are, however, a

Economy

number of common steps to consider when

Work opportunities

planning for CLIL. Below are the most relevant:

Define the linguistic and non-linguistic aims

and contents, bearing in mind:
Students age, course and cognitive
development
Their interests, learning styles, personal
and academic background, etc.
Their linguistic competence in L2

Tourism

L2 1 .

Highlight key content terms: active, recycled

and structures.

Consider language needed for task execution.

Include scaffolding strategies:

Notes or parallel texts

The general topic and cross-curricular

Mind maps and graphic organisers

links

Visual support for instructions, concepts

The resources available

Select the oral and written input in L1 and

Establish a connection with the eight Key

Competences:

and procedures

Sequence language skills during the lesson,

preferably in the following order 2 :

Linguistic
Mathematical
Scientific

Digital

The rule is that L2 should be used whenever possible and

L1only whenever strictly necessary.

Social and civic

Personal autonomy and entrepreneurship

CLIL BASICS: METHODOLOGY AND PLANNING

BY

ALBERTO LANZAT FOR UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON PUBLISHING

Learning to learn

Receptive skills should come early in the lesson, to provide

appropriate input for the topic (active vocabulary, functions
and structures) before students are actually required to
produce in L2. Besides, oral skills should be prioritised,
particularly in primary education, to enable students to
interact with their peers and the teacher in class, for
example, when they are collaborating in groups.

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Cultural and artistic

 Using non-verbal communication

Listening Reading Oral production and

Simplification

interaction Writing

Include a variety of tasks to develop different

Insertion of L1 term

skills and learning strategies, for example:

Using reference materials

Repeating or asking for repetition

Inferring meaning from context

Paraphrasing
Exemplification

Foster the development of Higher-Order and

Lower-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS, LOTS).

Using cognates

COGNITIVE PROCESSES
The Knowledge
Dimensions
Factual
Conceptual

1 Remember

2 Understand

4 Analyse

E.g. Identifying
parts, stages and
whole

Procedural
Metacognitive

3 Apply

5 Evaluate

E.g. Making
judgments and
justifying them

E.g. Using
information in a
new situation

6 Create

E.g. Explaining
something to
others

E.g. Making
vocabulary lists
Adapted from: Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001

Design activities which progress from

Open-ended questions (longer answers)

comprehension to production:

Comparison and analysis of data

Oral presentation with the help of a

Matching items and definitions / pictures

slideshow or video

Labelling: a diagram / a chart / a map

Oral / written description based on

Multiple choice, T/F/Not mentioned

procedures, graphics, photographs

questions
Sequencing stages in a process

Summarising a short text

Drawing following instructions

Problem solving

Inserting missing information in a

Diversify grouping patterns, promote

collaborative work and increase opportunities

grid/text/mind map
Games: bingo, I spy, dominoes,

for student talking time:

Lockstep or class work

battleships, happy families

Open-ended questions (short answers)

Individual

Key lexis recognition and design of a mind

Pair work

map with it

Group work

create a paragraph / text

Integrate ICT to define, exemplify, and

illustrate concepts:

CLIL BASICS: METHODOLOGY AND PLANNING

BY

ALBERTO LANZAT FOR UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON PUBLISHING

Reordering sentences / paragraphs to

Page

 Learning management systems: Moodle,

Images and digital posters: Picasa, Flickr,

Sakai,Claroline, etc.

Google Images, Glogster, etc.

Multimedia presentations and documents:
Slideshare, Slideboom, Scribd, etc.
Podcasts:

The

Educational

Integrate a self- assessment check at the end

of the lesson/unit. For example:

Podcast

Can do statements:

Network, BBCSchool Radio, iTunes, etc.

I can ...

Videocasts and screencasts: Vidipedia,

Tick the correct face:

Teachers TV, Maths TV, Teachertube,

I can

Vimeo, Youtube, etc.

Open

Source

authoring

tools:

Read and

Hot

Potatoes, JClic, Cuadernia, Classtools,

understand

etc.

Write a

Follow a consistent lesson sequence, based on all the above mentioned principles. For example:
Lesson stage

Time

Grouping
pattern

Purposes

Starting routine

CW

To tune in students attention and indicate the beginning of

the lesson by following certain routines (e.g. writing/saying
the date, the weather, assigning chores, etc.)

Warm up

CW

To introduce the topic and activate students schemata, for

example through a game or a simple question.

Previous
knowledge check

GW

To identify what students know and what they want to know

about the topic, and establish learning objectives.
To study the lesson topic and develop students language
skills (L R OP OI W) through different activities.

Core activities

40

IW- PWGW

Recap time

CW

To encourage students to think and to develop their

cognitive skills through different activities, including
questions.
To help students reflect on what they have learned and
make a link to the next lesson.

CW: Class work GW: Group work IW: Individual work PW: Pair work
L: Listening R: Reading OP: Oral production OI: Oral interaction W: Writing

References:
Anderson, L. W. and D. R. Krathwohl (Eds.) (2001) A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A
Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Boston: Pearson Education Group.
Gobierno de Espaa (2006) REAL DECRETO 1513/2006, de 7 de diciembre, por el que se establecen las
enseanzas mnimas de la Educacin primaria. Madrid: Boletn Oficial del Estado. [Available from:
http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2006/12/08/pdfs/A43053-43102.pdf]

Mehisto, P., D. Marsh, and M.J. Frigols (2008): Uncovering CLIL. Oxford: Macmillan Education.
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I can't ...

CLIL BASICS: METHODOLOGY AND PLANNING

BY

ALBERTO LANZAT FOR UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON PUBLISHING