Liz Dale Wibo Van Der Es Rosie Tanner

FOREWORDCLIL is one of the most innovative and successful developments of Dutch and European education.The European Platform has actively supported CLIL since its earliest beginnings in the Netherlands,by acting as national contact for information and advice on CLIL, offering general and financial support toschools, monitoring the quality of CLIL through school visits and certification, and co-operating withresearchers and teacher training institutes. In the past twenty years, the number of schools offering CLILeducation in the Netherlands has rapidly increased. More than a hundred schools are now members ofthe school network that was founded by the European Platform in 1994.This is not an isolated phenomenon: we see a steady expansion of CLIL provision in school education inthe great majority of European countries, supported by EU and national policy initiatives. Educators, policymakers and parents consider CLIL a strong means to offer children a better preparation for their future life,in which international contacts and mobility will be increasingly more widespread.Faced with such a growth of CLIL education, one of the crucial challenges that we have to deal with isthe provision of good pre- and in-service teacher training and effective teaching materials. From thisperspective, I highly appreciate that we can offer Dutch CLIL teachers a comprehensive handbook, aimedat supporting them in their daily work. In CLIL Skills the team of authors, composed of teacher trainersworking at Dutch teacher training institutions involved in CLIL, have brought together broad knowledgeand long experience in this field, and have created a valuable instrument for the professional developmentof teachers.I am confident that CLIL Skills will meet the needs of many CLIL teachers: it clearly presents the theoreticalbackground on which CLIL is founded, showing the implications for classroom practice and offering usefulpractical ideas for CLIL lessons.I sincerely hope that this handbook will be of value to all who read it.Jindra DivisEuropean Platform - internationalising educationGeneral Director10CLIL SKILLS

HOW TO USE THIS BOOKEach chapter in CLIL Skills is structured in the same way. In the INTRODUCTION, the topic of the chapter isintroduced, and the main points summarised. The introduction also contains one or two Teacher Tasks toget you thinking about the topic. The CASE STUDY provides concrete and authentic examples from theteaching practice.Next, BACKGROUND AND THEORY offers a more in-depth overview of the theories, principles andacademic insights underpinning the chapter’s topic. APPLICATIONS IN CLIL illustrates how the theory isapplied to the practice of the CLIL classroom. The CONCLUSION summarises the chapter and offers afollow-up Teacher Task for teacher development.The final section of each chapter, PRACTICAL LESSON IDEAS, comprises a wealth of CLIL classroomactivities, many of them taken directly from Dutch CLIL practice. Each activity is presented in the same way:the first section sums up the assignment in a single sentence, the second section describes how to do theactivity, and the third section provides examples and suggestions of how the activity might be applied indifferent subjects.The practical lesson ideas can be used independently from the rest of the chapter. They are easily accessedthrough a separate index and recognisably colour-coded. The Teacher Tasks and the numerous Examplesprovided throughout the chapters are also listed in separate indices. There is a Key to some of the TeacherTasks at the end of the book.Words that are italic and underlined can be found in the Glossary at the end of the book.Phrases or sentences marked with an asterisk (*) are examples of incorrect learner language use.Teacher TaskExamplePractical lesson ideasCLIL SKILLS11

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM CLIL TEACHERSThe following teachers contributed to this book by offering (parts of) lesson ideas,examples and projects.Yvonne Boelman, history, Isendoorn College, WarnsveldPractical lesson ideas: 35, 40Jan de Brauwer, history, Cals College, NieuwegeinExample: 34Practical lesson idea: 63Lorna Dunn, religious education, Dr. Mollercollege, WaalwijkExample: 17Jan Flokstra, physics, Van Der Capellen Scholengemeenschap, ZwollePractical lesson ideas: 50, 55Bob Gembey, English, Rijnlands Lyceum, SassenheimExample: 28Arthur de Graaff, biology, Isendoorn College, WarnsveldPractical lesson idea: 37Mathijs Hekkelman, English, Rijnlands Lyceum, OegstgeestExample: 12 (bullet point 5)Sally Hill, biology, Van Der Capellen Scholengemeenschap, ZwolleCase study: Chapter 5, Chapter 6Example: 5Practical lesson ideas: 25, 28, 31 (second mnemonic), 46, 53, 57, 76Mireille ter Horst, history, Isendoorn College, WarnsveldPractical lesson idea: 51Sissi Hubers, religious education, Isendoorn College, WarnsveldExample: 24Frankje Huisman’s chemistry class, Isendoorn College, WarnsveldPractical lesson idea: 31 (first mnemonic)Heidi Krieger, geography, Rijnlands Lyceum, WassenaarCase study: Chapter 4Examples: 30, 33, 35, 36Figure: 5.9Marjolijn Kruijt, geography, International School, Den HaagPractical lesson idea: 4912CLIL SKILLS

Dennie Lodders, physical education, Dr. Mollercollege, WaalwijkExamples: 18, 38Practical lesson idea: 61Annelet Lykles and Menno Ruppert, geography, Herman Wesselink College, AmstelveenExamples: 23, 40Practical lesson ideas: 47, 54Fred Oosting, history, Rijnlands Lyceum, OegstgeestPractical lesson idea: 52André van Raalte, biology, Vechtstede College, WeespPractical lesson ideas: 40, 43Mark Steenvoorde, technology, Rijnlands Lyceum, OegstgeestPractical lesson idea: 55CLIL SKILLS13

114CLIL SKILLS

1 Activating for CLILThis chapter covers: what activating for CLIL is; why activating is important; different types and ways of activating in the CLIL classroom; practical CLIL classroom activities to activate and motivate learners; suggestions for follow-up activities.INTRODUCTIONActivating (sometimes referred to as activating prior knowledge or activating existing knowledge) involvesgetting the learners’ brains working before introducing a topic or theme, as well as motivating them tolearn. It means engaging learners in a lesson topic, and helping them access what they already know aboutthe topic, so that they can link that knowledge to the new material. In CLIL, it is important to activate bothideas and language.CHAPTER 115

Before you continue, try to activate your own ideas about activating with the help of theTeacher Tasks below!1 Images of activatingLook at the following six images and answer these questions:ab2abWrite down a title for each image. Which underlying theory or belief about activating knowledge forlearning does each image represent for you?Which image best illustrates your own ideas about activating prior knowledge, and which one theleast? Rank them on a scale from 1 to 6 according to your preference.Activating languageWrite down as many synonyms and associations for the verb TO ACTIVATE as you can.How many different words can you think of that mean something similar to activating?Compare your list with the thesaurus entry in the Key.These two tasks were designed to activate the knowledge, associations and language you already haveabout activating. All three are important in CLIL. In Task 1 you tap into your own ideas and knowledge andassociations about activating. In Task 2 you activate the language you know that is associated with the wordactivating. Each reader will respond differently, choosing a different image and generating their ownlanguage, according to their individual previous knowledge and beliefs. However, readers will all startthinking about the topic, which is necessary to process the information which follows.16CLIL SKILLS

CASE STUDYThis geography teacher activated her learners at the beginning of a series of lessons on the topic of China.The lesson is aimed at third-year CLIL learners (14/15-year-olds).Content aimsAt the end of the lesson, learners can: identify key issues relating to China; categorise them in geographical terms (environmental, historical/social, political and economic).Language aimsAt the end of the lesson, learners: know key vocabulary for describing issues in China; can skim and scan for specific information in newspapers.“I wanted to introduce the topic of China. Before the lesson, I asked the learners to bring in a broadsheet newspaper from home. I started the lesson by hanging four large empty sheets of paper on theboard. Each had a title: Environmental, Historical/Social, Political and Economic. Then I handed out aworksheet containing an overview of the lesson, and gave the class one minute to write down,individually, at least five things about China they already knew. I told them to keep the list for later andhanded out copies of The Economist magazine and English broadsheet newspapers, asking them alsoto take out the newspapers they had brought from home. I then asked the learners to work in pairsand find headlines relating to China. The next step was for them to write the headlines into one ofthe four categories on the posters. Then the class discussed the headlines, the meanings of thedifferent categories and whether these covered all the topics in the headlines. I highlighted the topicalgeographical issues relating to China, linking these to issues they had talked about in previous lessons.Finally, I referred the learners back to their brainstormed notes and asked them to say if any of thepoints they had thought of were not yet on the board, and in which categories they would put them.The class decided to add one new category, Culture, based on their notes from the initial brainstorm.”Figure 1.1Activating in a geography lessonWHY IS THIS CLIL?This start to the lessons about China contains many characteristics of activating that can help learners toacquire both subject and language skills. By reading, speaking and writing about the headlines referring toChina, learners can access existing ideas, associations and language that they have about China. Asking thelearners to bring in broadsheet newspapers from home helps them to make links between their ownculture and language (Dutch or any other home spoken language and culture) and the target culture andlanguage (how people think and talk about countries in geography). It builds on what the learners alreadyknow from daily life in different languages, by adding new information and language from newspapersand/or reinforcing the ideas and language knowledge they already have.The use of newspapers in a number of possible languages (brought in by the learners) is interesting;by bringing both their worlds into the classroom, it acknowledges that the learners are bilingual andbicultural. In addition, the categorisation activity requires the learners to process the ideas at a deeperlevel, by having to place a headline in a geographical category. The final class discussion brings togetherthe associations they already had with a geographical way of thinking about developments (the culture ofgeographical thinking). It also brings together fresh language and content input from newspapers, theirpeers and the teacher. This shows how a teacher can link the learners’ existing ideas and language withnew subject-specific ideas and thus expand both knowledge and language in a CLIL classroom.CHAPTER 117

BACKGROUND AND THEORY1 WHY ACTIVATE?There are several general reasons why it is effective to activate in all classes.Motivation and raising interestActivating prior knowledge can increase the learners’ motivation. At one end of the motivation continuum,we have intrinsically motivated learners, who love learning for itself. At the other end, we have learners whoare only extrinsically motivated and who need rewards (and sometimes punishment!) to learn. Tapping intolearners’ prior knowledge and finding ways to connect to their existing knowledge can be useful toincrease their motivation.ExpectationsIn real life you know what to expect when you do certain actions. For example, when you watch the TV,at some point the news will be broadcast, and if you switch to another channel, you generally knowwhat type of programme to expect. In a lesson, the learners come ’cold’ to a subject, so activating priorknowledge helps them to create a context and expectations about what is to come.FocusingLearners come into our lessons from other subjects and need to tune in again to a new one. Activatinghelps them to focus on the topic and the language of the lesson, or to return to a topic which they weredealing with in previous lessons.Individual differencesLearners are different. They know different things; they come from different cultural and linguisticbackgrounds. They have different interests, learning styles and intelligences. Activating helps thesedifferences become visible to teachers, so that they will know how to link in to what different learnersknow. Moreover, it makes the differences visible to the learners, revealing to them that they can gatherboth information and alternative ways of learning from each other.2 WHY ACTIVATE IN CLIL?When activating, a CLIL teacher needs to help learners make explicit in the target language both the ideasand the language they already know, so that they can make sense of new content as well as new language.Giving learners time to work on what they already know also reveals the gap between what they alreadyknow and what they do not know yet. When both teachers and learners become aware of this gap, learningbecomes more effective: activating is important both for CLIL learners and CLIL teachers.The reasons for activating mentioned above have led many teachers to start their lessons by engagingtheir learners’ attention in some way and reviewing what the learners already know about the topic. In theCLIL classroom, learners are learning new ideas through a foreign language, which makes the issue morecomplex. Although some learners may already have some knowledge of a topic and be able to understandeverything the teacher tells them about it, they may not be able to produce the language to articulate theirideas. Accessing prior knowledge, experiences and language are all vital here.In terms of language, CLIL teachers may choose to introduce subject-specific terminology. For example,in a biology lesson on the respiratory system, they might focus on specialist labels for the respiratorysystem, such as trachea, bronchia, diaphragm and verbs like inhale and exhale. However, because the pupilsare learning in a foreign language, there may also be gaps in their everyday language, such as the phrasesbreathe in and breathe out. A CLIL teacher, therefore, needs to activate and check the learners’ everydaylanguage as well as subject-specific language.18CLIL SKILLS

There may be a role for the first language at the activating stage of the lesson, as learners might knowconcepts and words in their first language and simply not know the words in English. However, the useof the learners’ first language in the classroom is something that many teachers try hard to discourage.As with many classroom issues, ultimately, the solution is a question of balance and context. Somebackground to this topic is covered later – see Common Underlying Proficiency under the section onBilingualism.Not activatingAnother way of looking at the topic of activating is to think of what happens if teachers do not have anactivating stage in their lessons. The content and language in the lesson are less likely to be rememberedand will be more difficult to reproduce later. Without the activating stage, CLIL learners may take longer toprocess and understand the subject concepts covered in the lesson. After all, activating helps to makeconnections. The stronger the connections, the better the learners store the information and the betterthey will be able to retrieve it when they need it. In other words, if teachers do not activate, the learningprocess may turn out to be both less effective, as the learners may learn less, and less efficient, as they maylearn more slowly.3 WHICH LEARNING THEORIES ARE IMPORTANT IN ACTIVATING AND CLIL?This section contains a brief overview of the main theories which have influenced our writing in this book.These include ideas relating to bilingualism, second language acquisition, cognitive learning,constructivism and social constructivism. These theories not only underpin the importance of activating,but they also form the basis of all of the ideas and suggestions we make in this book. Rather than repeatthem in each section, we have decided to explain them here, in the first chapter.BilingualismThe image of an iceberg is sometimes used to explain the way that bilingual learners’ brains usetwo languages to make sense of their world (Cummins, e.g. 2005).Cummins compares bilingual learners’ brains to an iceberg, with parts of their knowledge invisible, underthe waterline, and parts of it visible, above the waterline. Underneath the waterline, the learners haveexperiences and knowledge of the world, as well as an understanding of how language is used to expresstheir thoughts; all of which is independent of the language they use to express this - this is what Cumminscalls Common Underlying Proficiency. Above the waterline, there are the two or more languages bilinguallearners can use to express or interpret ideas. Activating in CLIL is important because it shows us what theCHAPTER 119

learners already know in terms of both language and content, that is, it makes part of their CommonUnderlying Proficiency visible to the teacher, themselves and others. Some of what learners know may bevisible in their first language (L1); in other words, they know both the words and the concepts in theirfirst language. For example, they may know the concept of ‘metamorphosis’ and the word metamor’fosein Dutch. This knowledge may not be visible in the second language (L2), as they do not know thepronunciation and spelling of the English word meta’morphosis – the stress is on a different syllable.What needs adding is not the understanding of the concept, just the label (the word metamorphosis andhow to pronounce and spell it). If learners know neither the concept of ‘metamorphosis’ nor the languageused to describe it, they will need to develop both concept and languag

1 CLIL projects 221 2 Types of projects 222 3 Advantages of CLIL projects for bilingual learners 222 4 Advantages of CLIL projects for teachers 225 5 Disadvantages of CLIL projects 226 APPLICATIONS IN CLIL 226 1 Characteristics of good cross-curricular CLIL project