CLIL (Lou's version)

UNDERSTANDING CLIL

By Luisa Sarmiento

Audio Response

In your own words, define CLIL

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1️⃣ Content – What learners learn 📖

🔹 Definition: The subject or topic being taught (Math, Science, History, etc.).
🔹 Example in CLIL:

• A Science lesson on the water cycle

• A Math lesson on fractions

✅ CLIL Focus:

• Ensuring students understand subject-specific knowledge

• Using visuals, experiments, and real-life applications

2️⃣ Communication – How learners express their learning 🗣️

🔹 Definition: The language needed to access and express content.
🔹 Example in CLIL:

• Students use sentence structures to describe the water cycle:

  • "Water evaporates when heated."

  • "Condensation forms clouds."

• In Math:

  • "One-half is bigger than one-quarter."

✅ CLIL Focus:

• Teaching academic vocabulary and useful phrases

• Encouraging speaking, listening, reading, and writing

• Using language scaffolding (sentence starters, key phrases)

3️⃣ Cognition – How learners think 🧠

🔹 Definition: The development of thinking skills (problem-solving, reasoning, analyzing).
🔹 Example in CLIL:

• Comparing and contrasting weather in different climates

• Solving real-world math problems using fractions

✅ CLIL Focus:

• Encouraging higher-order thinking (Bloom’s Taxonomy: analyzing, evaluating, creating)

• Asking open-ended questions:

  • "Why do you think this happens?"

  • "Can you compare two different climates?"

4️⃣ Culture – Connecting learning to the world 🌎

🔹 Definition: Understanding different perspectives, traditions, and ways of thinking.
🔹 Example in CLIL:

• Learning about recycling habits in different countries

• Exploring how different cultures measure time or distances

✅ CLIL Focus:

• Promoting intercultural awareness

• Encouraging students to reflect on their own culture and compare it with others

• Making real-life connections

Traditional Activities

1. Solving addition and subtraction exercises in a textbook.

2. Reading a story and answering comprehension questions.

3. Mixing colors on paper or with paint.

4. Reading a text about cultural traditions and answering comprehension questions.

Video Response

With your partner, choose and record how a traditional activity, previosly mention, can be adapted for CLIL

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STEPS TO CREATE A CLIL LESSON

1️⃣ Define Learning Objectives

✔ Content Objective:

• Students will describe key aspects of an ancient civilization (e.g., government, daily life, architecture).

  ✔ Language Objective:

• Students will use past simple and passive voice to describe historical events (e.g., The pyramids were built by the Egyptians).

• 2️⃣ Select Key Vocabulary & Language Structures

  • Vocabulary: Pharaoh, empire, conquest, trade, architecture, society.

  • Grammar Focus:

    • Past simple (The Romans created an advanced road system).

    • Passive voice (The pyramids were built thousands of years ago).

    • Comparisons (The Romans were more advanced than the Egyptians in road construction).

3️⃣ Plan Engaging Activities Using the 4Cs

✔ Content: Learn about an ancient civilization’s society, culture, and contributions.
✔ Communication: Discuss, read, and present historical events.
✔ Cognition: Compare civilizations, analyze causes and consequences.
✔ Culture: Reflect on how ancient civilizations shaped the modern world.

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4️⃣ Adapt Teaching Materials

• Use maps, artifacts images, and short video clips to visualize history.

• Provide text simplification and sentence starters to support language.

5️⃣ Implement Interactive Learning

🔹 Warm-up (10 min) – "Guess the Civilization"

• Show three images (e.g., pyramids, aqueducts, temples) and ask students:
  Which civilization do you think this belongs to? Why? (Think-Pair-Share)

🔹 Main Activity (30 min) – "Time Travel Mission"

• Divide students into small groups. Each group "travels" to a different civilization (e.g., Ancient Egypt, Rome, the Aztecs).

• Using prepared information cards, each group researches:

  • Government

  • Architecture

  • Daily Life

• Students write three key facts using past simple and passive voice.

🔹 Presentation & Discussion (15 min)

• Each group presents their findings to the class.

• Class discussion: Which civilization would you prefer to live in? Why?

🔹 Wrap-up (5 min) – Reflection Question
How did ancient civilizations influence the way we live today?

6️⃣ Assess Both Content & Language

• Formative Assessment:
  ✅ Group presentations (fluency, use of historical terms, grammar).
  ✅ Short quiz on key facts.

• Feedback: Encourage self-evaluation and peer feedback.

​​1. Scan the QR code.
2. Read the CLIL lesson plan.
3. Give your honest opinion about it.
4. According to your subject of expertise, create one and publish it in the padlet.
5. Apply it in a real class and in the next oportunity, tell us your experience with it

TEACHER'S MISSION​