TeachingEnglish Online training

CLIL Essentials

TEACHINGENGLISH CLIL ESSENTIALS

TeachingEnglish CLIL Essentials is a comprehensive online course aimed at teachers who are teaching
school subjects in English and need to support their learners in the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated
Learning) classroom.

The course consists of 20 core units, each taking approximately 2.5 hours with an introductory unit and
a final assignment slot.

The core units are divided into 5 modules outlined below:

Unit 0 – Getting started

This introductory unit helps you get to know the platform, the course and the people doing it. You will
learn to navigate your way around the platform, view the different tools and learn how you will
communicate with your classmates and moderator.

Module 1 – UNDERSTANDING CLIL

Unit 1 – The CLIL landscape

Unit 1 provides an overview of the CLIL landscape. We will look at what types of CLIL are being
practised and what CLIL means to different practitioners in different places. We will reflect on what
aspects of CLIL we already put into practice in our classrooms and which areas we need to work on.

Unit 2 – The what and why of CLIL

In unit 2 we will continue to look at what CLIL is and why it is seen as beneficial as a teaching
approach nowadays. We will look at the different learning theories that underpin CLIL and how CLIL
helps to provide for the development of key competences.

Unit 3 – Features of good CLIL practice

In this unit we will analyse in more depth the features of good CLIL practice in the classroom. We will
identify those features in various CLIL lessons and then turn our attention to our own practice.

Unit 4 – CLIL teacher competences

In the final unit of Module 1 we will again reflect on how we can develop as competent CLIL teachers
while helping our learners develop in their competences. We will share our ideas and write them up
in a short task.

© The British Council, 2014

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 TeachingEnglish Online training
CLIL Essentials

Module 2 – THE LANGUAGE DEMANDS OF CLIL

Unit 1 – Analysing the language demands of CLIL

In unit 1, we will look at the language demands of teaching our subjects in English; demands that arise
from needing to listen to, speak, read and write in English; demands at word, sentence and text level
and demands of developing both basic interpersonal communication (BICS) and the language for
developing academic proficiency (CALP).

Unit 2 –Thinking and language

In this second unit we will be analysing the thinking skills inherent in developing cognition and what
language is needed to promote them. We will use Bloom’s taxonomy to identify the skills and look at
ways of incorporating them into our lessons.

Unit 3 –Scaffolding language and learning

Once we have identified the language demands of our subject lessons, we need to provide the
support necessary to learn both subject concepts and the target language itself. Unit 3 looks at
different types of language support and techniques for implementation.

Unit 4 –Classroom language

In this last unit of Module 2, we will see what classroom language is needed for management,
organization, interaction, etc. We will also look at ways in which we can collaborate with the English
teacher to make our learners’ language development more effective.

Module 3 – EFFECTIVE SUPPORT FOR CLIL 1

Unit 1 – Subject specific lexis

This first unit focuses on the subject-specific terms necessary to teach new concepts in our specialist
areas. We will look at the academic language and a variety of techniques used to teach or draw
attention to subject-specific language.

Unit 2 – Guiding input

In order for the learners to understand texts in English, we need to guide the input they receive. In
this unit we will look at support strategies to help learners listen to and read texts about their
subjects in English.

© The British Council, 2014

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 TeachingEnglish Online training
CLIL Essentials
Unit 3 – Supporting output

Unit 3 provides the counterpoint to the previous unit; as well as helping learners to understand, we
have to give them opportunities to produce. We will look at support strategies to help leaners speak
and write about their subjects in English

Unit 4 – Interaction in the CLIL classroom

Opportunities to interact and talk are vital in the CLIL classroom. In this unit we will highlight the value
of pair and group work and identify different types of interaction and how to organize and support
them.

Module 4- EFFECTIVE SUPPORT FOR CLIL 2

Unit 1 – Resources for CLIL: published materials

In this first unit of module 4, we will look at published CLIL materials and use agreed criteria to
evaluate them. We will also see how we can adapt authentic texts using CLIL support strategies to
scaffold our students’ learning.

Unit 2 – Resources for CLIL: visual organisers and ICTs

In unit 2 we will identify and evaluate other resources that promote learning in the CLIL classroom
paying special attention to ICT resources, visual organisers and the classroom environment.

Unit 3 – Task design in CLIL

In this unit we will be looking at the principles and demands of task design in CLIL. We will analyse
different CLIL tasks and follow guidelines to construct our own tasks and activities in a way that best
supports our learners.

Unit 4 – Implementing CLIL in the school

In this fourth unit we will analyse and evaluate the current CLIL situation in our local context and
suggest ways in which we might be able to contribute further to a more effective implementation of
CLIL in our schools.

© The British Council, 2014

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 TeachingEnglish Online training
CLIL Essentials

Module 5 – PLANNING, FEEDBACK AND ASSESSMENT

Unit 1 – CLIL and the curriculum

In this unit we will look at the ways in which CLIL fits into the curriculum. We will overview the
different dimensions of content in the syllabus and some of the methods which can be used for
organising such content.

Unit 2 – Planning CLIL units and lessons

This second unit moves from syllabus to the planning of units and lessons. Here, we will be looking at
the notion of conceptual sequencing for a unit, the components of lesson plans and the language
demands for teacher and learners.

Unit 3 – Types of assessment

Assessment is the cornerstone of syllabus and lesson planning. In this unit we will describe the
differences between assessment FOR learning (formative) and assessment OF learning (summative)
and look at different sub-types of assessment within these categories.

Unit 4 – Assessment for CLIL

In this last unit we will look more closely at some of the issues of assessment in CLIL; on the one hand,
ways of limiting the risks posed when designing assessment tasks to demonstrate subject knowledge
and skills in the target language; and on the other hand, providing constructive feedback on
attainment.

Unit x – Final assignment

Participants will have time at the end of the course to complete a final assignment aimed at
demonstrating their understanding of the main course contents.

© The British Council, 2014

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.