Referat

 innovative methods, procedures and techniques to approach teaching-learning-evaluation

in EFL classes;
 open educational resources – a way to bring innovation and creativity in EFL;
 developing oral interaction skills through communicative and interactive tasks – concept,
need and issues.

1.
Herbert Puchta says that language learning isn’t just about language – it’s about how the brain stores
information, content that appeals to students and, ultimately, helping learners to feel that they CAN SUCCEED!
He holds a PhD in English – with a focus on ELT pedagogy. He has been a Professor of English at the Teacher
Training University in Graz, and President of IATEFL.
As a writer and international teacher trainer, he has given talks, seminars and workshops to teachers in over
50 countries. Each classroom he visits makes him see how brilliantly creative teachers can be and how hard they
work. It also teaches him a little more about students’ hearts and minds.
These insights are powerful tools, and – in combination with the latest research from cognitive psychology,
pedagogy, brain research and linguistics – can produce compelling results when applied in the language
classroom.
In the conference Teaching English to Very Young Learners, the author mentions that a famous dictum by
Earl Stevick maintains that success in a foreign language classroom depends less on materials, techniques and
linguistic analyses, and more on what goes on inside and between the people in the classrooms – the learners’
minds, learners and colleagues, learners and teacher. Usually, teaching very young learners comes with great
enthusiasm, which is wonderful. They are still innocent and any sign of boredom is identified by the teacher, so
that we may change our approach, methods or techniques.
What we, as teachers of very young learners, should know is:
1. Routines are extremely important, helping to establish an atmosphere of security and trust in the
classroom. Students may predict what happens next (Stephen Pinker). By using routines, we help them
get ready for the lesson and focus on what they need to do. They will also learn language, at the same
time. We may use: specific songs or rhymes to help ease transition in between key phases of the lesson;
develop routines that contain elements of individual choice (dances, hugs, high-fives).
2. A lot can be communicated in and through English from the beginning. But the child’s own language is
important, the mother tongue. We need to master the mother tongue, as well.
 Sometimes, it is necessary to use the mother tongue, or mostly English with the help of miming, realia,
visuals, gestures, modelling what we want them to do, using two-way communication in order to get the
English language across to very young learners.
 If possible, using the mother tongue has got a calming effect on learners, in stressful situations.
 The sandwich technique – learners close their eyes and listen to the audio. Some kids do not understand
and become insecure. Give instructions at the beginning in English, then in Romanian, and in English
again. The use of the Romanian language will gradually be reduced.
3. “Language learning is a total human experience.” (Earl Stevick) It is also an emotional and a social
process, not only a cognitive process. We want students to feel at home in the classroom, so we should
not be strict regarding learning styles (visual, auditory, etc).
 Use multi-sensory strategies to keep their attention and to help them remember language and content
better in their long-term memory.
 The Total Physical Response (TPR) method is extremely useful.
 Use gaps with a purpose (and embed them verbally, visually and kinaesthetically). Play a song – sounds
– song – sounds etc. Pre-teach the vocabulary before the song.
4. Learning needs to become more and more cognitively challenging, and not just for fun. The more
cognitively challenging learning is, the better the learning outcomes will be and the more the children will
remember in the long run. Set high expectations for students, communicate them to the learners and make
sure they understand this and that you will work hard to help them live up to them. Encouraging helps and
they will become more independent and autonomous.
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  All children in the class will contribute, even though they are not all equally good.
 Keep standards high, but vary the support you offer (some students need more help than others). For
students who finish faster, offer extra tasks.
5. Learning is a process of approximation. We need to be patient as learners get gradually closer to the
outcomes, they will make mistakes and have problems initially.
 Create a spirit of cooperation.
 Create a warm, comfortable atmosphere.
6. Stories are extremely important, they are more than language, lexical sets, information, grammar or
pronunciation. They are not there for entertainment.
 Choose the stories carefully. Learners will enjoy the stories that speak to them, that transmit values, that
have certain meanings, that teach things about life.
7. Digital tools should support the learning process in meaningful ways.
 Take learners for walks or outdoor lessons, as a break from digital lessons.
 Online games that use English are very helpful.

2.
The Guide to OERs for CLIL in Primary Schools results from the combined effort of four C4C partners
to collect and census 90 Open Educational Resources (OERs) to teach English through CLIL in primary schools
(ages 5-12 or grades 1-6) in a series of European countries: the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, and Spain.
OERs (Open Educational Resources) have become an important key concept of the European educational
policy in recent years. The term was used in 2002 for the first time at the UNESCO conference Impact of the
Open Educational resources for Higher Education in Developing Countries. According to the UNESCO
publication A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources (OER), published in 2011, 2015 OERs are
described thus:
In its simplest form, the concept of Open Educational Resources (OER) describes any
educational resources (including curriculum maps, course materials, textbooks,
streaming videos, multimedia applications, podcasts, and any other materials that have
been designed for use in teaching and learning) that are openly available for use by
educators and students, without an accompanying need to pay royalties or licence fees. 1

Thus, OER refers to educational materials and teaching in digital format that are open in a double sense:
free material available on the net; and materials adapted to the needs of learners and the needs of the context.
They may include:
- Educational content: courses, modules, teaching units, publications.
- Tools: software for the creation, distribution, use of open educational content; tools for content development and
online learning community.
- Resources for operation: licenses for intellectual property to promote open publishing of materials, principles
of content design and localization.

The CLIL for Children project took into account that the selected OERs could be adapted to other learning
contexts, and constitute examples of Best Practice. OERs include many of the following characteristics: They
 take the learner’s developmental stage, cognitive development and language competence into account
 have a good content-language balance
 integrate content and language
 present students with a variety of tasks
 engage students
 provide clear instruction regarding language in which students are to respond
 provide instruction on the way students should be assessed

1
. UNESCO and Commonwealth of Learning (2011, 2015). A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources (OER). Prepared
by Neil Butcher and edited by Asha Kanwar (COL) and Stamenka Uvalic´-Trumbic´ (UNESCO). Paris: United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
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 use visual aids effectively

Why are OERs important for the primary CLIL teacher?

Primary school content and language teachers working within CLIL methodology often complain about
the lack of adequate teaching materials. In fact, the scarcity of materials (lesson plans, visual aids, worksheets,
tutorials, peer group discussions, practical work, etc.) has always been one of the major challenges in the
implementation of CLIL methodology in the school context. Many teachers still believe that if you want to do
CLIL you have to prepare and research almost everything yourself, which is time consuming. This belief leads
teachers to create their own materials; something which obviously has some added benefits in that materials
created for a teacher’s specific context are bound to be better suited to their students than materials which have
been produced with a wide student population in mind. On the other hand, developing good-quality materials
might take some trial-and-error and will be something a novice CLIL teacher can be uncomfortable with.
Therefore, appropriate teaching materials, not infrequently, accompanied by detailed teacher guidance including
background information on topic, language and methodological features is of great importance to ease teachers’
workload and thus to further support CLIL implementation. Materials-related support is a prerequisite of
successful CLIL programmes. This can take the form of producing materials, training teachers in materials
development, establishing materials banks or facilitating the sharing of materials through Open Educational
Resources (OERs).

Another very important benefit of using OERs is that they are cost- and time-effective. OER resources
include PowerPoint presentations for the introduction of subject-concepts, lesson plans used by other CLIL
teachers, quizzes, games and songs which can facilitate subject-content teaching.
They are usually easily adapted and they always offer new ideas about how other colleagues approach the
content. Finally, OERs can offer support for the time-consuming task of preparing the many visual aids which
are required for increased visualisation during CLIL lessons. Developing visual aids is made easier and faster with
the help of many OER websites which offer ready-to-print flashcards as well as tools for the creation of
customised materials.

Adapting OERs to your own contexts

Teachers will often have to make adjustments, depending on the curricula and context. Some OERs are
instantly applicable, most of which make use of posters, mind maps, pictures and puzzles as well as
worksheets for students to fill in. These can easily be printed out and used in class without increasing the
teacher’s workload. Other materials require a considerable amount of preparation and classroom props to be
produced or brought to class, respectively. For example, the teacher may have to provide various kinds of food,
price tags, coins and banknotes, before the class, as well as ‘build’ a shop in front of the board, as in the case of
SHOPPING, which is both challenging and time-consuming.

Language and content

OERs assist teachers in relating content knowledge and language learning. The language aims are usually
determined by the content objectives. The best materials found are those in which the ratio of language and
content knowledge is well balanced, thus enhancing the learning of both, and developing in students a positive
attitude to gaining new language skills and acquiring knowledge. Such materials frequently make use of the task-
based approach, where the lesson is organized around a specific task to be completed by students.

Amount of necessary adaptations

Necessary adaptations to OERs will require varying amounts of work on the part of the teacher. For
example, in the OER on the wild fauna of mountains, it may be necessary to adapt some of the questions the
teacher asks the students about animals living in the region, as the ecosystem of mountainous areas differs from
country to country.

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Language proficiency of students
Apart from ensuring that the materials meet their curricular aims, teachers will have to take into account
their students’ linguistic proficiency, or, in other words, they will have to decide whether the target language and
the language of instruction are appropriate for their students’ level of English and introduce necessary changes
accordingly.

Equipment
Some of the OERs are in the form of interactive worksheets, the use of which requires not only a
computerized classroom, but also Internet access. This may pose some difficulties for teachers, as in some
schools, electronic devices are yet to become an integral part of teaching subjects other than IT. However, if both
content and language are pre-taught in class, these tasks can be assigned for homework (preferably optional due to
assessment issues), and can not only help students recycle content knowledge and new vocabulary, but can also
increase their motivation, as present-day students usually find the use of electronic media much more appealing
than completing traditional exercises. Another solution might be for the teacher to use their desktop computer and
an overhead projector, with the class working jointly to answer the questions.

Individual and group work

The OERs may engage the student in both kinds of work: individual and group work. In a lesson about
LONDON, for instance, the students work on their own. They solve a crossword puzzle, mark the regions and
capital city of Great Britain on a worksheet, read a text about London, underlining characteristic places, and
finally, watch a film about London in order to complete a quiz.

Learning resources and environments of the CLIL Teacher

The European Framework for CLIL Teacher Education (2010)2 identifies eight areas of responsibility
for the CLIL teacher:
1. Personal reflection. The ability of the teacher to reflect on his/her cognitive, social and emotional development
to better support the cognitive, social and emotional development of students.
2. CLIL fundamentals. Understanding of the essential characteristics of CLIL and how they are linked to good
educational practices
3. Content and Language Awareness. The awareness of the interdependence between language and subject
content. A good learning of contents depends on the language while, in turn, the development of language
learning is related to the learning of contents.
4. Methodology and Assessment. The learning of subject content through a foreign language requires good
knowledge of methodological techniques and aspects linked to assessment.
5. Research and Evaluation. The CLIL teacher is a researcher who proceeds in the teaching of methodology
following a path of research, reflection and assessment. He/she is a teacher who spurs pupils on to an attitude of
research, reflection and self-assessment.
6. Learning Resources and Environments. CLIL teaching needs a teacher who is able to use specific learning
resources and create a rich and stimulating learning environment.
7. Classroom management. The classroom management should facilitate the integrated learning of language and
content. The teacher must implement strategies to facilitate communication of students and encourage cooperative
learning.
8. CLIL management. The management of CLIL programs is a complex work that involves students, parents,
teachers, managers, each one with his/her own role.
The various specific areas of expertise help create the general skills of a CLIL teacher. The specific skills are
connected to each other, even if examined or taught separately in teacher training. The Framework for CLIL
Teacher Education stresses that resources and learning environments are integrated elements and help stimulate
cognitive development. Moreover, it is also essential to create a system of scaffolding and learning support to
facilitate a positive atmosphere that will involve students and test how they can learn language and content in an
integrated way. In particular, it is specified that: CLIL requires CLIL specific learning resources, and enriched
learning environments. These are highly integrative, multilayered and cognitively demanding, yet are balanced by
enhanced scaffolding and other support systems. For this reason, the CLIL teacher must be able to:
- Keep the focus on the constituent elements of CLIL - content, language and ability to learn how to learn
(learning skills)
2
. Marsh D., Mehisto P., Wollf D., Frigols Martin M. J., (2010) European Framework for CLIL Teacher Education,
Strasbourg, European Centre for Modern Languages. www.ecml.at
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- Create motivating materials from the language and cognitive view and know how to use them properly
- Identify criteria to select CLIL resources, including multimedia resources, which are in line with the principles
of CLIL
- Assess potential difficulties in the use of resources and provide possible solutions.
- Help students create cross-curricular links
- Develop collaborative attitudes with other teachers and participate in networks aimed at sharing materials and
the creation and adaptation of resources.
It follows that the various resources are not able to solve the teacher’s problem by themselves, but they should be
placed in a wider context. The resource needs the skills of the teacher who decides why to select it, how and
when to use it, how to make it available to everybody.
For a teacher who wants to start a CLIL project, the starting point is to select the topic to deal with. The
second point is to know how to integrate the main aspects of CLIL in the project. In the article CLIL: Planning
Tools for Teachers, Do Coyle highlights the four guiding principles (The 4 Cs), to be used for planning a CLIL
project:
 Content: progression in knowledge, skills
 Communication: interaction, using language to learn
 Cognition: engagement, thinking and understanding
 Culture: self and other awareness/ citizenship.

For each point, the author suggests some general questions that can help the teacher plan the learning path.
For example, for the aspect related to content, Coyle suggests the teacher to question: “What do I want to teach?
What do I want my students to learn? What are the learning goals? What are the expected results?”
To work on communication and integrate language and content, typical questions are: “What language do
my students need to know? What specialized vocabulary and expressions? What language do we need in order
to carry out classroom activities and complete tasks?” Also for the other aspects concerning cognition and
culture, the author suggests stimulating questions.

To make content understandable in a foreign language as well, it is important for the teacher to use specific
strategies. Some suggestions on this subject can be found in the article “CLIL come e perché” by
Paola Traverso (http://www.giuntiscuola.it/lavitascolastica/magazine/articoli/) that shows some
CLIL methodological aspects and possible strategies to use to facilitate the understanding of contents, including:
 appeal to prior knowledge
 split contents into smaller units
 highlight key words and concepts
 look for similarities and differences
 use visual aids and authentic materials
 make use of diagrams, charts, mind maps
 introduce contents using suitable methods for different learning styles
 promote collaboration between peers and cooperative learning
 simplify and grade language keeping in mind the language level of students

When a teacher finds materials which meet their needs or interesting proposals for future work, they can
create a small archive or personal repository to be updated regularly. The teacher can share the resources and
experiences implemented in his/her classroom with other colleagues of the same school or other networks of
schools throughout the area.
The integration of the various types of resources helps to better meet the educational needs. In terms of
educational planning, it is important to keep in mind the characteristics of the social context and the needs of
students.

3.
Jim Scrivener writes about speaking, one of the two productive skills (alongside writing) in his famous
book, Learning Teaching. The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching. The author states that speaking
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lessons often produce silence instead of heated debates, as we imagine before starting the lesson. This is due to:
lack of interest in the topic on the students’ part, no relevant knowledge or experience, no motivation, no desire or
need to speak about it or even panic. We are offered some suggestions:
 Bring topics and cues (newspaper article/ headline, an interesting question) and start comparing views.
Bring extra cues if the conversation drags.
 Structure the talk, make sure everyone speaks. Do not participate too much, allow them to bring ideas.
 Avoid the talk – talk loop. Ask one clear question and then be quiet, allow learners time to think. Do not
add several other questions, in order to save the situation or the long silence.
 Ask open questions instead of closed questions, that require long answers.
 Playing devil’s advocate. It helps spur on conversation.
 Offer roles, if necessary. Learners may interpret a famous person, which helps with nervousness.

Fluency and confidence

These are important aims of teachers in speaking lessons. What is the point in having the knowledge and
not being able to use it?, Scrivener asks. There is a difference between “passive” knowledge (the one in our head)
and “active” knowledge (the one we use) – and it is very difficult to move the passive language into active
language for some learners, due to shame of looking foolish in front of their peers or nervousness, fear of errors,
losing time trying to “put together the pieces” of a communication while others are waiting, etc. As a teacher,
create a safe environment in the classroom, where everyone is encouraged; it is not a good idea to pre-teach new
vocabulary, instead try to use vocabulary the students already know, in order to avoid further stress and anxiety.
Scrivener suggests organizing the students in smaller groups or pairs as well as talking to the whole class;
the purpose is to offer each individual the chance to speak, and not take up the whole lesson.

Activities that lead to fluency and confidence. Learners

 repeat structures/ sentences after teacher
 chat with you about their weekend plans, at the start of the lesson
 check a list of hints for a presentation
 listen to the audio and try repeating the same words/ structures
 learners decide upon a list of the five best movies ever made / books ever written (pair work)
 prepare monologues about their hobbies and present them to the class
 learn by heart structures that are useful for conversations

How to keep a good conversation going:

 frame the discussion well – find ways to lead in the conversation and ways to close it. It could be a
picture, a text, a headline, a motto, a quote, a proverb, etc.
 preparation time – allow learners time to gather their thoughts, to take some notes, look up words in the
dictionary.
 don’t interrupt the flow – ask learners to add opinions without making them raise their hands up.
 specific problems are more productive than general issues – specific topics offer more realism; if the
topic is too general, divide it into smaller chunks and organize learners into groups or pairs. You may
offer help (articles, Internet pages, headlines, pictures).
 role cards – this may help. For example, the card say: “You need to get to Budapest quickly, you wish to
take the plane. It is very polluting, but your job depends on getting there as fast as possible. What do you
do?”
 buzz groups – if learners get bored, try to separate the class into groups of four/ five, they will summarize
the discussion so far, ask them to agree with what several people have said. The “buzz groups” will also
think of three comments or questions they would like to ask the class. The whole class comes back
together and continue the conversation.

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  break the rules – sometimes, you may start the conversation immediately, if there is a burning topic or if
learners need to be introduced to unprepared situations in their lives.

Organizing learners
Usually learners need to be able to
make eye contact with the ones they are talking to
hear clearly what ther person/ people are saying
be reasonably close together
Different seating arrangement are also useful.

All these above-mentioned activities are called communicative activities – their aims are getting the learners to
use the language they are learning to interact in realistic and meaningful ways, usually involving exchanges of
information or opinion.
Other examples of communicative activities:
picture difference tasks
group planning tasks (planning a holiday with the help of brochures)
ranking tasks
pyramid discussion - introduce the problem: What are the four things to take with you if you are
shipwrecked on a desert island?, individual reflection, then pair up learners and ask them to make a
compromise about their choices; combine the pairs to make fours – again, reach an agreement; make
groups of eight by joining two groups; bring the whole class together and see the final solution. The
weaker speakers will get a chance to speak, even if it is in front of their peers and not in front of the whole
class, thus reducing anxiety and mustering up some courage.
board games
puzzles and problems
role play
simulations

Fluency, accuracy, communication

For many of us, there are activities where we work both on accuracy on and fluency equally, but many
everyday lesson stages are focused on one more than the other; and at any moment, in any activity, it is likely that
we may be aiming to focus on accuracy rather than on fluency or viceversa. The author suggests that when the
lesson stage is focused on fluency, we should not interrupt the learner’s flow, because he/ she might forget the
message. We, as teachers, should be clear about our intentions at the beginning of the lesson and decide upon its
aim – accuracy or fluency?
Personally, when dealing with a fluency stage of a lesson, I do not interrupt the learner’s speech; instead,
I take notes of his/ her errors and mistakes, and mention them after he/ she has finished speaking; I can also write
them down on the board, as a way of helping the entire class regarding such errors. The author offers other tips:
write on the board a number of sentences used during the activity and discuss them with the students or ask them
to come up and correct them; invent a story and use the same errors you heard before, in the learners’ speeches
and wait for their reactions, etc.
When dealing with accuracy, the author’s opinion is that we should offer correction immediately.
Personally, I repeat the same word/ structure/ sentence the learner has just used, but this correctly and with an
emphasis on the correct version; thus, the learner does not feel too nervous or emarrassed and the interruption is
not too abrupt.

Using scaffolding
It refers to the way a competent language speaker helps a less competent one to communicate, by both
encouraging and also providing possible solutions. The techniques are:
show interest and agree, nod, “yes”, “aha”
ask for clarification, repetition, etc.

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 encouragement echo – repeat the last word or sentence as a question to elicit more dialogue
echoing meaning – picking on a key element of meaning and saying it back to the speaker (for example “a
foreign holiday”)
ask conversation-oiling questions (“really?”, “do you?”, “is it?”)
ask brief questions/ use sentence heads that encourage the speaker to continue (And then ……, He went
………,)
unobtrusively give a word/ phrase the speaker is looking for, etc.

The author also suggests that we pay attention to GENRE (an academic lecture, phone enquiries, telling a
joke, greeting a colleague, chatting with friends, military orders, discussing with a doctor about medical problems,
negotiating a sale, giving street directions, business presentations, explaining a grammatical point, communicating
live during a game, a public speech). The following aspects are to be taken into consideration, depending on the
genre that we choose during the lesson stage: style of speaking, tone, manner, quantity, volume, directness, choice
of words and grammar, formality, type of content, etc.

Bibliography:
 Herbert Puchta - Teaching English to Very Young Learners
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIRueeSCrPU&t=198s
 Guide to OERs for CLIL in Primary Schools; CLIL for Children, 2016 Strategic Partnerships
(Key Action 2) Project number: 2015-1-IT02-KA201-015017 This publication was supported by the
Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission.
 Jim Scrivener - Learning Teaching. The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching, third edition,
Macmillan (pp. 211 – 234).