CLIL+(Exeter)

[|IPC Exeter- course I am going to participate in !]

CLIL stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning. It refers to teaching subjects such as science, history and geography to students through a foreign language. This can be by the English teacher using cross-curricular content or the subject teacher using English as the language of instruction. Both methods result in the simultaneous learning of content and English. ||  ||

The term CLIL was coined by David Marsh, University of Jyväskylä, Finland (1994): //"CLIL refers to situations where subjects, or parts of subjects, are taught through a foreign language with dual-focused aims, namely the learning of content and the simultaneous learning of a foreign language."//

However, CLIL teaching has been practised for many years, from the Babylonian era to the early sixties when bi-lingual education was introduced in many schools around the world. Even if you are unaware of the term CLIL, you may already have been using CLIL methodology for many years.

__**Diary entries- a detailed description of my two-week stay at Exeter**__

The first day was dedicated to getting to know all the 2012 IPC Exeter participants. We were soon divided into smaller groups- humanities/arts teachers and maths/science ones. My course was CLIL related which means I was together with almost 14 participants from Hungary, Italy, Poland and France. In the beginning we were introduced by Nick Floyd working as an enrollment officer and afterwards we were presented other trainers that we would meet during the course. The one who spent the first day with us was Cathy Pickles working as a senior teacher-trainer. The first session we had was based on getting to know each other and remembering all the names of the participants. This was done in a very fun but effective way. The second and the last session was need analysis. We had to work in groups and discuss our CLIL experience. At the end one participant was assigned a speaker to represent the group. He had to summarize our findings and present them to others. It turned out that most teachers would like to become better at specific vocabulary, get to know how to motivate students to use second language more often, exchange methodology and share it with other teachers at their own workplace. After lunch we spent several hours with Roger Watson. He was a mine of information on Exeter and its tourist attractions. We were able to visit the majestic Cathedral Church of Saint Peter at Exeter and listen to the choir rehearsal taking place there, admire the streets of Exeter, watch a 20-minute film on Quay Area and take a historic walk around Quayside.In the evening we ate a typical English dinner with our host families which was a great opportunity to reflect on the day and try English cuisine. I was dissappointed they did not give us the famous British fish and chips but they cooked a more exotic ham and leek quiche:)

**The second and third day** were devoted to discussions around the features and rationale of CLIL.The most important features that we worked on were : collaborative learning, dual-focus aims, chunking, scaffolding, the use of mother tongue, cognitive skills usage, creative thinking skills, learning style preferences (VAK) and the use of portfolios in CLIL. We worked with two different lecturers (Carol Waddington and Julie Allen ) during these two days which gave us opportunities to look at CLIL from two different perspectives. We also focused on practical tasks that we could design in our own teaching practice. During the third day we spent half of the day visiting Dartmoor and Widecombe in the Moor with our professional travel guide- Roger. In between the evening we had a chance to visit a typical English pub and reflect on the content of our course.

Vocabulary practice and practical ideas were the most important topics we worked on on Thursday (**Day 4**). Our tutor highlighted a range of ideas and techniques for introducing, practising and revising vocabulary through games and different tasks. We worked from the perspective of students which was both fun and made us aware of all the problems our own students may encounter in the classroom while studying a foreign language. Snowballing and cooperative listening were the two tasks I am going to use in my own teaching. Each time we did a task, we were asked to concentrate on its drawbacks and strengths. Besides, we were also introduced to our final assignment which will be a micro CLIL lesson plan that we are going to present in front of other teachers in the course. The lesson must be related to the subject we teach and must include as many features of CLIL methodology as possible.

During **Day 5** we spent the first part of the lesson revising the use of phonemic script and discussing the rationale for familiarizing students with it. The tutor showed several types of tasks that can be used in our own classrooms. As it was a kind of revision of the material that I studied at the university many years ago,I became aware how important it is to present phonemic script in my teaching. I have not been doing it very often but I want to change it and let my students become familiar with it. The second part of the day was devoted to classroom language and I found it interesting and useful. We had to analyze our lessons on the grounds of phrases and remarks we use in our classrooms. We exchanged ideas on introducing the lesson material, welcoming and greeting our students, checking attendance,getting everyone's attention, giving instructions, supporting their work, eliciting information, setting up an activity and homework, checking understanding, correcting errors, praising them and finishing the lesson. At the end of the lesson the teacher brought several books related to CLIL and made a short review of them. The books we talked about were://Uncovering CLIL, CLIL by Coyle and The TKT Course CLIL Module//. We also had the chance to get to know some facts about //Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT)// that is a test that focuses on the teaching knowledge needed by teachers of primary, secondary or adult learners of English, anywhere in the world.

During Saturday **(Day 6)** and Sunday **(Day 7)** we participated in sightseeing and exploring the area. Our first stop was Boscastle located on the north coast of Cornwall. This tiny village with a picturesque harbour is a well-known tourist destination. Here we tried one of the most famous and traditional Cornish fayre called cream teas that sweetened us for the rest of our day. Our next stop was Tintagel situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall. The cliffs that we found there made a very big impression on all of us because of the beautiful and impressive landscape. Besides, we were able to admire the ruins of the Tintagel Castle associated with the legends surrounding King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. Sunday was a free day but we decided to spend our day with our respective host families sightseeing Sidmouth and Exmouth.

On the **22nd and 23rd of Octobe**r we concentrated on the British Educational System and language development tasks. The first workshops were run by Cathy Pickles who made them really interesting and engaged all the participants. In the beginning all the participants received small pieces of paper with words related to the British educational system and had to find their meaning within their own group.Afterwards, Cathy displayed a powerpoint presentation and used all the words she had distributed before. Cathy had also mentioned a new controversial reform in education that generated a lot of heated discussion among us. Later on we worked with Julie Allen, a course coordinator, who discussed vocabulary and tasks on graphs analysis. This task was really good because I usually prepare a lesson on the same topic at my general studies classes.I will be definitely able to use all the materials we learnt from Julie. Julie also mentioned a book that we can use with our students while teaching grammar which was //The Anti-Grammar Grammar Book// written by Nick Hall and John Shepheard. According to the schedule we had received during the first day we were to receive some information about Comenius Partnerships but it had not been done but this was not made available. That was the only change I noticed in our schedule.

A visit to Dartington, Blackpool and Dartmouth was today's big point (**the 24th of October**). Out of these three places I enjoyed Dartmouth best. It is a village that is a very well-known tourist destination but also a very important historical place from which the Pilgrim Fathers set off on their journey in the //Mayflower// and the //Speedwell// on 20 August 1620 for America. The town has also many medieval and Elizabethan streetscapes that we could visit during our walk. These different cultural excursions help us also integrate more with the rest of the group as math and science teachers were working in their own classroom.

Delivering a micro CLIL lesson was the main task on **Thursday** which was last but one day of our course. As our humanities group was very tiny and consisted of 4 people only, we created two groups. I and my Italian partner designed a CLIL lesson on Italian cuisine that could be easily adapted by vocational ( restaurant and catering teachers) and language teachers in different language environments. Our lesson had all the features of CLIL and was assessed by two different senior teacher trainers. At the end of the lesson we conducted, we got a very positive feedback and some practical ideas that we could use while teaching kitchen utensils vocabulary and comparing different food recipes. In my opinion it was a great way of showing that we can put all the theory into practice after all the lessons and workshops we participated in. Having finished our classes a little bit earlier, we were able to visit the Royal Albert Memorial Museum at Exeter in the afternoon that day. Out of 5 curatorial departments, we enjoyed natural history and fine arts most.

Friday, **the 26th of October,** was our last day at Exeter. That day we received our final certificates and receipts that we had to deliver to our National Agencies together with this report. Exchanging all the address details and finding partners for future Comenius projects was also done at the end of our course.

To sum up, I would like to say that this course fulfilled my expectations and helped me revise all the previous knowledge I gained in an informal context. I can absolutely recommend it to all the teachers who plan to work on CLIL or who has already started their great journey in CLIL classrooms. I hope that more and more Norwegian schools will be willing to apply the features of CLIL in their policies as it is a very good idea of helping both vocational and general studies student become autonomous learners and teach them skills that they will be able to use in their future.

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