SEVENTH LESSON

This was the last lesson before starting with the microteachings in the following two lessons. In this last lesson we talked about the different approaches in general and then in content and language. The general approaches were the following ones:

• To start with images or real objects to make the pupils remember previous knowledge.
•  To start setting questions that set the awareness of the pupils.
• To start with a presentation which introduces concepts and language.
• To start with a problem or something that can interest them and make them think to introduce some of the ideas.
• To start with a text.
• To start with questions.

Regarding to the content we learnt that it is important to focus on the message and to be really clear on the message. It is also important to mix different textual styles in presentations to make it clearer and more motivating for the children; so we can sweep from visuals to tables or diagrams.

Another way to introduce the content in a motivating way if we are using text is to make them also different. We can move from texts with bullet points to continuous text or to tables or diagrams.

Then, talking about the language, it is important to use the right amount of language and of words. It is also important that this words are in an appropriate level of grammar and also in an appropriate syntactical level. 

SIXTH LESSON

In this sixth lesson we started commenting the article, Integrating art into teaching English at a primary level: a case study by Zuzana Strakovà. After that, we saw a website called CESIRE where you have lots of examples of units made by other teachers like an origami unit or a unit about how to work with the Seasons trough artists. I found it interesting because from there you can find ideas for your own units and also share your work with the others.

  

Then, we saw a PowerPoint presentation about how to encourage talking and discussion in CLIL classrooms. Some of the tips that we were given were:

·     Use of visual prompts.

·         Make questions which invite to the children to give their opinion.

·         Use “gap filling” but where the missing word is unclear or personal.

·         Use prompts for an open-ended dialogue.

·         Role-playings.

I think that is a really interesting topic not only in CLIL but also in all the other subjects from Primary and we haven’t never discussed it during the degree.

Finally, we had time to work in group and discuss how to do the microteaching and the project

FIFTH LESSON

In this fifth lesson we started the class seeing some images about two books. The first one was a booklet about water that was good because it had lots of content and with an appropriate language whereas the second one was really good because the images were really nice and the content too but in this case the language was too difficult. With that we could see that it’s important to adapt also the books we choose and think what the best is for our pupils.

After that we started talking about assessment, it was the first time in “la menció” that we talked about that and I think that is something also really important to talk about because we will face with that in our future as teachers and it’s not an easy issue. First of all, we were given some questions in groups that we had to answer and after that we debated with the whole class. After that, we saw a PowerPoint about the difference between assessment and evaluation, the first one involves only the teacher and the second one involves also the children, and also the difference between formal testing or portfolios, in the first one is the typical evaluation that we saw when we were kids and the second one involves also de children who chooses what he or she wants to do.

Finally, we saw more examples of activities so we could see what was good from them and what not. 

FOURTH LESSON

In this lesson we started talking about the article Exploring CLIL by Peter Mehisto. After that, we settled new dates for the microteaching and we solved some doubts about it in order to start planning our microteaching.  

Then, we saw some worksheets about food, the food chain and dairy products. It was interesting seeing these examples because it’s a good way to know how you can introduce some theory to the pupils and what methodologies you can use.

After seeing that, we saw an example of a power point about the reproduction of the plants. Seeing that we were aware then of how to introduce also this type of theory which can be difficult to understand for the pupils. So, it’s important to introduce short sentences and with a vocabulary understandable for their level. Also, it’s useful using images or videos to help them to understand it better.

So that lead us to the next task, seeing a video about the reproduction of the plants and analysing it taking the language of and the language for and giving some examples of possible scaffolding. Making this task, we could see that it’s not that easy to plan all the language but with time and patience you can get it. 

THIRD LESSON

In this third lesson we started making a review all together from the reading Traditional ELT versus CLIL: Mind the Gap! After that, we went deeper into the concept of scaffolding which we talked briefly about the previous lesson.

To deal with it we were given lots of examples. First of all we saw a text which was no properly scaffold to make us aware that we should always think about the type of text we are giving to our pupils. To do it so we must think about what language is more appropriate for them and so what language support should we provide to them.

In order to help us to do that we were given three tips:

1. Make the text easier. That’s not reducing the content but making it easier to understand to the pupils. In the example we were given the content was the same but with easier structures and an easier language.
2. Provide reading support. That can be done in lots of ways, one of it is underlining the most important words with different colours; another one is giving them some pictures explaining the same like in the text with some labels to understand the process and another one is matching the words with a sentence.
3. Provide writing support. That can be done with a substitution table which helps them to summarize the text and have a more general view about it.

After all that examples we were given a new task, analysing a text book from CLIL. It is a really interesting task because then we can see if all this theory we have been taught is then in the books or they simply translate it from a L1 book. 

SECOND LESSON

In this second lesson we went from the theory to the practice. But, first of all we saw some new theory concepts.

•  Bloom’s taxonomy, which refers to the tasks and activity design.
• Scaffolding, which includes both language and content and consists of helping the pupils while they are constructing their learning.
• Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory, or more common known as collaborative learning between pupils.
• Gardner’s multiple intelligences, which regards to the different learning styles that we have to take into account when teaching and designing activities.

After all these new concepts we saw a Unit designed for year three and called Life under the sea. It was really interesting because then I realised that teaching CLIL has a lot of work behind because you don’t only have to plan content but also all the other C’s (communication, cognition and culture). We saw that using a mind map is really useful because you can have in one paper everything needed for one unit.

Then, we saw two books useful for CLIL and the importance to adapt what we find there to our pupils because maybe the language that they can find there it’s too difficult.

To finish the class, we put into practice one of the activities of this unit. In the activity we made five groups of experts and a group of three scientists. Each group of experts had an animal, in my case we had the octopus. Then we had to plan the answers for the questions that the scientists were going to ask to us, that at the same time they were also planning. Then the scientists went to each group asking questions to know more about this animal. Finally we put everything in common. 

FIRST LESSON

This first lesson we started defining what is CLIL and some theory about it. To define it we saw some points that are characteristic from CLIL:

•  It needs practical and motivating learning environments.
•  It provides opportunities.
•    It has to exploit the previous knowledge of the students.
•  It has to emphasize at the beginning on listening and comprehension.

Then, we saw briefly some theory about CLIL to understand it better.

First of all we talked about the 4Cs framework: Content, Cognition, Communication and Culture. To know more about it we read some texts of each topic in groups and then we shared with the rest of the class what we had extract from that text.

Secondly, we saw the 3As lesson planning tool: Analyse the language of the topic, Add their own knowledge and Apply or language through learning.

Finally, we saw the Cummin’s Matrix, applied to CLIL: