Sunday, March 13, 2011

EVALUATION OF LINKS WHEN TEACHING ENGLISH

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mAEq1y-24CTLmROxtuX0AHROU1CY1I0v7G6MoENV1jE/edit?hl=en#

THOUGHTS ABOUT CLIL

THOUGHTS ABOUT CLIL VIDEOS
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR52g0dN5AM -4:33min-(Accessed 18 December 2010) Session 3.

CLIL stands for Content & Language integrated Learning and it appeared in 1994 as umbrella term that consists of different approaches such as bilingual education or immersion. From my point of view is interesting that this new way of learning is focus only in a certain generation (Y) that was born since 1990. this approach has observed that this new type of students needs a meaningful and useful learning. That means that they learn what they will use in the future so contents must me applicable to real live problems. However, there is a disadvantage that has to be consider when talking about CLIL and is the fact that using this approach some of the subject’s quantity has to be sacrified due to time constrictions. So the pros and cons must be evaluated before implement the program.
Other aspect that has surprised me is the areas where this technique is being spread, Europe & Asia. The fact that the States are not applying CLIL is at least weird, because they are usually the first one to implement any new procedure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19UUUdKhRhw -4:21min- (Accessed18 December 2010) Session 6

In my opinion the main drawback of CLIL is the lack of formal training and trained teachers to carry out this new way of teaching at the moment. Nowadays, there are 2 types of teachers: on the one hand the ones that teach languages and on the other those teachers that have a huge knowledge about a topic or area, so they are too specialise. Nevertheless, both of them have plenty of tools to applied in their area but they are unaware about any strategies regarding the other area, such as language. The aim is a complementation of both skills and knowledge in a single person, the CLIL practitioner, so it could be possible to focus not only on one area. The practitioner has to develop in the learners the 4 language skills while he/she is able to develop subject knowledge.
However, we have to bear in mind that CLIL has plenty of advantages for the learning of content and language at the same time. Firstly, the context where the language is used is real and appears naturally, so this factor enhance the desire of students to use English. There is no need to think the topic area when learning the language, so there is a meaningful learning which helps to deal with the different types of intelligence the students can have. The students learn by doing thing, so this practical way helps them to understand and motive them to use the language in the proper environment or situations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2UvMeCV14w -7:22min- (Accessed 18 December 2010) Session 7

One of the key concept dealing with CLIL is the possibility to bring works or contents from other classes to the language class in a practical way, for instance talking about data shown in graphics, charts. Any activity may be developed through a language related task that keep the student active, for example using multiple choice questions to be filled while listening or watching something so it becomes a proper receptive learning.
The best way to achieve the main goal of CLIL is by collaborating with other interested teachers so there is a good flow of shared resources that helps everybody. For instance, always practicing skills like reading by focusing on a meaningful task related to material and content of other subjects or by using any real information from those areas.
To sum up ,I would like to emphasize the importance of formal training in CLIL for any teachers, specially for language teachers, because this new program contribute to the language learning a lot by using it as a tool to understand information and content from other areas that are useful in student common situations in their lives.