CLIL
In First Impressions we take a look at new books, focusing on one particular area of teaching. For this issue we asked publishers to send us samples of new titles related to Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). These are our first impressions of the books we received.
In
the introduction to Uncovering CLIL (Macmillan), the authors
Peeter Mephisto, David Marsh and María Jesús Frigols explain
how the fusion of the teaching of languages and other subjects is part
of a much bigger change going on in today's world. "We live in
a time of innovation, and new ways of living and working. This often
involves changing the way we do things. Across our societies we can
see integration replacing fragmentation. This process is creating fusion
between sectors that may have been quite separate in the past."
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is the teaching of subjects such as science, history and geography to students through a foreign language. In some cases this involves the English teacher using cross-curricular content. Ideally, however, it is the subject teacher who uses English as the language in which to teach. It's an enormous challenge, and teachers need all the help they can get. Uncovering CLIL, which is the latest title in the Macmillan Books for Teachers series, is designed to do just that. It's a practical and informative handbook aimed at teachers working at primary, secondary and vocational levels.
It starts by taking us back some 5,000 years to the first-known CLIL-type programme, and then on to the rise of CLIL in the 1990s. The chapters that follow explain how CLIL works and the steps to take in order to use CLIL in the classroom. There are lots of practical tips and activities as well as first-hand accounts from teachers working in various countries, including teachers who initially felt scared at the prospect of teaching CLIL.
Stepping outside one's comfort zone into partly uncharted territory is an essential step in the CLIL journey, and the book sets out to provide strategies for addressing these challenges. Uncovering CLIL doesn't shy away from the problems and barriers teachers encounter on that journey. The importance of working together comes up time and time again; this can take many forms, such as co-operation and skills exchange between language and content teachers, teaming up with other language or content teachers in order to develop materials, or working more closely with school directors or with the teacher's own students.
When it works, the results are rewarding, as Marc Dumont, a science teacher in Canada, explains: "When motivated to learn the content, the students seemed to learn the language. I did not so much have to teach the language, as provide language support and put the language to interesting use."
Uncovering CLIL was "Highly Commended" at the HRH The Duke of Edinburgh English-Speaking Union English Language Book Awards 2008. It's an indispensable title for anyone either interested in understanding more about CLIL or starting out on the CLIL journey.
Macmillan
has also just published Science, the first volume in their
Vocabulary Practice series. The series is designed for students
studying science through English who need help with specific science
words. It will also be of great help to teachers. The book contains
28 key science topics with word lists and activities that can be used
in conjunction with the students' regular science book.
Each topic starts with a word list and a series of "Working with words" activities. Students then use the words in context at sentence level before testing their knowledge of the vocabulary in longer texts. It's a substantial book and comes with a CD-ROM that includes listening activities and interactive games.
Many publishers are in the process of producing new titles for CLIL. Macmillan has gone further and launched a new website for CLIL teachers. You've probably heard of onestopenglish. Well, now there's onestopclil!
The
onestopclil site has been created for both subject teachers
teaching through English and English language teachers looking for cross-curricular
content for their lessons. There are worksheets for primary and secondary
teachers, digital resources for interactive whiteboards, an image gallery,
a discussion forum and a magazine for teachers.
As we've already mentioned, collaboration seems to be the key to CLIL, so a site like this, where teachers can share teaching ideas, and discuss problems and possible solutions, is a great idea. In fact, the people behind the site actively encourage users to let them know which areas they are teaching and would like to see more resources for.
The site is easy to navigate and is bound to grow and develop as more content is added and more teachers subscribe. Yes, it is a subscription site. A one-year individual subscription costs £30 (€40 or US$60). There's a "try before you buy" section, so you can take a look at some sample material before subscribing.
In conjunction with this special CLIL issue of the magazine, Macmillan is offering its-teachers readers a special 20 per cent discount on a subscription to onestopclil. All you have to do is enter the promotional code (ITSDSCT08) when you subscribe at the site (www.onestopclil.com). But be quick - the offer only lasts until January 30, 2009.
With
the popularity of CLIL on the rise, more and more publishers are including
CLIL as part of their general English courses. Herbert Puchta and Jeff
Stranks' More! (Cambridge University Press and Helbling
Languages) is a course for lower secondary students. In levels 3 and
4, every odd-numbered unit has a "Learn more through English"
spread that each focuses on a different subject: biology in unit 1,
geography in unit 3, history in unit 5 and so on. Each spread includes
some vocabulary work, a text and a mini project.
Of course, there's a limit to how much material can be covered in one spread, but it's certainly good to see space being given to other school subjects in an English course. In the even-numbered units the same space is given to "Learn more about culture" and "Read more for pleasure". In a way, one can see the logic in CLIL-related pages replacing pages that probably once dealt with British culture. It's all part of the fusion we talked about at the start of First Impressions and the move away from English courses that rely too heavily on pictures of Big Ben and red buses.
Talking
of cultural clichés, there are no red buses to be seen in World
Around (Helbling Languages) by Maria Cleary. This culture course
for A2 to B2-level teenagers is a self-described "intercultural
journey through English-speaking countries". The sticker on the
cover that says "CLIL inside" is reminiscent of those "Intel
inside" stickers on computers with Intel chips. Thinking about
it, CLIL can sometimes seem as impossible to fathom as an Intel processor.
World Around is the revised edition of Real World. Each unit in the book is dedicated to a country or geographical area of the English-speaking world. After an opening page, there's an "Identity" section that looks at the cultural identity of each country. "Lifestyles" looks at the habits and customs of the people, while "Issues" focuses on contemporary discussion topics that affect teenagers all over the world. Each unit ends with a CLIL page. In the same way as in More!, each CLIL section is dedicated to a different subject.
One page might seem like too little to justify the "CLIL inside" label, but the teacher's book also includes CLIL subject links throughout the book so it's easy to find links between topics and other school subjects at all times. This is a neat and natural way to bring other subjects into the English classroom without having to label them for students.
The book has a very contemporary feel to it, and subjects range from Ryanair to guns at school, from life in Australia's outback to living with autism. It's all very interesting and motivating stuff, and the photocopiable pages in the teacher's book allow students to personalise what they've looked at and focus on their own world. If you're looking for something different for your students that's culture-based, then this could be exactly what you're looking for.
If
you want to explorer further afield than the English-speaking world,
then you might be interested in Heinle Cengage Learning's new four-level
content-based reading series called Reading Explorer that
features National Geographic images and video from around the world
to help develop reading and vocabulary skills.
Each unit of Reading Explorer contains two reading passages and an optional video activity. Reading passages cover a wide range of real-world topics including culture, science, social studies, travel and adventure. As with World Around, there are lots of interesting texts, and the book we reviewed was packed with interesting facts.
What you first see when you open the book is a map of the world that acts as a contents page, showing where the different stories in the book come from. Students are encouraged to explore the world using their own knowledge combined with what they learn from the book. The videos are used as a springboard for students to find out more. It's an attractive package, and the National Geographic link means the topics, visuals and videos are good-quality and motivating.
Use
the links below to visit the websites of the publishers mentioned in
First Impressions.
Heinle Cengage Reading Explorer