Activity 1.7

1. What is CLIL? 

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."

2.  Is there any difference between immersion and CLIL teaching?

One is embedded under the other. Immersion teaching is located within the concept of CLIL teaching. CLIL could be understood as the category whereas Immersion would be a strategy within the overall CLIL concept.

3. If so, what are the main differences? 

The final objective of immersion programmes is that the studentsbecome proficient in both the L1 and the L2, without any detriment to the acquisition of academic knowledge.

The language the students are taught in must be new to them, so that its learning resembles the L1 acquisition process.

The teaching staff must be bilingual, both to be able to implement the programme with the greatest guarantee of success and to ensure that throughout the school day all school activities can be smoothly carried out in the L2.

Is English a Global Language?

We are all actually aware of the ubiquitous use of English nowadays. Development of the internet, globalization and international travel are just some of the main factors which has been creating the necessity to have an effective tool to interconnect numerous aspects of modern reality which is a Global Language. To be called a Global Language it must be accessible all round the world, with an impressive number of native and second language speakers using it to establish diverse relations at economic, diplomatic and day-to-day levels. These are requirements needed for a language to be chosen as a “lingua franca” and these are criteria English language satisfies. If we look back to the human history we will obviously reveal other languages which became or almost became global ones such as Latin, Koine Greek, Akkadian, Aramaic, Volapuc o Esperanto. Regarding the last one it is necessary to mention that it has been popular even among contemporary learners as it is considered to ease learning process of any other European language to be learnt afterwards. Each of aforementioned languages played similar role in their era as Chinese, French or Arabic do today. Certainly, we should not forget about disadvantages English as “lingua franca” may bring into society (such as possible suppression of minor languages) but it’s clear that its advantages far more overweight negative aspects and, what is important, it gives a present-day world keys to improve and develop.

Education

I think I am right if I speak on behalf of my classmates and say that we have never had such collaborative and cooperative lectures before. True as it is that firstly we were puzzled by the novelty of the methodology, and confused because we had never faced such teaching before, I must admit that after a couple of sessions one gets to like it: the learning atmosphere, the freedom of speech, the companionship, the close teacher-sudent relationship that makes you feel as taken into account, etc. The last one is hugely important since students are not mere empty receivers of information nor working robots, we have anxieties, we have opinions, we have ideas, we have many things to bring into the class context, in fact, we are the class context, we just need a safe environment to open ourselves up to the teaching process and, definitely, a methodology including both the teacher and the students' goals is bound to succeed. So here is the point, if you feel you matter, the content will matter to you, after all, we are persons, and persons need to be relied on in order to outperform. Let me recall something, when we were due to present the ppt we prepared about Bakhtin, we were quite nervious. We have always been expected to perform clockwise, but it was not until you said that we couldn't bring any sheets to the scaffold, that we had to rely on ourselves, and that we could do it perfectly, that we realized that, indeed, we are able of a lot more than we think, we just need to feel confident. So confidence, a close teacher-student bond, a cooperative atmosphere, and being taken into account are some of the deficiencies of our current Educational System that must be tackled the sooner the better. We are forming future workers, but we are persons above all standards.

To see:

"How to espace Education's death valley" by Ken Robinson

To read:

"Out of the box learning" by Cambridge University: how to improve the quality of Education if we stop considering ability as stable and attainable.

 "Teacher: a Friend, a Philosopher and a Gudie" by Debasis Pati: "In their childhood years apart from their mothers, children spend maximum time with their teachers."

Recommended film:

"The Forbidden Education"