TIE-CLIL Newsletter    Edition No.2 - Summer 2000

TIE-CLIL (Translanguage in Europe - Content and Language Integrated Learning)

The Project

The TIE-CLIL project (funded through Socrates - Lingua Action A) promotes plurilingualism through the introduction of Content and Language Integrated Learning in five different EU languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish). The major aim of TIE-CLIL is to provide pre and in-service development programmes in CLIL for language teachers and subject teachers through building on existing knowledge of this field, to provide state-of-the-art understanding of theory and practice. Outcomes and products of the first year (1998-99) of the project, whose planned duration is three years, are:

· A book: Implementing Content and Language Integrated Learning, a research driven foundation course reader for the training programme.

· A CD Rom for internal use containing the five training modules and other materials produced in year one.

· A newsletter published once a year.

· A website in five languages: www.tieclil.org .

The second year (1999-2000) project products are:

· The Italian translation of the book: Implementing Content and language Integrated Learning - Apprendimento integrato di lingua e contenuti: proposte di realizzazione. Corso di base per la sperimentazione TIE-CLIL. The printing of the book has been implemented thanks to the financial support of Direzione Regionale per la Lombardia.

· A CD ROM for internal use containing the second version of the five modules.

· The translation of the five modules into Italian.

· Parents' guidelines available in 10 languages: Using languages to learn and learning to use languages. An introduction to CLIL for parents and young people.

· The first draft of Teachers' guidelines (to be translated in 5 languages)

· The updating of the web site.

· The second newsletter.

Next year activities will develop the ones so far implemented, extending the network of training institutions and schools, trialling TIE-CLIL modules in Lingua B/Comenius 2 courses, co-operating with similar projects.

Products: three books with the five modules in English, Italian, French, and a cd-rom with the five modules in German and Spanish. The printing of the book Teachers' guidelines in five languages.

MODULES

In year two a second draft of five modules was produced as training material for teacher training courses both for foreign languages and other subjects to be used in a CLIL context.

Each module offers the following structures:

- Aim

- Target group

- Trainers

- Expected outcomes

- Subject

- Content

- Structure

- Methodology

- Evaluation and certification

Module 1: Main features of CLIL

This module focuses on the characteristics of CLIL methodologies and teacher profiles. The expected outcomes are:

· The development and understanding of the potential of CLIL.

· The analysis of CLIL case studies.

· The contribution to a CLIL glossary.

· The design of an individual profile of competences.

The module is divided into 5 working units:

1. Reasons why (it focuses on concepts of bilingualism/plurilingualism and a form of bilingual/plurilingual education which is called CLIL)

2. Terminological issues (analysis and explanation of all terms and concepts related to bilingual/plurilingual education)

3. Case studies (presentation on the state of CLIL in selected European countries)

4. Functional bilingualism (presentation of the concept of functional bilingualism and the meaning of plurilingual/pluricultural competence)

5. CLIL teacher competences: a profile (it focuses on the methodological competences as regards classroom management, learning strategies, language use and use of materials and texts).

A range of different activities are offered: task groups, individual work, plenary sessions for discussion, comparison, conclusions.

Module 2: Second language acquisition for CLIL

This module introduces fundamental notions of second language acquisition relevant to CLIL.

The expected outcomes are a portfolio of the accomplished tasks: grids, tables, analysis of texts, discussion, matching, questionnaires, surveys, glossaries, synonyms findings, real data analysis, authentic data analysis etc.

It consists of six units analysing important aspects of the learner, the learning process and the language of the learner. It contains tutorials for teachers, and suggestions of classroom activities:

1. Learner's language: interlanguage

2. Types of learning: incidental and intentional

3. Exposure to the language: input and interaction

4. Second Language Competence: Communicative and Learning Strategies

5. Individual Characteristics

6. Findings in Bilingual Education research which are relevant to CLIL.

Module 3: Practical aspects of teaching in CLIL

This module focuses on the language competence necessary to introduce CLIL into the classroom and make the subject teacher able to deliver CLIL lessons in schools.
The expected outcomes are:
- select and adapt materials necessary for a CLIL lesson
- write a CLIL lesson plan including all the necessary stages
- perform a CLIL lesson

This module is divided into 8 working units consisting of group work, school-based work and individual study.


Module 4: Language awareness in bilingual teaching

This module will make foreign language teachers, subject teachers and possibly mother tongue teachers aware of cultural, language and text characteristics. It will help them to work together more efficiently and to take care of student's difficulties approaching text in the target language. The module description is suitable for any subject. The provided attachments exemplify CLIL teaching in History and Physics.

The expected outcomes are:

- to be able to work with learners of diverse linguistic/cultural background

- to get sufficient knowledge of learners' mother language and target language

- to be able to identify conceptual/semantic relations between the different languages active in the environment

- to identify linguistic difficulties resulting from first/other languages, or subject conceptualisation

- to be able to adapt and exploit materials in consideration of conceptual structure, textual, syntactic and vocabulary features.

The module is divided in 5 working units:

1. Text structures
2. Language structures
3-4. Lexis
5. Lingua culture

Module 5: CLIL for the learner

This provides a practical hands-on approach to learner centred teaching in CLIL. By the end of this module, the participant will have:

- reflected on the aims and objectives of his/her CLIL teaching,

- reflected on a learner-centred environment and the integration of a communicative teaching style into his/her classroom practices,

- investigated the needs and skills of the learner, whether at primary or at secondary level,

- worked on several teaching techniques appropriate to the CLIL context and selected his/her own approach to teaching in this context,

- explored a range of materials and topics available,

- examined several teaching sequences and created sequences for his/her own use.

This module is divided in 5 working units:
1. Introduction
2. Approach
3. Learner's profile
4. Interaction
5. Topics



TIE CLIL is co-ordinated by:

Gisella Langé, M.P.I. Direzione Regionale per la Lombardia, Via Gonzaga, 2,
I-20123 Milano, ITALY.
Telephone: +39 02 7230938
Fax: +39 02 874211
E-mail: tieclil@tin.it

Partners:

Universitat de Barcelona, Spain, naves@fil.ub.es

Bristol Local Education Authority, United Kingdom, jill ritchie@bristol-city.gov.uk

IRRSAE Lombardia, Italy, quartapelle@bdp.it

Università di Pavia, Italy, maria@unipv.it

Universita Karlova, Pedagogickà Fakulta, Czech Republic, jarmila.novotna@pedf.cuni.cz

University of Salzburg, Institute of Biophysics, Austria, kazianka@asn.netway.at

IUFM de Lorraine, France, pbertaux@lorraine.iufm.fr

Rectorat Académie de Nancy-Metz,France, i.marchi-barbaux@ac-nancy-metz.fr

University of Jyväskylä, Finland, david.marsh@cec.jyu.fi



Trialling and dissemination

An in-service training course was held in 1999 in Bristol for teachers of English from France, Denmark, Finland and Romania in order to trial some of the materials produced during the first year of the project. As part of the course, teachers had the chance to discuss CLIL issues with teachers from Bristol, and had a variety of inputs from tutors. One teacher commented "It was good to share experiences with teachers from other countries. I will certainly try to implement CLIL when I get back".

Second year activities (1999-2000):

Further courses will be held in Bristol in July and October 2000. For details contact Monica Andrews/Jill Ritchie at: (e-mail above or fax: 00 44 117 9311619).
A partial trialling of modules was done as follows:

All partners implemented dissemination activities on the contents of TIE –CLIL project:

Articles on magazines
· Conferences
· Training events
· Exhibitions
· Websites
· Networks
· Resource centres

These activities were addressed mainly to academics and educators, but also larger audience was reached.

Gisella Langé, Project Co-ordinator