Practical 14 clil

Alexis Cora-Aylen Fernández Practice II

PRACTICE II, DIDACTICS OF ELT. Adjunto a/c Prof. Estela N. Braun (2016). Assistant Teacher: Prof. Vanesa Cabral.

1) Which are the five dimensions of CLIL? Do they act in isolation?

The five dimensions of CLIL are scaffolding, anchoring into previous learning, chunking

and repackaging knowledge, fostering creative and critical thinking and challenging

students to step just outside their comfort zone which do not act in isolation, instead they

work collaboratively in order to expand learning opportunities for students and also enable

teachers and learners to take greater control over the learning process and to improve

learning results.

Explain each of them in detail:

A.Scaffolding: In education, this technique is used to access, improve and add to the

current knowledge. In this context it is similar to a temporary supporting structure that

students learn to use and to rely on in order to achieve learning outcomes. This

technique can be described as a partner-assisted which is socially rather than strictly

individualistic.

Scaffolding helps pupils to access to previously acquired knowledge, to analyse it, to

process new information, to construct new links and to take their understanding several

steps further. Indeed, it helps students to better understand the learning process, to build

momentum, to save time and to enjoy short term wins. It lowers frustration and build

success.

All in all, scaffolding is a sheltered learning technique that help students feel

emotionally secure, motivates them and provides the building blocks needed to do the

complex structures. It is not a permanent as it is slowly removed so that another is

quickly build up to support the next topic at hand.


B. Anchoring into previous learning: Is the way in which a bridge between the known

contents and the acquisition of new knowledge is build, i.e. “to make progress in

understanding means linking to prior learning”. In other words, “relational links are the

glue that fixes learning in memory”, and the first relational link that needs to be made is to

one’s prior learning. Consequently, our existing knowledge is the base to access to the new

information.

This “anchoring” does not only apply for content learning process but also to the

learning of the foreign language. For instance, it is not only the prior knowledge about

the language that is involved but also the experiences and attitudes towards the

relationship with the language. In order to take advantage of this dimension, we need to

create a context for the content under study so that students have the necessity to anchor

this content with the previous knowledge. One of the most effective ways of anchoring

into previous learning is through brainstorming. I.e. through exercising in free

association. Participants say whatever comes to their minds in relation to the given

topic. So that then we are able to analyze what they understand before starting with that

topic.

C. Chunking and repackaging knowledge: it refers to the idea that if we are able to

break a content into smaller pieces it would be easier to incorporate it and to reconstruct

it again later. It is commonly believed that we can hold no more than seven pieces of

information in our short-term working memory. Consequently if we are presented with

large amounts of information our minds unconsciously reject it.

In order to move information into our long-term memory, we need to anchor it to prior

knowledge by defining relational links and contrasting new knowledge with what we

already have. When written or oral information is presented in clear chunks, which do

not contain more than seven pieces of well-organized information, the short-term

memory can usually process it. Therefore, a sense of confidence and emotional security

can be developed, making the learning process more effective.

There are numerous tools for chunking, such as tables, charts, diagrams, mind maps,

webs and pictures; it also involves using analogies, or groups of words and numbers,

among others.


D. Fostering creative and critical thinking: involves the

creation/generation/development of ideas, processes, objects, relational links, and

quality relationships. In education, this can be described as mental processes that

learners use “to plan, describe and evaluate their thinking and learning”. It is self-

directed thinking and fundamental to learning. By thinking critically, we improve

learning. Yet creative thinking, is an essential element in effective planning and has the

potential to improve it. Creativity can be used to better explain our ideas and even to

evaluate our plans and results from different perspectives. Creative thinking and critical

thinking are inextricably intertwined.

Our emotional state of mind can contribute to or hide our learning. Positive emotions

“enhance the ability to think flexibly and with more complexity”. On the contrary,

‘when a concept struggles with an emotion, the emotion almost always wins’.

Consequently, “learners in positive, joyful environments are likely to experience better

learning, memory, and feelings of self-esteem”.

Critical thinking is also tied to social processes. The understandings we reach and the

solutions to problems we propose need to match on some level with the understanding

of others. As educators, we can use different frameworks to support students in

becoming independent learners, some of them include: associating (connecting items

together), classifying (putting items into categories), combining (putting items into a

single whole), committing (understanding and accepting responsibility), comparing

(identifying similarities and differences), defining (determining key qualities and/or

characteristics), describing (reporting the features of an item or information), extending

(taking ideas a step further), imagining (forming a mental image),linking (finding

relationships), predicting (anticipating what is likely to happen), roleplaying (thinking

like someone else and acting as that person would).

E. Challenging students to step just outside their comfort zone: some of the

dimensions mentioned above are tools for extending learning, for helping students to

step out of their comfort zone. Those strategies are about helping students to operate in

what Lev Vygotsky has called the zone of proximal development. These allow them to

move from their current understanding of content and attitudes to a new level of


understanding, and then to take another step forward into the zone of proximal

development.

2) How do you think the following CLIL key terms interact in a CLIL lesson?

Target language, exposure, ICT, Intercultural knowledge and understanding,

language awareness, learning styles and learning strategies?

A CLIL lesson is aimed to foster intercultural knowledge and understanding in our

students, as well as creating an environment where they learn a target language through

a constant exposure to it. Making students able to find meaning on what they are

learning and also to find relationships between the subjects, e.g. if they are learning the

water circle they will not only be learning English but also reinforcing the contents

learned in the natural sciences class. A CLIL lesson also involves different learning

styles and strategies to approach this new language and to make sure that every student

is able to acquire the contents being taught.

3) How do visual organizers help to scaffold students´learning? Provide graphic

examples.

Visual organizers help to scaffold students´ learning since they allow them to classify,

categorize or summarize the information provided. Through doing these activities we

can favor the understanding and learning of the new information.

One visual organizer can be the “fishbone organizer”, with which learners provide

subheadings of the main topic. These subheadings will probably help students to recall

more information.

Parts of our body.

FaceNose

Hair

Body Legs


4) Explain the impact of Bloom´s taxonomy to help students reach higher order

thinking. How can we achieve this at Primary school level?

Bloom´s taxonomy is one of the most used ways of organizing the learning objectives that

teachers have when teaching a class. Organizing the expected outcomes that students may

have at the end of the class allow the teacher to select appropriate classroom assessment

techniques for the course.

By using Bloom´s taxonomy teachers can identify the intellectual level in which students

are capable of realize their work without any difficulty. Bloom´s taxonomy also helps

teachers ask questions and create instructions aimed at critical thinking, so students can

reach the top of the three levels, which are analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

At primary level we can achieve the higher order thinking through making students

questions, of a higher level, about the topic we are dealing with which will develop

independent thinking and will also motivate them to think critically.

5) In pairs, design a lesson plan following CLIL.

As we are working in 4th grade we decided to use one of the concepts we have to develop

and to relate it with another subject, which is maths. In this context, the curriculum for

maths states in its fourth article that students in fourth grade are expected to:

Recognize and group figures and bodies using different criteria.

Build figures using the known properties and instruments necessary, assessing the

adequacy of the figure obtained.

Composing and decomposing shapes using triangles and quadrangles, analyzing the

characteristics of the new figures.

From this point onwards we decided that, from the content of “geometric shapes” students

will be able to “anchor” the prior knowledge with the new activity in the following lesson

plan.

School: Instituto Maria Auxiliadora

Course/ Grade: 4th grade.

Related Discipline: Mathematics.

Lesson Plan n° 7.


-Opening the Lesson: Warm-Up Activity (5‘)

Macro skills: Listening and Speaking

Activity nº2 (5‘): the trainee is going to present the last topic of Unit 4, which are “geometric shapes”. With the help of flashcards, the trainee will show these shapes (triangle, rectangle, circle and square). After this, the trainee will ask students for examples inside the classroom.

e.g. “The blackboard is a rectangle. Can you see any other rectangle here? Any triangle?”

Body of the lesson (28’)

Activity n°3: (6’)

Macro skills: Reading Comprehension-Writing

Students will do an activity on their Activity Books in which they should count the geometric shapes of a “body”, and another one on their Pupil’s Book in which they should do the same but in different images.

Activity nº4(5’)


Macro skills: Reading Comprehension-Writing

Students are going to do an activity in a photocopy provided by the trainee. They will have to trace the geometric shapes and then color the figures that are required.

Activity nº5 (10‘)

Macro skills: TPR-Speaking

Memory Game: the trainee will stick flashcards with the geometric shapes on the blackboard and students will have to find the pairs. Then, they will have to produce a sentence using the different adjectives and the shapes e.g. “two big circles” – “two long rectangles”


Activity nº6 (7‘)

Macro skills: TPR-Speaking

The trainee is going to give the students several pieces of cardboards for them to produce different figures. The trainee will show some figures in order to model the activity.

Eg:

Closing the Lesson (2’)

As usual, students will copy on their books the activities they have done during the lesson, as date, weather and description of the activities.

#as it can be seen, we have encouraged them, from a simple topic as geometric shapes, to think creatively so as to create an object from simple shapes having in mind what they conform (for example one triangle from two small triangles).

We have also reassured topics like numbers which is something they have to recover in the maths class, according to the official curriculum.

LOTS have been practiced when recognizing the shapes, and HOTS have been implemented in the images in which they have to count those


numbers, since the picture of the pizza was a challenge for them because of having to take into account the round table in which the pizza was.

Education

Practical 14 clil