A guide for teachers and schools to using foreign languages in content teaching

Maria Pavesi
Daniela Bertocchi
Marie Hofmannová
Monika Kazianka

General editor: Gisella Langé

PART I
General issues 3
1.1 Definition and aims 3
1.2 Language learning assumptions in CLIL 3
PART II
CLIL components:
subjects, languages, schools, learners, teachers 5
2.1 Which disciplines? 5
2.2 Which languages? 6
2.3 Schools 7
2.4 Learners 7
2.5 Teachers 8

PART III
Methodology and teaching strategies 10
3.1 A general premise 10
3.2 Planning the curriculum 11
3.3 Length and type of exposure 12
3.4 Skills, activities and assessment 13

PART IV
Teacher-training for CLIL

by Jarmila Novotná, Marie Hofmannová
Charles University, Faculty of Education

jarmila.novotna@pedf.cuni.cz,
marie.hofmannova@pedf.cuni.cz

Many countries are using English as a teaching medium. The resultant need is for teachers to be trained to teach subjects such as Science, Mathematics and Technology through English to children whose first language is other than English. This course responds to this opportunity by providing an introduction to relevant pedagogical, linguistic and cultural issues, training in the requisite methodology, familiarisation with approaches adopted worldwide and an overview of relevant research.

 by Ruth Arber

June- 2006

by Gail Chittleborough

Lecturer in Science and Mathematics Education
Faculty of Education
Deakin University
221 Burwood Highway,
Burwood, 3125
Australia
+61 3 9244 3830 (phone)
+61 3 9244 6834 (fax)
gail.chittleborough@deakin.edu.au

by Dr Fong Soon Fook

School of Educational Studies
Universiti Sains Malaysia

English for the teaching of mathematics and science (ETeMS)

by Peter Hubber, Deakin University

The research literature into students’ understandings of science indicates that students’ from different countries and cultures hold non-scientific pre-instructional views of the world that, often, are quite resistant to change, or change in unexpected ways, in the formal setting of the classroom. What is advocated to address these research findings are constructivist teaching and learning strategies. This article reports on the authors’ research into adopting constructivist teaching approaches within a classroom setting in the topic of optics. This article also discusses the applicability of employing constructivist teaching and learning approaches in science classrooms of English as Second Language (ESL) learners.

Universiti Sains Malaysia

In 2003, the Malaysian government introduced a new policy in terms of teaching of Mathematics and Science – the use of English as the medium or enabler. To many teachers, at the onset of the introduction, this was a major shift in their own paradigm of teaching and learning Mathematics and Science. The main obstacle that contributed to the shift was the language that will be used for the teaching and learning processes, which is now English, a language considered a foreign language by most even though it is officially a second language in Malaysia. Teachers, particularly those with little English language proficiency, presented the education ministry with the biggest challenge – how the teachers can be trained, supported, equipped and assisted to teach Mathematics and Science using English. The seriousness and criticalness of this issue is reflected in the amount of money that was allocated to address and surmount the challenge (a whopping 5 billion Ringgit).

by Norlida Ahmad
School Of Educational Studies
Universiti Sains Malaysia
norli@usm.my

Even though there are advantages when science is taught in English in Malaysia, we should not ignore the facts that using English also impedes the students understanding of the content. Since the ability to read, write and speak English clearly and precisely holds a special place in science learning, measures have to be taken to ensure that students especially in the remote areas will not be victimized