It’s official: the latest issue of CLIL Magazine is finished and has just been published! I’m really proud of this ninth (!!) edition of the magazine, as many both recurring and new authors have contributed to this issue. The authors originate from over 5 different countries, making CLIL Magazine an…
It is that time of the year again! As an early Christmas gift I present to you: CLIL Magazine Fall 2016! Opinionated pieces Janet Streeter shares her ideas on the purpose of competitions in a lesson and the reason this might be a great way to motivate students. Phil Ball…
CLIL and mathematics. By many considered to be challenging at best, maybe even impossible to implement. Don’t worry thought, I am here to help! And believe me, after teaching mathematics in English for almost ten years, I can assure you both CLIL and mathematics can be integrated use as easily…
When looking for interesting new authentic material to use in my lesson, I often encounter the fact that the different education orientated materials found on the web are categorised in different key stages. That’s fine, it is a matter of simply linking the correct key stage to my target age…
I have always had the up most respect for primary school teachers, for various reasons. One of the most important things a primary school teacher does is facilitate differentiation: allowing each and every student to receive instruction and work on his or her own level. At secondary schools, differentiation is still…
The school year has started again after summer. Or at least in my part of the world. Students get ready for school, enter your classroom, do their work. And take notes ferociously. Or do they? In my experience, students have to take a lot of notes. (Remember, it’s ‘taking notes’,…
Wait, I already wrote a post on the definition of CLIL before right? Yes I did, however, I feel I should write something regarding the use of CLIL again, as still many different ways of working with CLIL still exist. The problem with CLIL is that it is a methodology…
For some time now, I have asked students to create activities for each other. According to Bloom, creating is a high level thinking skill, so asking this of students could be quite a challenge. Another reason for doing this activity is to help students remember things better. After all, you…
After the disappointment last year of not being able to publish a CLIL Magazine, I am happy to be able to announce the latest issue is finished and ready to be read! New design The first thing you might notice is the change in the design. Colours of the website have…
A couple of years ago Peeter Mehisto (co-author of “Uncovering CLIL”) observed one of my lessons and commented I could think about tasks I could give to students. Tasks I would normally do myself. I even went a little further than that. I tried to get my students to create their own…
I like running. Twice a week I’ll run a distance somewhere between 5K and 10K. Or at least I try to. Yet I find that I don’t do it when it’s raining it’s cold outside I feel tired Motivation is a thing here. I recently signed up for a run in…
A lot has been written about CLIL activities. The very good book “CLIL Activities” by Liz Dale and Rosie Tanner, but also “CLIL Skills” and “The TKT Course CLIL Module” are very interesting reads if you want to find inspiration for your own CLIL activity. However, I still hear teachers say…
In the posts on this website I usually share my opinion on CLIL as well as share some ideas of others. This time however, I would like to share CLIL resources that I think are really worth your time and can be used to advance both your knowledge of CLIL…
If I would have to name the single biggest question most (new) CLIL teachers have with CLIL it would be: How do you balance language and subject in a CLIL lesson? They might even think the subject content of their lesson would become less important. That is simply NOT true. Let…
CLIL Magazine Spring Edition won’t be published for another three months, but I do want to share with you a resource I think is worth sharing. Therefore, you can already read the book review for the next issue of CLIL Magazine below. Have fun reading! Optimise your teaching competences: new…
This week I have four tests planned and a project and a small test are still waiting to be checked. Resting in a pile right next to my keyboard, I hope to find the motivation and time to really start with it today. Not to mention the lengthy meeting I…
Lesson stages Beginning of the lesson | Discussing homework | Instruct students | Individual work | Group work | Lesson Reflection Why so often forgotten? Every teacher gives instruction. Most teachers discuss homework. Quite a few activate prior knowledge. But when it comes to reflection activities in a lesson, you have to start looking…
Just a quick post to let everyone know December has been really, really busy. Hence the somewhat silence on my part. No worries though, the articles for January are lined up and ready to go for next year. For now, I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and…
Some phrases are used by teachers all over the world. Sentences that have nothing to do with the subject but are vital for classroom. Thousands of teachers say the same things … and make the same mistakes in classroom English. Obviously, this is not the case for native speakers. But if…
They enter your classroom, looking around. Some might be noisy, most of them are silently waiting for the new experiences that await them at the new school. A select few has already read through the books and think they know what to expect. The students sit down, you start the first…
During a recent workshop I received the question regarding the difference between CLIL and immersion. Also, some other people used CLBT and CLIL as different phrases for the same type of language learning. To make matters worse, some teachers argued EFL is a lot like CLIL. EFL, immersion, CLBT and CLIL.…
Lesson stages Beginning of the lesson | Discussing homework | Instruct students | Individual work | Group work | Lesson Reflection CLIL is all about simulating language output (among other things of course) and the best way to simulate output is by motivate students to talk. Sounds simple enough right? As discussed before, individual…
Last week I was invited to give a workshop at a CLIL Conference in Belgium. Apart from the fact I thought this was a great honor, I was even more surprised to hear that bilingual education has only just started in Belgium. To be allowed to help out fellow teachers…
Lesson stages Beginning of the lesson | Discussing homework | Instruct students | Individual work | Group work | Lesson Reflection CLIL is all about creating language output and engaging students. That leaves no room for individual, silent work. Right? I don’t agree Why working individually is a good thing First and foremost, I…
There is (at least) one thing every teacher does at every school. Worldwide. Discussing a test. But how can you do this in a way that is CLIL? In other words, by activating the language and engaging the students? Let me tell you how I do this, and feel free…
The number one priority of every CLIL teacher is to activate language. To do that, teachers themselves speak English all the time, but teach a subject of their own. Nothing new so far However, with the focus primarily on the subject, language can fall behind. Or worse, you might revert…
A colleague of mine once said: CLIL is all about teaching students both higher language as well as higher thinking skills. I agree. Yet, implementing that into our everyday lessons is a challenge for many of us. Or at least for me. So, in this post I want to talk…
My students looked at me as if I had just started speaking Chinese. ” Isn’t that your job?” one of them asked, not really sure what to make of my question. ” Nope,” I answered. ” This time it’s yours. Good luck!” This was the way my students responded the…
Lesson stages Beginning of the lesson | Discussing homework | Instruct students | Individual work | Group work | Lesson Reflection “Please open your books on page 13. Today we are going to discuss the past tense. Please listen up” Not the most exciting way to start your instruction, is it? Yet this is…
In my previous post regarding effective feedback I introduced the definition of feedback as well as the six types of effective feedback. Elicitation Repetition Recast Explicit correction Clarification request Meta-linguistic feedback I also explained in a bit more detail how the first three of these types of feedback can work…
As explained in my post regarding scaffolding, this key term of CLIL is important to structure the thinking process of your students in order to help them to learn. Yet, although theoretical knowledge is important, I prefer real life examples to understand new concepts better. In this post I want…
Providing feedback is something every teacher does. Correcting your students’ answer is natural to almost every teacher and helps students to grow and develop. In a CLIL lesson, teachers are expected to not just provide feedback on the content but also on the language. What different ways can you provide…
Lesson stages Beginning of the lesson | Discussing homework | Instruct students | Individual work | Group work | Lesson Reflection Homework. One of those necessary evils of education. “Flipping the classroom” is gaining momentum, but many teachers still use homework as an important tool in their lessons. I don’t want to start a…
In my new job I will have to teach for 70 minutes in a row. I have experienced this before and I remember colleagues responding saying: I can’t make students work for 70 minutes! I agree. That’s why you should have a wide variety of activities in your lesson. Variation…
Do me a favor will you? Click the picture below and try to read the text. Keep track of the time while reading. Don’t give up too soon and don’t scroll down to the answer, give it a try first. Dyslexia in a CLIL environment “Dyslexia is defined by an…
Lesson stages Beginning of the lesson | Discussing homework | Instruct students | Individual work | Group work | Lesson Reflection The opening of a lesson is an important moment of your lesson in which you establish the contact with your students and set the stage for your lesson. Just a few things you are…
You might or might not have heard this term before, but I can assure you: it’s a key term in CLIL. Scaffolding is not just an important part of regular education, its use is even more important in a language learning environment like CLIL education. What is scaffolding? The obvious…
The students were running towards the blackboard, eager to write down their word before someone else could. For a moment, it was complete chaos in my classroom. A few smart ones stayed behind to wait and see what options would be left open, confident they would be able to fill…
This blog, the CLIL magazine, the CLIL Challenge. They all focus on one theme: CLIL. But what is CLIL? Does everyone implement CLIL in the same way, as an universal method that is the same for everyone? The answer to this question is no. CLIL is being implement in a…
Welcome to the CLIL Blog! This is the very first post on new part of the website and the beginning of another one of my CLIL projects. I look forward to supplying you with information regarding CLIL and in this specific article I would like to focus on CLIL lesson…