Supporting a weaker language through CLIL projects

Ane Ortega-Etcheverry Lyon, October 10th, 2014

Aims of the workshop

•  SHARE our experience in designing and implementing a global project involving an area and the languages of the curriculum. •  EXPERIMENT together, by designing a global

unit based on the principles proposed. •  DISCUSS

BAM-Txomin Aresti 2010-2013 Details of the project

Primary school Txomin Aresti (Leioa, Basque country)… •  is admitted as a pilot school in the Basque Government

Trilingual project (2010-2013). Objectives of the Trilingual project: Introduce changes in the development of English in Primary in order to improve the level of English. How? Through CLIL: making English the language of instruction for one or more subjects, or part of them. Implementation… In Grade 4 (9 yr. old children), to the same students upto the end of Primary (Grade 6 – 11 yr. old children)

BAM-Txomin Aresti 2010-2013 Details of the school

•  Sociolinguistic context: Spanish-speaking •  Student profile: 90%-95% of children is Spanish L1 •  Hardly any immigrant children •  Linguistic model of the school: total immersion in

Basque ‒  Early immersion at aged 2 or 3. ‒  Introduction to literacy in Basque ‒  Infant school: total immersion in Basque ‒  Primary school: all subjects in Basque, except for

Spanish and English (introduced in Grade 1)

(http://www.txominaresti.net/en/)

Other relevant details of the school

•  Very dynamic headmistress and teachers. •  Involved in a number of innovation projects. •  Working towards an integrated language

curriculum •  Working towards project-based methodology •  Long trajectory in discourse approach to

language learning, that is, language learning based on communicative situations and making the text the ultimate unit of learning

CLIL model most common in the BAC (Basque Autonomous Community) and the

one proposed by Education office

» More hours for English » One or more subjects in English (most

often, Science (Social and Natural Sciences)

What Txomin Aresti was prepared to do and their limitations

•  Prepared to dedicate to English one or two more hours more per week (to a total of 5 hrs/wk):

•  Prepared to make curricular organisational changes

•  Not prepared to do a whole subject in English. Reasons: »  They could not “afford” to take away hours of

exposure to Basque (and therefore jeopardize meeting the targetted level at the end of Primary: B2).

»  The level of Grade 4 children considered too low to tackle curricular content with the necessary academic rigour.

IN SEARCH OF A MODEL

FOR TXOMIN ARESTI

We believe that… CLIL is a flexible approach, capable to including different models; therefore there is the possibility of adapting the approach to very different learning contexts.

Flexibility yes, but without forgetting CLIL principles: •  A L2 is more successfully learned when it is

used in meaningful tasks related to the learning of content.

•  Learning by using. •  Learning while negotiating meaning, by

means of “interacting” with content.

Mehisto, Marsh & Frigols (2008: 13).

CLIL Models: A continuum of content and language

(Met 1999)

Let’s remember: we are looking for a model…

•  that followed CLIL principles; •  that did not take away hours from the minority

language; •  that would take into account the limited

competence levels of children in English;

+ •  that would integrate all three languages of the

curriculum: Basque, Spanish and English (because of the efforts the school was already making in having an integrated language curriculum).

⇒ English should not have the responsibility of teaching basic curricular content

⇒  but would transfer, reuse, consolidate and expand curricular content.

A global project, whose axe is Science.

Principles and features ->>>

•  Ingurune [Science] is the axe around which the global project is organized.

•  Ingurune [Science] contents are worked on in Basque. •  Basque, Spanish and English languages are developed

through Ingurune [Science] contents. => contents are transferred

•  The work in English, the L3 of the children, is carefully planned and leans on the work done in the other areas: »  Basic contents are transferred from Ingurune

[Science]. »  The language work done in the other languages is

taken into account and transferred in as much as possible: general comprehension strategies, common strategies and abilities in the production of texts, which are transferable between languages.

•  Project-based work for each language.

In sum, a global project with the non-linguistic area (Ingurune [Science]) and the three languages of the curriculum (Basque, Spanish and English) and where each language is in itself a mini-project organized around a communicative task.

EXAMPLE OF GLOBAL SCIENCE-BASQUE-SPANISH-ENGLISH PROJECT CURRICULUM TOPIC: Osasuna [Health] PROJECT: Gure dieta eta gure osasuna [Our diet and our health]

YEAR: 4 S C I E N C E ( i n B a s q u e , immersion language)

E U S K A R A ( I m m e r s i o n language)

S P A N I S H ( L 1 o f t h e students)

E N G L I S H ( L 3 o f t h e students)

GAIA: Health PROJECT: Our diet and our health. CONTENTS: •  Find out about healthy

habits: hygiene, rest, sports and physical exerc ise, positive attitudes, balanced diet and healthy eating habits.

•  Knowing oneself, analyzing one’s habits, changing one’s habits for a healthier life.

•  Describing basic food types and their functions.

•  Understanding the seven parts of the food wheel, identifying the foods that belong to each part and drawing conclusions about eating too much or too little of a food type.

•  Become aware o f the importance of a healthy diet.

(Basque supports the work in Science and proposes a language product (a text) related to the project.) FINAL TASK (text): Report (domain: academic); type: expository) C O M M U N I C A T I V E SITUATION The students will keep a diary of what they eat during the day for a week. Based on those data they will write a report in which they first describe their diet and at the end evaluate how healthy their diet is and propose some changes. (This is an academic task, whose recipients are the teacher and the rest of the students. Discussions, reflection and proposals will follow the presentation of reports)

RELATED TOPIC: Eating well for good health FINAL TASK: Opinion article / Letter to the editor (domain: media); type: argumentative) C O M M U N I C A T I V E SITUATION: The Basque Government is organizing a campaign on healthy habits and obesity prevention. The students will learn about the campaign, will find out about this conditions and will write an opinion article /letter to the editor proposing measures. Letter to the editor to be published in local newspaper. Texts that are not published to be published in school panels or school web page.

TOPIC: Our diet in the Basque country and other diets TARGET TEXT: Letter to a penfriend (domain: social relations; type: expository) C O M M U N I C A T I V E SITUATION: Our school is organizing an exchange with students of a British school. The teachers of the partner school would like information about cultural a s p e c t s o f t h e B a s q u e Country, including the type of food that their students will eat here. What a good opportunity for our children to talk about their diet and their meal routines! Our children will write a letter to their penfriend describing them how many times they eat, what they eat in each meal and generally, what type of diet we have in the Basque country.

Topic:  MAKINAK  (Machines)            Proiect:  Construc9on  of  a  machine  and  exhib9on  of  all  machines  to  visitors

SCIENCE  (in  Basque) BASQUE SPANISH ENGLISH

 Curricular  contents:  •  Understanding  strength  

and  its  importance  •  Simple  and  complex  

machines  •  Machine  classifica<on;  

criteria  usage.    •  Characteris<cs  and  

components  of  complex  machines.    

•  To  be  able  to  examine  and    explain  the  workings  of  some  simple  machines.    

•  To  build  a  machine  and  be  able  to  explain  what  type  of  machine  it  is,  what  it  does,  how  it  works  and  how  it  was  built.  

 

 TASK:  The  most  influen<al  machines  in  the  history  of  the  world      FINAL  LINGUISTIC  PRODUCT:  A  debate  (Domain:  academic.  Type:  argumenta<ve)    COMMUNICATIVE  SITUATION:    AWer  iden<fying  (or  proposed  by  the  teacher)  5  very  influen<al  and  important  machines  for  the  development  of  our  civiliza<on,  the  students  will  choose  one,  find  out  about  it  and  a  be  prepared  to  defend  its  importance  in  a  debate.    

  TASK:  Related  to  the  contruc<on  of  the  machine   FINAL  LINGUISTIC  PRODUCT:  Oral    presenta<on  (Domain:  academic-­‐divulta<ve.  Type:  expository)     COMMUNICATIVE  SITUATION:   We  have  done  a  great  job  by  crea<ng  our  machines.  We  will  display  them  in  the  school  pa<o  for  parents,  visitors  and  other  students  to  see,  and  we’ll  have  to  explain  to  the  visitor  all  about  the  machine  and  answers  any  ques<ons  they  have.    

  TASK:  Related  to  the  event:    the  display  of  machines.        TEXT:  A  piece  of  news  in  the  school  web-­‐page  News  sec<on    (Domain:  media.  Type:  relato  informa<vo)    COMMUNICATIVE  SITUATION:    As  the  school  is  organizing  a  display  of  the  machines  and  inven<ons  created,  we’ll  have  to  give  news  of  this  in  our  webpage  for  our  fellow  school  and  other  schools  to  know.      The  students  will  write    (a)  an  announcement  of  

the  event,  and    (b)  a  piece  of  news  on  

how  it  went.  

An Area-Language Integrated Task (visual representation of work in each language)

TXOMIN ARESTI – BAM: PROYECTOS INTEGRADOS INGURUNE-EUSKERA-CASTELLANO-INGLÉS, 4º-6º DE PRIMARIA

Curso  

 

Tema  de  Conocimiento  del  Medio  

Texto  meta  en  euskera   Texto  meta  en  L.  Española   Texto  meta  en  inglés  

4º   La  salud   Tema:  Mi  dieta  

Texto:exposi<vo:  Informe,  a  par<r  de  un  diario  

Tema:  La  obesidad  infan<l.    

Texto  argumenta<vo:  Carta  al  director  

Tema:  Nuestra  dieta  y  hábitos  alimen<cios  

Texto:  exposi<vo    Carta  a  un  niño  que  vendrá  a  su  casa  en  intercambio.  

    Las  plantas   Tema:  Las  plantas  son  importantes  y  debemos  cuidarlas  

Texto  argumenta<vo  :  Arbculo  de  opinión  en  pág.  web.  

Tema:    Experimentando  con  plantas  

Texto  exposi<vo  oral:  Experimento  (descripción  de  proceso)  

Tema:  Mi  planta  favorita  

Texto  descrip<vo:  Presentación  oral  con  apoyo  de  foto  

        Las  máquinas  

Proyecto:  Hacemos  una  máquina  y  la  presentamos  a  los  padres  y  madres  

Tema:  ¿Cuáles  han  sido,  a  lo  largo  de  la  historia,  las  máquinas  más  importantes?  

Texto:  argumenta<vo  oral  Debate  

   

Tema:  La  máquina  que  he  creado  

Texto:  Exposición  oral  a  los  padres  sobre  la  máquina  creada    

Tema:  Evento  de  la  exposición  oral  sobre  la  máquina  creada.  

Texto  narra<vo  (relato):  No<cia  en  página  web  anunciando  el  evento;  no<cia  en  página  web  contando  el  evento  

5º   Los  animales  invertebrados  

   

Tema:  Los  animales  invertebrados  

Texto  exposi<vo  oral:  Exposición  cienbfica    

   

Tema:  Animales  de  compañía.  Campaña  contra  el  abandono  de  animales  

Texto:  Exposi<vo-­‐argumenta<vo  :  murales  de  sensibilización  contra  el  abandono  de  mascotas.  

Tema:  Adoptar  un  animal  del  zoo  

Texto:   Carta   informal   en   que   describen   a   un  penfriend  el  animal  adoptado.    

    La  energía   Tema:  Energías  renovables  

Texto  argumenta<vo    oral  :  debate  

Tema:  Necesidad  de  ahorrar  energía  

Texto  argumenta<vo:  Arbculo  de  opinión  

   

Topic:  How  can  we  save  energy?  

Texto:  Instruc<vo,  con  consejos  sobre  cómo  ahorrar  energía  (en  murales)    

    Euskadi,  nuestra  <erra   Texto  exposi<vo-­‐descrip<vo   Tema:  Viajando  por  Euskadi  

Texto  narra<vo:  Relato  de  una  excursión  

Tema:  Elementos  caracterís<cos  de  Euskadi  

Texto  exposi<vo  

6º   La  Tierra  y  el  universo   Tema:  ¿Por  qué...?  (Fenómenos  relacionados  con  el  tema)  

Texto  exposi<vo-­‐explica<vo  

Tema:  La  orientación  

Texto  instruc<vo:  cómo  construir  una  brújula  

Tema:  Direcciones  y  orientación  

Texto  instruc<vo  (giving  direc<ons):  mapa  del  tesoro.  

    Viajando  por  Europa   Texto:  exposi<vo.  

Guía  turís<ca:  Sección  de  instroducción  geográfica  y  climá<ca  a  diferentes  países  europeos  

Tema:  ¿Adónde  vamos  de  viaje?  Propuesta  de  des<no.  

Texto:  argumenta<vo.  

Tema:  Organizamos  un  viaje  a  Inglaterra  

Texto:  Plan  de  viaje  día  a  día.  

    El  nuevo  mundo   Relato  histórico   Tema:  Personajes    

Texto:  Biograka  de  personaje  histórico  

Tema:  Who  were  Pocahontas  and  John  Smith?  The  true  story  

Texto:  Narra<vo  

REFERENCES

•  Dpto. de Educación, Universidades e Investigación, Gobierno Vasco (2010). Marco de Educación Trilingüe. http://www.hezkuntza.ejgv.euskadi.net/r43-573/es/contenidos/informacion/dig3/es_2085/g3_c.html

•  Mehisto, P., Marsh, d. & Frigols, M. J. (2008). Uncovering CLIL. Macmillan.

•  Met, M. (1999). Content-based instruction: Defining terms, making decisions. NFLC Reports. Washington, DC: The National Foreign Language Center.

•  Met, M. (1997). Integrating language and content: issues to consider. Ikastaria, 9, 27-39.