Embedding
Children learn best when they can make sense of
their learning. Embedding language learning into school life brings
benefits on many levels. It helps children to realise that there
are many languages in the world (and in their school) and that
speaking another language is normal, natural and valuable.
Experiencing language every day helps children to
memorise new words and structures, giving children the confidence
to respond to what they hear and to use the new language for real
purposes. Integrating language learning into the school day makes
best use of the time available and provides coherent links between
different subjects of the curriculum.
CLIL
The basis of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is
that new subject content from other curriculum areas is taught
and learnt through the new language. In other words, children’s
learning experience is enhanced by exploiting the links between the
two subjects. Since it is used for real purposes, the new language
is also learned more ‘naturally’ thus building on other forms of
learning. As the subject content should always be the main focus of
the CLIL lesson, children should be encouraged to draw on their
knowledge about language in order to make sense of new concepts.
CLIL is based on language acquisition so children’s fluency is more
important than accuracy. Existing subject lesson plans have to be
modified to take into account children’s ability in the new
language, and therefore the planning process is vital.