Made by Alcazar, Pérez and Yacopini

1. PRACTICE II, DIDACTICS OF ELT and Practicum Primary School
level. Adjunto Regular a/c Prof. Estela N. Braun (2021).
Trainees: Alcazar, Pérez and Yacopini
Teacher Assistants: Prof. Maguie Muller. Prof. Joana Herrán
Adscripta: Camila Viñati
Date: August 3rd, 2021.
THEORY: EXCELLENT
Practical 5 on CLIL.
PRACTICAL 5 on CLIL:
A. THEORY:
1) Which are the five dimensions of CLIL? Do they act in isolation?
10/10
CLIL consists of 5 different dimensions: Culture, Environment,
Language, Content and Learning. In this view, we can teach English
through other topics in the school curriculum. These five dimensions
contribute to a fundamental part of the language teaching of a foreign
language, as we can relate the learning of a target language to other
contents of the school’s curriculum.
1) The Culture Dimension helps firstly to build intercultural knowledge
and understanding. Secondly, it develops intercultural communication
skills. Third, students learn about specific neighbouring countries/regions
and/or minority groups. Finally, CLIL introduces the wider cultural
context.
2) The Environment Dimension contributes to the preparation for
internationalisation, most specifically EU(European Union) integration so
as to be able to access International Certification and as a result it
enhances the school profile.
3) The Language Dimension helps to improve overall target language
competence and develop oral communication skills. In the same way, it

2. deepens awareness of both mother tongue and target language, for
instance by acknowledging the differences regarding grammar. This
awareness will develop plurilingual interests and attitudes.
4) The Content Dimension provides opportunities to study content through
different perspectives, grants access to subject-specific target language
terminology and prepares for future studies and/or working life.
5) The Learning Dimension helps firstly, to complement individual learning
strategies such as concept maps, for studying and writing about
processes. Secondly, it diversifies methods and forms of classroom
practice and finally it increases learner motivation to apply what they
learn in other subjects.
Explain each of them in detail:
A) Scaffolding//Zone of Proximal Development:
A temporary supporting structure that students learn to use and to rely on,
in order to achieve learning outcomes. This strategy allows students to
access and analyze previously acquired knowledge, to process new
information and create new relational links, to take their understanding
several steps further and consequently understand better the learning
process, to build momentum, save time and enjoy short-term success.
This scaffolding can be built by: teachers, other learners, parents and
members of the community.
The teacher will have to facilitate the pedagogical tools to access the
content so that the student may learn.
Some Examples of Scaffolding strategies include:
Children will tend to use Spanish to answer the teacher’s questions. The
teacher should provide the new information or repeat it in English so students
will start grasping the vocabulary to use it next time.
● Initially providing reinforcement for attempting to speak, then for
partially right answers, and then for the right answer.
We should pay close attention to our register when addressing students. For
instance, by using short sentences so they can understand and all the time
we may use pictures and realia (Beckon?).

3. ● Explaining a point using the register of language used by students.
● Shortening sentences.
● Using pictures and realia.
● Breaking material into chunks.
● Giving clues and asking follow-up questions.
Process of Scaffolding
1) Teacher models for the class how to do the assignment.
2) Students help the teacher to work through a similar assignment.
3) Students do a similar assignment in groups.
4) Students work independently.
GREAT!
B) Anchoring into previous learning: our existing knowledge base and our
current level of understanding provide a foundation and anchor for new learning.
This anchoring is made through school’s subjects that have already studied the
topic that we want to keep developing. In other words, this anchoring applies to
content and language acquisition which go hand in hand.
Example of Anchoring:
Brainstorming: Free Association
It is used to come up with new ideas, and also allow/s students to use
language to explain why they feel certain words/ideas are relevant.
● Words or phrases
● Can be used to create
o Lists
o Word Banks
o Webs
o Diagrams
o Diamond
o Fishbone organizer
C) Chunking and repackaging knowledge

4. This may refer to the importance of selecting chunks of language which are
meaningful to read, write and understand. For example, if they are learning
about how to describe an animal, we should teach them useful structures to
write a description.
● Breaking big pieces of information into smaller chunks helps
students succeed.
● Average person can hold no more than seven pieces of information
in their short-term working memory.
● When oral or written material is presented in “chunks”, or groups of
information, students can better absorb information.
Chunking Strategies
● Questions aimed at understanding parts of material.
● Graphic Organizers
● Charts
● Mind Maps
● Diagrams
● Webs
● Pictures
Repackaging knowledge has to do with giving information but then they have
to work with it. In order to learn about a topic, we should make our students
repackage the information into different structures such as summarizing it
through diagrams and think about examples of how it can be used. By using
these strategies, we will place the new information into the short-term memory
of our students.

5. D) Fostering creative and critical thinking and Challenging students to step
just outside their comfort zone
Creative thinking involves the creation, generation or further development of
ideas, processes, objects, relational links, synergies and quality relationships.
Critical thinking involves evaluating all of the listed above. It is a mental process
that learners use to plan, describe and evaluate their thinking and learning; by
working to improve the quality of our thinking, we improve learning.
Creative thinking is an essential element in effective planning and it has the
potential to improve it. As we try to analyze and solve problems in our everyday
lives, we often imagine various solutions. Creativity can be used to better explain
our ideas to others and even to evaluate our plans and results from unique
perspectives. Our values, attitudes and feelings have an impact on our thinking
and we need to examine the influence of these elements on our thinking
processes. If we have a negative attitude about a topic, it will affect our capacity
to learn and our minds are more likely to reject information about which we have
negative feelings.

6. “Learners in positive, joyful environments are likely to experience better learning,
memory, and feelings of self-esteem” (Jensen 1996, as cited by Wright, 2005).
Meaning is co-constructed through social processes and critical thinking is also
tied to social processes. Quality of thinking can be improved with the support of
others e.g. teachers, mentors, peers or parents. If most of the lessons are based
on tasks associated with:
● Applying one’s new knowledge and understanding
● Analyzing the effectiveness of the application of new knowledge and
understanding
● Evaluating progress in task completion and learning
● Creating something new
it will lead to greater levels of learning and greater recall of facts considering we
learn best through experience; the ‘remember and understanding’ levels are
embedded into activities such as analyzing, evaluating and creating.
E) Challenging Students to Step Just Outside their Comfort Zone
The balancing act
It is through the assessment and articulation of daily practices that we establish
our current level of understanding. Thus, as a first step, educators should assess
the percentage of time they devote to content learning, language skills and the
percentage devoted to learning skills development. Firstly, a content teacher
should consider how to increase focus on form and increase accuracy of
language usage among students. As a result, this will save considerable time.
Secondly, since content learning motivates students, a language teacher may
work with a content teacher by teaching the curriculum using materials from a
content subject.
Pet peeve and preventing plateauing
Students seem to make certain errors over and over again and in CLIL there is
often greater emphasis on communication than on complete grammatical

7. accuracy. It is crucial to discuss these students’ mistakes with colleagues and
decide to pick a pet peeve where errors become a priority for the next lesson and
teachers encourage pupils to self-repair.
Using silence
If a teacher asks a question and picks the first student who shoots up his or her
hand, other students understand that there is no need for further thinking. It is
worth taking extra time to make sure that the majority of the class raise their
hands as well. Some of them may be quiet or silent because they have not
acquired the active language skills to participate or because they lack the
required confidence to speak. Consequently, some language patterns can be
posted on walls or blackboards to support the students in answering. Similarly,
we may include routine activities with considerable repetition from day to day
which can build the pupil’s confidence to speak. The strategies mentioned above
are some strategies educators may use to support student’s engagement and
verbal contributions to the classroom.
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? 10/10
In CLIL lesson plans, knowledge of the language becomes the means of learning
content. Learning is improved through increased motivation and the study of
natural language seen in context and when learners are interested in a topic, they
are motivated to acquire the language to communicate.
Language is seen in real-life situations in which students can acquire the
language. In CLIL fluency is more important than accuracy and errors are a
natural part of language learning where pupils develop fluency in English by using
English to communicate for a variety of purposes.
It builds intercultural knowledge & understanding which develop intercultural
communication skills where students may learn about specific neighbouring,
countries or regions. As a result, they are introduced to a wider cultural context.
The use of ICT tools in the classroom raises the interest of children in learning a
foreign language, while at the same time, it helps to develop listening, speaking

8. and writing skills. This may encourage students to show output and to reflect upon
their own learning and improve the overall target language competence.
To sum up, the design of CLIL lesson plans with diversified methods and forms
deepen students’ awareness of both mother tongue and target language, develop
plurilingual interests and attitudes and increase learners’ motivation.
3) How do visual organizers help to scaffold students´learning? Provide
graphic examples. 10/10
Different learning styles can act as bridges that enhance communication and
learning. Among them, there are visual organizers. Those strategies raise
awareness of different learning styles and enable teachers and students to better
identify the way teachers teach and the way in which students learn. Moreover,
they facilitate the dialogue about the overall learning process and help students
to take greater control on their own learning; making use of different visual
organizers serves as a first step in expanding a person’s learning style repertoire.
CLIL students can be provided with a wide range of ways of manipulating,
synthesizing, assessing, and evaluating data, information and knowledge. As a
result, instructions or presentation of new topics can be introduced visually where
students learn through seeing and visual stimuli. E.g.
Scanning pictures before reading a text

10. Flashcards with key concepts or language

11. Static and animated visual representations through multimedia
Repackaging texts or key concepts as graphs, charts or pictures

12. Using color to highlight main ideas
It is crucial to go beyond the standard exploration of personal learning styles by
focusing on preferred language learning styles. In this sense, it will help
students gain access to a wider range of language learning strategies favoring
content acquisition. Furthermore, it is helpful for educators to assess their own
learning styles and what impact those preferences have on their teaching which
may drive students to learn better.

13. 4) Explain the impact of Bloom's taxonomy to help students reach higher
order thinking. How can we achieve this at Primary school level? 8.5/10
Bloom’s taxonomy (year?) states that all learners need to develop both
lower and higher thinking skills. The six levels of difficulty start with
practical lower order thinking and move upwards to more abstract and
complex higher order skills (critical evaluation).
Anderson and Krathwohl(2000) posited a modified version of
Bloom’s taxonomy that can be more easily applied in classrooms’
environment. This modified taxonomy is particularly useful as a checklist
in which most of lessons are based on tasks associated with:
1) Applying one’s new knowledge and understanding
2) Analysing the effectiveness of the application of new knowledge and
understanding
3) Evaluating progress in task completion and learning
4) Creating something new.
Ok, and how can you as a teacher apply this model in the classroom?
Try to think of concrete examples.
5) In groups, design a lesson plan following CLIL. (IN PAIRS,
GROUPS OF 3)
TASK: Design a CLIL class for Primary to be carried out at school with your
pedagogical partner. Follow this format to design the class:
● Aims
● Content
● Language (lexis, grammar, functions,pronunciation)
● Macroskills: reading, listening, speaking,writing
● Citizenship education: teaching values.

14. ● Preparation
● Procedure
● Students’production
● Extension.
Make sure you register students’ productions for your edublog.
Look at the following example:
Example taken from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/clil
As citizens of a world with limited resources we all need to think about how best
to use these resources, whether we are in the developed world or the
developing world. This activity will help pupils think more about recycling at
home and at school. It is aimed at older primary or younger secondary pupils.
Aims
Content
● Recycling
Language
● Lexis related to materials and household items
● Skills – speaking and writing
Preparation
Prepare one copy of the worksheet per pupil. Alternatively, in the spirit of
recycling, copy (or project) the worksheet on the board and get pupils to copy it
in their notebooks or on the back of a used sheet of paper.
Procedure
● Ask pupils what they know about recycling. Brainstorm on the board types
of materials that can be recycled. Pupils may need help with this vocabulary
(E.g. paper, plastic, metal, glass).
● Give out the worksheet to pupils and ask them to write as many things as they
can think of made of these materials (e.g. bottles, magazines, boxes etc).
“Other” could include clothes or vegetable waste (biodegradable) depending on

15. the facilities in your area. This can be done with pupils working individually, in
pairs or in groups.
● Collect their ideas on the board and make sure that all pupils have a good list of
recyclable items on their worksheets.
● Tell pupils to talk together in groups about how to recycle these things and
what problems they will have. Monitor and help with vocabulary and ideas.
● Pupils take their lists home and for one week keep count of how much they (or
their families) recycle. You might want to give pupils stickers to put on the sheet
every time they recycle something. Tell pupils to bring their worksheets back
next week.
● Next week see which pupil recycled the most. You might like to give the winner
a green prize, for example a small bag made from recycled materials.
Extension
Pupils can go on to write about their experience of recycling – what, when
and how they did it. You could even set up a school project – get pupils to
brainstorm how to do it.
By Chris Baldwin