CLIL in Europe

Implementation of Bilingual Education in Spain

Case study: Madrid; results so far

Dr. Beatriz López Medina &

Dr. Òscar O. Santos-Sopena (Universidad Nebrija)
Enrique Ruiz Cano (C.E.I.P. Andrés García Soler)
 1. Overview of CLIL in Europe

• CLIL is highly variegated Coyle 2007 documents

216 types of CLIL
• CLIL models involve stepping up the presence
of the target language and teach subjects
through that language.
 1. Overview of CLIL in Europe

• In Northern Europe { Finland, Sweden, Norway,

Estonia} CLIL has been vastly employed.
• Bergroth {2006} comes to the fore with a
quantitive study on using CLIL for Maths in
Sweden L1 {Finish}, L2 {Swedish}, L3 {English}
which shows content knowledge is not
threatened. English is positively affected.
 2. What is CLIL? Types of CLIL
• CLIL is a tool for the teaching and learning of Content AND Language. The essence of CLIL
is integration.

•Pupils are likely to learn more if they are not simply learning language for language’s sake
but using language to learn new content.
 2. What is CLIL? Types of CLIL

• Content-led approach: ( HARD CLIL)

• Language –led approach: (language syllabus

incorporating more conceptual content) –
SOFT CLIL or CELT
• This distiction is beginning to blur
 3. Examples and experience

What do we do at my school?

We teach Science and Art and Crafts through the

English language using a “hard” CLIL approach

BUT we also use CLIL when teaching English as a

Foreign Langauge

We teach 4-5 hours of English a week!

 4. Other ways of implementing CLIL

• Teach a subject in 2 through the mother

tongue and the target language { 2h in the
mother tongue and 2 h in English}.
• Use soft CLIL to reinforce a particular subject
during the English lessons.
• Use soft CLIL when teaching English through
projects.
 5. Integration of CLIL areas

• Children learn in a holistic way.

 SCIENCE
Contents and cognition

Arts Literacy
Communication Ecosystems Communicatio
and cognition and food n
chains

Sociocultural
aspects
Culture and
communication
 Teaching Science

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgY
nkggCqPA
(Food chains)
 1. Bilingual Education in Spain: The Beginning

International schools

Bilingual program: state schools (25 pilot schools in Madrid)

Collaboration with the British Council (agreement: 1996)

English as a vehicular language, then French and German

Primary Education
 2.- Initial Challenges

Teachers’ communicative competence

Teachers’ teaching competence (CLIL approach)
Reluctance from families
Public opinion
Lack of specific materials
 3.- Bilingual Program in C.A. Madrid 2004-2017

from: www.madrid.org
 4.- Current Situation

Languages: English, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese,

Arabic

Educational levels: Infant-Primary, Secondary, Vocational

Normalization

Standardization (external exam)

 5.- Research says…

Impact beyond foreign language learning (SS’ positive attitude

towards learning through L2, teachers’ challenge, improvement
of SS´ linguistic competence –mainly receptive skills-,
discrepancies regarding learning of content.
 6.- In the near Future…

More languages

L2 reinforcement in infant -4 years.

Special needs and bilingualism

More educational centers involved

Research providing more reliable results

 6.- CLIL into Practice: Two Scenarios (with and without
Technology)

CLIL class:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNOFFQxN1w8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If9x_NDz61U
 6.- CLIL into Practice: Two Scenarios (with and without
Technology)

Technology:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUgYYl9-8-U