Module 2, Planning, Getting started with Primary CLIL, Comenius 2.

Planning CLIL classes and units of work

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a term relating to any educational
situation where subject content is delivered to some degree via the medium of a foreign,second,
or third language. As in every other field of teaching, planning for CLIL classes is a pre-condition
to successful teaching.
Although approaches to planning CLIL overlap in many aspects, each teaching situation and the
way we plan CLIL depends on the context. There is a lot of diversity in the design and delivery of
CLIL units and materials, but there are also similarities.
As you read through the following summary, think about the differences and similarities between
each of the approaches described.

1 TIE-CLIL Professional Development Course

In Langes TIE-CLIL Professional Development Course (2002), the writers briefly summarise
aspects of planning that need to be taken into account when preparing a CLIL lesson for
Primary school pupils:

Timing

How long is my lesson? What is the concentration

span of my pupils?

Teachers communicative
skills

What skills do I need to carry out the lesson/activities

in English?

Activities to support the

content

What activities can I include to teach the content?

Pupils physical
involvement

What activities can I include to allow the young

learners to be physically active?

Motivation tools

What tools/strategies can I use to motivate my

pupils?

Materials

What materials can I use to support the content

teaching?

Expected outcomes

What do I want my pupils to be able to do at the end

of the unit?

Imagine that you are asked to put the above aspects of planning into an order of
priority. Which two aspects would you place at the top of your list?

2 Integrating English
In Enright and McCloskeys Integrating English (1988), the writers state that planning an
integrated [CLIL] unit varies depending on a teachers specific needs, teaching materials and
thinking style.

They believe that the aim of the planning process is to have a set of learning activities that allow
your students to explore different subject matter areas using different thinking processes and
language processes that are exciting and enjoyable [that] have authentic goals [that]
build on students previous cultural and linguistic experiences [that] involve students working
cooperatively and provide success to students at many levels (p49).
In their approach to planning CLIL, they suggest the following framework:
(i) Identify the topic/content to be taught
(ii) Brainstorm activities and ideas using a topic web
(iii) Use the topic web to develop learning objectives
The learning objectives we identify need to reflect our content aims as well as the language that
we need to deliver the content. The needs of the pupils, as well as the school curriculum, will
shape the whole planning process.
Their approach to planning is summarised in a flowchart on p66 of their book:

Select and develop activities

Brainstorm; create an ideas

web

Select and develop objectives/

potentials

Select a topic or theme

Sequence activities

Implement

Revise

Sequencing activities
The sequencing of activities should fit into the existing teaching cycle and start by motivating
and engaging the pupils. By engaging pupils interest from the beginning, we provide them with
a route into the content area.
Opportunities for pupils to interact with the material are then created. The skills and knowledge
that pupils gain through working through the different activities are incorporated into later
lessons and units of work ie what goes before builds on what comes next. This helps to make
each unit of work coherent and cohesive.

Imagine that you need to plan a content topic on the life cycle of a frog.
Brainstorm 6 or 7 ideas that you would include on your ideas web. Use this
to identify one content and one language learning objective for the topic.

3 The SIOP approach

A further approach to planning CLIL can be adapted from the SIOP principles outlined in Echevarria,
Vogt and Shorts Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (2000). In lesson preparation for
learners in their context (who have English as a second, third or foreign language) Echevarria,
Vogt and Short suggest taking the following aspects of planning into account:

Content objectives

What do I want the learners to learn and know

about by the end of the class?

Language objectives

What is the main language that I need my pupils

to be able to understand and/or use during the
class?

Content concepts

What are the concepts that my pupils need to

understand and are they suitable for their age and
level?

Supplementary materials

What visual back up and other support can I use

to help me get my message across and help my
learners understand the content?

Adaptation of content

What teaching strategies can I employ to make the

content more accessible to my pupils, in terms of
language, but without compromising the content
being taught, in terms of concepts and level?

Meaningful activities

What concrete, hands-on activities that are age

appropriate and relevant to my pupils world can I
include?

Content concepts
The content concepts outlined in guidelines for the first language curriculum should not be
diminished in any way. Pupils should be taught the same content concepts that they would be
taught in their mother tongue. It is just the language and approach to teaching these concepts
that needs to be modified.
SIOP model
According to the SIOP model, when planning for second language (L2) instruction in a first
language (L1) classroom, we need:
(i) To identify our content objectives ie those statements that identify what pupils should
know and be able to do in particular content areas. These content objectives are frequently
linked to school or national curricula outcomes.
(ii) Plan for the systematic development of pupils language skills. This includes identifying
the language objectives for our unit ie the key words and phrases needed to deliver the unit,
plus the functional language that we will need to facilitate classroom interaction.
Supplementary materials
To enhance our teaching and provide learners with sufficient support to master the content of
the subject, we need to take into account the range of supplementary materials that we can use.
Echevarria, Vogt and Short state that the purpose of these supplementary materials is to create
context and support content concepts (p33). They suggest using plenty of realia (real life objects)
to back up what we say, as well as plenty of pictures and other visuals, including multimedia and
demonstrations, as well as hands-on experiences to support the content message that we want
to get across. Modifying the language that we need is also key to ensuring that our message has
meaning and is understood by the pupils. One way to do this is by presenting the content to our
pupils through using traditional language learning techniques. This could include asking pupils
to use graphics to illustrate ideas, to complete jigsaw readings as a pair in class, to use graphic
organisers to sort and categorise their ideas and/or complete scaffolded writing tasks.
Echevarria, Vogt and Shorts approach to planning and the relationship between the main

aspects of the SIOP approach are illustrated in the flowchart they provide on p22 of their book:
Lesson
Preparation

Content
Objectives

Language
Objectives

Appropriate Content
Concepts

Supplementary Materials

Meaningful
Activities

Adaptation of
Content

Make a list of the supplementary materials that Echevarria, Vogt and

Short suggest using as outlined in this summary. Can you think of any
more ways to support pupils learning?

4 Into, through and beyond: A framework to develop contentbased material

Brinton and Holten (1997) offer the following guidelines on planning content-based materials.
Once you decide on your content concepts, you plan for activities that meet the goals
outlined below. In other words, you choose effective activities for each stage of their Into,
through and beyond framework to plan the core of your unit of work. Brinton and Holten
suggest that the selection of individual activities should be shaped by the ultimate goal which
is for students to comprehend the concepts, gain mastery over new language items, and be
able to present and analyze these concepts using their burgeoning [growing] linguistic skills.
Although their framework does not directly address the individual aspects of planning a CLIL
lesson, it presents a clear outline of the goals behind the three stages of the Into, through and
beyond approach:

Into

to gain an entry into the topic

to recognise the depth of pupils prior knowledge
to be better prepared for the new content materials the pupils
are about to encounter

Through

to practise new language skills while demonstrating

comprehension of the basic concepts

Beyond

to demonstrate both conceptual and linguistic mastery

to provide a forum for communicative language practice

See Module 2 in the eLibrary for a link to Brinton & Holtens complete article.

5 Content and language integrated learning: Motivating

learners and teachers
In Content and language integrated learning: Motivating learners and teachers (2006),
Do Coyle breaks the planning of a CLIL curriculum down into five stages. Based on the
4Cs framework, she states that this encompasses progression in knowledge, skills and
understanding of the content, engagement in associated cognitive processing, interaction in
the communicative context, developing appropriate language knowledge and skills, as well as
acquiring a deepening intercultural awareness (p9).
The 4Cs framework focuses on the following aspects of learning:

Content
Cognition
Communication
Culture

Content refers to the content that we want to teach and our pupils to learn in the CLIL lessons/
units of work that we prepare.
Cognition refers to the cognitive experiences that we want our pupils to experience as
part of the learning process, ie opportunities to employ a range of thinking skills such as
hypothesising, justifying choices, categorising and/or applying knowledge and concepts, etc.

Communication refers to the key language that we will need to deliver the topic and achieve
our content aims.
Culture refers to the pupils awareness of a world beyond their own. In Coyles example lesson
plan (p13) this is reflected in the fact that as pupils will be learning about the structure of
castles in French, they learn about this through the context of castles built in France.

Planning a CLIL curriculum in five stages

Stage 1
In Stage 1 of planning our CLIL curriculum, Coyle states that we need to make specific decisions
about CLIL teaching in our context, such as the objectives of our CLIL programme, outside
influences and our guiding principles for learning.
Stage 2
In Stage 2, she says that we need to analyse the teaching curriculum and create an overview
of our planning for the content topic. It is at this point that we use the 4Cs to identify
our teaching objectives and learning outcomes in the four areas of content, cognition,
communication and culture.
Under teaching objectives we list what we plan to teach (and our pupils to learn/experience)
for each of the 4Cs in the lesson.
Under learning outcomes we list what each pupil should be able to do/show at the end of the
lesson/unit and again relate this to the 4Cs.
Stage 3
In Stage 3, we prepare the learning context. We plan the tasks and materials that we want to
use.
Stage 4
In Stage 4, we monitor the progress and organisation of the programme.
Stage 5
In Stage 5, we evaluate the teaching and learning process and use it as a springboard for future
CLIL planning.

See Module 2 in the eLibrary for a link to Coyles complete article. See p13
of her article for an example lesson plan and p15 for her CLIL curriculum
planning checklist.

References
Brinton, D. & Holten, C. (1997). Into, through, and beyond: A framework to develop contentbased material. Forum, 35 (4), 10-21. Retrieved June 12, 2009 from http://eca.state.gov/forum/
vols/vol35/no4/p10.htm
Coyle, D. (2006). Content and Language Integrated Learning: Motivating learners and teachers.
Retrieved July 16, 2009 from http://www.strath.ac.uk/media/departments/curricularstudies/
scilt/slr/issues/13/SLR13%20Coyle.pdf
Echevarria J., Vogt, M. E., & Short D. J. (Eds.). (2000) Making Content Comprehensible for English
Language Learners: The SIOP model. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Enright, D. S., & McCloskey, M.L. (1988). Integrating English. New York: Addison-Wesley
Publishing Company.
Lange, G. (Ed.). (2002). TIE-CLIL Professional Development Course. Milan, Italy: M.I.U.R.

The Partners, Getting started with Primary CLIL, Comenius 2.1, 2009.