CAN CLIL MAKE YOU A BETTER TEACHER?

 HIYA!

It's been a long time since I wanted to share with you this article: "Can CLIL make you a better teacher?"

Some weeks ago I asked you on Instagram if CLIL could make you a better teacher and most of the teachers answered it could. I strongly think CLIL has allowed me to grow as a teacher and to develop new skills, which I don't know if I would have acquired if I had not enganged in the CLIL adventure in 2009.

When I first attended my first CLIL training, the curriculum of Catalonia was changing and it meant that our teaching style had to change too. Yes, it was the beginning of the new curriculum  with the core competences, the key competences,  the domains and a new assessment approach.

How has CLIL made me a better teacher? I had the opportunity to be granted with a paid leave by the Department of Education of Catalonia in 2009. Back then, the Department of Education would concede paid leaves to Catalan teachers willing to be trained in CLIL  at the University of Nottingham. 

During the months of CLIL training, I discovered:

• The 4 Cs
• The 3 As
• The Cummin's Matrix
• Bloom's Taxonomy
• Scaffolding
• Cooperative Learning techniques

At that moment, I didn't realise, but all these new concepts made an impression on me. It was years later when I became conscious of how CLIL had transformed me in the teacher I am.

In 2017 the school, where I am working at present, got engaged in an Innovative Project and I had the opportunity to attend another CLIL training for two years. This training helped me refresh concepts and the best of all was that I learned how I could implement new technologies in my CLIL classes. Moreover, this training course made me realise that I could apply Project-Based Learning in my CLIL units.

Being a CLIL teacher, I have learned to plan my lessons and my programming very mindfully. I consider that thanks to the CLIL training courses I have attended I have become a better teacher because:

• I analyse the language I am going to teach and I wonder if my students are already familiar with the specific vocabulary we are going to deal with in the teaching unit. Moreover, I am always looking for significative communicative situations which will make students' use the language and become aware of the need to use English to communicate to achieve a specific goal.
• I scaffold the activities to make sure they go from low thinking levels to high thinking levels.
• As activities become more demanding, I offer them the language (vocabulary and structures) they need to succeed in these activities.
• I try to put into practice Bloom's Taxonomy and when I plan, I think in a final product which will lead my students to the top the taxonomy.
• I introduce cooperative learning techniques in each unit, whereas they are CLIL units or other subject units.
• Whenever I can, PBL is present inmy Science CLIL lessons (always bearing in mind English is not my students' L1).
• Whenever possible ICT tools are present in my class for a great variety of activities: brainstorming, revising, doing research on a topic, creating...
• And... do you remember the C for Culture? Culture refers to making connections between what they learn and the real world. This is exactly what they new curriculum asks us to do to make learning more significant. I always try to connect what we are doing in my Science classes to my students' life. Plus, it is a great opportunity to deal with the Sustainable Development Goals in your class.
• Being a CLIL teacher has also helped me become a more creative teacher. When designing CLIL units or projects, I am always creating new resources and activities which will help engage my students during the learning process. Creating my own materials allows me to adapt these materials to my students' needs.
• Last, but not least: I found out about eTwinning. This platform has opened me another opportunity to meet teachers and my students have been able to communicate with others students from Europe.

Since my first steps in CLIL, apart from CLIL I have also been teaching Maths, Spanish, Catalan... and I confess that in these classes I have also been applying CLIL principles and strategies that I use in my CLIL lessons and... Yes! I have enjoyed all these subjects in the same way I love my CLIL Science classes.

What about you? How has CLIL made you a better teacher? I would love to find out your experience.