Attaining Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in the Primary School Classroom

In consideration of the need for pupils to start using English as a second language (L2) beyond the 2-3 hour a week compulsory “English lesson” in Italian primary schools, the new Italian National Curriculum Guidelines encourage multilingual education. This official stimulus could lead to the achievement of a more bilingual classroom with increased usage of English throughout the school day, especially through the use of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) strategies. However, teachers are often at a loss as to how to accomplish this. They must be helped to realize that it can be easier than they think, especially through the use of new technologies, and in spite of what they consider to be inadequate preparation. They need clear, practical indications of easy, brief activities that they can carry out daily in English in their classrooms in the various subject areas and they need to be familiar with the multimedia opportunities that exist to achieve this goal. This experimental project presents practical, flexible materials and ideas that can be used to introduce topics or to revise contents in all subjects while encouraging the use of L2 instead of Italian (L1). The materials developed can be easily adapted for use in other foreign languages (L2) and in lower secondary education for a third foreign language (L3) (CEFR 0-A1). This CLIL project aims to facilitate primary school teachers’ introduction of English into all subjects. This paper was presented at the 9th International CLIL Conference, Think CLIL 2014, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy, 28-30 August 2014