Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).
Table of Contents
Art activities for CLIL have the advantage of requiring a wide variety of vocabulary words. When discussing creative projects with young students, it is natural to refer to simple shapes, colours, and patterns. CLIL art activities also afford students the chance to engage with the culture of the target language, a crucial component of this foreign language teaching methodology. As CLIL instructors, teachers are not required to focus solely on art creation and design; they may also explore art history and theory. For example, in the learning scenario in Appendix 1, the main topic is to familiarise students with the work of the American artist Jasper Johns.
And unlike most other subjects, art lessons frequently allow students to leave class with a tangible artefact that demonstrates not only their newly acquired art skills but also their ability to comprehend, think, and create in their target language. This sense of accomplishment can serve as both a reward and a motivator for students. Their works can further be used as support for presentations, whose purpose is to encourage speaking and reading in the target language. The concept is simple: students present a piece of artwork to the rest of the class.
CLIL is also extremely student-centered, as it builds on students' prior knowledge and considers their needs and interests. During the process of eliciting prior knowledge, students realise what they already know about a topic and where they lack knowledge. By focusing on students' needs and interests, teachers ensure that students remain motivated and understand why they are learning. Prior knowledge can be activated in different ways: through anticipative questions, worksheets, case studies, or problem solving. In the learning scenario in Appendix 1, prior knowledge is activated by asking questions with or without visual cues (e.g., by asking students to look around and name as many colours in English as they can or by showing Ss images with primary colours and asking them to think whether they can obtain these colours from other colours). The focus in CLIL arts lessons is mainly on content, and not on the correct language forms. The topics of the lesson are introduced through videos and digital presentations, followed by digital quizzes (which can be designed mostly in Wordwall), since they are the most suitable for young pupils. The quizzes aim at reinforcing knowledge as well as allowing the teacher to check students’ understanding. The quizzes can be made using various digital tools, Wordwall being the most intuitive, but also by using Bookwidgets, Kahoot, Quizizz, Liveworksheets, Genially etc.
The lessons in Appendix 1 used the methods and techniques of the two subjects: the topic content strategies that can be used with CLIL, and the foreign language techniques (communicative language teaching methodology).
Input-oriented scaffolding methods were used throughout the lesson. In terms of the foreign language, the lists of words were provided by means of visuals and activated through working on digital and paper-based worksheets. As far as content scaffolding is concerned, the teaching approaches were used to help and promote students’ comprehension and involvement with the topic by clearly explaining content concepts and tasks. Each subject matter of the input (video clips, digital presentations) establishes the amount and type of input-scaffolding required. There were also while-listening activities (students are asked to fill in a gapped text while listening to a task). In all the activities, the instructional goals are clear for all students.