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THROUGH A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
To define the best total amount of time to devote to CLIL in a given
situation, other questions have to be posed and answered:
• is the foreign language learnt only through CLIL or is there formal lan-
guage teaching too (this second being a better option)?
• are reading materials, videocassettes or other L2 materials available in
the school?
• are learners exposed to the L2 outside the classroom, in curricular or
extracurricular activities (reading, watching TV or recorded programmes,
using CD-ROMs)?
3.4 Skills, activities and assessment
In CLIL there is a strong link between linguistic skills and subject specific
skills. In some subjects and for some learners it is important to develop
the skill to read and write general and technical texts from the very
beginning. In other subjects, listening comprehension is crucial, because
learners are involved in activities that require a good understanding of
instructions: physical education, design technology, and chemistry are
good examples.
Wherever possible, the progression from L2 oral comprehension to
speaking, to reading and writing should be followed. In primary school,
most of the time in CLIL will be devoted to oral interactive work.
In secondary school, reading comprehension is a main skill to acquire
using different strategies (in-depth reading, for example). After the age of
10-12, learners often find it easier to refer to written material as well as to
the teacher’s oral input. However, reading comprehension of a subject text
can be very difficult and time-consuming for a learner who has partial
competence in the foreign language and limited knowledge of the topic.
For learners, reading could be a skill still to be fully developed in the
mother tongue.