CLIL Resources and Best Practices

I have spoken about the work done by the CPR in Córdoba, Spain, with bilingual programs, multilingualism and CLIL. CPR stands for 'Centro del Profesorado'. They are public institutions funded by the deparments of education in Spain that offers professional development courses for teachers in the city of Córdoba in this case. In a previous post I introduced Pilar Torres' blog. He is an advisor at the aforementioned CPR and coordinates the professional development program for second languages and literacy programs.

 

At the beginning of every school year, the CPR in Córdoba organizes a course for those teachers who have just started working in one of the bilingual schools in the city. Bilingual programs are getting more and more popular and there are always new teachers entering the programs. The course takes place several evenings after school. They have presenters with various backgrounds but there are always teachers with experience who share their experience and expertise. The new teachers get insight of what it means to work in a bilingual program and what the expectations are. There are always theoretical presentations in which key concepts in the implementation of bilingual programs are reviewed. Linguistic concepts such as BICS and CALP,  language scaffolding, integrated teaching,  the need of working with the 5 language skills etc. are introduced and explained. Teachers have access to a theoretical framework that will help them in their daily work.

This is a very important part for new teachers but I find it even more interesting that teachers share their experiences about how they create their lesson plans following a CLIL approach. There are examples for secondary education in subject areas such as Maths, Science, Social Studies and CTS . Most of these examples are available online and I highly recommend to have a thorough look at them because they are real examples implemented in a bilingual program and can be very inspirational for teachers working in North America. Naturally, the target language in most of these programs in Spain is English so the examples that we are going to see use mainly this language. The presentations are available in this link.

The CPR also offers continuous possibilities for professional development. Experts in bilingual education also share their expertize. Naturally some presentations by these keynote speakers are also available. In 2012, the CPR invited David Marsh, one of the leading experts in Europe in the implementation of CLIL programs and bilingualism. His presentations are also available online. Both deal with very important issues related to the implementation of bilingual programs using a CLIL approach:

• The Added Value of CLIL in Enhancing Educational Outcomes
• Benefits of Bilingualism. Insights from the Neurosciences

David Marsh: Benefits of bilingualism from Pilar Torres

The Added Value of CLIL by David Marsh from Pilar Torres

 

Pilar Torres has also included an extensive interview with Davis Marsh in her blog taken during his stay in Córdoba in 2012.

All the presentations, pictures and links embedded in this post are taken from the blog by Pilar Torres. I highly recommend everyone interested in bilingual programs, second language acquisition and multiculturalism to visit this blog.