CLIL - Content and Language Integrated Learning
The CLIL method: learning naturally
Our school choose CLIL (Content Language Integrated Learning) to guarantee students the best and effective way of learning foreign languages.
Many schools choose this method, but Kids International offers the excellence of an innovative approach, studied and adjusted to our needs: integrate the Italian program (as defined by National Indications of the Educational Ministry) with lessons wholy planned by the English teacher.
The goal is dual-focused: the learning of content and the simultaneous learning of a foreign language.
Innovative teachers have to make decisions that are structural and operational to the scholastic system, to the content of the subjects, to the team of teachers, to the method and the tools. Teaching CLIL means creating adequate materials and experiences, built upon a specific classroom and upon the specific needs of students. In doing so, teachers use many extra-linguistic instruments, like cards, videos and maps.
We follow the European directives with professionalism, methodology and enthusiasm. The EU recognizes that learning the content and the language at the same time has an important role in strengthen the foreign language skills. “CLIL is seen not only as an approach to subject and language learning but also in broader educational contexts: linguistically, CLIL not only improves overall target language competence, but also raises awareness of both mother tongue and target language while encouraging learners to develop plurilingual interests and attitudes. Content-wise, CLIL provide opportunities to study content through different perspectives, access subject-specific target language terminology and hence prepare for future studies and/or working life. Educationally, CLIL adds to a complements individual learners’ range of learning strategies
while adding diversity and flexibility to existing methods and forms of classroom practice”.
This method originates a high quality of learning language and a higher competence, because children can focus on the content and on the cognitive operations instead of thinking about rules, grammar and structure.
Besides pursuing higher educational standards, the benefits of this approach are multiple: children are driven to use a foreign language (L2), for it is necessary in their learning; they enrich the knowledge of the second language within concrete and inspirational context, increasing naturally their abilities in reading, listening, producing, processing; they use their skills and abilities related to other subjects than English.