CLIL in our school

An example of implementing the CLIL teaching in a primary school

in Tampere, FinlandAino Houttu and Miika Lehtovaara

Location/ school profile

• Tammela School is a large school near the center of Tampere.

• Over 600 students and 45 teachers. • In addition to normal Finnish classes we

have classes that specialize in teaching art, special education and teaching content through English and German.

• special emphasis on teaching computer skills to all the different classes.

The history of CLIL in our school

• The first English class at Tammela School started their first grade in 1997.

• At the moment have grades 1 to 6 in the English classes every year. Grades 7-9 are taught at Sampola School.

• All children learn Finnish well enough to continue their studies at normal Finnish high schools, if they choose so.

Staff

• Our staff consists of 6 teachers. • All teachers have either lived abroad or studied

English at University or both. • All our 6 teachers are teaching content through

English. • We meet once or twice a month to discuss either

the everyday school work or bigger issues, like the curriculum.

• In our English team we have one team leader who is responsible for reporting our actions to the principal.

Students’ background

• Most students in the English classes have lived abroad, are bilingual or have attended English language playschools before coming to Tammela School.

• Each student’s English skills are assessed before they are accepted to the program. The reason for this is that every child will be able to learn and study in English without great difficulty.

Goals and the curriculum

• The English classes’ follow the general guidelines of the curriculum set down for the Finnish classes at Tammela School. In addition, the English classes have their own curriculum for English.

• Emphasis is placed on developing a good knowledge of English by learning the language naturally through daily routines, topic work and communicating with other students and teachers in English.

• The goal is to help children develop a natural and uncomplicated attitude towards the English language and culture.

• All subjects except Finnish language are taught in English.

• Teaching through English places extra demands on a student, because each child must be able to listen, understand and carry out instructions in English.

• Children should be able to actively participate in all kinds of situations in the classroom in English.

• Therefore, the English classes are ideal for children who are motivated to learn through a foreign language and who are given positive support at home.

• Children learn to read and write in both Finnish and English.

• Most of the content is taught in English in the first years of school.

• The amount of Finnish used in the classroom increases in the upper grades.

• Teachers use mostly English when communicating with the children.

• Students are encouraged to use English as much as possible in all situations at school.

• However, students are given the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings in Finnish if necessary.

School schedule

• Children have 22-28 lessons in a week. Each day is different.

• In the curriculum there is a fixed number of hours for each subject in each grade.

• The number of lessons increase as the children grow older.

• Each lesson is 45 minutes and children have 15 minute brakes after each lesson.

• 4 to 7 hours are taught in Finnish every week.

ICT use for CLIL

• Technology is used in many different ways to make teaching and learning more effective, interesting and interactive. In our school we have data projectors and a computer with internet connection in every classroom. This helps us a lot to really use ICT as a part of our teaching.

• Some examples of how we use ICT in our work:– children can return their exercises/essays/texts through email

and send their own stories and poems to the teacher– information hunt; searching information in the internet while

working on a project or a group/individual work– writing reports– international contacts and projects over the internet