Why is CLIL – Content and Language Integrated Learning –….doc

Why is CLIL – Content and Language Integrated Learning – Humanistic? Y. L. Teresa Ting, Italy Y. L. Ting is an Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics in English at the University of Calabria (Italy). She merges her background in science and scientific research to research CLIL learning environments. She is also a CLIL teacher-trainer for various bilingual and CLIL teacher professional development programmes in universities in Spain and Austria as well as for Pilgrims. E-mail: teresa.ting@unical.it Menu Introduction What CLIL is and what it is not Why CLIL can provide more humanistic learning contexts How did it work? Walking through the CLIL activity Conclusions References Introduction I write this at a moment where CLIL is receiving more attention than ever and yet, ironically, peered at suspiciously, especially by highly experienced teachers. It is so much in focus because many governments (including that in Italy, where I live) consider CLIL a panacea to the seemingly impossible European goal of having citizens speak not just one but two foreign languages (e.g Marsh 2002). Speaking as an EFL teacher, the logic is as follows: if we use for example, English (the target foreign language of CLIL in Italy) to teach maths, chemistry, history, art, geography etc. and etc., our students will be: 1. exposed to more English and ergo learn more English and 2. learning a new subject so they are authentically curious which, in turn means our students will be extremely motivated to use the FL to ask questions so to learn more about the world around them, just like when they were toddlers. There is potential logic in this, especially if we ignore the fact that how we learn in school rarely instils intense curiosity. In fact, many moons ago, when I was an adolescent worrying about bad skin and not-too-bad boys, I could barely survive chemistry lessons in my own language (L1): if I had had to study chemistry in a foreign language, I am certain my skin problems would