Putting Pre-Primary CLIL into Practice

Putting Pre-Primary CLIL into Practice

This course is aimed at teachers who are working with our youngest learners through the medium of English as a foreign language. This means teachers working with children from aged 2 up. The upper age depends on local contexts as the start age of primary 1 varies from country to country. The course content takes its impetus from two main sources. Firstly, the principles behind the practice are from CLIL methodology where we look at language of learning, and we explore 'conceptual routines' and consider classroom dynamics and procedures. Secondly, another influence on the content is the practice at Anglia School where our course is hosted.

The first iteration of this course is presented below over 4 days. It is possible to add a day to this to make a 5-day course. Additionally, colleagues work on resources and materials to take back home for their own teaching context. This collection is collated by Keith Kelly and is edited and proofed for publication. The latest collection is at the moment of writing going through the pre-print process for publication and will be the FACTWorld Journal issue 24. Watch this space!

Anglia School is a recognised centre for teacher development within the Erasmus+ programme and we are delighted to host teachers who are looking for ideas from our practice to take back to their own preprimary schools.


Implementing CLIL in Preprimary Education: Studying examples of good practice - Course Overview
Monday arrivals
Day 1 - Tuesday
Initial introductions also allow the hosts to present ‘how things are done’ at Anglia School, its curriculum and ‘learning by doing’ as well as time for participants to begin to present some background information about their own school contexts. There is an initial focus on the three dimensions of CLIL and in particular on language as well as overarching principles in the pre-primary curriculum. The day continues with an examination of expectations and matching these to the course programme and, more generally, Anglia School methods. The day ends with a walk around town to allow participants to get bearings and hear about the city’s socio-cultural and historical heritage.
Day 2 – Wednesday
The second day is dedicated to an exploration of skills in early learning in English as a foreign language, with examples from functions in the Anglia School curriculum. Participants will be presented with samples lessons, either live visits to lessons and / or with an examination of session plans. Colleagues are then invited to consider pre-primary curriculum skills in their own curriculum contexts and how materials and methods reflect these issues. The afternoon is dedicated to resource creation with access to Anglia School curriculum resources and technology for materials production.
Day 3 – Thursday
Day 3 focuses on story and non-fiction in the curriculum and ways, means and methods for young children to experience concepts presented through these ‘texts’. In addition, participants will consider content presented through other media (multimedia, objects, realia etc). The aim here is to identify conceptual structure in input content and exploit this structure to support learners. Again, there will be lesson examples to experience and sample session plans working on story themes for participants to discuss. Lastly, participants will have time to focus on story in their own contexts including the opportunity to produce resources to take home for use. The afternoon of Day 3 continues the experience of Plovdiv’s history and culture with a visit to artesan workshops in Plovdiv’s Old Town.
Day 4 – Friday
In discussion of how to support learners in their spoken output, content is explored in all its forms in the young learner curriculum for the purpose of encourating spoken English. Colleagues will have the opportunity to observe a lesson live and / or discuss session plans for this theme. Participants will work on materials and tasks developing support for speaking in English through the curriculum content for use back home. One afternoon session offers participants further opportunity to develop and gather CLIL resources for very young learners.
The day closes with presentation of certificates and celebration of the week.
Saturday - departures