Yemen - CLIL in Yemen

CLIL in Yemen

The British Council organized two days of workshops with teachers of English and Science (and Science in English). 

Sanaa, Nov 12-13

Eilidh Hamilton from the British Council in Yemen introduced us to the audience in the Middle East Modern School in Sanaa (email for Hussain Al Sayyadi, School Director - mms1@yemen.net.ye)
Eilidh moved to Yemen in May and is working to help set up teacher networks. Eilidh has a particular interest in CLIL for Young Learners. She sees the potential for practical techniques for integrating content and language for training and brought together teachers over two days of workshops from Sanaa and beyond.

'Chemistry in Our Lives' may sound frightening to language teachers, but those who venture into the pack (available free to download from the Science Across the World site www.scienceacross.org) will know how accessible the materials are.


Lida takes the colleagues through the sections of the 'Chemistry in our lives' topic of Science Across the World

The topic looks at Chemistry in everyday life. Students investigate chemistry in the home, in the kitchen cupboards, in the bathroom in cosmetics, cleaning materials and others.


We focus on the students' pages

This workshop developed by Lida gets participants to make their own cosmetics and create a 'brand' for their line. 


the students' group from the school was very enthusiastic


The groups carry out presentations of their products.


Cosmeticists are always encouraged to create a cultural theme in their branding. So, we were looking for Yemen in the products here.
It was great to work with colleagues who thrived in the communication of the activity. The first day's group got into the creating of the cosmetics so much that they forgot to think carefully about their presentation of the products. On the second day we gave more examples for branding, simple things like labelling, we stressed the 'language of selling' and there was a difference in the presentations.

same from day 2

The ingredients are very simple and thanks go to Cognis (www.cognis.com) for providing the detergent and the polymer and thanks go to Seppic (www.seppic.com) for donating the emulsifier. Approach them in your country, they may be willing to provide you with materials free for educational activities.

you can download the instructions for the workshop here

Lida always starts the workshop with a demo. This is necessary because in the exciting participants always forget to read the instructions properly.

you have to get the quantity just right

Some colleagues delegate roles. This makes sense when you're limited for time. It's a good idea to have one person thinking about themes, logos, language, jingles and so on while the rest of the team are working on the products.
  
designing the branding for the line of cosmetics


How do you get so much goo into a small bottle? ... the teachers have a go

Posters help provide a backdrop to the products.

creating posters for the campaign

Language teachers usually shine when it comes to preparing the campaign content.

team work

We all know that marketing is more about selling dreams than it is about the products themselves.

a good brand name is important

We usually stress that the presentations will be judged on three areas: language, chemistry and overall presentation. Included in this is how the presentation is delegated among the group. If colleagues don't speak any English, the team has to teach them some so that they can participate in the commercial.

one product each

Drama, clarity, timing, visual impact, memorability are all important factors in judging.

judging

Outcomes:
Over the two days we worked with more than 100 teachers of Science and English.
There were local educational inspectors involved as well as representatives from University departments all of whom were interested in following up to the event.
Language teachers and Science teachers collaborated on ideas for their teaching.
Participants were offered free membership to the Science Across the World programme.
The event helps further establish such training as normal in the teaching community in Sanaa.

Many thanks to Eilidh and Hudda for their impeccable organization and hosting of our visit!