Rethinking WHAT we Teach: Content and Language Integrated Learning
Day two in the professional development series, Language Learning Redefined: Proficiency Through Global Studies
Are you frustrated with your students’ lack of world knowledge?
Why rethink WHAT we teach?
The global era demands that students are world-savvy, that they have knowledge of the world, understand how it works and are able to engage intelligently with their global counterparts. That’s global competence. World language education can teach about the world from diverse perspectives in ways that monolingual education cannot do.
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) or Content-Based Instruction (CBI), are umbrella terms for teaching content and language simultaneously. CLIL was adopted in Europe in the 1990s and is spreading across the globe. This innovative fusion of subject areas is based on long-standing research in both general learning and language acquisition. Janice Holter Kittok brings innovation within this innovation by bringing CLIL into the traditional school sequences of language study through Content-Based Instruction with Storytelling, Interactive Mini Lecture, and other strategies. World knowledge content (geography, history, biography, current events, global issues, pop culture, etc.) provides an authentic and relevant context for language acquisition.
Content-Based Storytelling (CBS), developed by Janice Holter Kittok, is an innovative combination of Content-Based Instruction (CBI) – teaching interdisciplinary subject content in a language that the students are learning with Comprehensible Input (CI) teaching strategies. CBS starts with CONTENT like authentic stories from the target cultures (legends, tales, literature) or nonfiction stories (biography, history, current events, stories told in photos, film, and art…).
Content-Based Storytelling is a two for one. Students learn content about the world and target cultures. Students in the USA lack world-savvy (knowledge of world events, geography, history, in short, how the world works). CBS addresses both language proficiency AND global competence.
Input to Output Lesson Sequence Steps
CBS allows learners to acquire language naturally and then supports them as they cross the bridge from language input (listening and reading) to language output (speaking and writing).
- Setup
Priming the students for learning new content AND setting them up for successful language acquisition. - Listening
Natural, whole language interactive narratives and conversations - Reading
Natural whole language narratives (fiction and nonfiction) - Writing and Speaking
Designing instruction that builds confidence to create with the language and use knowledge to engage as an informed global citizen.
What about teaching nonfiction content that isn’t a story?
Janice Holter Kittok has created a strategy called Interactive Mini Lectures (IML). Best practice for Content-Based Instruction (CBI) requires the teacher to use the target language in a way that is highly comprehensible to the students. The same techniques used in CBS can be used when presenting straightforward information such as figures, names, dates, and geographical facts by doing Interactive Mini Lectures (IML).
Who should attend?
The inservice is designed for any language teacher. Classroom teachers of English Language Learners will also benefit from learning the language acquisition process and strategies to increase student comprehension. The training’s open-ended format accommodates teachers who have never done any storytelling teaching along with teachers who are experienced in the techniques. Teachers who have never done any storytelling find the structure of CBS easy to learn.
No matter your personality or teaching style, any teacher can learn CI strategies!
Experience
- Demonstrated CBS steps
- Guided small group practice and sharing of ideas
- Modeled templates for creating your own CBS lessons
Reflect
- What are your personal strengths as you do a CBS lesson?
- What skills need polish? How will you learn these skills?
- What cultural content is important for your students to know?
Analyze
- What are the essential components of each CBS step?
- How can variations keep CBIS fresh and interesting?
- How can students learn grammar from totally comprehensible narratives?
Integrate
- How can you start doing some CBS in your classes?
- How can you go beyond your current performance level of CBS?