1. Challenges to Speak
English in Class
Paula López Cabello
Mª José Pedraja Fuentes
Madrid, 15th June 2010
I International Conference on Bilingual Teaching in Educational Institutions
3. Who are we? School Description
GFC is part of the Bilingual Project
of the Comunidad Autónoma de
Madrid since 2005.
Located in Madrid west-end and
belongs to the district known as
Latina-Carabanchel, a middle
class neighbourhood.
Small school: 300 students, infant
and primary
Visit us at:
www.ceipgonzalofdezdecordoba.es
4. What do whe do?
Project Description
Research to help our students keep the pace
with Science (taught in L2)
Project designed to:
Improve speaking skills in our students
Overcome a general perspective about SLA
Develop methodological concepts
CLIL and SCAFFOLDING
Present the elements for a good speaking class
Establish activities which involve speaking
5. A bit of theory
Paradox
Academic achievements of immersion students of
subjects studied in L2 is equivalent to that of non-
immersion students studying the same subject in L1;
despite the fact that the latter have equivalent to
superior language development in the language the
subject is taught
M. Turnbull, Canadian Modern Language Review 57.(4): 531-40, 2001.
F. Genesee , Second/foreign language immersion and at-risk English-speaking
children. Foreign Language Annals, 25: 199-213. 1992
6. A bit of theory
Good practice for CLIL teaching
http://image.ee/core
7. Content based instruction
Concepts
L2
Scaffolding
Natural Language
and Content learning
Learning
strategies
Reflection with L1/L2
practice
Feedback
Assesment L2 Communication and interaction
key for actual CLIL
L2 Exposure
8. What we face in the class
Real life with primary students:
our experience at GFC to put CLIL into practice
Students
a lot of diversity and mixed-ability classes
Children’s background coming from non-bilingual programs
Lack of motivation / interest in some students to participate
Students struggle to understand Science concepts taught in L2
Use L1 to talk in the classroom
Atmosphere
Big classes : little time for real interactions
Interaction is not real
Teacher
Class management
Time consuming when planning
Task
syllabus/evaluation pressure from outside
Usually accuracy (form) biased versus fluency (content)
9. Pe Di
rs L2 ve
on L3 rsity
al
ity
ce
Confiden
les
Sty
d
un
g
gro
nin
ack
r
Lea
lB
c ia
So
10. Project Actors
3 & 4 grade Primary Education (8-10 yo)
56 students involved in the project
12 (21%) with remedial curricula
Joined from non-bilingual projects
Migrants learning L2(Spanish) and L3 (English)
Very weak students
1 native Language Assistant
11. Experience in Class
We need to make them speak
Instructions have to be clear to avoid loss of focus
Interesting topic
Purpose to communicate
Teachers PAUSES and provides time to THINK IN SILENCE
We need to be able to track progress
Short term: Everybody is involved, has the chance to speak
and gets feedback (prasing and correction)
Long term: class diary/recordings to asses individual progress
in L2 for proper CLIL
Reflection : students and teacher (self-assesments)
12. Project Timeline
Individual presentations
Weather Forecast: Map of Spain
Animal presentations: worksheet
Group presentations
Interviews : Asking questions
Let’s go shopping
Weak Students
Individualised assesment
Feedback
13. Activity Flow
Animals, historical characters, books, etc…
Presentation
Student presents his Audience ranks his jobs
work to the others
Feedback
Name of the Student
Good use of english Poor use of english
Easy to understand Difficult to understand
Good content Poor content
I liked what he/she said I did not like how he/she explained it
Write a sentence you’ve heard
14. Let’s go shopping
Free speech oral production with natural
language
CLIL content
Pre-scaffolding
Strategies to keep communication
Never mind, Hello/Good bye, can I help you?
Self correction: awareness
Real purpose
Real scenario, with goods brought from home
Memorable activity
Video Let’s go shopping
15. Video Weak Students
Third class Chinese student: Joined
the bilingual project 2 years ago
(2008-2009)
No production at all in L2 (Spanish)
nor L3 (English)
Last year progress with L2 with
individualised syllabus
Very shy, (cultural influence?)
Video Min 7’’20’’
7 20’’
She has significantly improved
understanding, confidence and
linguistic skills
Dramatic effect on her academic
results in Science
A Picnic Surprise Level 2, MacMillan
16. Assessment
Who Peer, Language assistant and teachers
When not until the end, it breaks communciation
How carefully and praising, never rudely
Why achievements of students/teachers have to be
highlighted. It is part of the learning process
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
N
N
E
D
CY
E
RY
IO
O
NC
SE
G
TI
RA
CT
LA
UA
US
RE
IA
BU
RA
CU
NG
C
HE
C
UN
CA
FO
AC
TE
LA
O
N
VO
IN
C
C
F
O
PI
O
D
PR
AN
TO
E
US
CY
EN
U
FL
17. Results
9,00
8,00 Steady Progression in Science
7,00
6,00
I
MARKs
5,00
II
4,00
III
3,00
2,00
1,00
0,00
ENGLISH SCIENCE
I 7,06 6,31
II 7,03 6,81
III 7,63 7,34
Students actually improve their academic achievements
in Science and as a consequence in L2
18. Results
7,40
7,20
III
7,00
II
SCIENCE
6,80
6,60
6,40
I
6,20
6,90 7,00 7,10 7,20 7,30 7,40 7,50 7,60 7,70
ENGLISH
Progress in Science inmediate progress in L2 has some delay
19. CONCLUSIONS
Clil methodology implies a lot of hard work, but we still
feel that it has been worthy
Students are progressing in their academic results
Assessment and self-assessment WORKSHEETS
Feedback:
When not until the end, it breaks communciation
How carefully and praising, never rudely
Why achievements of students/teachers have to be
highlighted. It is parto of the learning process
CHILDREN NEED TO SHINE!
Solutions to our problems in class:
Fast students help weak student s
Adapt contents to students’ abilitiies
Establish very clear rules/instructions from the beginning
Big dreams leading to bigger ¡reasults!
20. Future Work
Continue the project in 2010-2011
Systematic Video recording and transcribtion
Academic Achievements in Science: more
data
More activities to improve oral skills: projects,
oral descriptions, interuse, simulations,story
performances…
Analysis of external evaluation results in 4th
class
21. Challenges to Speak English in Class
Thank you
Paula López Cabello
Mª José Pedraja Fuentes
plopez@educa.madrid.org
I International Conference on Bilingual Teaching in Educational Institutions
