structure of a (CLIL) lesson - start with the pupils

I really found the whole workshop to be great, but one of the most useful tools Dr Diana Hicks gave us is the “skeleton” of a (CLIL) lesson. I put CLIL in brackets as I ended up believing it could be a good structure for any lesson, even in mother tongue.

We started by examining the traditional, most common structure of a lesson:
1) Stage 1: presentation of subject by the teacher
2) Stage 2: activities/exercises (practice)
3) Stage 3: production – bigger activity
Well, forget this. Gone. Outdated. And – most important – boring! This top-down structure is teacher’s centred, while we need a bottom-up, pupils’ centred structure. Otherwise, we’ll end up losing 80% of the pupils on our way.

So, here’s the structure Dr Diana Hicks introduced to us.
“Start with the pupils” she said. I won’t forget this. Definitely.

1) TUNING IN: diagnostic, introductory activities (for the teacher to understand the students’ needs, their use of language, their knowledge of the subject pre-lesson, etc. / for the students to be introduced to the subject in a motivating and playful way).
2) FINDING OUT: this is the “meat” of the lesson – content
3) SORTING OUT: organizing information
4) REFLECTION – EVALUATION – SELF EVALUATION
She suggested to have the students work in groups, so as to allow each pupil to give their own contribution, and to use both English (or other L2) and Mother Tongue, so that they feel safe and do their best.
And she also reminded us of something we all know – but usually forget: we must take into consideration the different learners’ styles (visual, verbal, interpersonal, intrapersonal, kinaesthetic, manipulative, logical, auditory, musical, experimental). Our activities and tests are usually meant for verbal and logical learners: what for the others?

Enough for tonight. I’ll share an example of lesson in another post. Hope you’re intrigued by all of this as much as I am…