CLIL 4Cs

UNIVERSIDAD DE JAÉN UNIVERSIDAD DE CÓRDOBA
Master’s Dissertation/
Centro de Estudios de Postgrado
Trabajo Fin de Máster
“IMPLEMENTING THE 4
CS FRAMEWORK FOR
EFFECTIVE CLIL
TEACHING”
Student: López Quero, María Nieves
Supervisors: Dr. Jesús García Laborda

Dra. Jeannette de Fátima Valencia Robles
Department: English Philology
November, 2021
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT
RESUMEN
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. ..1

JUSTIFICATION OF THE TOPIC ...................................................................... 2
2.1 Research questions and objectives ................................................................. 5
3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ......................................................................... 6
3.1 CLIL Teaching Methodology ......................................................................... 6
3.2 CLIL and language: The Language Triptych ............................................... 8
3.3 Exploring the 4 Cs Teaching Framework .................................................... 10
3.4 Benefits of CLIL in Foreign Language Learning ....................................... 12
3.5 The 4 Cs as a planning instrument ............................................................... 14
4. THE TEACHING UNIT ....................................................................................... 16
4.1 Contextualization ........................................................................................... 16
4.1.1 Sociocultural environment……………………………………………………………..16
4.1.2 Teaching situation………………………………………………………...…17
4.1.3 Intended group of learners…………………………………………………..17
4.2 Teaching philosophy.......................................................................................18
4.3 Teaching Unit Design..................................................................................... 19
4.3.1 Main aim and Learning Outcomes ............................................................. 21
4.3.2 Key Competences (LAW)…………………………………………………. 21
4.3.3 Resources/ Materials ................................................................................... 23
4.3.4 Learning scenarios….……………………………………………………..23
4.4 Teaching unit assessment………………………………………………………37

4.4.1 CLIL checklist for the teacher……………………………………………..37
4.4.2 CLIL matrix to evaluate the tasks and materials employed……………….43
5. CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................... 46
5.1 Limitations of the study………………………………………………………..46

5.2 Recommendations for future research………………………………………..47
6. APPENDICES ........................................................................................................ 49
7. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES ............................................................... 58
7.1 Reference Literature……………………………………………………………58
7.2 Legal framework……………………………………………………………………………..60

ABSTRACT
Globalization is accelerating the need to introduce important changes in education. For
members of the contemporary Spanish schools, innovation has become a pressing one.
In this sense, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) implementation has
been a great opportunity to improve Spanish ESL students’ results and to innovate
teachers’ practices. Thus, for successful CLIL implementation teachers need to feel
prepared and comfortable in this field.
Throughout this work, a CLIL didactic unit will be carefully designed, following a
suggested CLIL plan and carrying out a potential assessment for CLIL teaching. This
study has the intention of providing CLIL Primary teachers with the tools they need to
improve their teaching practice by using the theory on CLIL to create practical lessons.
At the same time, this study has as a central point the 4Cs framework for teaching and
learning (Coyle, 2000) thanks to which third graders learners can become good
communicators, can learn new content and improve their cognition as well as they will
be able to appreciate cultural diversity.
Key words: CLIL, planning, assessment, content, communication, cognition, culture.
La globalización está acelerando la necesidad de introducir cambios importantes en la

educación. Para la comunidad educativa española, la innovación se ha convertido en una
presión. En este sentido, la implantación del Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenido y
Lengua Extranjera (AICLE) ha supuesto una gran oportunidad para mejorar los
resultados de los alumnos españoles y para innovar las prácticas de los docentes. Así,
para una exitosa implantación de AICLE, los docentes necesitan sentirse preparados y
cómodos en este campo.
A lo largo de este trabajo, se va a diseñar cuidadosamente una unidad didáctica AICLE
sugiriendo su planificación y llevando a cabo una potente evaluación para la enseñanza
AICLE. Este estudio tiene la intención de proporcionar a los profesores bilingües las
herramientas necesarias para mejorar su práctica educativa usando la teoría de AICLE
para crear sesiones prácticas. Al mismo tiempo, este estudio tiene como eje central el
marco de las 4 Cs para la enseñanza y el aprendizaje (Coyle, 2000) gracias al cual,
alumnos del tercer curso de Educación Primaria pueden llegar a ser buenos
comunicadores, pueden aprender nuevo contenido y mejorar su cognición así como ser
capaces de apreciar la diversidad cultural.
Palabras clave: AICLE, planificación, evaluación, contenido, comunicación,

cognición, cultura.
The present Master’s Dissertation poses as the main objective of the study
to demonstrate how important is to organize Content and Language Integrated
Language (CLIL here after) teaching units incorporating and interrelating content,
communication, cognition and culture. Throughout this work, the effectiveness of CLIL
teaching will be assessed.
After having some experience as EFL teacher in different Spanish schools,
I have realised that many CLIL teachers feel insecure when teaching CLIL due to the
fact they need more support and guidance in this field. In fact, there is not CLIL training
at the pre-service level in Spain. There is not a specialty in the Spanish Universities that
train Primary teachers as bilingual teachers. The reality is that training in this field is
given by some Teacher Training Centres and also in some Masters’ degrees. Indeed, as
Coyle et al. (2010:99) state “the key to future capacity building and sustainability is
teacher education” and Spanish teachers seem to be always open to new pedagogies and
professional development. In my experience at different public schools in Andalusia I
checked that my colleagues were always happy to experiment with new approaches and
put them into practice in their classroom. In the case of CLIL, teachers today count on
plenty of materials and resources and they also have knowledge of the content and
language but some of them feel unable to create powerful lessons and potential
evaluations. Actually, for Martín del Pozo (2016), CLIL teacher training is one of the
main challenging concerns of both CLIL theorists and practitioners. That is the reason
why this Master Dissertation is an attempt to put into practice the theory that any
teacher knows but cannot use in a real classroom. Even though this study reflects on
how I would adapt this content in my own teaching practice, I would like it could be
used by any teacher in the future as a guide to design their programmes. For that
purpose, I will start by building up a solid justification of the topic as well as the
theoretical framework that is going to support my investigation taking important
variables into account such as: CLIL teaching methodology, the relationship between
CLIL and language, the benefits of implementing bilingual teaching and the adequate
evaluation of this type of teaching. All these factors will come into play along this
study.
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Then, I will set specific objectives in order to work with them using a certain
methodology that will be also explained in depth. In the same way, I will also carefully
explain all the steps carried out for this present study.
The study structure presents, in the first place, a contextualization of the
hypothetic situation where the CLIL teaching unit is going to be developed; then, I will
also set my teaching philosophy which are my own epistemology and what I consider as
essential teaching elements to reach success. The study is carried out in order to create a
CLIL unit for the subject of Natural Science for 3 rd graders. In that unit, I will carefully
design eight imaginary learning scenarios that will be analysed and evaluated minutely
in the last sections of the study aimed at the evaluation of the activities and of the
teaching practice.
To finish, I will present the most relevant conclusions obtained in this study
concerning the positive aspects found in our CLIL teaching unit and how well the 4 Cs
curriculum works when it is well planned and implemented in a ‘real’ teaching context
with students of 3rd grade of Primary Education. Moreover, I will dedicate part of the
last section to address the limitations found in this study and the lines for future research
on CLIL planning.
As it has been introduced in the previous section, this study mainly focuses
on incorporating the 4Cs curriculum planning instrument proposed by Coyle (1999) in a
specific CLIL teaching unit with the intention of facilitating and ensuring the bilingual
teaching-learning process. According to Campillo et al.’s study (2019), most bilingual
primary schools teachers in Spain are not enough qualified to plan and to provide
students with effective CLIL teaching. Indeed, in their study it was found that CLIL
teachers’ opinion is that Public Administration should provide more resources, further
training and enhanced coordination to improve quality CLIL teaching. When
implementing CLIL, learners learn a non-linguistic subject throughout a foreign
language.
In CLIL, non-native language teachers teach contents through a second
language which is oriented to non-native students of the Foreign Language (FL)
(Dalton-Puffer, 2007). Moreover, the methodology employed is the most distinctive
landmark of this educative approach where it acquires a decisive relevancy (Marsh,
2002).In addition, in any bilingual program, two components are key factors for
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developing different language and cognitive processes: BICS (Basic Interpersonal
Communication Skills) and CAL (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency)
(Cummins 1980, 1982). The first component refers to the everyday language a child
needs to cope with face to face oral communication and is developed during the two
first years of second language instruction whereas CALP, refers to the language
proficiency a learner needs to deal with more abstract and academic situations and
involves six or seven years of L2 instruction. This way, learners will learn first to
communicate orally in real life situations and then, they will be able to read or write in
the target language.
Therefore, L2 instruction must promote the learning not only of the surface- level of the
language but also of the deeper- level or proficiency of the language that focuses on
how language is used in concrete situations for specific communicative purposes.
Indeed, according to a study carried out by Mattehoudakis et al.(2014), CLIL
approaches seem to develop CALP as they focus on the deeper-level thinking and
meaningful language use. The reason is that learners carry out tasks that engage them
cognitively and that require the use of the language in abstract and academic concepts.
In this respect, CLIL provides a natural context for learning where language is used
meaningfully. Actually, according to the afore mentioned author, learners do not use the
language just for learning but they use the language because they need to use it. In other
words, there is a real purpose to use the language.
The choice of this topic is quite a challenge since there is not a unique way
to conceive or develop a CLIL approach to teaching. However, all possible modalities
share the double objective of providing content learning as well as language learning. In
such a sense, it is strictly necessary to have clear what CLIL is not. CLIL is not an
approach oriented to the teaching of foreign languages but an approach that puts
together content and language teaching and which procures parallel learning of both
aspects. As a result, it is not merely the teaching of content using a FL as the focus is on
the content and on the FL as well.
Thus, the teaching staff must develop an educational programme bearing in
mind contents that learners are expected to acquire in a fixed period of time. A
curriculum, according to Parkes and Harris (2002), is seen as a source of innovation and
it serves as a tool for planning and carrying out the teaching-learning process.
Regarding CLIL, its major dare is its integrative nature and for teachers at any level,
integrating the teaching of content and language is not an easy labour. Indeed, according
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to the European Framework for CLIL (2014), teachers undertaking CLIL need to be
prepared to develop different type of expertise: in the content subject, in the language,
in best practices in teaching and learning, in the integration of the previous three, and
the integration of CLIL in an educational institution.
My purpose in this study is to help CLIL teachers. CLIL teachers must be
able to identify the appropriate content to be taught and to view content by different
cultural perspectives. They have also to employ strategies to support language learning
in content lessons, to provide learners with critical thinking strategies and to scaffold
language learning in content classes. It is also key that teachers have essential
backgrounds in the content and the language they will be combining. Thus, planning
effectively will imply the introduction of content, communication, cognition, and
culture as shown in Table 1:
CLIL elements Descriptions/Role

Content Facilitating comprehension and
knowledge building.
Communication Using language for learning.
Cognition Activating high and low thinking skills.
Culture Favouring tolerance and integrating
different perspectives.
Table 1 CLIL Elements descriptions (Coyle, Hood and Marsh, 2010)
According to McDougald (2018), educational systems world-wide need to change the

way education is structured to provide students with the competences to respond to the
demands of a globalized and interconnected world. In Spain, language teachers and
educators are increasingly modernizing themselves to prepare learners for the
contemporary era. One of the advantages of CLIL-oriented curriculum is that it can be
implemented through just two or three subjects, content-based subjects that are
associated with language knowledge and use. Their integration helps them become
natural parts of learners’ lives when interacting with their communities (McDougald,
2018).
Lasagabaster and Sierra (2009) claim that CLIL offers more reasonable and
meaningful opportunities to use foreign languages, which is reflected in creating
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positive attitudes to languages in general. In such a sense, working under a CLIL
methodology with well-planned lessons contributes to learners’ success in education.
This is why this study focuses on how to carry out powerful CLIL practice so students
can develop positive attitudes towards language learning. As far as language attitudes
are concerned, Marsh (2000) believes that a major outcome of CLIL is not only to
establish competence in two languages, but also nurture a ‘can do’ attitude towards
language learning in general.
To better clarify the purposes of my investigation I am going to outline the

objectives of the study. At this point, it is important to remember that my aim is to
prove the effective planning and set up of CLIL teaching by following the tools from
4Cs Curriculum.
2.1 Research questions and objectives
For this dissertation I am going to define some objectives and to propose

some research questions that will be commented and demonstrated at the end of the
study:
1. To what extent is the planning of CLIL sessions decisive for effective CLIL
teaching?
2. What are the benefits of CLIL in second language acquisition?
3. How well does the 4 Cs Framework work when designing a CLIL teaching unit?
4. How important is the evaluation of CLIL practice to improve future CLIL
lessons?
Regarding the objectives of the research, we highlight the following:
1. To analyze the key points of implementing CLIL teaching by following the 4 Cs

Framework.
2. To check that well-planned CLIL sessions contribute to the success in CLIL
teaching.
3. To design a CLIL teaching unit based on Content, Communication, Cognition
and Culture for the 3rd grade of Primary Education.
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4. To improve the teaching practice by assessing the CLIL teaching unit.
3.1 CLIL Teaching Methodology
For Marsh and Langé (2000), CLIL is an educational approach where some
content learning is taught in an additional language. Campillo et al. (2019) believe that
CLIL has been one of the most important innovations that have been implemented in
Spain in the last decades. The effectiveness of its approach arises many questions
among the education community. CLIL teachers seem to have different perceptions
about the practice of CLIL teaching. For Lorenzo et al. (2010), CLIL is not taught
through a concrete methodology and there is not a uniform way to interpret this
approach but it associates with a series of conceptions and education strategies that
imply the employment of the target language for natural and meaningful communicative
purposes. When implementing CLIL, it is also needed to adopt a dialogical teaching
modality and to put into practice a variety of scaffolding strategies.
In addition to this, the social-constructivist model of Vygotsky (1978) is related to CLIL

contexts as it focuses on interaction and student-centred learning. This setting needs
social interaction between students and teachers where the learner becomes cognitively
engaged. In fact, for CLIL to be effective, it has to take into account not only students’
knowledge and skills but also their cognitive engagement. The interaction between
pupils and teacher is key to foster learner motivation (Lasagabaster, 2011).
Moreover, CLIL is characterized by the use of active methodologies that involve

‘learning by doing’, competences development and problem-solving tasks. Language is
reinforced in CLIL lessons by using different communication modalities (repetitions,
simplifications, reformulations, exemplifications…) what make learners comprehend
the oral messages. In addition, CLIL is very flexible when it comes to attend to the
different learning styles by applying multimodal and multisensory teaching and learning
strategies. It also put emphasis on the autonomous learning promoting responsibility for
one’s own learning. Most CLIL teachers work with open activities where there is not a
unique answer or a unique way to do it, students solve them in a creative way instead.
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Mehisto, et al. (2008: 29-30) propose a summary with the central characteristics of the
CLIL approach that, at the same time, we will use for our CLIL proposal:
Table 2 Characteristics of the CLIL approach based on Mehisto, Marsh and Frigols (2008; 29-30)
Multiple focus
Language learning is supported in content language classes and content learning
is supported in language classes. It also integrates different subjects and organizes
learning through interdisciplinary topics and projects where reflection has a very
important role in the learning process.
Safe and Nurturing Environment
This is possible by using activities and routines, teaching language as well as
content in the classroom, building learners’ self-confidence to experiment with the
language and the content, using learning centers in the classroom and facilitating
the access to the authentic environments and materials.
Authenticity
By allowing learners to ask for help in L1 or in L2, by giving priority to their
interests and by establishing relationships between their learning and their daily
lives as well as relationships with other CLIL speakers.
Active Learning
Active learning will be possible by making learners to communicate as much as
possible. Students must also evaluate their progress, their achievements and the
learning results. In this sense, CLIL teachers must promote cooperative learning
and act as facilitators that negotiate meaning of language and content with the
learners.
Scaffolding
CLIL implies departing from learners’ knowledge, abilities, attitudes, experiences
and interests and to group information into ‘more friendly for the user’. CLIL
also responds to the different learning paces and styles, promotes creative and
critical thinking and engage learners to go ahead and take new risks.
Cooperation
Planning courses, sessions or topics in cooperation with other CLIL and non-
CLIL teachers is necessary to carry out the approach as well as involving
students’ families in learning about CLIL and how to support students. All the
local community and authorities should be involved.
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For this to be possible, Stryker and Leaver (1993:293) set a series of
recommendations for the EFL teacher such as changing the style of instruction in the
classroom, making use of group work and cooperative strategies or identifying prior
linguistic knowledge and skills. They also need to help students to develop strategies to
cope with different situations, use suitable techniques for error correction and develop
and maintain high levels of self-confidence in the students. Such changes permit
students to get a more active role in the learning process. Moreover, according to a
recent study carried out by Campillo, et al. (2019) in some Spanish classrooms, the most
frequently followed CLIL methodological guidelines are those which include
interculturality, activation of pupils’ prior knowledge and the use of ICT (Information
and Communication Technologies). In such a sense, teachers also expressed their
interests and motivations in further sharing best practices to become better professionals
and to create more powerful learning environments and this is precisely one of the main
reasons I am doing this study, to help teachers improve their CLIL practice.
3.2 CLIL and language: The Language Triptych
CLIL is mainly about developing subject competences through language. In

such a way, learners are taught to help them use language in order to acquire content
knowledge. However, many subject language teachers assume that learners will pick up
the language without difficulties because they have the specific language skills but this
is not the reality in CLIL classes. According to Ball et al. (2016), CLIL learners cannot
be assumed to be good listeners, speakers, readers and writers in the second language.
In fact, they need to be taught the skills to acquire the language in order to learn the
content subject. This way, CLIL teachers should pay more attention to the teaching of
language as they seem not to be aware at all that they are not teaching content in L1.
For Ball et al. (2016), CLIL learners have better cognitive capacities and better
academic level than their comprehension and expression skills in L2. For this reason, to
help overcome such a problem it is necessary to think about how to use the language to
favor the cognitive process that learning requires. Thus, from a socio-constructivist
perspective, some CLIL experts (Coyle et al., 2010; Dalton-Puffer, 2007) insist on the
importance of the dialogical learning and teaching modalities in which learners’
interactions with the teacher and other learners and classroom communication have a
crucial role. They are powerful tools to guarantee students’ involvement and the
knowledge comprehension and building.
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Nevertheless, in CLIL teaching, learners are involved in dialogical learning situations
using a language where their level is sensibly lower than their mother tongue. In this
case, bearing in mind that dialogical learning promotes knowledge building through
interaction activities, is fundamental to facilitate learners the access to the language
linked to the context and the dialogical learning modality.
In order to respond to the necessity of integrating curricular content cognitively
demanding with the learning and use of the language, Coyle (2000, 2002, 2005) has
elaborated a conceptual proposal called “The Language Triptych” (Coyle, Hood and
Marsh, 2010) which establish the interrelation between content objectives and language
objectives. This proposal is used to plan, monitor and evaluate CLIL practices and
analyses the foreign language from three perspectives: language of learning, language
for learning and language through learning as shown in Figure 1:
Figure 1 The Language Triptych (Coyle, Hood and Marsh 2010:36)
Referring to the language of learning is the same as referring to the foreign language
that the student needs to access to concepts and basic abilities related to the topic or
curricular content matter. As it is pointed out by Martín del Pozo (2016), this has to do
with providing learners with the specific vocabulary, pronunciation, morphosyntax,
communicative functions, textual typology, and textual cohesion procedures. Therefore,
CLIL teaching requires teachers to be aware of the linguistic demands their CLIL
teaching will pose. On the other hand, the language for learning is which relates with
the linguistic experiences promoted in the classroom with the intention of preparing
learners for an effective functioning in a CLIL context and of making them
communicatively competent to participate in the learning tasks whereas the language
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through learning is the language used during the didactic intervention where some
aspects and language usages can merge unexpectedly. In this sense, Martín del Pozo
(2016) sees that this means that all language that is used in a CLIL context cannot be
planned or anticipated. Its identification and exploration by the CLIL teacher is highly
important. In addition, according to these authors, exploiting all the opportunities
(planned or spontaneous) gives teachers the chance to recycle consolidate and expand
linguistic contents previously worked.
For CLIL teachers, the implementation and consideration of these three

dimensions of the foreign vehicular language when planning CLIL interventions has a
great potential to face with the problem identified by Dalton-Puffer (2007) where CLIL
is just oriented to satisfy the curricular demands of the different subjects (assuming the
incidental learning of the language) neglecting language objectives and planning.
3.3 Exploring the 4 Cs Teaching Framework

Coyle (2000, 2005, 2006) and Hood & Marsh (2010) suggest that effective
CLIL learning results from the integration of the 4 components: content,
communication, cognition and culture through the progression in knowledge, skills and
content comprehension; also, through the interaction in the communicative context and
the development of skills and appropriate linguistic knowledge, and finally, through the
acquisition of a deep intercultural awareness (Coyle et al. 2010). Moreover, as Figure 2
shows, this conception contemplates that CLIL is framed in a wider education context,
therefore, different contextual variables must be considered to implement CLIL
effectively.
Figure 2 The 4 Cs Teaching Framework (Coyle, Hood and Marsh, 2010: 41)
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The first C is for content. Content is the subject or theme such as Science or
Geography. Content can be worked at any age and stage. Content learning implies
understanding different kinds of new knowledge (concepts, facts and procedures) so
learners can use their knowledge for problem solving, discussion or further
development (Coyle, 2010). Similarly, according to Coyle (2010), the second C is
cognition that requires learners to process information and construct meaning. Learners
are in ‘cognitive challenge’ through higher order thinking.
On the other hand, the third C is for communication. It focuses on the

language learners need to construct knowledge while the fourth C is for culture that has
two interrelated strands. At the macro level, according to Coyle (2010), culture is the
filter through which people interpret their world. This way, learners develop
intercultural understanding. Otherwise, at the micro level, each CLIL subject has its
own culture with its own content and ways of communicating and interpreting the
world.
This framework helps us understand that CLIL teaching is not about
deciding which language and contents need to be taught but to understand that CLIL
implies a more complex conceptualization involving cognitive demands and
intercultural understanding. However, over the years different research studies have
shown an increasing awareness of the need to better understand the nature of this
integrated learning by asking about the ‘how’ (Coyle, 2011). Thus, while the 4Cs
Framework provides the ‘what’ of CLIL, it does not seem to provide the ‘how’.
According to Llinares (2010) and Meyer et. al (2005), some questions may arise from
each one of the 4Cs about how to implement the 4Cs :
Regarding the first C of Content, a CLIL teacher may wonder: What is content
knowledge? How it can be shared? Who owns it? In the Cognition, a question could be:
Can we separate cognitive, social and linguistic resources from content and language
use? While in Communication a teacher can ask: How to promote language learning and
using in my specific CLIL context? Finally, from the last C for Culture, a question that
maybe arises is that of how can we put the cultural and intercultural references at the
core of the teaching-learning process? All these questions will be deeper analysed in
section 3.5 where I will explicitly deal with how to use the 4Cs teaching framework as a
planning guide.
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As it has been described in this section, the 4 Cs Framework is, therefore, a
conceptual framework, a useful tool for planning and conceptualizing CLIL
programmes. That is why we are going to use it to plan our CLIL teaching unit. It will
help us to be successful in learning and to be connected.
3.4 Benefits of CLIL in Foreign Language Learning
As Frydrychova (2012) states, a CLIL lesson is not a language lesson,

neither it is a subject lesson transmitted in a foreign language but a lesson where
language is used as a medium to broaden learners’ horizons of knowledge. Students use
the language to learn about the world is around them what intrinsically means that they
are acquiring language in a meaningful and real way. According to Mehisto et al.
(2008), the main advantage of the CLIL methodology in contrast to traditional EFL
lessons is that CLIL students learn to use language and at the same time, they learn to
use language to learn. In a recent study carried out by Nieto (2016), the results show
that language acquisition is possible thanks to the double focus in CLIL teaching:
meaning and form since CLIL is based in communication (it provides rich input and it
fosters students’ production of comprehensive output).Variety of input is provided in
the classroom by working on different language functions, different genres and with
academic and classroom language. This makes learners able to produce by themselves.
Thus, for Nieto (2016), the success when acquiring the second language stems from the
fact that CLIL teaching provides higher quality exposure of the target language. In
words of Mehisto et al. (2008:26), “CLIL replicates the conditions to which infants are
exposed when learning their first language”. Indeed, the results from Nieto’s study
carried out in a Primary School in Spain show that there is no significant difference
regarding L2 acquisition of CLIL and non-CLIL learners except for oral production and
interaction
Different researchers (Navés, 2011; Pérez-Cañado, 2011; Várkuti, 2010;
Lorenzo, 2010) have supported the theory that CLIL students have a significantly higher
mastery of the foreign language in comparison to their non-CLIL partners. A good
example is that of a study carried out recently by Moya and Ruiz (2018). The study has
demonstrated that students from CLIL programs in the community of Castilla La
Mancha present better results in the four linguistic skills (listening, speaking, reading
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and writing) in the Cambridge official exams than those students from non-CLIL
schools. The same happened some years ago in the Andalusian context in a study
carried out by Lorenzo et al. (2009). The study showed that CLIL learners got a higher
percentage in their marks in comparison with non-CLIL learners.
In the same way, results from another study carried out by Ruiz de Zarobe
(2008) and Dalton-Puffer (2008), compare CLIL learners with non-CLIL students and
the first ones tend to be more fluent in L2. They are able to use the target language
creatively and in meaningful and challenging ways. In particular, findings in the study
carried out by Nieto (2016) show that the integration of communication, content,
cognition and culture in the CLIL classroom and its powerful methodology are decisive
for the development of motivation, creativity, emotional competence and social
inclusion among others.
For Cummins and Swain (1986), the progression of learners’ production
(speaking and writing) is more limited that the development of the comprehension skills
(listening and reading). Actually, studies in various European countries have shown that
the receptive ones (listening and reading) are the most developed in CLIL programs due
to the high exposure of learners to written and spoken language. However, the
productive skills show inconsistent results (Dalton-Puffer, 2008). Such inconsistency in
the results may be understood with further investigation on the four linguistic skills.
Indeed, according to Nieto (2016), linguistics skills in CLIL contexts require more
analysis. Nevertheless, this dichotomy cannot be extrapolated to any CLIL context due
to the differences in the methodology.
If we look at the benefits from CLIL, For Dalton-Puffer (2008), receptive
skills, vocabulary, morphology, creativity, fluency and quantity are areas positively
affected by CLIL but as we have seen, one of the most relevant advantages when
implementing this approach is the promotion of the language proficiency. We, as
teachers, want our students to be ready to face with a globalized and interconnected
world where proficiency in only one language is not enough. Indeed, global
interdependence and mass communication often require the ability to function in more
than one language. Being communicatively competent in different languages prepare
learners to live in a plurilingual and intercultural society. Indeed, culture is exactly one
of the C’s proposed in the 4 C’s teaching framework of Coyle (2005). In fact, according
to this author culture is the link between the other three C’s: content, communication
and cognition. The truth is that language serves as a tool for the individual and social
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interaction and, in this context CLIL offers greater opportunities for intercultural
interaction. In the same way, and according to Sudhoff (2010), CLIL also enables
learners to use the target language in authentic ways and they can construct their
cultural identity by studying contents. The main advantages of CLIL are highlighted in
Table 3:
Relevant benefits from CLIL

Uses authentic language
Builds cultural identity
Develops intercultural competence
Develops cognitive skills
Integrates the four skills in meaningful ways
Provides realistic contexts for learning
Leads to ‘lifelong learning’
Table 3. Main benefits from CLIL learning (Own source)
3.5 The 4 Cs as a planning instrument
Before developing how the 4C’s works as a planning guide, we are going to
take a look at the suggestion from Coyle, Hood and Marsh (2010) who developed a six-
stage process to help teachers design their CLIL scenarios as is shown in Figure 3:
2. Personalizing 4.Monitoring 6. Gathering

data
1.Brainstorming 3.Planning 5.Evaluating
Figure 3.Stage process for designing CLIL lessons (Coyle, Hood and Marsh, 2010)
The foremost idea is that CLIL is flexible and can be adapted to any context. Then, as it
is shown in the figure above, the first step is to have a notion about the CLIL project
that the teacher wants to carry out. Once they have agreed on the idea, the next step is to
analyze and personalize the CLIL context. It is at this point, that teachers are ready to
plan the CLIL unit. Planning a CLIL unit following the 4C’s principles that is what this
section aims at. After that, once the unit has been planned, the teacher prepares the unit
and monitors, evaluates, and understands CLIL in the classroom in order to gather data
14
for future units. So far, it is clear that a CLIL teacher must go through different stages
when teaching CLIL but how is the real planning involving the 4Cs?
According to the ‘4 Cs planning instrument’ proposed by Coyle (1999) as a
guide for curricular organization of CLIL teaching units, the planning of a didactic
intervention should incorporate in a interrelated way the four elements: content,
communication, cognition and culture. This way, this author proposes to start with
content matters (this would also imply the objectives), then, join them to
communication aspects (the language the learner needs to interact and use the content
and to involve himself in the learning activities and tasks), consider the higher order
cognitive processes that will be developed and integrated through the axis which
represent the attention, the references, the awareness and the knowledge of different
cultural realities.
As we have explained in previous sections, the 4Cs are not just four words or four
aspects to consider in our classroom but a guide where developing in depth each one of
the elements in order to plan successful CLIL lessons. In the following lines, based on
the works by Coyle (2005: 6) on ‘How to use the 4Cs planning guide’, we show how a
CLIL teacher must plan a CLIL intervention that is exactly what we will do for planning
our teaching unit:
How to use the 4Cs planning guide:
 Start with content. Define it.
o What will I teach?
o What will they learn?
o What are my teaching aims/objectives?
o What are the learning outcomes?
 Now link content with communication.
o What language do they need to work with the content?
o Specialised vocabulary and phrases?
o What kind of talk will they engage in?
o Will I need to check out key grammatical coverage of a particular tense or
feature e.g. comparatives and superlatives?
o What about the language of tasks and classroom activities?
o What about discussion and debate?
 Now explore the kind of thinking skills you can develop according to decisions made
above.
o What kind of questions must I ask in order to go beyond ‘display’ questions?
15
o Which tasks will I develop to encourage higher order thinking?
o What are the language (communication) as well as the content implications?
o Which thinking skills we will concentrate on which are appropriate for the
content?
 Culture is not a post script but rather a thread which weaves it way throughout the
topic. Think of it as a circle which envelops the topic. It is not enough to justify
pluriculturalism by using another language without explicit reference via the other 3Cs
to cultural opportunities which would not have existed in a mother tongue setting. Eg
Using target language countries where there is drought so that case studies can be used
to examine the project from an alternative perspective – interviews with children whose
lives have been changed when Water Aid has provided them with a village well.
o What are the cultural implications of the topic?
o How does the CLIL context allow for ‘value added’?
o What about otherness and self?
o How does this connect with all Cs?
4.1 Contextualization
4.1.1 Sociocultural environment
The school is supposed to be located in a neighbourhood of a coastal town. This is a

highly touristic town during any season but is in the summer when it reaches the tourist
peak. Its beaches, its historic center, its museums and its customs and traditions are
some of the touristic attractions in this city. Indeed, the leisure offer is greatly varied.
People can enjoy indoor and outdoor activities, such as: visiting museums, going to a
shopping center, going to the cinema, practicing any aquatic activity, visiting historical
monuments, etc. Therefore, in this city we find different cultural manifestations which
play an important role in children education.
In general, the children’s parents’ socio-economic level is average-high. Most of them

have university studies and work in the city. Parents cooperate a lot with the school and
there is a PA (parents’ association), which collaborates with the teaching staff and in the
organization of extracurricular activities.
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4.1.2 Teaching situation
It is a small bilingual school with two classes per grade in Primary Education and two in
Infant School. The center counts on a computer classroom where we can work on ICT, a
big playground; it has a kitchen, a canteen and early morning classroom. It also has an
orchard and a big gym. There is, of course, a classroom for each group, toilets, a library
and a smart board in each classroom. Very near the school there is a public swimming
pool and a large clearing.
The center organizes some extra activities like computer classes, dance, English, etc. In
addition, it is a virtual center. It has a webpage that offers multiple resources and
activities for the education community. In this website, there is a space for families to
interact; there is also a specific space for students to express themselves freely. Teacher
and students have to their disposal a room to interact to each other. Furthermore, in this
web there is a corner for the school press and a blog where teachers and learners can
share contents, activities and so on.
4.1.3 Intended Group of Learners
The grade to be taught is the third grade of Primary Education where there are 23
pupils, 13 girls and 10 boys. From the 23 students, one of them is Nationality and there
is another learner who has educational needs. In concrete, this is a student with a
hearing impairment who needs a special location in the classroom and lot of visual
support.
There are two weekly hours for the subject of Natural Science where takes places in
the ordinary classroom. The classroom counts on an interactive board, a computer
corner with 3 or 4 laptops and also a library corner. Regarding the sitting arrangement,
originally, learners are sitting in groups of 4 or 5 pupils but the organization of the
group will vary depending on the activity.
17
Figure 4 Possible arrangements for independent work/tests/beginning of the year/lectures (Own source)
Figure 5 Possible arrangements for group work/stations (Own source)
Figure 6 Possible arrangements for demonstration/discussion (Own source)
4.2. Teaching Philosophy

As teacher, I am not a mere implementer of a curriculum; I must co-develop and co-
enact a participatory curriculum to reach our learners. This teaching unit has been
designed with the belief of our students are not passive recipients either; they are active
agents involved in a bottom-up process of pedagogic change. This way, as teacher I
always remember the words Benjamin Franklin once said “Tell me and I forget. Teach
me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” They truly highlight the importance of
student-centered methodologies for learning to occur.
18
Thus, my methodology’s main aim is that every language learner reaches the success in
this teaching unit. For such a purpose, my teaching practice will be structured by
different theories, principles and ideals that work in making my pupils,
communicatively competent in English, autonomous learners, plurilingual citizens and
students who know how to do and be, that is a well-rounded person.
One fundamental element that will ensure my learners’ success is motivation. If learners
are motivated they will participate in the learning scenarios that I have created for them.
My methodology’s intentions can be summarized with another 4 C’s: communication,
collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity as Figure 7 shows:
communication collaboration
critical thinking creativity
Figure 7 Key words of the methodology (Own source)

Regarding the evaluation, I propose a competence-based evaluation which helps assess
both the achievement of the subject goals, and the level of knowledge of basic
competences. I will carry out the evaluation by means of continuous observation of the
students’ progress; I will also use different procedures, techniques and instruments
adjusted not only to the Evaluation Criteria of second cycle but also, to my pupils’
personal characteristics.
4.3 Teaching Unit Design

The suggested CLIL unit, -“My five senses” is intended to be used in the Natural
Science subject for students who are supposed to be in the 3rd grade of Primary
Education. It is an imaginative situation that could perfectly be real; actually, it is
carefully designed to be put into practice when necessary. My proposal is hypothetic
because we are not developing this study in a real classroom, but I am basing my work
19
on my experience as primary teacher in the last three years and on real and viable facts
that can represent an ordinary Natural Science classroom reality.
At this stage, when pupils are eight-nine years old learners who count on a solid
background on the English language since the infant school, they are ready to be
exposed to real English. These learners are capable of understanding more complex
concepts like abstract terms. They also develop a strong sense of right and wrong and
they are able to express feelings orally. That is why our learning scenarios will be
engaging by creating a participatory and collaborative environment.
Now, before developing my own teaching unit, I have to plan deliberately the best way
to carry it out. For such a purpose, Table 4 clarifies all the aspects that we have taken
into consideration when planning this didactic unit such as the language and the
contents to be worked:
Aspects Descriptions
Vocabulary Nouns: class material (book, board, pencil, markers, notebook…),
body parts (eyes, mouth, nose, ears, hands…), animals (cow, lion,
pig, owl…), objects (jar, cotton, scissors, bottle, sand…)
Adjectives: temperature adjectives (hot, cold, warm…), positive and
negative adjectives (beautiful, ugly, disgusting…)
Structures -Verb ‘to be’

-Present Tense (We use eyes to see)
-Questions: Simple and -wh questions (Is it cold? / What do you see
in this picture?)
Contents -The body and the senses.

-The sense of sight.
-The sense of touch.
-The sense of smell.
-The sense of taste.
-The sense of hearing.
-Habits of prevention.
-The Andalusian environment through our senses.
Table 4 Language and content to be worked in the unit (Own source)
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After defining the vocabulary, structures and contents of the teaching unit, the main aim
and learning outcomes should be determined in the following subsection.
4.3.1 Main aim and Learning Outcomes
The main aim of our study is to analyze how to plan successful CLIL lessons in the
subject of Natural Science following the 4C’s Teaching Framework proposed by Coyle
(1999). Furthermore, I set a series of learning outcomes. It is important to clarify that
the Learning Outcomes (LO) are specifications of the learning standards according to
Spanish National Curriculum. They are specific for a teaching unit to work on a specific
topic. We set LO from the Block 2: The human body and health according to the Royal
Decree 126/2014 of February 28th, which establishes the Core Curriculum in Primary
Education, for our students to be acquired:
 To identify the five senses and their main organs.

 To describe the main characteristics of each sense and compare them.
 To identify the main function of each organ.
 To specify habits of prevention to take care of the five senses.
 To explain the importance of how senses provide information about the
environment.
4.3.2 Key Competences (LAW)
Preparing young people both to successfully face the challenges of the information
society and derive maximum benefit from the opportunities it provides has become an
increasingly important objective of education systems in Europe. Key Competences are
a combination of knowledge, skills, and attitudes appropriate to the context (Aranda
2017: 9). They are particularly necessary for personal and social fulfilment. The
transversal nature of key competences makes them essential. They provide added value
for employment, social cohesion or young people, which explains the importance of
lifelong learning in terms of adapting to change and integration.
The Organic Law, which modifies the Education Organic Law (LOMLOE), builds
on the Organic Law on Education Improvement (LOMCE) and, at the same time, on the
Education Organic Law (LOE), which placed the key competences at the center of the
21
language learning curriculum. The key competences focus on preparing children for the
future by developing skills and attitudes that will help them to enjoy a good quality of
life, and to successfully interact with others in the contexts they are likely to encounter
in their daily lives.
Following the guidelines and recommendations of the European Union, the Royal
Decree 126/2014 of February 28th develops the concept of Key Competences in the
Spanish Curriculum. The aim of this new initiative is “To permit students to integrate
their learnings, relating them to different kinds of contents as well as using them in an
effective way in any situation and context”. In the teaching unit we propose the seven
key competences will be worked in a way or other:
1. Linguistic communication competence. This is intrinsic to any language unit as

students have to use the language to interpret and understand reality.
2. Mathematical competence and basic competence in Science and Technology,
since throughout the unit we will use charts and tables to classify information
about the five senses and their organs and also timetables and schedules to talk
about the time when an activity happens.
3. Digital competence. We will use an interactive board in our lessons and we will
work with digital information repetitively.
4. ‘Learning to learn’ competence. Through the activities and the classroom
atmosphere we will provide, students will be able to develop this competence.
5. Social and civic competences permit students to participate in social, civil and
working life. Students are able to deal with people from different contexts, as
well as to cope with conflicts in a constructivist way. Thus, they become active
citizens. In our classroom we continuously do projects in teams and we
encourage children to interact one another and work cooperatively.
6. Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship is also developed in our unit because
of the number of opportunities students have to carry out their own ideas.
7. Cultural awareness and expression. We contribute to the development of this
key competence since senses make possible that people interact with others, get
to know their daily lives and their likes and dislikes as well as lessons seven and
eight are exclusively aim at developing cultural identity and appreciation.
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4.3.3 Resources/ Materials
In any classroom, it is difficult to provide quality teaching without the support and
interaction of the teaching materials. As Littlejohn and Windeatt (1989: 50) state,
“materials have a hidden curriculum that includes attitudes toward knowledge, attitudes
toward teaching and learning, attitudes toward the role and relationship of the teacher
and the students, and values and attitudes related to gender, society, etc.” The role of the
materials is more relevant in language teaching than it could be imagined. According to
Ramírez (2004: 2) “materials are anything used by teachers or learners to facilitate the
learning of language and content”. Table 5 shows the resources used in our specific
situation:
Resources and Materials (including audiovisual materials)

- interactive board - mystery boxes - videos
- markers - classroom objects - lectures
- realia - computers - books
Table 5 Resources for the CLIL teaching unit (Own Source)
4.3.4. Learning Scenarios
In this section eight learning scenarios will be developed. Each one includes all the
necessary aspects to get the didactic transposition: name of the lesson, timing, grouping,
materials and resources needed, teaching goals for each lesson, activities sequence
following a scaffolded instruction, the intelligences worked as well as how diversity is
attended in each session.
-LESSON 1
This lesson is aimed at the presentation of the unit and has as main intentions to awake
students’ interest towards the topic, activate their background knowledge and to
introduce new key linguistic items. The teaching goals are specified as follows:
To get to know with the five senses and their organs

To awake learners’ motivation towards the new unit.
To introduce key vocabulary.
23
Lesson 1: Presentation: Starting with my Duration: 60’
five senses!
Grouping: whole class, group work and Didactic materials and resources:
individual work. interactive board, realia, notebooks and
pencils.
Multiple intelligences: verbal-linguistic, interpersonal, logical-mathematical and
visual-spatial
“I DO” 1. Guessing game. This is an ice-breaking activity to
(teacher instruction) motivate learners towards the unit. Students have to
guess the objects the teacher shows by using their
senses. E.g. With the eyes closed they guess what
they are touching; they guess an object by seeing just
a small part of it…
2. Flashcards games. The teacher presents the key

vocabulary of the five senses (sight, taste, smell,
touch and hearing) by showing flashcards and doing
different games with them:
-guess the sense: the teacher chooses a flashcard that

learners cannot see and give clues for them to guess
which sense is in the flashcard.
-say ‘stop’: the teacher says one of the senses and
shows quickly all the flashcards to the students.
Learners have to say STOP! When they see the
correct sense.
“WE DO”
3. Creating riddles. In groups of 3 or 4 students,
(group activities)
learners have to create one riddle for each sense that
must always start: “You use this sense when you…”.
Learners complete the sentence with two or three
words.
24
4. Riddles exchange. The groups exchange their riddles
and try to guess them by working collaboratively.
Then, riddles are read aloud to the whole class.
“YOU DO”
5. Matching worksheet. Students work individually in
(pupil practice)
a worksheet where they have to match each sense
with the corresponding picture. Then, s/-he has to add
one more to the worksheet using the sense s/-he
prefers. (Appendix I)
Attention to diversity
The learner with the hearing impairment does not need specific attention (apart from
being located closed to the teacher) as everything is very visual (we use pictures, written
sentences and so on).
The English native learner is provided with great opportunities to use the language in
classroom to interact with the teacher and other students. Moreover, in the activity
where they have to invent a riddle, this learner can write more complex riddles without
following the pattern provided by the teacher.
-LESSON 2
In this lesson we start studying the first organ and its sense: the sense of sight. Learners
will go through different exercises and activities to learn about this sense. The teaching
goals for this lesson are the following:
To learn about the sense of sight.
To introduce new language and content in relation to this sense.
To make learners able to explain what they can see.
To identify the main parts of an eye and how they work.
25
Lesson 2: The sense of sight Duration: 60’
Grouping: whole class, pair work and Didactic materials and resources: a 3D
individual work. model of an eye, interactive board, realia,
worksheets and pencils.
Multiple Intelligences: intrapersonal, verbal-linguistic, interpersonal, logical-
mathematical, and visual-spatial.
“I DO” 1. Observing our magical surrounding. In this

(teacher instruction) presentation stage, the teacher asks questions to make
learners to observe their environment.
-What can you see right now?/ What have you seen in
the way to school?
Learners give oral responses to the teacher’s
questions. This way, the teacher is activating
students’ language and explains that all what they
observed was thanks to the sense of sight.
2. Close eyes and imagine. So far learners are aware of

the great amount of things they can know thanks to
their eyes but could they imagine life without the
sense of sight?
In this activity, the teacher introduces the habits blind
people have by inviting pupils to close their eyes and
to think what they would need (guide dogs, walking
sticks, special noise in the traffic lights, etc.)
3. How is an eye? Now that learners are quite

concerned about the importance of the sense of sight,
they are shown a 3D eye model to explore their main
parts: cornea, pupil, iris, lens, retina, optic nerve.
Moreover, the teacher explains how they eye works
and all the steps implied in the process.
26
“WE DO”
4. Label the parts of an eye. In pairs, students have to
(group activities)
complete a labelling worksheet of the parts of an eye
to demonstrate to what extent they are able to locate
the parts in the correct place. (Appendix II).
5. How the eye works. In pairs, pupils have to complete
a worksheet where they have to order the steps of
how an eye works. (Appendix III).
6. Put a tick. This is an exercise to correct the previous
activities. We use the interactive board to check the
results with the whole group.
“YOU DO”
(pupil practice)
7. What have I learned? Pupils individually complete a
personal diary with the things they learnt today.
(Appendix IV).
As in lesson 1, the learner with the hearing impairment does not need specific attention
(apart from being located closed to the teacher) as everything is very visual (we use
pictures, written sentences and so on).
The English native learner is provided again with great opportunities to use the
language in classroom to interact with the teacher and other students. Moreover, in the
activity where they have to complete their personal diaries, he will write more complex
sentences and reflections.
-LESSON 3
In this lesson we will learn about the second sense: the sense of hearing and its organ. It
follows the same pattern as the previous lesson. A first motivating presentation and
exposure to the new content and then, learners’ participation and responses in engaging
activities which involve different groupings. The teaching goals established for this
27
lesson are:
To learn about the sense of hearing.
To identify the main parts of this organ and to understand how it works.
Lesson 3: The sense of hearing Duration: 60’

Grouping: whole class, group work and Didactic materials and resources: a 3D
individual work. model of an ear anatomy, interactive
board, realia, songs, worksheets and
pencils.
mathematical, and musical
“I DO” 1. Guess the sound. The teacher tells the class that
(teacher instruction) today they are going to focus on the sense of
hearing so they cannot see or touch anything in
this activity.
Learners listen to different sounds (someone
walking, the sound of a teapot, the sound of the
traffic, etc.) that they have to guess.
2. A sound-off world. As we did with the sense of
sight, now learners have to imagine their lives
without hearing. Pupils are going to wear ear
plugs and they have to say what they would need
to improve their lives (read lips, louder sounds,
images for everything, a hearing device…). This
time, the group know well about this topic as we
have a classmate with a hearing disability and
they know exactly what he needs in every
moment.
3. How does the ear work? How does it look
inside? Learners watch a video of a walk inside
an ear to learn about its parts and how they work.
28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mptjEoHF2a
After watching the video the teacher and the
students make some comments on it and the
teacher shows the 3D model of an ear to check if
learners are able to identify the parts watched in
the video.
“WE DO”
4. Soft and loud sounds. Learners are given a
(group activities)
worksheet to classify different sounds in ‘soft’ or
‘loud’ sounds. They do this individually but then,
they check their group’s responses. (Appendix V)
5. Labelling worksheet: “Parts of the ear”
(Appendix VI)
6. Sequencing worksheet: How the ear works.
(Appendix VII)
“YOU DO”
7. What have I learned? The learner reflects on
(pupil practice)
what s/-he has learned today using their personal
diaries as in session 2.
In this lesson, the student with the hearing impairment has a fundamental role in sharing
how life without hearing is and how his hearing device works. This time, as we are
going to listen to sounds and music, we attend to this learner by locating the speakers
near him and by supporting the different sounds with pictures that represent them.
Once again, in the activity where they have to complete their personal diaries, he will
write more complex sentences and reflections.
29
-LESSON 4
This lesson is aimed at learning the sense of smell and its organ. Students will learn the
process of smell and appreciate the importance of this sense for the life. The teaching
goals I have set in this lesson are the following:
To learn about the sense of smell.
To understand the process of smell.
To identify the organs involved in the process.
Lesson 4: The sense of smell Duration: 60’

Grouping: whole class, pair work and Didactic materials and resources:
individual work. interactive board, realia, worksheets and
pencils.
mathematical, visual-spatial.
“I DO”
1. What do you smell? In this motivation activity,
(teacher instruction)
learners are invited to smell different things without
seeing what they smell. The teacher is going to use
things like chocolate, vinegar, garlic, vanilla, books,
etc. Learners have to guess what they smell and also,
they have to say if it is a nice or a disgusting smell.
After that, with the open eyes they will check their
responses.
2. Imagine a life without the sense of smell, which
smell would you miss the most? In this activity,
learners develop awareness on the importance of this
sense and we will also talk about the concept of
‘anosmia’. They have to create a chart in their
notebooks with this question and to ask the question
to some classmates. Then, the responses will be
shared and commented aloud by the whole group to
discuss what the most important smells are for 8 year-
30
old pupils.
3. How does my nose work? To understand the process
of the olfactory system and to learn its parts, children
watch this animated video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9CpmgTPhu8
“WE DO”
4. The sense of smell worksheet. Once learners have
(group activities)
learnt how our nose works, they have to complete a
worksheet to name the parts of the nose and to
complete the process of smell. (Appendix VIII)
5. Put a tick! We correct the worksheet in the
interactive board.
“YOU DO”
6. What have I learned? At the end of every lesson,
(pupil practice)
children complete their personal diaries with a brief
summary on what they learned today.
The learner with the hearing impairment does not need specific attention (apart from
being located closed to the teacher) as everything is very visual (we use pictures, written
sentences and so on).
The English native learner is provided again with great opportunities to use the
language in classroom to interact with the teacher and other students. Moreover, in the
activity where they have to complete their personal diaries, he will write more complex
sentences and reflections.
31
-LESSON 5
In this lesson we will study the sense of taste. Children will learn how our tongue works
to differentiate different tastes. This is a highly motivating lesson for them as they can
think (and even taste) food that they normally eat. The teaching goals in this unit are:
To learn about the sense of taste.
To identify the taste areas of the human tongue.
To identify the organs involved in the process of taste.
Lesson 5: This tastes delicious! Duration: 60’

individual work. interactive board, fruits, worksheets and
pencils.
Multiple Intelligences: verbal-linguistic, interpersonal, logical-mathematical, visual-
spatial, musical, intrapersonal, and bodily-kinaesthetic.
“I DO” 1. Brainstorming: What do you feel in your tongue?

(teacher instruction) In the board, the teacher and the students make a
brainstorming about type of flavours we can feel
when we eat (sweet, salty, bitter, soar) and think of
foods for each flavour. Then the teacher surprises
learner by showing them a great box with different
fruit that they can taste (apples, bananas, cherries,
grapes, peaches…).
Learners will take a piece of fruit and will describe
what they feel in their tongues.
2. How does my tongue feel the flavours? The teacher
shows an interesting poster with the areas of flavours
a human tongue has (Appendix IX) and children learn
about it.
32
“WE DO”
3. Let’s sing: The taste song. We learn and sing
(group activities)
together a song about the sense of taste that collects
all the important information we have studied.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLOwCd6sK34
“YOU DO”
4. What have I learned? Learners fill in their diaries
(pupil practice)
with the knowledge acquired in today’s session.
5. Tongue hand-craft. Using papers, colours, scissors
and glue, pupils create their own tongue. (A model
can be seen in Appendix X)
The learner with the hearing impairment has special attention in the song activity. We
put the video of the song to support the learner with the images and also we make
gestures to show when the food is sweet, bitter…
On his part, the English native learner is attended as in the previous lessons.
-LESSON 6
This lesson is aimed at learning about the sense of touch. Students will get to know with
the sense of touch and its organ by carrying out a great varieties of activities designed to
attain the following teaching goals:
To learn about the sense of touch.
To identify different textures.
To understand the process of touch.
Lesson 6: The sense of touch Duration: 60’

individual work. interactive board, realia, cardboards,
worksheets and pencils.
spatial, intrapersonal, and bodily-kinaesthetic.
33
“I DO” 1. Discovering activity. Using different objects with
(teacher instruction) textures (smooth, rough, soft, hard) and shapes pupils
have to guess what object it is by touching them with
the eyes closed.
2. Classifying objects according to their texture. The
teacher and the learners have to classify objects they
find in the classroom according to their texture. This
way, students will learn the new vocabulary relating
with textures.
“WE DO”
3. How your skin works? We watch a video to learn
(group activities)
about the skin layers and how they work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCWclrhsPQ8
4. The touch sense organ. After watching the video,
learners are given a picture of the touch sense organ
(skin) and they have to make a poster in groups
naming each part of this sense.
“YOU DO”
5. Review what you know! Individually, learners
(pupil practice)
complete two interactive worksheets (using their
tablets or laptops) to review the contents of the
lesson.
The sense touch organ:
https://es.liveworksheets.com/sj1284590df
Textures and safe/unsafe touching:
https://es.liveworksheets.com/lu1564790eg
6. What have I learned? Pupils complete their personal
diaries with the content learnt today.
34
The learner with the hearing impairment is located close to the teacher (as always) and
is provided with lot of visual support in any activity.
The English native learner is given more adjectives to talk about textures (sharp, fluffy).
Moreover, he continues completing his personal diary using more complex sentences or
structures.
-LESSONS 7 AND 8
These two sessions are put together because they are aimed at doing the final task.
Children will put into practice all learning about the five senses to work on a task
related to their Andalusian community. Cultural awareness is highly developed through
these sessions. The teaching goals are:
To appreciate the Andalusian culture.

To work on the five senses relating them with our region.
To know different traditions and places in Andalusia.
To develop tolerance towards other cultures.
Lessons 7 & 8: I feel my region with my Duration: 2 hours (60’and 60’ separately)
5 senses! Final Task
Grouping: whole class, group work and Didactic materials and resources:
individual work. interactive board, computers, worksheets
and pencils.
spatial, intrapersonal, and bodily-kinaesthetic.
“I DO” 1. Andalusia in our five senses. The teacher explains

(teacher instruction) to learners the final task they are going to do. In small
groups, they have to choose one of the five senses,
Lesson 7 explain how it works and suggest ways of how we
can feel our region through that sense (ex, the sense
of hearing can be enjoyed by listening to popular
‘flamenco’ music; the sense of sight can be enjoyed
35
by visiting beautiful places, monuments…) and create
a presentation using ICT’s (Prezzi or Power Point).
For that purpose, first, the whole group make a
brainstorming on the board and suggest some
examples.
“WE DO” 2. Searching for info! In this step, the different groups
(group activities) start to look for information on the sense they have
selected (using their notebooks, laptops…) and on the
Lesson 7 Andalusian link.
3. Creating a draft. With the information students have
collected have to create a draft on their notebooks
before doing the digital presentation to organize the
information.
“YOU DO”
4. Digital Presentations. Now, learners are ready to
(pupil practice)
create the digital presentations. They are used to use
the ICT’s in class and they have created many
Lesson 8
presentations in other subjects and in previous units.
5. Oral presentations preparation. Learners are given
a model to prepare the oral presentation using some
key phrases:
-Introduction: Good morning, we are group number
X and we are going to explain the sense of ________.
-Body: Thanks to the sense of________ we can
________. It works_____________./ In our region,
Andalusia, we can enjoy this sense by __________.
-Goodbye: We hope you liked it. Thank you for your
attention!
6. Presentations. The different groups present their
tasks.
36
The learner with the hearing impairment is located close to the teacher (as always) and
is provided with lot of visual support in any activity.
The English native learner carries out a more complex discourse when presenting his
part of the final task. He does not to have to follow the model provided to the other
students. He will create his own talk.
4.4 Teaching Unit Assessment

4.4.1 CLIL checklist for the teacher
Teachers should keep improving permanently. That is why we should go through an
“assessment cycle”. This approach involves planning aims and methods before
teaching, acting on the plan in class, observing what pupils do in class, and analysing
why pupils behaved in that way in order to introduce improvements.
Figure 6 Assessment Cycle (Adapted from Maki, P.L. 2010)

On the other hand, authors such as Coyle, Hood and Marsh (2010: 84-85) collects a
checklist to evaluate the CLIL practice elaborated by CLIL teachers. This checklist can
be quite useful to make sure we had into account fundamental aspects of planning CLIL
lessons. I am going to evaluate my teaching practice in the unit “My five senses” by
using the checklist in Table 6:
37
CLIL Unit Checklist
CLIL Theme: Natural Science Date: (hypothetic situation)
Unit of Work: My five senses Class: 3rd grade
CRITERIA DESCRIPTION SELF-EVALUATION
Clarifying global -Are the global goals In section 4.3.1 global and
goals, teaching embedded in the unit specific goals are clarified.
aims and planning? Moreover, in each lesson the
learning -Are the teaching aims clear? teaching goals for each learning
outcomes -Are the learning outcomes scenario are specified as well.
defined? Which ones can be
measured?
Content -Have I considered how to Scaffolding has been taken into

scaffold content learning? account in relation to the content
-Are my presentations of new and also in relation to the
content clear? language. In section 4.3.4, I have
-Is the content accessible? developed the sessions following
the “I DO, WE DO, YOU DO”
structure in which the teacher has
a relevant role at first (to model
content and language) and
learners progressively gain
autonomy.
38
Table 6 continues
Language/ -Are the students involved in Throughout the unit, I have
Communication using language? proposed multiple opportunities
-Are students involved in to use language, oral and written
learning language? language. In every session, I
-Are my instructions clear? have planned activities where
(This is not proved as it is an learners interact one another
imaginary situation) and with the teacher. The
-Are the questions I ask teacher always activates
appropriate to the level? learners’ previous knowledge in
-Have the students got content and language and makes
adequate language to answer sure students are able to use the
my questions? language. In section 4.3 I have
-Have I planned language of carefully selected the language
learning? to be worked in the unit
-Have I planned language (vocabulary, structures…) so I
for learning? have anticipated both language
of learning and for learning.
Cognition/Thinking -Are the questions/problems In section 4.3 I have analysed

at the appropriate cognitive the cognitive development of 8-9
level? year-old pupils according to
-Have I considered how I can Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive
ensure that the learners Development (1936-1950) with
progress cognitively, and how the intention of creating the best
-I can measure this progress? learning scenarios for them.
Are there ways to assist Students’ progress is constantly
learners in developing a range measured thanks to the
of strategies through the questions they have to answer
CLIL language? and the activities I use to get
information about their
learning.
39
Table 6 continues
Culture -Have I thought about the Culture is an aspect imbedded
contribution that this unit in the unit that is worked
makes in changing classroom implicitly and explicitly. Most
culture? of the activities propose
-Have I considered how the promote learners’ tolerance
theme of this unit can promote and respect towards others and
awareness of cultural towards the own and the
difference/global citizenship? foreign environment.
-Have I identified opportunities Moreover, this group of
in this unit which encourage learners is lucky to have a
curriculum links? Can we native classmate who is from
communicate and work with Ireland and shares his culture
learners from other countries? and traditions with the group.
Activities -Do the tasks designed relate to All activities in the unit are
the global goals, aims and carefully designed taking into
outcomes in terms of the 4Cs? account the 4 Cs as I want my
-Is progression built into learners to have CONTENT
language and content tasks? knowledge, to be good
-Have I considered which COMMUNICATORS in the target
language is needed to carry out language, to value CULTURE
each activity? (the own and others’) and to
develop their COGNITION.
Regarding language, as I
explained in the previous
paragraphs, it has been
previously analysed and selected
in section 4.3.
40
Table 6 continues

Supporting -Are there adequate Scaffolding is provided along the
learning opportunities for students to entire unit. In the first stages of
engage in practical activities to learning the teacher is who
experience CLIL? models and guides but
-Have I identified which type progressively, learners acquire
of teacher scaffolding is autonomy to learn until they are
needed to support language able to produce by themselves
and learning? without the support of the
-Have I recycled new language teacher.
from previous units to support
learner progression?
Assessment -Have I considered how the The assessment is carried out in

learners will know what they three stages. There is an initial
have learnt? evaluation to know students’
-Have I considered how I will background knowledge. This is
know what they have learnt? done through the first activities in
-Have I decided what to assess session 1 (activation activities).
during the unit to ensure that Then, there is a continuous
feedback informs further evaluation throughout the unit
learning? that is carried out by teachers’
direct observation, student’s
responses and participation…
The teacher uses this evaluation
to improve the teaching-learning
process. Finally, there is a final
evaluation that is done using a
scoring rubric and is used to
know the levels reached by the
learners when the unit has ended.
The teacher also evaluates her
own teaching practice.
41
Table 6 continues

Reflection -Is there variety (groups, In this CLIL teaching unit
pairs…)? different students’ arrangements
-Have I allocated enough time? have been used depending on the
-Have I thought about what I activity and on the stage of the
might change in this unit? lesson. I have also considered the
-How can I collect students’ time needed for each lesson;
views about this unit? however, as it is an imaginary
situation I could not prove if time
was enough in each session.
Moreover, since this unit has not
been carried out in the real life, I
cannot consider relevant changes
in it but there are always other
options for activities planning,
arrangement, etc.
Finally, since this unit can be
carried out when necessary, I
would like to know my learner’s
opinion about the unit so I would
create a blog for the subject
where learners can share their
opinions and interact with the
teacher and their classmates.
Table 6. The 4 Cs Framework (teaching practice evaluation) (Coyle, Hood & Marsh, 2010: 84-85)
As we have seen, teacher self-evaluation is a powerful instrument to reflect about the

teaching practice; however, it is also of great importance the evaluation of the materials
and tasks used in the unit. In the next subsection, I will analyse them on depth.
42
4.4.2 CLIL matrix to evaluate the tasks and the material employed
Basing on the well-known matrix elaborated by Cummins (1984) to explore the
relationship between cognition and language, Coyle (1999) adapts it to evaluate
learning materials and tasks in CLIL contexts (figure 3). It also considers the balance
between linguistic demands and cognitive demands departing from the belief that
effective learning requires cognitive challenge and feedback. According to this
principle, the materials which do not imply a cognitive challenge are difficult to justify
while the materials which are cognitively demanding are essential for learning.
Investigation has consistently shown that the work which is not cognitively demanding, such as
copying or repeating, especially when there is not a context to support it, does not improve the
learning of a language […] Involving students actively in the cognitively demanding work, the
teacher is creating a genuine need for students to acquire the language appropriately. (Smith and
Paterson 1998:1)
For Coyle, (2005), in CLIL contexts, the biggest challenge for CLIL teachers is that of
developing linguistically accessible and cognitively demanding materials and tasks. If
the level of the foreign language is too high, learning does not take place. In contrast, if
the level is too low, learning is also limited. To reach a balance, materials and tasks in
CLIL contexts should be framed in the matrix showed in figure 3.
Figure 7 CLIL matrix to evaluate materials and learning tasks (Coyle, 2005:9)
CLIL materials and tasks should be in quadrant 2 just during a short period with the
intention of generating confidence in learners; the bulk of CLIL teaching should be
made up of tasks from quadrant 3 (linguistically accessible but cognitively demanding)
43
with the aim of proposing any activity from quadrant 4 to ensure that students’
competence in foreign language does not limit learning.
In a few words, a carefully strategic planning and cognitive challenges for learners are
needed. Following this matrix, in our teaching unit we have evaluated each activity in
terms of high or low linguistic demands. Table 7 shows such evaluation:
Matrix Quadrants
Lessons 1 2 3 4
High linguistic Low cognitive Low High cognitive
demands + low demands + low linguistic demands + High
cognitive linguistic demands + linguistic
demands demands high demand
linguistic
demands
Activity 1. Activity 5. Activity 4. Activity 3.
1. Presentation: Guessing game Matching Riddles Creating riddles
Starting with Activity worksheet exchange
my five 2.Flashcards
senses! games
2. The sense of Activity 1. Activity 4. Activity 2. Activity 3. How is

sight. Observing our Label the parts Close eyes an eye?
magical of an eye and imagine Activity 5. How
surrounding the eye works.
Activity 6. Put a Activity 7. What
tick have I learned?
3. The sense of Activity 1. Activity 4. Soft Activity 2. A Activity 3. How

hearing. Guess the and loud sound-off does the ear
sound sounds world work? How does
Ativity 5. it look inside?
Labelling Activity 6.
worksheet Sequencing
worksheet
44
Activity 7.What
have I learned?
4. The sense of Activity 1. What Activity 4. The Activity 2.

smell. do you smell? sense of smell Imagine a life
Activity 5. Put a worksheet without smell,
tick! which smell
would you miss
the most?
Activity 3. How
does my nose
work?
Activity 6.What
have I learned?
5. This tastes Activity 3. Let’s Activity 5. Activity 2. Activity 1.What
delicious! sing Tongue How does my do you feel in
handcraft tongue feel the your tongue?
flavours? Activity 4. What
have I learned?
6. The sense of Activity 1. Activity 4. The Activity 3. Activity 2.

touch Discovering touch sense How your skin Classifying
activity organ works? objects according
Activity 5. to their texture
Review what Activity 6. What
you know! have I learned?
7/8. I feel my Activity 5. Oral Activity 1. Activity 2. Activity3.
region with my presentations Andalusia in Searching for Creating a draft
five senses. preparation our five senses info! Activity 4. Digital
Final Task Activity 7. (brainstorming) presentations
Presentations
Table 7 Activities’ classification (Own source)
45
After developing the present study I can conclude that organization and planning is
essential to provide powerful CLIL teaching. In fact, as I have demonstrated CLIL is an
approach that fits any context and philosophies. In this sense, according to Ioannou-
Georgiou and Pavlou (2011) CLIL approach takes from the Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT) approach as well as from the 4Cs model proposed by Coyle (2000)
which integrates content, communication, cognition and culture. This combination has
precisely been the center of my study. Designing units that include the 4Cs is quite a
challenge in terms of organization and planning since every part of a teacher plan must
be in perfect harmony with the others. In each learning scenario we could see that
thanks to the activities proposed and the methodology employed, learners could be good
communicators (due to the great number of communication activities), content and
language ‘experts’ and culture appreciators, learners who value the own culture and the
other.
Another important point is that of taking students’ developmental stage into
account to plan successful lessons. Knowing closely learners’ context help us know
their needs, interests and to what extent they will involve in our lessons and that is what
I did in my study. I analysed in depth the context and the situation to be able to plan
powerful lessons. It is well known, that planning is at the heart of being an effective
teacher. For Reed and Michaud (2010), the lesson planning process allows teachers to
evaluate their own knowledge with regards to the content to be taught. In fact, thanks to
the careful planning I developed, I could evaluate myself as teacher and I could explore
my strengths and my weaknesses.
Thanks to this work, I feel capable of designing any CLIL teaching unit for any
level since this can be used as a template or as a guide to design lessons. I have gained
confidence and security when working with CLIL and what was the main objective of
this work, that any teacher (including myself) feels more comfortable and counts on the
appropriate tools when teaching and evaluating CLIL.
5.1 Limitations of the study

In this section, I will comment the main limitations I have found while
carrying out this research. The main limitation I have found is that of working under a
hypothetic situation. As I have not carried out my proposal in a real classroom it has
46
been difficult to find the best ways to demonstrate the power of designing CLIL lessons
following the 4 Cs model.
Moreover, as I have explained in previous sections, it was not easy to create
a proposal including the 4Cs and at the same time, that fits my learner’s level of
competence. For that reason, the developing of the lessons has been time-consuming as
I had to create most of the materials and think about the best dynamics to work with my
learners. This is something that any teacher must do in the real life in any subject but in
this case, it has been more difficult than usual taking into consideration the fact of being
an imaginary situation. However, my previous experience working as an EFL teacher
in different grades made me feel able to design and plan all my lessons as they were for
a real context.
Teaching materials are regarded as a central tool in the lesson planning,
organization and teaching of CLIL and they considerably affect the CLIL lesson and its
success. Nevertheless, thanks to the globalized world where we live and communication
and information technologies, I could also find some CLIL materials on the Internet that
I could adapt to my unit.
5.2 Recommendations for future research
In the attempt to demonstrate the effectiveness of the 4 Cs model to plan
CLIL lessons, it would be quite convenient to continue the study by carrying out the
proposal in the real life in order to compare the results. In addition to this, an interesting
line for future investigation would be to establish a comparison between other ways of
approaching and planning CLIL lessons and what is proposed in this study.
Moreover, as one of the main objectives in this work was to improve
teachers’ education on CLIL, it would be fascinating to develop a study with a specific
group of teachers before and after reading this proposal with the intention to compare
the way they would approach their classes in terms of planning, methodology and
assessment.
Furthermore, CLIL should be approached in an integrated way with the rest
of the areas. Thus, while we are working on the five senses in Natural Science, in the
other subjects such as Language, English, Maths… teachers should also work on the
same topic. In this line, teachers from the same school community work cooperatively
and collaboratively and learners can better focus their attention and learn in a more
significant way.
47
Apart from these general recommendations, if we look at the specific final
task proposed in the unit, it is based on only one of the senses to relate it with the
Andalusian community but other option would be to propose a final task involving the
five senses so that learners can demonstrate knowledge on all the senses in an integrated
way.
Finally, it is important to remember that this is just a plan and when it is put
into practice new necessities from different nature may arise so investigation and
exploration on this topic can be always open. Indeed, this work has been for me the way
to gain knowledge and self-confidence about the topic. I felt quite insecure when trying
to teach from a CLIL perspective and thanks to this dissertation I could checked that
planning, organizing and evaluating CLIL units is a challenge that can be perfectly
reached by establishing a link among communication, content, cognition and culture.
48
APPENDIX I: Worksheet 1, lesson 1: “Matching”
49
APPENDIX II: Worksheet 2, lesson 2: “Labelling”
50
APPENDIX III: Worksheet 3, lesson 2: “How the eye works (sequencing)”
51
APPENDIX IV: worksheet 4, lesson 2: “What have I learned?” (personal diary)
Thanks to the sense of sight…
I CAN SEE MULTIPLE THINGS LIKE…
MY EYE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ORGAN AND

IT IS LIKE THIS…
Draw your eye and name its parts.
I think the sense of sight is important because

____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
52
APPENDIX V: worksheet 5, lesson 3: “Soft and loud sounds”
53
APPENDIX VI: worksheet 6, lesson 3: “Label the parts of the ear”
54
APPENDIX VII: worksheet 7, lesson 3: “Sequence the process of hearing”
55
APPENDIX VIII: worksheet 8, lesson 4: “The sense of smell”
56
APPENDIX IX: “Areas of taste in the human tongue”
APPENDIX X: tongue craft
57
7.1.Reference Literature
Ball, P., Kelly, K., and Clegg, J. (2016). Putting CLIL into Practice. Oxford Handbooks
for Language Teachers.
Campillo, J. M., Sánchez, R, and Miralles, P. (2019). “Primary Teachers’ Perceptions of

CLIL Implementation in Spain”. English Language Teaching, Vol. 12 No. 4
(149-156) Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1210453.pdf
(15/05/2021)
Council of Europe (2001) A Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages (learning, teaching, assessment).Strasbourg.
Dalton-Puffer, C. (2007). Discourse in Content and Language Integrated Learning

(CLIL) Classrooms. Amsterdam: Jhon Benjamins.
Frydrychova, B. (2012). “CLIL and the Teaching of Foreign Languages”. Procedia.

Social and Behavioral Sciences. Vol. 1. No. 47 (572-576). Retrieved from
https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/ (06/07/2021)
Ioannou-Georgiou, S., and Pavlou, P. (Eds.) (2011). “Guidelines for CLIL

Implementation in Primary and Pre-primary Education”. Pro-CLIL Socrates
Comenius. European Commission. Retrieved from
http://archeia.moec.gov.cy/sd/452/guidelinesforclilimplementation1.pdf
(31/05/2021).
Lasagabaster, D. and Ruiz de Zarobe, Y. (Eds.) (2010). CLIL in Spain. Implementation,

Results and Teacher Training. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars
Publishing.
Lasagabaster, D. and Sierra, J.M. (2009). “Language Attitudes in CLIL and Traditional
EFL Classes”. International CLIL Research Journal, Vol 1. No. 2. Retrieved
from
58
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267797139_Language_attitudes_in_C
LIL_and_traditional_EFL_classes (06/07/2021)
Llinares, A., Morton, T., and Whittacker, R. (2012). The Roles of Language in CLIL.
Cambridge University Press.
Lorenzo, F., Casal, S. and Moore, P. (2010). “The Effects of Content and Language
Integrated Learning in European Education: Key Findings from the Andalusian
Bilingual Sections Evaluation Projet”. Applied Linguisitcis, Vol. 31 .No.3 (418-
442).
Martín del Pozo, M.A. (2016). “An Approach to CLIL Teacher Language Awareness
Using the Language Triptych”. Revista de Educación. Vol. 1 No. 39 (141-157).
McDougald, J.S. (2018). “CLIL across the Curriculum: Benefits that Go Beyond the
Classroom”. LACLIL. Vol. 1.No 1 (9-18). Retrieved from
https://laclil.unisabana.edu.co/index.php/LACLIL/article/view/9679
(05/07/2021)
Mehisto, P., Marsh, D. and Frigols, M.J. (2008). Uncovering CLIL. Content and
Language Integrated Learning in Bilingual and Multilingual Education. Oxford:
Mc Millan Education.
Nieto, E. (2016). “The impact of CLIL on the acquisition of L2 competences and skills
in primary education”. International Journal of English Studies. University of
Murcia. Vol. 16. No 2. (81-101).
Nikula, T., Dafouz, E., Moore, P., and Smit, U. (Eds.) (2016). Conceptualising
Integration in CLIL and Multilingual Education. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Otto, A. (2017). “Assessment Issues in CLIL: What You’ve Been Wondering but Were
Afraid to Ask”. Revista de Investigación Magister. Vol. 1. Retrieved from
https://app.rdim.es/archivos/publicacion/303dce018b15282742f1b7545667f026.
pdf (25/05/21)
59
Sudhoff, J. (2010). CLIL and Intercultural Communicative Competence: Foundations
and Approaches towards a Fusion. International CLIL Research Journal, 1(3),
30-37.
7.2.Legal Framework
Andalusian Council of Education and Science (2015). Decree 97/2015 of March 3rd,
which Establishes the Ordination and Core Curriculum of Primary Education in
the Autonomous Region of Andalusia (BOJA # 50, March 13th, 2015).
Andalusian Council of Education and Science (2015). Order of March 17th 2015, which
develops the Basic Curriculum for Primary Education in Andalusia (BOJA # 60,
March 27th, 2015).
Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (2020). Organic Act 3/2020 which Modifies
the Education Organic Act 2/2006 of May 3rd (LOMLOE), of December 29th
(BOE #340, December 30th, 2020).
Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (2013). Organic Act on Education Quality
Improvement (LOMCE), of December 9th (BOE # 295, December 10th, 2013).
Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (2014). Royal Decree 126/2014 of February
28th, which establishes the Basic Curriculum in Primary Education (BOE # 52,
March 1st, 2014).
Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (2015). Order ECD/65/2015 of January

21st, which details the relation between Competences, Contents and Evaluation
Criteria in Primary Education, Compulsory Secondary Education and
Baccalaureate (BOE # 25, January 29th, 2015).
60

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UNIVERSIDAD DE JAÉN UNIVERSIDAD DE CÓRDOBA

Trabajo Fin de Máster

Student: López Quero, María Nieves

Supervisors: Dr. Jesús García Laborda

1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. ..1

2.1 Research questions and objectives ................................................................. 5

3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ......................................................................... 6

3.1 CLIL Teaching Methodology ......................................................................... 6

3.2 CLIL and language: The Language Triptych ............................................... 8

3.3 Exploring the 4 Cs Teaching Framework .................................................... 10

3.4 Benefits of CLIL in Foreign Language Learning ....................................... 12

3.5 The 4 Cs as a planning instrument ............................................................... 14

4. THE TEACHING UNIT ....................................................................................... 16

4.1 Contextualization ........................................................................................... 16

4.1.1 Sociocultural environment……………………………………………………………..16

4.1.2 Teaching situation………………………………………………………...…17

4.1.3 Intended group of learners…………………………………………………..17

4.2 Teaching philosophy.......................................................................................18

4.3 Teaching Unit Design..................................................................................... 19

4.3.1 Main aim and Learning Outcomes ............................................................. 21

4.3.2 Key Competences (LAW)…………………………………………………. 21

4.3.3 Resources/ Materials ................................................................................... 23

4.3.4 Learning scenarios….……………………………………………………..23

4.4 Teaching unit assessment………………………………………………………37

5.1 Limitations of the study………………………………………………………..46

7. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES ............................................................... 58

7.1 Reference Literature……………………………………………………………58

7.2 Legal framework……………………………………………………………………………..60

Key words: CLIL, planning, assessment, content, communication, cognition, culture.

La globalización está acelerando la necesidad de introducir cambios importantes en la

Palabras clave: AICLE, planificación, evaluación, contenido, comunicación,

CLIL elements Descriptions/Role

Table 1 CLIL Elements descriptions (Coyle, Hood and Marsh, 2010)

According to McDougald (2018), educational systems world-wide need to change the

To better clarify the purposes of my investigation I am going to outline the

2.1 Research questions and objectives

For this dissertation I am going to define some objectives and to propose

Regarding the objectives of the research, we highlight the following:

1. To analyze the key points of implementing CLIL teaching by following the 4 Cs

3.1 CLIL Teaching Methodology

In addition to this, the social-constructivist model of Vygotsky (1978) is related to CLIL

Moreover, CLIL is characterized by the use of active methodologies that involve

3.2 CLIL and language: The Language Triptych

CLIL is mainly about developing subject competences through language. In

Figure 1 The Language Triptych (Coyle, Hood and Marsh 2010:36)

For CLIL teachers, the implementation and consideration of these three

3.3 Exploring the 4 Cs Teaching Framework

On the other hand, the third C is for communication. It focuses on the

3.4 Benefits of CLIL in Foreign Language Learning

As Frydrychova (2012) states, a CLIL lesson is not a language lesson,

Relevant benefits from CLIL

2. Personalizing 4.Monitoring 6. Gathering

1.Brainstorming 3.Planning 5.Evaluating

4.1.1 Sociocultural environment

The school is supposed to be located in a neighbourhood of a coastal town. This is a

In general, the children’s parents’ socio-economic level is average-high. Most of them

4.1.3 Intended Group of Learners

Figure 5 Possible arrangements for group work/stations (Own source)

Figure 6 Possible arrangements for demonstration/discussion (Own source)

4.2. Teaching Philosophy