CLIL4U Pre-Course Unit 4 - The 5 Cs

The 5 Cs

When teachers are planning a CLIL lesson, there are five things to think about (1) - Content, Communication, Cogition, Community and Competences.

Content

In traditional teaching, teachers prepared a lesson around a logical development of the area the students were working on already, and also prepared the ground for what they were going to study next (2). It’s just the same with CLIL . Teachers build lessons around what the students already know (3). Students develop their subject knowledge like building a wall, one course of bricks on top of the next.

Communication

In the past, students learned a lot of lesson content while they were listening to the teacher talk (4). With CLIL, teachers talk much less, because the students don’t have enough of the new language to learn in this way (5). Instead, students learn together while they are working in groups and talking to each other, using as much of the new language as they can (6).

Cognition

CLIL trains learners to think for themselves. CLIL teachers ask questions and set problems which focus on thinking skills such as analysis or creativity. These are the skills which the students will be using when they start working in the real world (7).

Community

CLIL teachers help students to relate what they learn to the world around them. Students see that what they learn is not just a school subject, but can be something that will be useful in the real world, perhaps when they are building a career (8).

Competences

‘Can-do’ statements describe the outcomes of a lesson, for example, ‘I can calculate the area of a triangle’. CLIL teachers think about the can-do statements they want their students to be able to make after the lesson (9), either about lesson content and skills or about new language.

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This Unit forms part of a language course designed to help teachers refreshtheir English language skills.

It was developed as part of the EU Project ‘CLIL4U’, and is intended as preparation for the main CLIL4U course onTeaching through CLIL.

To follow the language course, click on the CLIL4U Pre-Course Homepage button below.