Developing Thinking Skills & CLIL

Teaching English as a foreign language can go beyond the teaching of language and offer excellent opportunities to help your students become better learners and thinkers.

If you are a teacher of English to young learners in a primary or lower secondary school, and you would like your students to develop their thinking skills while having some meaningful language practice, then this course is for you!

“Learning is a consequence of thinking.”

— David Perkins, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Course Description

 

With a focus on thinking skills and CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning - where the focus is on the simultaneous teaching of language and the ‘real’ content one would normally find in a primary or secondary curriculum), we will look at how CLIL embraces many of the thinking skills principles and how this benefits the students.

We will also analyse and design activities that offer students real-life thinking tasks, and involve them in dealing with information in such a way that it enriches their own thinking. This is a practical course where you will get the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from other nationalities, exchange ideas, design projects together while exploring the potential of the CLIL methodology for developing higher-order thinking skills, and improving students' communication skills. 

What are Thinking Skills?

  • Creative Thinking

    This involves generating and exploring new ideas, as well as being able to view problems from different perspectives.

  • Critical Thinking

    This involves analyzing and evaluating information to make reasoned judgments and decisions.

  • Collaborative Thinking

    This involves working with others to share ideas, build on one another's strengths, and solve problems together.

  • Systems Thinking

    This involves understanding how different parts of a system interact and influence one another, and being able to identify and solve problems within a system.

  • Metacognition

    This involves reflecting on one's own thinking processes, and being aware of one's own cognitive strengths and weaknesses.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By addressing the thinking skills and CLIL, this course will help you to think creatively about links to your own curriculum and the ways that can tap into students’ knowledge and experience. You will leave the course with a set of practical tools, techniques and activities to apply to situations within your own professional context in addition to a mini-project that you are going to co-design with other participants. 

Upon completion of this course, you will 

  • be able to identify the core skills associated with critical thinking and higher-order thinking skills 

  • have a greater understanding of the principles underlying CLIL methodology

  • acquire strategies, skills and practical teaching ideas related to CLIL methodology

  • be able to design tailor-made activities for students linking thinking skills and CLIL 

  • improve your skills in designing dual-purpose CLIL materials 

  • become familiar with a wide range of ICT tools and platforms 

  • develop your skills in designing international projects

Tentative Schedule

  • Day 1

    Scavenger Hunt: City Exploration Game

    Warm-up / Team-building activities

    Discover the Italian Tradition: Aperitivo

  • Day 2

    Introduction to the course content and weekly schedule

    Power of Networking

    Presentations of the participants’ schools

    Introduction to the mini-project design process

    Introduction to Thinking Skills & Project Zero

  • Day 3

    Understanding CLIL: Basic principles

    Discussion on how CLIL can support the development of thinking skills

    Mini-project design

    Guided Cultural Visit /or excursion or Boat Tour

  • Day 4

    Using CLIL to develop creative, and critical thinking

    • Creative thinking and its role in problem-solving

    • Critical thinking and its role in analyzing and evaluating information

    • Different CLIL strategies that can be used to promote creative and critical thinking skills

    • Hands-on activities to explore these strategies

    Useful tools & resources

    Mini-project design

  • Day 5

    Using CLIL to develop collaborative thinking and metacognition

    • Interdisciplinary and collaborative thinking and its role in solving complex problems

    • Metacognition and its role in self-reflection and self-awareness

    • Different CLIL strategies that can be used to promote these thinking skills

    • Hands-on activities to explore these strategies

    Useful tools and resources

    Mini-project design

    Farewell Dinner

  • Day 6

    Useful assessment practices for CLIL & Strategies for giving effective feedback

    Course roundup

    Presentation of the mini-projects

    Course evaluation and feedback & Certificates

    Optional cultural activities or additional guided visit

Key Facts

  • Who should join?

    The course is designed for teachers who teach English to young learners in a primary or lower secondary school.

  • Main Topics

    CLIL , Thinking Skills, Language Learning, English Teaching, Assessment, Feedback, Digital Tools & ICT

  • Location

    The courses take place in Olbia, a nice small town on the northeastern coast of Sardinia. It is one of the most well-connected cities in Sardinia, often chosen as the gateway to the island.

  • Course Fee

    €560

    Tuition fee for 6-day course, half-day excursion, farewell dinner, learning materials, administration costs, organizational costs, certificate of attendance, Europass mobility.

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