CLIL … not only not immersion but also more than the sum of its parts

Extract

For one who has been navigating in uncertain CLIL (content and language integrated learning) waters for almost a decade, it was a great pleasure to read Lasagabaster and Sierra’s (2010) article in ELT Journal which clearly states that ‘CLIL is not immersion’. I could not agree more. Not only is CLIL not immersion, here, I would like to discuss how CLIL has the potential to significantly renovate both content education and language instruction through what I call a ‘Core CLIL Construct’: a way of reasoning. In turn, this Construct provides classroom teachers with three concrete ‘CLIL Operands’: ways of proceeding. I would like to draw the attention of the EFL community to how science educators are using these same ‘CLIL notions’ to significantly improve science education. Since EFL practitioners are in a prime position to contribute to this effort to renovate twenty-first century education through CLIL, I list two reasons why the EFL community should take note of CLIL.