It's all in the planning!

The 4Cs, HOTS & LOTS, thinking skills, BICS, CALP... Only L2 ... little to no L1 ... 

Sounds gibberish doesn't it?

Even more if YOU are meant to include ALL of these in each activity of your CLIL lesson!

No Fret! it's all in the planning!

Effective CLIL starts

with good planning

One of the most important elements of successful CLIL teaching is preparing your lesson in advance, and the structured lesson template I provide is designed to make that process simple and reliable. It includes all the essential components of a CLIL lesson — from language aims to scaffolding and assessment — and even prompts you to plan tasks that develop LOTS (Lower Order Thinking Skills) and HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) using Bloom’s revised taxonomy. This means teachers can intentionally create activities that go beyond basic understanding and push students toward deeper thinking. With this template, you won’t risk forgetting anything; you can walk into class confident, organised and fully prepared, leading to a smoother, more engaging lesson for your students.

The CLIL Approach

A clear path to understanding and applying Content and Language Integrated Learning. Packed with strategies, examples, and tools, it’s ideal for both beginners and experienced teachers looking to enhance their CLIL practice in real classroom settings.

Teaching with CLIL

It's all in the planning!

The 4Cs, HOTS & LOTS, thinking skills, BICS, CALP... Only L2 ... little to no L1 ... 

Sounds gibberish doesn't it?

Even more if YOU are meant to include ALL of these in each activity of your CLIL lesson!

No Fret! it's all in the planning!

 

 

What to plan?

A CLIL lesson should be planned in detail in order to include all key elements that make a CLIL lesson. These are:

  • The 4Cs (content, cognition, communication, culture)
  • Prior knowledge
  • Learning objectives & Scaffolding
  • Activities with HOTS & LOTS and cognitive levels & age in mind
  • Materials & resources
  • Evaluation

The elements just mentioned should be relatively all included in the steps of your lesson.

 

THE MAIN STEPS OF A CLIL LESSON ARE:

1. Welcome routine

2. Introduction to the lesson

3. Presentation of New Content

4. Working session

5. Evaluation

6. Wrap up routine

 

 

The lesson plan provided with "The CLIL Approach - handbook" assists you in thinking of all the elements before the lesson. So you can have a detailed plan helping you to run the lesson as smoothly as possible. It is fully comprehensive and allows, as a standard, the inclusion of every important and necessary aspect for you to plan into your CLIL lesson. For each step of your lesson, the template includes sections to note thinking skills, R&W, speaking, listening, activities, games, evaluation as well as warm up and wrap up activities.

The 3rd page of the lesson plan is a customizable activity page that you can copy, personalize and use for as many activities you will need to design for your lesson.

The lesson plan template is provided in the handbook I wrote "The CLIL Approach", but if you'd like to receive a copy directly to your email then scroll up to the top of the CLIL section and tell me where to send it by signing up to my newsletter.

Effective CLIL starts with good planning... read more

Handbook for Teachers

This comprehensive guide is designed to offer both practical and theoretical support to teachers and educators who wish to deepen their understanding of the CLIL methodology (Content and Language Integrated Learning) and apply it effectively and purposefully. The result of thorough and structured work, this document presents itself as an exhaustive handbook that outlines the pedagogical foundations of CLIL, analyses its benefits and challenges, and proposes practical strategies for its coherent implementation in educational contexts. The guide is intended for both those approaching CLIL for the first time and those wishing to strengthen their existing skills, providing concrete examples, teaching tools, and reflections to support integrated and effective teaching.