C is for COLLABORATE

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is a way of teaching subject content through another language. This implies a higher difficulty for the students. The idea is also to use the second language in these classes, (Moore 2011; Dale and Tale, 2012) so what is a better way to use the language than practicing it among peers?

The collaboration requires “to work together in class in order to plan, create, discuss and evaluate” (Cambridge, 2009) for that reason it allows the practicing of the second language in a real context. In addition the collaboration allows to achieve a higher learning and getting a better result of the task.

We can check this fact with the Vygotsky’s theory (1978, 86). He show us the term Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which was defined as "the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers"

He suggested that learning takes place when students interact in the ZPD with someone who has a higher knowledge or level than they have. (Dale and Tale, 2012) Vygotsky considered this interaction between peers as an effective way of developing different skills. For that reason it is important to use exercises in class of this kind of learning, where the teacher can create collaboration situations for the students. (McLeod, 2010)

An aspect which is important to explain is that not all groups are collaborative groups. It has to accomplish five essential elements in order to be an effective collaborative group, these are:

1.       Positive interdependence.

2.       Individual accountability.

3.       Stimulating interaction.

4.       Interpersonal and group skills.

5.       Group assessment.                                                                      (Gómez and Martínez, 2013)

These collaborative groups are formed between three and six people or instead of groups the students can work in pairs. Inside of these groups, the dialog has a main role. It is the basis of collaborative method. Through it, the students can support themselves to plan, create, discuss and evaluate.  

In CLIL classrooms, the collaboration among children allows to activate previous knowledge, share it and to apply that new knowledge that it has been created by all members of the group in order to work together doing a task. The result of this task will be better than the task that they could do individually and all of them will have a higher knowledge about the topic when they finish the work.

In a collaborative group the knowledge is present among them. There is a constant exchange of ideas through the communication about a particular subject and a particular goal. In CLIL subjects there are a lot of different contents and vocabulary that the students can know or they can´t. (Llinares, Morton, Whittaker, 2012) This is a fact we find in lessons due to the different levels of development of the children and even caused by a greater or lesser knowledge of the language. Taking into account this aspect, I consider that the collaborative method can help the children because of they teach each other.

Besides, CLIL teachers suggest different activities in order to get their pedagogical purposes in teaching content topics. "There is a very close relationship between different ways of talking about content and learning opportunity". (Llinares, Morton, Whittaker, 2012)

To conclude, I have added a table in which we can see the difference between a traditional and a collaborative class. From my point of view, it offer us great advantages and possibilities of learning in order to the children can work together for the purpose of to accomplish different objectives in CLIL context and it also allows them acquire different skills.

Traditional class	Collaborative class
Listen, observe and take notes	Communication is very important
Competition with classmates	Collaboration and work in pairs
Teacher = authority	Classmates are required to learn
Books are the only way of learning	Teacher is a guide of learning, not the authority

SOURCE: “Didáctica. Teoría y práctica de la enseñanza. PIRÁMIDE”

REFERENCES:

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- DALE, L. & TANNER, R. (2012) CLIL Activities: A Resource for Subject and Language Teacher. United Kingdom: Cambridge.

- LLINARES, A., MORTON, T. & WHITTAKER, R. (2012) The Roles of Language in CLIL. United Kingdom: Cambridge.

- MOORE, P. (2011) Collaborative interaction in turn-taking: a comparative study of European bilingual (CLIL) and mainstream (MS) foreign language learners in early secondary education', International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. London: Routledge.

- MORAL SANTAELLA, C. (Coord.) (2010) Didáctica. Teoría y práctica de la enseñanza. Spain: Pirámide.

- VYGOTSKY, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. United States of America: Harvard University Press.

WEBGRAPHY

- McLeod, S. (2010). Zone of Proximal Development - Scaffolding - Simply Psychology. It has been seen in October, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html

- University of Cambridge. Teaching Knowledge Test. Content and Language Integrated Learning. Glossary. V3 Sept 09. It has been seen in October, 2013.  Retrieved from http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/22194-tkt-clil-glossary.pdf

OTHER:

- GÓMEZ, J.L. & MARTÍNEZ, A. (2013) Aprendizaje cooperativo. Workshop, Madrid, June 14.