The field of CLIL has become a great passion of mine in the last few years, particularly since moving to Japan and working with Sophia University in Tokyo. Under the guidance of Dr. Makoto Ikeda, I have been finding myself more and more involved with Content and Language Integrated Learning and finding that the approach fits well with my existing teaching beliefs and practice.
Last year I taught a class entitled “Approaching Literature from Historical, Cultural, Social and Linguistic Perspectives” as part of a CLIL curriculum for non-English majors at Sophia. I then contributed a chapter a book which deals with CLIL in the Japanese context. My chapter was entitled “Unlocking Literature through CLIL: Authentic materials and tasks to promote cultural and historical understanding.”
The book is:
Watanabe, Y., Ikeda, M., & Izumi, S. (Eds). (2012) CLIL: New Challenges in Foreign Language Education. Vol. 2, Tokyo: Sophia University Press.
Here is the English and Japanese abstract for the book.
Chapter 4: Approaching Literature through CLIL (Pinner)
This paper outlines the role of authentic texts, in this case works from English literature, in teaching students who attended a course entitled “Approaching Literature from Historical, Cultural, Social and Linguistic Perspectives” at Sophia University in the autumn semester of 2011-12. The paper will outline the aims of the course and the students who participated. Following that I will provide the definition of English literature that was used in the course, following which there will be a discussion of the nature of English literature and the role of authenticity. I will examine the way the course was designed and taught using a CLIL methodology, and explain how assessment was conducted and the students’ reception of the course as well as providing a broad analysis of the success of the course in reaching its aims. Of particular note, I will examine the problems faced by non-English major students when approaching authentic texts from English literature and the strategies employed to help students to gain a better understanding and enjoyment of the texts. In the conclusion section, a summarised list of Dos and Don’ts is provided to outline the main practical tips regarding the selection of authentic materials and designing a course around them.
本章では、アカデミック・イングリッシュ２で英語文学の専門内容を担当したPinnerが、その授業実践を振り返って報告している。いかにCLILの考えを取り入れた授業展開がなされたかについて詳述されているが、中でもオーセンティックな教材の使用法について追求している。オーセンティック教材とは、最初から語学教材用として作られたものではなく、実際の世の中で触れられるものを教材として使用するわけだが、ただ「生の」教材を使えばいいというのではなく、いかにそれを意味ある目的のための活動として取り入れるかが重要であると指摘している。
I will be explaining further about CLIL and authenticity in later posts on this site. I have also been writing about CLIL on the www.cliljapan.org website.