Ins lingua i

CLIL assessment 
in a lower secondary school
A CLIL experiment
A lower secondary school, with students aged 11-14 that learn two
foreign languages (French and English), has introduced a CLIL activity
which involves the teaching of parts of two subject curricula in French. In
particular, in the first year, History and Geometry are taught in French for
one hour per week each. The language teacher and the subject teacher
work together during the lessons. 
Topics were chosen following two criteria: reinforcement of topics partly
dealt with in the mother tongue and development of new topics in L2. 
For the CLIL lessons, only authentic material used in French schools were selected.
Assessment in CLIL: examples 
1-geometry
Assessment was carried out using authentic materials: one example is
given below (the whole assessment consisted of six tests). The necessary L2
competence was related to comprehension. Open questions were seldom
used; in such cases students were allowed to answer in Italian.
Note: The test actually given was written in French.
1- Consider a triangle ABC
T
E
A
C
H
I
N
G
T H R O U G H A F O R E I G N L A N G U A G E
98
A
B
C

---

At C, draw the parallel d to line AB
At B, draw the parallel d’ to line AC
Indicate with I the point of intersection between d and d’
What can be said about the quadrilateral ABIC?
Answer: ………………………………………………………….…………
2-history
The test given at the end of the school year aimed to assess in French the
History knowledge acquired in both Italian and French. An example is
given below (the complete test consists of 10 grids and a worksheet).
1- Tick the right box
The
The
The
The
Egyptians
Mesopotamians Phoenicians
Jews
They lived mostly by 
farming alongside rivers
They lived mostly by sheep
farming in the nomadic period, 
and by fishing and farming 
in the sedentary period.
They lived mostly on maritime 
trade in the Mediterranean. 
Each test was evaluated following subject-specific criteria. Each student
obtained results similar to those they would have obtained in comparable
tests in the Italian language. Even in the light of the small-scale experience,
the outcome would demonstrate that the use of L2 did not hinder learning.
Box edited by Elisabetta Visintainer, French teacher.
The activity was carried out at Scuola Media Colorni - Milan, Italy, in the school year
1999-2000.