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T H R O U G H A F O R E I G N L A N G U A G E
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students to understand a foreign language close to their mother tongue in
terms of vocabulary, grammar or pronunciation. This is why instruction of
more subjects that mainly rely on verbal communication (such as history
and political science) can start quite early if it is carried out in related
languages (e.g. Spanish for Italians, or Dutch for Germans). Such
languages can in fact be used throughout the curriculum. Non related
languages (e.g. German and Italian), on the other hand, should be used to
teach subjects in which the verbal component is foremost only if learners
already possess a good level of competence in the foreign language, to
avoid excessive simplification in the presentation of contents on the part
of the teacher. Such restriction mainly applies to the secondary school
level.
All the above considerations should be taken into account for long-term
planning and education policy. Short-term intervention, however, may call
for less ambitious choices necessarily influenced by the human and
material resources available (cf. 2.5, 3.2).
2.3 Schools
Researchers encourage experimentation with different content subjects,
methodological approaches and with learners of different ages. The
implementation of CLIL also varies according to the different school
systems.
Types of schools
Due to its practical nature and flexibility, CLIL can be incorporated in
different types of schools: both state and private. The diversity of
approaches can be observed through a variety of modalities. With regard to
the age of learners, experiences range from kindergarten to secondary level
of education. CLIL can be used for certain time periods, as tasks within the
overall school curriculum and educational framework or implemented as
optional subjects in secondary schools. Subjects, modules and projects can
all be taught through CLIL.