How many times have you tried to explain to your students’ families the reason why classes happen mostly in English? How many times have they inquired “When will they learn grammar?”. Well, when we think about CLIL, as the name suggests, the content is what will drive the language used daily and with the continuous use of it, learners will become more aware of the things they have to say to perform in class. Also, teachers should make explicit how the language used allows students to perform and discuss in different contexts.
With that being said, the majority of families need help with understanding the processes that happen in the brain that allow learning to happen. Therefore, having an Open Class for families is a great strategy to have them understand and experience how their children learn in a more practical way. Here are some tips that a teacher must bear in mind when planning such lessons:
1- Remember that some of them might not speak English, so choose a lesson that is less theoretical and more practical, easy to follow.
2- Use lessons that are evidently not “English lessons” or demand a higher level of understanding the English language, a lesson in which they can discuss Recycling, or Natural Disasters, or Rules of Math, for instance.
3- Plan your instructions carefully, keep them as short and clear as possible, use more words that are similar to Portuguese, and scaffold them. Project the words you use on the board, so parents can see them clearly, and look for images (or GIFs) that represent them. Remember to highlight keywords and ask for repetition (after all language using SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED).
4- Model the exercise that you have proposed and remember to keep your instruction sentences as short as possible (yes, long sentences are troublesome given the circumstances).
5- They will probably be shy to try and say sentences and phrases in English, encourage and praise them.
6- Don’t worry much if they speak in Portuguese while the task is being done though, after all, we want to show them that the content is being learned even if the delivery has happened in English.
7- When the exercise is finished, ask them how they felt, how the experience was and if they could solve the issues that were proposed. Remind them that even if they haven’t understood completely what was said, that was just a part of a lesson in a unit, there was a context that led to that moment, in conclusion, students would have had less trouble trying to perform (this part should be done in Portuguese as they can share their ideas more freely).
As an advisor, I have watched classes and teachers all over Brazil, these are some lessons I recommend you use with parents, considering how achievable their goals are:
Educação Infantil:
Why not choose a lesson that will allow them to explore with the Musical Kit, or maybe the parachute? Considering how young children learn, choose activities that will allow and encourage families to be active and have fun.
Ensino Fundamental Anos Iniciais:
As the they become older, they can have more complex interactions and relate content to their reality, pick a lesson whose topic activate logical thinking while using simple structures (something related to the knowledge of numbers and quantities rather than just the recognition of pictures)
Ensino Fundamental Anos Finais:
Teens are eager to talk about themselves and their preferences, at the same time, they have to be respectful towards others. In addition to that, they tend to question the usefulness of things learned at school. Therefore, a lesson for their parents/guardians could be one that embraces and compares differences, while showing the applicability of such concepts in real life examples.
These are just some suggestions of activities that can be done with families, feel free to pick any from our material, since it is appealing to all ages with the right instructions and adaptations.
Your turn now! Have you ever had an Open Class? If so, what were your strategies? How did your pupils (parents/guardians) perform? Have they given any feedback?
Share your experiences with fellow teachers and readers!
References:
Coyle, Do; Hood, Philip; Marsh, David. CLIL – Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Scaffolding to facilitate learning. In: edc|blog. São Paulo 6 mai 2020. Disponível em: https://edcblog.internationalschool.global/2020/05/06/scaffolding-to-facilitate-communication/. Acesso em 16 fev 2023
By Rodolfo Ribeiro
Born and raised in São Paulo, he never thought he would become a teacher, but got hooked by the English language after taking a course during the first year of his gradution in Letras. He has worked in both language and regular schools. He holds a Train The Trainer certificate and tries to get the best out of the teachers he advises.
