2.3 Resources, Visual Organisers and ICT in CLIL
Key Takeaways
- Multimedia resources (visual, auditory, digital) and graphs (bar chart, pie chart, line graph) let learners access subject content through more than one channel and build the specific language needed to talk about data.
- Visual organisers such as the Venn diagram, tree diagram, T-chart, timeline, flowchart, cycle, Carroll diagram, and identification key each represent subject information in a structured format matched to a specific classroom use.
- ICT activities in CLIL include adding animation, working with still images and digital images, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, databases, web searches, draw or paint software, and word processing.
- Resources and ICT are chosen to increase Student Talking Time by serving purposes such as exchanging information, revisiting vocabulary, encouraging autonomy, handling data, developing enquiry skills and enabling creativity.
Resources: Multimedia and Graphs
CLIL lessons draw on a range of resources beyond the textbook. Multimedia resources include visual materials (photographs, diagrams, video), auditory materials (audio recordings, songs, podcasts), and digital materials more broadly (interactive websites, apps, simulations). Multimedia resources are especially useful in CLIL because they let learners access subject content through more than one channel at once -- seeing a diagram of a food chain while hearing it described in the additional language reduces the load of decoding everything from text alone.
Graphs are a specific and heavily used CLIL resource for presenting numerical or comparative subject data: a bar chart to compare discrete categories (rainfall by month, population by country), a pie chart to show proportions of a whole (energy sources as a percentage of total supply), and a line graph to show change over time (temperature over a year, population growth over a decade). Because reading a graph is itself a skill with its own vocabulary -- axis, trend, peak, percentage, proportion -- a CLIL teacher plans not only to show a graph but to teach the language needed to talk and write about it.
A geography teacher introducing climate data, for example, might use a line graph to show monthly temperature and a bar chart to show monthly rainfall for the same city, then ask learners to describe the relationship between the two using comparative language such as while temperatures rise, rainfall falls.
Visual Organisers and Their Classroom Uses
A visual organiser is a graphic format that represents subject information in a structured way, making relationships between ideas easier to see than continuous text would. Because matching an organiser to its purpose is a recurring TKT: CLIL task type, the organisers are easiest to learn as a table of typical uses.
| Visual organiser | Typical classroom use |
|---|---|
| Carroll diagram | Sorting items into categories using two or more intersecting yes/no criteria (e.g. living/non-living crossed with can move/cannot move). |
| Cause-effect / process diagram | Showing how one event or step leads to another, e.g. what causes soil erosion. |
| Cycle | Showing a sequence of stages that repeats, e.g. the water cycle or the life cycle of a plant. |
| Flowchart | Showing a sequence of steps or decisions, often with branching options, e.g. a decision procedure. |
| Grid | Organising information into rows and columns for comparison or note-taking. |
| Identification key (binary) | Identifying an item through a series of yes/no or either/or questions, e.g. classifying a leaf or animal. |
| Mind map | Branching out ideas from a central topic to show connections and sub-topics. |
| Quadrant | Plotting items against two crossed continuums, e.g. cost against effectiveness. |
| Storyboard | Sequencing a narrative or process in a series of frames, often with images. |
| T-chart | Comparing two columns of information, e.g. advantages and disadvantages. |
| Table | Recording data systematically in rows and columns for reference or comparison. |
| Timeline | Sequencing events in chronological order, e.g. historical events or an experiment's stages. |
| Tree diagram | Showing hierarchical relationships or branching possibilities, e.g. a classification of animal groups. |
| Venn diagram | Showing overlap and difference between two or more sets, e.g. features shared by two habitats. |
A science teacher planning a lesson on classifying animals, for example, might choose a tree diagram to show the overall classification hierarchy and a Venn diagram to show which features mammals and birds share and which are unique to each.
ICT in CLIL and the Purposes Behind Using Resources
ICT (Information and Communication Technology) gives CLIL teachers additional ways to present and manipulate subject content in the target language. TKT: CLIL lists specific ICT activities a CLIL teacher plans for: adding animation to a presentation; using still images and diagrams; changing and interpreting digital images; collating information on spreadsheets; creating PowerPoint presentations; designing and using a database; doing web searches; using draw or paint software; and word processing.
None of these tools is used for its own sake. Resources and ICT are chosen for specific purposes, most of which are aimed at increasing STT (Student Talking Time) rather than teacher talk: exchanging and sharing information between learners; presenting and revisiting subject vocabulary; encouraging learner autonomy; providing learning support (a visual or digital scaffold rather than a verbal explanation); handling data (organising and interpreting numbers or facts); developing enquiry skills (asking questions, searching, checking sources); and being creative (designing, composing, presenting original work).
For example, a teacher planning a unit on local ecosystems might have learners do a web search to collect data on native species, collate their findings on a spreadsheet, and then create a short PowerPoint presentation to share with another group. The web search develops enquiry skills, the spreadsheet develops data-handling, and the presentation stage maximises STT because learners, not the teacher, are doing the explaining.
Match each visual organiser to its typical classroom use.
Match each item on the left with the correct item on the right
A teacher wants learners to show the hierarchical classification of animal groups, from a general category down to more specific ones. Which visual organiser fits this purpose best?
Learners collect data through a web search, then organise it on a spreadsheet before presenting it. Which purpose of using resources and ICT does the spreadsheet stage mainly serve?