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CLIL4U Pre-Course Unit 6 - What is CLIL for?

What is CLIL for?

One important reason for the introduction of CLIL is to help the education sector to prepare today’s students for the world of work of today, and of tomorrow as well. Young people nowadays could face different challenges they from those facing their parents and grandparents and they must be ready for this (1).

For most of the twentieth century, the set of skills needed for the workforce was much simpler than it is today (2). Schools used to prepare their students for employment by teaching them to read and write and do arithmetic, by giving them some information about the world they lived in, and by training them in practical skills like typing, cookery or Keeping Fit. Students had to follow a regular daily routine, remember information and to carry out instructions (3).

In contrast, think about preparing students for employment in the modern world. What skills do we expect today’s and tomorrow’s workers might need (4)?

They will have to be independent and flexible in when and how they work (5). They ought to be equipped with IT skills, and to be able to find any information they need on the Internet or through Social Media (6). The workforce should also have the necessary social and communicative skills to collaborate and cooperate in project teams, rather than working alone (7). They may need to be well-trained in subject competencies, but also be motivated to learn further skills and languages as jobs constantly change and develop (8). It would certainly be useful if they could call on the linguistic and intercultural skills needed in multinational industries and multicultural communities (9).

We need to develop young people who can take responsibility for their own work, who can collaborate with different people, and who can think for themselves (10). This is what CLIL is for.

Below you can listen to the audio file of the text.


Click on the button below to return to the Unit and read the Language Focus.

After reading the Focus, you will be able to practise the language point by doing a series of exercises. 

This Unit forms part of a language course designedto help teachers refreshtheir English language skills.

It was developed as part of the EU Project ‘CLIL4U’, and is intended as preparation for the main CLIL4U course onTeaching through CLIL.

To follow the language course, click on the CLIL4U Pre-Course Homepage button below.

Short url:   https://multidict.net/cs/2293