Teaching English through Biology or Biology through English?

As there is constant need for creative teaching and collaboration in our school, the Biology and the English teacher of the Experimental General Lyceum of Heraklion have decided to implement CLIL in their classes wishing to combine English and Biology. But what is CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning)?

According to Marsh ¹ “CLIL refers to situations where subjects, or parts of subjects, are taught through a foreign language with dual-focused aims, namely the learning of content, and the simultaneous learning of a foreign language". 

CLIL contributes to both language teaching and to the learning of content enabling learners to feel more confident. Moreover, it enables students to realize the necessity of language learning in relation to fields of study they are compelled to fully comprehend or wish to pursue in the future. Students are acquainted with real content and authentic materials especially designed to aid understanding of both content and terminology.

In our case, students of the second grade of Experimental General Lyceum of Heraklion were exposed to a video explaining  ‘when exactly we are considered dead’ using Biology terms and offered a unique opportunity to practice listening, speaking and note-taking skills. The worksheet was carefully designed to offer ample practice of the above mentioned skills and motivated the students to participate in the learning process more actively.

by Maria Pitsaki, English Teacher

& Haris Dimitrakopoulos, Biology Teacher

Experimental General Lyceum of Heraklion

¹ 2002, Content and Language Integrated Learning: The European Dimension – Actions, Trends and Foresight Potential

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Emotional intelligence is a relatively new concept which has entered strongly in various fields such as business and education. Goleman defines it as “the ability to recognize our own feelings and those of others, for motivating and managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.”

We often see how people with higher IQs are not necessarily the best succeed in different fields of life. The less genetically determined emotional intelligence than IQ, significantly affects the vital success, as this depends on the management of our emotions.

Thus, children with higher emotional intelligence have the following characteristics:

They learn more and better.

They have fewer behaviour problems.

They feel better about themselves.

They better resist peer pressure.

They are less violent and more empathetic.

They do well in conflict resolution.

They are happier, healthier, and more successful.

Therefore, in teaching practice, promoting emotional intelligence should be conducted in a coordinated promotion of the other capabilities.

This requires that teachers also develop their own emotional intelligence, as it is inevitably reflected in their teaching. This is especially important because children are "emotional sponges".

An interesting exercise that the teacher could use with their students would be to ask for an assessment of how they feel about the own teacher, in the following categories: accepted, controlled, fearful, criticised, judged, admired, respected, supported, understood and, finally, valued.

The answers can serve to increase the teacher’s efforts to help his students feel confident, necessary, important, respected, listened to, safe, supported, understood, appreciated and valued. Before trying to be understood, the teacher must seek to understand, showing sympathetic and empathetic.

 

Both teachers and students must:

Learn to label feelings, instead of people or situations .

Analyze own feelings, rather than the actions or motives of others.

Ask others how they feel.

Reflect on their own feelings.

Identify desires and fears.

Identify unmet emotional needs.

Be responsible for own emotions and happiness, avoiding the belief that other people are responsible for their own sensations.

Do not expect others make you happy.

Express their emotions.

Be consistent with their own feelings.

Generally negative feelings are an expression of unmet emotional needs, but every negative feeling has a positive value. Becoming aware of them is the key to self-knowledge and this in turn is essential for the improvement processes.

Jesús Mariano Llamas Sevilla

Jefe de Departamento de Filosofía

IES Francisco Salzillo