• Even with English as the main language, other languages are unlikely to disappear. Some countries have strong views regarding the use of other languages within their borders.
• With increased contact between countries, there will be an increase in the need for communicative skills in a second or third language.
• Languages will play a key role in curricula across Europe. Attention needs to be given to the training of teachers and the development of frameworks and methods which will improve the quality of language education
• The European Commission has been looking into the state of bilingualism and language education since the 1990s, and has a clear vision of a multilingual Europe in which people can function in two or three languages.           How does CLIL work?
  The basis of CLIL is that content subjects are taught and learnt in a language which is not the mother tongue of the learners.
  
  
• Knowledge of the language becomes the means of learning content
• Language is integrated into the broad curriculum
• Learning is improved through increased motivation and the study of natural language seen in context. When learners are interested in a topic they are motivated to acquire language to communicate
• CLIL is based on language acquisition rather than enforced learning
• Language is seen in real-life situations in which students can acquire the language. This is natural language development which builds on other forms of learning
• CLIL is long-term learning. Students become academically proficient in English after 5-7 years in a good bilingual programme
• Fluency is more important than accuracy and errors are a natural part of language learning. Learners develop fluency in English by using English to communicate for a variety of purposes
• Reading is the essential skill.
• 
  The advantages of CLIL
  
  CLIL helps to:
  
  
  • Introduce the wider cultural context
  • Prepare for internationalisation
  • Access International Certification and enhance the school profile
  • Improve overall and specific language competence
  • Prepare for future studies and / or working life
  • Develop multilingual interests and attitudes
  • Diversify methods & forms of classroom teaching and learning
  • Increase learner motivation

• Language is used to learn as well as to communicate
• It is the subject matter which determines the language needed to learn.

•  Content - Progression in knowledge, skills and understanding related to specific elements of a defined curriculum
• Communication - Using language to learn whilst learning to use language
• Cognition - Developing thinking skills which link concept formation (abstract and concrete), understanding and language
• Culture - Exposure to alternative perspectives and shared understandings, which deepen awareness of otherness and self.

•  Listening is a normal input activity, vital for language learning
• Reading, using meaningful material, is the major source of input
• Speaking focuses on fluency. Accuracy is seen as subordinate
• Writing is a series of lexical activities through which grammar is recycled.

• Listen and label a diagram/picture/map/graph/chart
• Listen and fill in a table
• Listen and make notes on specific information (dates, figures, times)
• Listen and reorder information
• Listen and identify location/speakers/places
• Listen and label the stages of a process/instructions/sequences of a text
• Listen and fill in the gaps in a text

• Question loops - questions and answers, terms and definitions, halves of sentences
• Information gap activities with a question sheet to support
• Trivia search - 'things you know' and 'things you want to know'
• Word guessing games
• Class surveys using questionnaires
• 20 Questions - provide language support frame for questions
• Students present information from a visual using a language support handout.

• Wikis: Websites that enable users to contribute, collaborate and edit site content. Wikipedia is one of the oldest and best-known wiki-based sites.
• The increasing prevalence of Software as a Service (SaaS), web apps and cloud computing rather than locally-installed programs and services.
• Mobile computing, also known as nomadicity, the trend toward users connecting from wherever they may be. That trend is enabled by the proliferation of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices in conjunction with readily accessible Wi-Fi networks.
• Mash-ups: Web pages or applications that integrate complementary elements from two or more sources.
• Social networking: The practice of expanding the number of one's business and/or social contacts by making connections through individuals. Social networking sites include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
• Collaborative efforts based on the ability to reach large numbers of participants and their collective resources, such as crowdsourcing, crowdfunding and crowdsource testing.
• User-generated content (UGC): Writing, images, audio and video content -- among other possibilities -- made freely available online by the individuals who create it. 
• Unified communications (UC): The integration of multiple forms of call and multimedia/cross-media message-management functions controlled by an individual user for both business and social purposes.
• Social curation: The collaborative sharing of content organized around one or more particular themes or topics. Social content curation sites include Reddit, Digg, Pinterest and Instagram.

•  Reading material
   Reading for pleasure requires a large selection of books be available for students to choose from at their level. Here, teachers can make good use of graded readers (books which have been written specifically for EFL/ESL students or which have been adapted from authentic texts). 
• Setting up a class library is a good way to provide material for students, and because the books are kept in the actual classroom, there is a greater chance that they will be borrowed, and teachers also have more opportunities to refer to them during class.
• Student choice
   Students choose what they want to read based on their interests. If a student finds a book is too difficult or they don't enjoy it, they can change it for another one.
• Reading for pleasure and information
   Often students are put off reading when it is tied to class assignments. In an extensive reading programme, the students are reading principally for the content of the texts. Teachers can ask students about the books they are reading informally, and encourage occasional mini-presentations of the books or book reviews, but these should not seem like obligations to the students.
• Extensive reading out of class
   Teachers can do a lot to help students pursue extensive reading outside of the classroom. Having a classroom library and regularly encouraging students to borrow books to take home are some things which can help. If books are shelved in the classroom, students can also be given class time to browse and select books.
• Silent reading in class
   Extensive reading should not be incompatible with classroom practice and methodology. There are teachers who set aside a regular fifteen-minute period of silent reading in class. This silent reading has been said to help structural awareness develop, build vocabulary, and to promote confidence in the language.
• Language level
   The vocabulary and grammar of the books that students read should not pose a difficulty. The objective of an extensive reading programme is to encourage reading fluency, so students should not be stopping frequently because they do not understand a passage. However, the books should not be too easy as this may well demotivate students, who feel they are getting nothing out of the books.
• Use of dictionaries
   Reading becomes a chore if students think they have to stop and look up every word they do not understand in a dictionary. For this reason, dictionaries should be avoided. Instead of interrupting their flow, students should be encouraged to jot down the words they come across in a vocabulary notebook, and they can look them up after they have finished reading.
• Record keeping
   If the teacher takes an interest in and keeps record of what students are reading, then this can in itself encourage students. If a note is also made of which books the students like, then the teacher can also recommend other books to the students. The teacher should also be careful to explain the reasons behind the programme, and to highlight the benefits of extensive reading to them so that they know why they are doing it.
• The teacher as role model
   If the teacher is also seen to be a reader by the students, then they will be encouraged to read. The teacher can talk in class about books that she or he has been reading, and if they are knowledgeable about the books in the class library, having read them, then they can make genuine recommendations to students about what to read. The teacher can also read aloud to students, as a way of introducing students to different genres or individual books.

• the acquisition-learning hypothesis: There are two language systems, one based on acquisition and the other on learning. In the former, language is acquired unconsciously as a result of using the language in real communication; in the latter, conscious attention is paid to learning about the language, the forms and rules.
• the monitor hypothesis: Language which is used in actual communication of a message occurs in the acquired language system, while the learned system acts as a monitor (editor) checking correctness, appropriateness, etc.
• the natural order hypothesis: The order in which language structures are acquired can be predicted, and the features that easiest to state are not necessarily the first acquired.
• the input hypothesis: Acquisition depends upon exposure to comprehensible oral and written language at an appropriate level of difficulty (i+1 = a step above the level already acquired in words, forms, etc.).
• the affective filter hypothesis: Those who do not acquire a language, in spite of being exposed to comprehensible input, are prevented from doing so by some form of ‘affective' barrier (feelings, motivation, needs, attitudes, etc.) which ‘filters out' the input.

5 Tech Tools that Help Improve Reading Comprehension

• Time for Kids
• Weekly Reader
• National Geographic Kids
• National Geographic Kids' blogs

• Screencast-O-Matic (free, web-based) 
• Jing (free, available for Mac or PC) 
• Educreations (free, web-based) 

A Quick Guide to the Flipped Classroom

• Plan template-table