I teach Maths and Science in the Middle School, in Italy. I have had two  experiences about it.  I think it is a good opportunity for innovate the methodology of teaching and for improving the collaboration and cooperation among the students and the teachers. CLIL needs a good plan before offering a content in  foreign language. Teachers should know English well and the content too, and they should fix the essential elements of a content and give them in a clear way, using different activities, for the different way of students’ learning. I think that it will be useful to start CLIL with cooperation of an English teacher. This means lots of work for teachers, so this is the weakness, and on the other side, significant experiences for the students. Another weakness is that probably the students with low level of competencies  will fall behind the rest  of the group, much more than teaching in native  tongue. 

I like the different activities  I need to plan, so my creativity is in action !

English as a lingua franca has been defined in different ways. One of the recently accepted definition define English as lingua franca as  a contact language between speakers from different  languages, including native English speakers. 

In many contexts, the mix of multicultural students from different linguistic backgrounds requires using English as a lingua franca in a study programme. The teachers and the students works across disciplines and languages in order to integrate them. English became a medium of communication that is used for reaching common goals. So, the ELF speakers use a repertoire of strategies to regulate and modify language use.  ELF is common in higher education, but there are some examples in elementary schools too. 

An ELF contexts creates a translaguaging space that brings together different dimensions of multilingual speakers.  It refers to discursive practices where multiple languages are used by plurilingual individuals as an integrated linguistic repertoire (García and Li Wei 2014).

When introduced in a Welsh bilingual classroom, translanguaging meant that the input and output languages were often switched. In this type of setting, students are typically asked to read a text one language and discuss it either orally or in written form in their second language. In the case of the Welsh classroom, the languages used were Welsh and English.

Translanguaging,  has evoked debate surrounding the needed protection of the minoritized language (Wales).

Pedagogical translanguaging refers to specific teaching strategies and spontaneous translanguaging refers to discursive practices used by bilingual and multilingual speakers. Translanguaging can offer more learning opportunities and negotiate social identities.

Angel M. Y. Lin  points out translanguaging as Dynamic Activity Flows in CLIL Classrooms. He shows the results  of a work in a CLIL classroom in Hong Kong. The analysis shows that despite dominant school and government policies that impose a monolingual medium of instruction, translanguaging naturally flows from the dynamic interactions and activities in the classroom as both teacher and students are intensely engaged in meaning making about the lesson topics. 

Translanguaging promotes a deeper understanding of subject matter.