PROFILING EUROPEAN CLIL CLASSROOMS

A further breakthrough is the development of trilingual programmes where contentmatter
may be taught through two different languages while a third is added either as
a subject or for content-matter. From the well-known case of Luxembourg, which has
been providing trilingual education for the entire population since 1912, through lesserknown
experience in Andorra or Romansch Switzerland, new initiatives have been taken
in Catalonia, the Basque Country, Finland, Friesland, and Hungary, often to incorporate
English into programmes based on combinations of regional and national languages.
These trilingual cases are serving as models for addressing minority and immigrant
languages in standard education programmes.
Experience with teaching content matter through more than one language is bringing
new insights into improving general education. Swiss research has shown how teaching
maths through a second language is helping children understand maths better in their
first, as teachers have become more aware of the conceptual problems involved.
Group work, so vital for successful content-matter learning through a weaker language,
is showing benefits not only for language progress, but also for learning strategies in
general, for confidence building and for taking initiatives. In other words, learning
content matter through a second language is improving language skills far beyond
what could be achieved in traditional language lessons but is also proving to have
general educational benefits.
Finally, the rapid extension of bi- and trilingual provision based on varied models is
proving successful with ever more types of school population. Content-matter lessons
through two or more languages are being provided not just for elite children in academic
streams but for those in technical or vocational training, and gradually reaching children
with learning problems or those who need special help. In other words, the future is likely
to see this type of multilingual education as normal rather than exceptional, as expected
rather than requested, as catering for the complete range of children attending different
types of education. And as with all education, the problems its extension raises will have
to be addressed in exactly the same way as they are today in monolingual schools.
Hugo Baetens Beardsmore
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