What is NatCLIL?

The effective use of nature as a tool for CLIL

The ‘Fantastic Forest Explorers’ project is where NatCLIL was born and then further researched and developed for my Master's Dissertation of the MEd Teacher Development for CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) that i completed at the UAB, Barcelona in June 2020.

This approach to learning content and language in woodland environments can be differentiated from other approaches to outdoor learning and is offered as an innovative contribution to plurilingual education, promoting Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship and authentic 21st century skills for life-long learning. For the purpose of differentiating the teaching and learning of woodland activities in a CLIL setting from other OL (Outdoor Learning) contexts where such activities may be provided in the English language, I have extended the acronym CLIL to NatCLIL and defined the term NatCLIL as “the effective use of nature as a tool for CLIL.”

For the effective implementation of woodland activities in L2 (second language) settings, in addition to woodland activity leadership training and some SDGs knowledge, it is also necessary to have EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching skills, understand the key principles of CLIL and know how to:

• balance the cognitive and linguistic demands of a session

• analyse the different types of language that students will need support with and provide the appropriate language support

• use Classroom Interactional Competence (CIC) and scaffolding strategies to help learners acquire and produce both language and content, and

• design quality teaching and learning materials (TLMs) for CLIL

Woodland Activity Leadership Training, CLIL expertise, and SDG knowledge form the base of the NatCLIL structure. They are the three necessary pillars to support the effective use of nature as a tool for CLIL and I have developed a NatCLIL framework to facilitate effective collaboration between CLIL teachers and woodland activity leaders, to enhance woodland-based learning experiences for EFL learners. In addition to the NatCLIL framework i have also designed a template to aid any woodland activity providers in planning an effective NatCLIL session.

NatCLIL sessions/programs can be cross-curricular or with a single-subject focus, tailor-made for each group's needs. Combining my CLIL expertise and woodland leadership skills, as your local #TeachSDGs Ambassador who is a keen supporter of #SDG15 Life on Land, I am pleased to offer a unique educational experience for young EFL learners as well as NatCLIL teacher training workshops.

When shall we go to the forest?

Let's arrange an excursion!