Editorial

For quite a few years now European educational policy has been endeavouring to bring new life into both general education as well as the vocational field. Its declared goal is to transform Europe into the world’s best knowledge-based and competitive economic zone. In all of the new Council of Europe and EU support programs for the field of education in 2007 the introduction and further development of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) projects is being promoted, with a particular focus on course components that prepare students for either academic study or their professional life later. CLIL centres on the imparting of specialist content in subjects like history, geography, natural science, sport, music and modern languages. Furthermore the students acquire a whole range of other important skills such as learning competence and using their own initiative. The didactic methods used are much better able to meet the requirements of today’s teaching standards than traditional ways of teaching modern languages. The learner is more motivated, the instruction is more process-oriented and geared to intercultural needs.

The Goethe Institut promotes the teaching of specialist subjects in the German language – not only in Germany, but all over the world – by:

• not only informing specialised audiences, but also the general public, about the potential of CLIL
• supporting the educational authorities in host countries that are planning to introduce and develop content and language integrated learning programs in German
• supporting both the initial and further training of teachers, the development of curriculum and teaching materials as well as the networking of relevant activities

Why don’t you get involved in the promotion and practice of CLIL - content and language integrated learning. We would be grateful for any information on links, recommended reading or tips on interesting CLIL projects.