CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING

We are always looking for new ways, methods, activities and starting-points to introduce new content to our students. It is a fact that young learners have to be kept interested, challenged. They want to explore, find out for themselves.
Every opportunity should be taken to teach as many skills as possible. One example is using a PowerPoint presentation or Video. This is an example of a Windows Moviemaker Presentation that was used in fifth of primary in science lab. They were studying invertebrate and reviewing vertebrate animals. The video is about strange animals (something that interests them). The idea is that they watch the video. After watching it the first time they see it again but this time they have to write down two names of animals that interest or intrigue them. When they made their choice they are given a link on internet where they can find information about these animals and they have to write down what they think is relevant.
http://youtu.be/zaeZ_VS8qXQ

The web page they have to use is: http://www.strangeanimals.info/p/z-animal-list.html

Results show that students want to find out information about all animals. They read process information and learn to summarize.
After this brief writing exercise students have the opportunity to talk about their favorite strange animal.
Skills they are developing: listening (to instructions), reading (names in video and information), speaking and conversation (when explaining and discussing their favorite animal), writing (when writing down the information. The content is meaningful and we integrate both science and English.