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Modern Foreign Languages Teacher CPD

About the MFL Teacher CPD Offer

Online Teacher CPD

University of Leeds academics from the School of Languages will be offering Online Teacher CPD sessions throughout the academic year. The details of new sessions will be updated on this webpage when they become available. See below details of a previous CPD session delivered during November 2023.

Summer MFL Teacher Conference

School language teachers across the country are invited to attend an MFL teacher conference held on the University of Leeds campus during June 2024. As well as a great opportunity to network, throughout the day there will be an array of in-person CPD sessions on offer to our attendees, delivered by the university's academia. This conference is still currently in the planning process. To keep updated on when conference bookings open, as well as to hear more about our outreach offer, sign up to our newsletter here.

MFL Online CPD Sessions

CPD Session 1 by Juan Muñoz López, Lecturer in Spanish Language

Designing CLIL materials for A1, A2 & B1 CEFR levels

Juan Muñoz López, Lecturer in Spanish Language, University of Leeds

One of the main challenges that language tutors face in the application of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is the lack of adequate materials for its effective implementation. This shortage is particularly noticeable when seeking CLIL resources for levels A1, A2 and, to a lesser extent, B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Within the context of this presentation, I will offer insights into my personal experience designing materials for these levels focusing on historical, political and sociocultural content. Furthermore, I will look into their practical application through several sessions embedded within the modules of “Researching Spanish and Latin American Studies” and “Politics and Social Issues in the Contemporary Spanish-speaking World”, core modules at levels 1 and 2, respectively, for the Ab Initio students enrolled in the BA in Hispanic Studies at the University of Leeds.

In undertaking the task of designing materials, I have taken into consideration the pyramidal model proposed by Meyer (2010). This model is grounded in Coyle's (1999) framework of the four "Cs": content, cognition, culture, and communication. This synthesis of principles is integrated with the three fundamental steps that CLIL differentiates in the pedagogical process:

  • the introduction of the input informed by the content of the modules – namely history, politics and cultural production;
  • subsequent cognitive processing, based on a scaffolding that provides the necessary support to work with authentic materials and to carry out training activities;
  • and the final task-based production, designed to encourage genuine communicative interactions in diverse formats.