The Role and Tasks of a CLIL coach

As a follow up to my last blog about the CLIL coach, where I posed some questions about the role and tasks of the CLIL coach, here are some more concrete ideas about the role and tasks of  a CLIL coach at your school. Thanks for the input from my CLIL coach group this autumn, who helped to develop these ideas

ROLE

The role of a CLIL (content and language integrated learning) coach is to support the awareness and development of their CLIL colleagues in CLIL methodology and (if appropriate) in language development.

TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The tasks and responsibilities of the CLIL coach can be defined as follows. The CLIL coach…

1.       … coaches colleagues on CLIL methodology by, for example, observing lessons (live or on video), discussing CLIL lessons and giving feedback.

2.       … helps CLIL teachers to implement CLIL in their lessons.

3.       … organizes workshops that focus on CLIL methodology – internally or from external organizations.

4.       … assists colleagues in developing a CLIL career plan by, for example, suggesting courses (in the Netherlands and/or the UK or other countries) or passing on recent developments in CLIL.

5.       … liaises with their TTO coordinator about the development of the CLIL department, inspections from the European Platform and other CLIL issues.

If s/he is a language expert or language coach, the CLIL coach …

6.       … helps colleagues with their language development.

7.       … assists colleagues in finding resources and adapting existing resources for their CLIL lessons.

8.       … gives language-related feedback on tasks, tests, projects, etc. that CLIL teachers have created.

HOURS AND TIMETABLING

In order to carry out these tasks effectively, the CLIL coach needs about 100 clock hours per 15 teachers per year. If the CLIL coach also has a language coach role in their school, s/he needs an extra 50 hours per 15 teachers per year.

The timetable needs to allow the CLIL coach space to be able to observe and give feedback to CLIL colleagues.

What are your ideas about the role and tasks of a CLIL coach? I would love to hear from you...