CLIL at a Czech primary arts school

Zdenek Vasicek, Czech Republic, ID CLIL2016: 710;        My CLIL research took place at the Primary arts school in Tisnov (Czech Republic) 2012-2016 with pupils of my piano and organ class. The research sample involved 28 Czech male and female pupils at the age of 7-18 attending a primary or grammar school. As a foreign language for CLIL, the majority (21 pupils = 75%) chose English, the minority (7 pupils = 25%) German, Russian, Italian, French or Spanish. The foreign-language pupil´s communication reached levels A1 to (only in English, quite extraordinarily) C1 of the CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The research question sounded: “Is the integration of the subject of piano playing with communication in a foreign language (English, German, Russian, Italian, French or Spanish) suitable for the pupils?” I used two research methods: observation and eight-item questionnaire. The answer to the research question reached “AGREE” (4 points of the five-point Likert scale). The CLIL concept has been functioning. However, there are many challenges for the future.

Key words: CLIL, multilingualism, primary arts school, piano playing, motivation, evaluation.