Storytelling and CLIL for primary school children
Little Cloud by Eric Carle is a great story to introduce CLIL at primary school and work on sequencing skills. This lesson plan is designed for primary school children (ages 6-10) at A1 CEFR level.
Start off with a CLIL experiment. You will need:
cotton wool
a bowl of water
Explain children you are going to show them how clouds ⛅️ are formed. Explain that the cotton wool is the cloud. Ask them to handle it and observe how soft and light it is. Then proceed to dip the wool into water 💦 so that it absorbs a little of it. Now ask children to observe any changes in its shape or weight. A good answer could be that it is heavier and bigger because it is full of water. Squeeze the wool gently and ask children to observe what happens: little drops 💧 of water fall from the cloud. It is like rain. ☔️ Explain that, when the sun ☀️ comes out, the rain will evaporate back to the sky, to form new clouds.
Move on to storytelling. Explain that the protagonist of the story is a little cloud. Just like the cotton wool from the experiment, clouds change their shape.
Explore what shapes clouds can take. You can insert an inspiring outdoor activity here: take your students outside 🪴 and make them observe the clouds in the sky. What can they see? What shapes do they form?
Tell the story. Remember: telling is always better than reading as it establishes a deeper connection with your students. Elicit names of the objects that appear in the story.
Check understanding by asking students simple questions on the story, then proceed to table time.
Ask students to order the different shapes little cloud takes in the story. You can do this in different ways, according to the age of children:
by providing a worksheet - cut and stick activity
by asking children to draw the objects in the right sequence
by asking children to write the names of the objects in the right sequence
Finally, ask students to evaluate the story. Good examples of questions could be: what is your favourite shape? what is your favourite part of the story? what do you think happens after it rains?
Try it out and let us know how it goes!
