By Elen Evans

STEM Ginger Education

Nature-based projects through English

I am an English teacher:

The tasks involve varying levels of complexity so chose tasks that you feel you can cope with. STEM Ginger Education will offer links and background information and you can also sign up for a workshop to learn more about implementing the project work.

I am a Science teacher:

There are many strategies you can use in the classroom to limit and control (for want of a better word!) the English your students use. Check out ‘Tips for implementing CLIL’ in my blog ‘CLIL: The good, the bad and the not so ugly’ for some ideas.

Keep the language within comfortable constraints for you personally in the class and, if the students are capable of more, they can hand in more for The Environmental Warrior project. As a teacher, you can also book in for some support sessions with STEM Ginger Education, or follow a course on implementing CLIL.

STEM Ginger Education offers various tasks (Earth, Fire, Air) so that students (and teachers) can work on tasks they know and feel they are capable of. Also, think about putting your students into groups of mixed ability so they can help and support each other.

I am a parent (or educator):

The Environmental Warriors aims to make tasks real and relevant so that environmental awareness is something tangible for younger people. Keep an eye on the STEM Ginger Education blog where classroom and home activities will be available on a regular basis.

I am a director:

From the STEM Ginger Education website, there is a link to a Google Doc where teachers of different subjects, can share CLIL materials they create. Share resources you make or find to make every CLIL teacher’s life a little easier.

Don’t worry about using your L1 when need be – the important things are learning and, as much as possible, enjoying the learning. If a child is stressed because they don’t understand the English, they won’t learn anything, so translate and encourage them to learn and use words to begin with. Check out ‘Tips for implementing CLIL’ in my blog ‘CLIL: The good, the bad and the not so ugly’ for some ideas.

 Definitely! The more teachers can work together with their students, the more effective and enjoyable the learning will be. An art teacher can work on the presentation of the project; a maths teacher could work with interpreting statistics gathered. There are so many options – be creative and inclusive!

I am a primary school teacher:

Yes you can though you may need to adapt activities for your learners. The tasks are inclusive and adaptable so that children of all ages and cognitive abilities can take part.

Was  your question answered? If not, get in touch.