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Introduction

The need to ensure the competitiveness of the country's economy, which is directly related to the high-quality human capital and the expansion of international cooperation in all spheres of social, political, economic, scientific and educational activities, requires highly qualified specialists who speak a foreign language in their professional field. Therefore, much emphasis is laid on the training of future teachers who are able to teach science subjects in English.

Studying the English language will provide students with access to world information databases and will allow them to exchange information received in their professional environment. Therefore, pedagogical universities need to find new effective methods and approaches to training future specialists who are ready to teach in English.

One of such approaches, allowing to solve assigned tasks, is content-language integrated learning (CLIL). CLIL is a learning strategy that combines language acquisition concepts, subject content, thinking skills and intercultural knowledge in the studied material. The CLIL teaching methodology is based on the principle that subjects are taught in a language that is not the native to students. The target language is a means to grasp the studied content, and not the language itself.

For pre-service chemistry teachers, the study of content in three subject areas is relevant in shaping their readiness to teach in English: chemistry, its teaching methods, and English.

The aim of the course "Learning and Teaching Chemistry in English" is to study the theory and practice of teaching chemistry in English in high school (grades 10-11 (12)), using the approaches of content-language integrated learning and developing their readiness to teach Chemistry in English.

The main objectives of the course are:#

  • to study theoretical concepts and principles of content-language integrated learning.
  • to study subject-specific chemical terminology in English, and language structures used in teaching chemistry in high school.
  • to develop speaking skills in academic subject English and the language necessary for classroom management.
  • to develop of critical thinking skills.
  • to develop skills of planning lessons and teaching based on content-language integrated learning.
  • to develop students' reflective skills in the process of self and peer assessment of teaching.

The expected outcomes of mastering the course by students will be:#

  • knowledge of the content and structure of the high school chemistry course (grades 10-11) and the content of the NIS program (grades 11-12) in English.
  • knowledge of the language of classroom management, teaching methods, approaches to assessing students’ performance.
  • the ability to plan learning outcomes, select content and resources, adapt authentic materials, teaching techniques, develop assignments and assessment strategies.
  • the ability to implement the planned activities in the teaching process, to support students in developing their academic and general English, cognitive and higher-order thinking skills, cultural consciousness and interculturalism, assessment, as well as to provide a safe and supportive learning environment.

The course includes 16 topics in general, organic and inorganic chemistry. Each topic has the same outline, presented on pages 8-12.