How can education support children to develop multiple languages? In June 2026, the Goethe-Institut France and the British Council organised an online colloquium to explore how language-responsive teaching and CLIL approaches can strengthen learning across the curriculum. With all sessions delivered in German, English and French, this practical and inspiring event brought together research, classroom experience and ready-to-use ideas for supporting plurilingualism in action. The recordings and presentation slides from all sessions are available below.
6th Online Colloquium on Early Plurilingualism: CLIL and language-responsive education
British Council
Speaker: Bénédicte Abraham, Inspector General, French Ministry of National Education
The introduction of enhanced language learning provision, including in particular CLIL approaches (known in France as EMILE: Enseignement d’une Matière par l’Intégration d’une Langue Étrangère, i.e. Content and Language Integrated Learning), is becoming increasingly significant within the French education system. These approaches promote a broad conception of language education and provide a motivating entry point into the target language through a range of school subjects. This session examines the prerequisites and pedagogical added value of EMILE pathways with regard to learning processes and the overall school climate. It further highlights the role of these approaches within the new curricula for modern foreign and regional languages in primary education, as established by ministerial decree of 26 February 2026 in France.
The recording of the session can be found here. Note that this session is in French. To listen in another language, activate translated subtitles or automated dubbing.
The presentation slides can be found here.
Useful links:
https://eduscol.education.gouv.fr/4758/ressources-d-accompagnement-pour-les-langues-vivantes-etrangeres-et-regionales-aux-cycles-2-3-et-4
https://eduscol.education.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/document/guide-pour-l-eveil-la-diversite-linguistique-en-maternelle-100770.pdf?attachment
Speaker: George Wilson, Head of English and School Education British Council France
Language is central to all learning and teachers need to be equipped to recognise and respond to the diverse language needs of their pupils. This is true in every classroom, and even more so when learners are studying through a foreign or additional language, such as in CLIL contexts. This session presents the British Council’s new position paper on language-responsive education and discuss its implications for teachers, teacher educators and policy makers.
The recording of the session can be found here. Note that this session is in English. To listen in another language, activate translated subtitles or automated dubbing.
The presentation slides are available here.
You can download the British Council's publication on Language-responsive education here.
Speaker: Professor Josef Leisen Expert in language-responsive education, former director of the teacher training seminar for grammar schools in Koblenz and Professor of Physics Didactics at the University of Mainz
Subject teaching in the context of foreign language education and CLIL presents learners with the challenge of simultaneously mastering subject content and linguistic demands. In subject classrooms, they must overcome not only the linguistic barriers of the foreign language, but also those of academic language. The key question in language-responsive subject teaching is: What can be done to ensure that learners successfully perform essential language functions (such as reporting, describing, explaining, or documenting) without failing due to linguistic barriers? There are three main ways of addressing these challenges: language simplification, language support (scaffolding), and language development (e.g. vocabulary expansion, fostering a constructive attitude towards errors, and developing reading and writing strategies). The CLIL concept (Content and Language Integrated Learning), or CLILiG in German, acts as a bridge between foreign language teaching and subject learning in a foreign language through content-based language learning. It systematically supports the integration of language and content learning and helps learners better manage the linguistic demands of subject teaching.
The recording of this session can be found here. Note that this session is in German. To listen in another language, activate translated subtitles or automated dubbing.
The presentation slides can be found here.
Useful links: https://www.josefleisen.de/
Speaker: Solène Burtz, Programme Manager for English and School Education at the British Council France
Teaching subjects through foreign or additional languages (CLIL) can raise a number of challenges at the level of the classroom, the school and the local education authority. In November 2025, the British Council and France Education international brought together 120 teachers, teacher educators, school leaders, researchers and policy makers from 14 countries to share ideas and formulate concrete advice on a range of topics from introducing a CLIL programme to leveraging student’s multilingualism. This session presents the outcomes from this workshop brought together in its new publication CLIL in practice.
The recording of this session is available here. Note that this session is in English. To listen in another language, activate translated subtitles or automated dubbing.
The presentation slides can be found here.
Useful links:
https://www.britishcouncil.fr/en/programmes/english-programmes/education...
https://www.britishcouncil.fr/en/programmes/english-programmes/education...
https://www.britishcouncil.fr/en/programmes/english-programmes/education...
Speaker: Britta Nolte, Language and Education Expert, Goethe-Institut Paris
This presentation highlights how the EMILE approach can function as a strategic lever to increase the attractiveness of German and to anchor it more firmly within subject teaching in the French education system. It introduces the work the Goethe-Institut has undertaken to support German DNL/EMILE in France.
The recording of this presentation can be found here. Note that this session is in German. To listen in another language, activate translated subtitles or automated dubbing.
The presentation slides are available here.
Useful links:
- The Goethe-Institute's online training for CLIL in primary available here and in secondary available here.
- The Goethe-Institut's practical guide for teaching CLIL, available here.
Speaker: Yannick Vonau, Pedagogical Adviser for Modern Foreign Languages, Haguenau Sud and Truchtersheim-Kochersberg
This contribution focuses on the recently published methodological guide for DNL/EMILE teaching, which was released at the end of 2025 as the centrepiece of a major initiative by the Goethe-Institut France. In a context of declining learner numbers and increasingly diverse linguistic backgrounds, the guide offers far more than theoretical input: it provides practical orientation and concrete tools for teaching subject content in German in an effective and confident way. It is complemented by a broader package of professional development opportunities and modern teaching resources.
The recording of the session can be found here. Note that this session is in French. To listen in another language, activate translated subtitles or automated dubbing.
Presentation slides are available here.
Useful links: clil_emile_handreichung_fr_final_neu-v1.pdf