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Using AI to Support CLIL: A Teacher’s Guide

  • Writer: Tridib Misra
    Tridib Misra
  • Oct 10
  • 3 min read

As teachers in international schools, we know that many of our students are learning content and language at the same time. This is where CLIL — Content and Language Integrated Learning — comes in. CLIL means teaching subject knowledge while also supporting the language students need to access and express that knowledge.

 

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At the school where I currently teach, Access International Academy Ningbo (AIAN), this approach is essential. Many of our students are English language learners, and language can sometimes become a barrier to content learning. CLIL helps remove that barrier. And now, with the rise of AI tools, creating CLIL-friendly resources has become quite easy.

 

Here’s a practical guide to how AI can support CLIL in your classroom.

 

1. Vocabulary and Language Support

 

AI can quickly identify key terms from a text and generate student-friendly definitions, examples, and even sentence frames.

  • Example: Input a passage about climate change and ask AI to create a glossary of terms (carbon dioxide, renewable energy, ecosystem) with definitions for B1 English learners.

  • Extension: Generate sentence starters like “The data shows that…” or “This process happens when…” to scaffold speaking and writing.

 

2. Text Adaptation and Scaffolding

 

Authentic materials (articles, historical documents, reviews, speeches) are powerful but often too complex. AI can simplify them for different levels without losing meaning.

  • Example: Simplify the Gettysburg Address into a B2 version while keeping the original tone.

  • Extension: Ask AI to create a tiered set — one simplified version for ELLs, one close to the original, and one advanced for higher-level students.

 

3. Cloze (Fill-in-the-Blank) Activities

 

Cloze exercises help students focus on key academic language and content.

  • Example: Paste a science passage about photosynthesis into AI and ask it to create a cloze activity by removing target terms (chlorophyll, carbon dioxide, oxygen).

  • Extension: Adjust the difficulty by removing more or fewer words.

 

4. Matching and Sorting Activities

 

Matching tasks are simple but effective for reinforcing content + vocabulary.

  • Example: Ask AI to generate a list of economic terms (scarcity, opportunity cost, trade-off) and their definitions, then shuffle them for a matching activity.

  • Extension: Include images or real-world examples to match with the terms.

 

5. Question Design

 

Good questions drive learning, and AI can save you time by generating them at different levels.

  • Example: Use a geography article and ask AI to create comprehension questions (Who/What/Where), discussion prompts (How might this affect local communities?), and reflection questions (What connections can you see to your own country?).

 

6. Writing and Speaking Scaffolds

 

AI can provide frames and models to help students express subject knowledge.

  • Example: In math, ask AI to generate sentence starters like “The slope of the line shows…” or “We divide by ___ because…”.

  • Extension: Generate model answers so students can compare their work.

 

7. Differentiation Made Simple

 

One of the biggest strengths of AI is how fast it can create different versions of the same task.

  • Example: Give AI a science article and ask for three levels of comprehension questions (basic recall, explanation, higher-order analysis).

  • Extension: Use these as differentiated tasks in mixed-ability groups.

 

Why This Matters

 

By combining authentic materials with AI support, we can maintain the richness of real-world content while making it accessible to all learners. AI helps us save prep time, adapt resources, and focus on the heart of teaching: guiding students to connect, question, and grow.


CLIL is not about “watering down” subject content — it’s about giving students the language tools to access it. With AI, we can do this more efficiently and effectively than ever before.

 

✅ Homework for Teachers!

 

Step 1 – Choose your authentic material


Pick a real-world text that connects to your subject. Examples:

  • Science: a short news article about a discovery.

  • Math: a graph from a real data set (sports scores, population trends).

  • History: a primary source or historical quote.

  • PE: an excerpt from a rulebook or sports news.

  • Art/Music: a museum review or concert program note.

 

Step 2 – Identify the key language

 

  • Highlight 8–10 important words or phrases students will need to understand the text.

  • Ask AI to generate student-friendly definitions and example sentences.

 

Step 3 – Create a language activity


Use AI to transform the text into a CLIL activity:

  • Option A: Cloze (fill in the blanks for key terms).

  • Option B: Matching (terms with definitions, or words with images).

 

Step 4 – Add scaffolds for discussion or writing

 

  • Ask AI to create 3–4 sentence starters or frames using the key vocabulary.

  • Example: “The text shows that…”, “One effect of this is…”.

 

Step 5 – Reflect


Reflect on the following thoughts:

  • What authentic text you chose and why

  • What AI produced for you and whether its “good”

  • How you might use this in your classroom

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