The Multiplicity of Pre-primary CLIL in Finland

Abstract

Finland has language-friendly national curricula that aim to support the presence of the two national languages, Finnish and Swedish as well as other languages, and to foster bi- and multilingual language development. These curricula have encouraged many early years education units in Finland to take the opportunity to engage with languages in innovative ways, for example, by implementing various types of extensive (large-scale) and less extensive (small-scale) content and language integrated (CLIL) arrangements in different languages. This chapter provides an overview of CLIL in the Finnish- and Swedish-medium pre-primary systems in Finland from its national spread and implementations to its curriculum goals. The chapter also provides three research-based examples of pre-primary CLIL in English, Finnish and Swedish that illustrate pedagogical approaches teachers in Finland implement when they integrate content and language learning in their everyday activities.