Abstract:

The main objective of the portal Math4U (math4u.vsb.cz) is to enable the practice of the whole secondary school mathematics. Our team has been preparing the portal since 2016 as the output of the projects supported by the Erasmus+ program. The portal contains the following main sections - STUDENT, TEACHER and CLASS. The Math for Student and Math for Student Easy applications, which belong to the STUDENT section, are software for practicing all topics of secondary school mathematics. Math for Student works with a database of over 5,800 multiple-choice questions, while Math for Student Easy contains over 1,800 problems that can be solved without paper and pencil. Math for Teacher (the TEACHER section) is aimed primarily at teachers. A teacher can prepare an interactive test or a written exam by choosing any questions from the database of over 5,800 multiple-choice questions. In addition, students and teachers find 150 interesting quizzes and educational games called “matching games” and “table-selection games” in the section CLASS. Until 2021, the portal was available in four languages - English, Czech, Polish and Slovak, with the addition of Spanish in 2021. Currently, the whole portal, all multiple-choice questions, apps and games are available in English, Spanish, Czech, Polish and Slovak. Multilingualism is one of the essential features of the Math4U portal. The authors of this paper are very proud that the portal has won the European Language Label Award 2020 in Czechia.

In this paper, the authors aim to present the Spanish version of the Math4U portal and its use in the learning and teaching process, especially for the CLIL teaching method. CLIL is a dual-focused approach in which an additional language is used to learn and teach both content and language. The Spanish version of the portal has been prepared by teachers of Grammar School Hladnov, Ostrava, in cooperation with Spanish partners from CEFIRE CTEM, Valencia and IES Gabriel Ciscar, Oliva. The team consists of both Czech secondary school teachers with excellent knowledge of Spanish who have spent part of their studies in Spain and native Spanish speakers. These collaborators are not only the creators of the Spanish version of the Math4U portal, but also they use it to teach mathematics.

Teachers from Grammar School Hladnov, Ostrava, teach mathematics in several programmes - one of them is a six-year programme in the Spanish language. This paper focuses on experiences with using the portal for teaching mathematics in a six-year Spanish language program. In this Czech-Spanish bilingual education, mathematics is taught partly in Spanish and partly in Czech and entirely in Spanish in the last two years. Note that even if students learn mathematics in Spanish, it is necessary to ensure that they understand all the definitions and concepts in their native language. This brings additional requirements for teaching.

In this paper, we want to show the main ways of using the Math4U portal for teaching mathematics in Spanish. For example, in the TEACHER section, a teacher can prepare homework or a test in Spanish and immediately receive the same test in English. Furthermore, in the CLASS section, a teacher or a student can download each game in Spanish and another language (English, Czech, etc.). Therefore, the portal is used to practice not only mathematics but also Spanish or English languages. This is a great help for teachers who include the CLIL in their Math classes.

Keywords:

Mathematics, multilingualism, CLIL, interactive tests, educational games.