Abstract:

The Content and Language Integrated Learning, or CLIL, is an essential educational tool in an interdisciplinary and competence-oriented education model. The integrative acquirement of language skills and knowledge of other fields of science intensifies the learning process, because the formation of language skills is the basis for reproducing the acquired knowledge in various communicative acts: monological and dialogical speech, written form, etc. The CLIL learning model implies the application of language knowledge in the acquirement, understanding and practical use of information. In the context of multilingual education models, the CLIL approach, along with the language knowledge, also actualizes the socio-cultural competence - the connection between the acquirement of the culture-specific content of language-intensive humanities and the formation and strengthening of language skills.

The Cultural Canon is an important register of the specific content of a certain culture, if it is institutionalized in the country. The register of its values can be successfully integrated into the content of many subjects in humanities and social sciences (the state language of the certain country, literature, history, social studies, culture studies, music, art).

By integrating the acquirement of the values of the Cultural Canon in the content of other subjects, the learner simultaneously forms and strengthens various skills:
- systematic knowledge in the subject through learning the topics in which the content of the Cultural Canon is integrated as necessary;
- knowledge of the values of the Cultural Canon, which is a tool for integration and building a sense of belonging;
- strengthening of socio-cultural competence.

I will turn to the case of the Latvian Cultural Canon demonstrating how learning the values of the Latvian Cultural Canon through the CLIL approach is integrated into lifelong learning – the integration Latvian language courses for third-country nationals.

Keywords:

Latvian Cultural Canon, CLIL, competence-oriented education, integration.