an unusual lesson
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
An Unusual Lesson
Maria Teresa Ciaffaroni
TESOL - Italy’s XXXII National Convention Nov 30 – Dec 1, 2007
PRIMARY ISSUES
Needs
Combine language and content Tackle relevant and catching content Enhance motivation Practice integrated skills Experience the target language at a deeper
and, hopefully, more interesting level Develop higher level cognitive skills
Aims
To introduce different genres and types of texts To enhance extensive reading skills To practice speaking in a meaningful context To increase passive and active vocabulary To develop high level cognitive skills To foster co-operation and autonomous learning
Get in the mood!
1. You are going to listen to a story. To get ready for it you need to go back in time. Relax and try to visualize the following:
What “Fairyland” meant to you when you were a child. What it was like. How you felt about it.
2. Look at the book cover the story is taken from. Does it match your “Fairyland” in any way? Compare ideas with a partner.
Listening!
Listen to the first part of the story and try to picture as many details as you can in your mind.
Write down the riddle your teacher is going to dictate then try to solve it.
Imagine a working place for the people you have just heard about.
Listen to a new passage from the story and check if you were right.
Draw a few details to illustrate the scene you have just heard about. Show your drawing to other students
Some more listening!
1. Look at the signs below. What are they about? How can you tell?
Jograffy!Jograffy!Jograffy!
For today only all major land masses and oceans PLUS
everything you need to kno about glassiers.
One penny or All Major Vegetables accepted
The Wonders of punctuation and Spelling
Absolute Certainty about the CommaI before E completely Sorted OutThe mystery of the Semi-Colon
RevealedSee the Impersonal (Small extra
charge)Fun with Brackets
Will accept vegetables, eggs and clean used clothing
2. Now listen to the rest of the story
Read and Check!1. In the story there are quite a few unusual facts How many
do you remember? Complete the table below then check with a partner.
What people look like
What they do
Where they do it
Who they offer theirservices to
How they get paid
Any other unusual facts
2. Prepare a notice for the history teacher. Try to make it as persuasive as possible. Show your notice to a partner
3. Draw a picture of Jenny-Green-Teeth for the “Strange creatures” teacher you weren’t able to meet. Also prepare a short note to explain when and where you saw the monster. Ask the teacher what you want to know about Jenny. Compare both your note and picture with a partner.
4. What do you think the last sign means? Share ideas with a partner.
I can teach you a lesson You won't forget in a
hurry!
Read and think!
1. In small groups choose one of the following statements from the story. What do you think it means? Compare ideas in the group. Report to the other groups.
They sold what anyone needed but often didn’t want. They sold the key to the universe to people who didn’t even
know it was locked. They taught children enough to shut them up, which was the
main thing after all. She says it's thinking, but I don't know how you teach that. The Death of Kings through the Ages. Quite a lot of
educational blood.
2. In small groups find out ideas the story conveys about the following. Compare your findings with some other group.
• education
• teachers
• students
• teaching and learning
3. Have you ever had a lesson you didn’t forget in a hurry? When did it happen? Who gave it to you? Share your experience with a partner.
Find out and try it off!
1. Go through the story again and find as many examples as possible for the following:
• Descriptions of people• Descriptions of places• Other kinds of descriptions
2. Do you make description in the same way in everyday language? Why/ why not? Compare ideas with a partner.
3. Think about one of your former teachers. • What did (s)he look like?• What did (s)he use to wear?
The rest of the UM
SLA principles
Affective engagement principle i+1 principle Readiness to acquire Language awareness
Affective engagement
Language acquisition is more likely to occur if learners
are effectively engaged in the learning process have a positive attitude towards the target
language, the teachers, the materials and the activities
feel relaxed, confident and successful are able to respond to the target language not
only cognitively but also emotionally, as a whole person
Readiness to acquire
Learners only learn what they are ready to learn
Different learners are rarely ready to learn a particular language point at the same time
Input materials, language points, tasks and activities need to be as challenging and as varied as possible
i+1 principle
Selection of input is particularly relevant for language acquisition
“I” stands for comprehensible input and represents what the leaner has already learnt while
“1” what the learner has to learn and may be ready to learn.
Language awareness
If students discover language points on their own
after a pleasant, multidimensional experience of a text
language points are acquired more easily and retained longer
Text based approach
6 different stages, related to well known SLA principles
Readiness activities Experiential activities Intake response activities Development activities Input response activities
Readiness activities
Literary texts are likely to achieve a deep impact and favour a multidimensional response
Before reading or listening to a text students need to get mentally ready to experience it
It is important to set activities to help students achieve mental readiness for experiencing the text and connect it to their lives
While listening/reading activities which help students to process a text experientially before understanding it linguistically
For a text to have a deep impact on students they need to experience it in a multidimensional way, that is using as many sensory channels as possible
Apprehension – a global experience of the deep meaning of a text - before comprehension
Experiential activities
Intake response activities
Activities which are meant to help students use their representation of a text for language production
After experiencing a text in a multidimensional way students are ready to reflect on their experience, articulate it a nd share it
Development activities Activities meant to lead to meaningful language
production based upon student experience of text
They requires students to go back to the text before producing something new
They’re based both on the text experience and comprehension
Input response activities
Language focused activities meant to make self discoveries on language patterns and regularities
Tasks are meant to help students make hypotheses on how language work and try them on
Tasks aim at long lasting pattern acquisition and development of critical thinking
Development activities
Activities with same focus as stage 4. The broad topic is the same but is tackled with different types of texts
Provide opportunities for meaningful language production
interact meaningfully expand ideas, foster critical thinking Recycle language points and/or
vocabulary
Conclusions
The framework can be used to develop materials using different types of texts as a starting point, actually any text which one finds interesting or appealing or moving or what not…provided one keeps in mind a few basic issues
Set things in motion within the students minds before the actual impact with a text
Make sure apprehension comes before comprehension
Trigger multidimensional representation Favour self language discovery Make language discovery follow deep text
experience
References The whole unit of material – complete with teacher’s
notes and rationale can be found at http://unusuallesson.blogspot.com
McGrath, I. (2002) Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Tomlinson, B. (ed) (1998) Materials Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tomlinson, B. (ed) (2002) Developing Materials for Language Teaching. London: Continuum.