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Didactic Unit

Are you a shopaholic?

Davínia Pastor Pastor

Applied Linguistics to teaching English

University of Alicante

Group 1.2

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Contents

Justification.....................................................................................................................p. 3

Communicative objectives.......................................................................................p. 5

Table of contents..........................................................................................................p. 6

Methodology..................................................................................................................p. 9

Resources........................................................................................................................p. 11

Assumed knowledge of the students..................................................................p. 12

Anticipated problems................................................................................................p. 13

Activities..........................................................................................................................p. 14

Planning of pedagogical tasks for each lesson:

ü Lesson 1.............................................................................................................p. 21

ü Lesson 2.............................................................................................................p. 22

ü Lesson 3.............................................................................................................p. 25

ü Lesson 4.............................................................................................................p. 27

ü Lesson 5.............................................................................................................p. 30

ü Lesson 6.............................................................................................................p. 32

Final task of the unit...................................................................................................p. 34

Attention to students with specific educational needs................................p. 36

Assessment and evaluation criteria.....................................................................p. 38

Sources..............................................................................................................................p. 43

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1) Justification

In today's world, foreign languages provoke a great social interest and a desire of

learning because of diverse factors such as the following ones: the socioeconomic,

professional, cultural and international tourism. Moreover means of transport that

favour the citizens' exchanges and the development of the new technologies of

information and communication.

Spain in relation with the sector of services and its location in Europe justifies

the great interest to learn new languages, being this learning the key for the European

identity. It is why is indispensable to prepare our students to live in a plurilingual and

multicultural world.

All these previous ideas lead us to have as aim the learning of a foreign language

in the stage of secondary education that our pupils acquire the communicative

competence that can be given in different areas of the daily communication by means of

simulations and real situations. It is a question of an extension of the knowledge

acquired during the primary education, aiming to consolidate the productive skills and

the communicative competence.

Drawing our attention to the context of the Valencian Community, and more

concretely, to San Vicente del Raspeig where our high school is located, this city is

characterized for being a territory of linguistic Catalan predominance. It means that our

students are able to speak two languages: Catalan and Spanish. However, pupils could

have different levels of knowledge of these two languages.

Are you a shopaholic? is a didactic unit for a group of 19 students who are

studying the 4th CSE in the IES San Vicente, a secondary high-school from Sant Vicent

del Raspeig (Alacant). In our class we find 3 students whose mother tongue is Catalan,

10 whose mother tongue is Spanish, 4 students whose mother tongue is French and 2

students whose mother tongue is Romanic. All of them are studying in a Catalan

teaching programme.

Despite this, previous plurilingual context provokes that students respect

different cultures and languages and they are interested in learning new languages. As

they know that their languages are different, they want to have a common language to

be able to share ideas without comprehensive problems. It is why they are interested in

learning English. However, it does not mean that they cannot use their mother tongue in

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English classes. We try to show their knowledge of their language, and compare

different features of them which can be related to English.

Although our students come from different parts of the world, they have a

common English knowledge because these 19 students are together from the beginning

of the secondary education. In spite of that, some of them learn languages in an easiest

way. It means that some of the activities of this didactic unit will be adapted to these

students who have difficulties to learn languages. And, at the same time, there will be

activities for those who have the gift of learning different languages.

Referring to the facilities of our high school, the IES San Vicente, we have to

say that it has old-fashioned resources such as CD-player or old books. So we will use

what we have but the teacher will bring new kinds of facilities (laptops, projectors, etc.)

to introduce a big variety of materials in the class. However, this high school fortunately

has a wireless Internet connection which will help us to get real news, listening, etc.

Finally, the topic of our didactic unit, Are you a shopaholic?, is related to

teenagers and to current issues such as materialism and utilitarianism. Nowadays, young

people want to buy unnecessary things just because they like them but not because they

need them. It is why we want to make teenagers think about the importance of money

and the influence of a brand on society.

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2) Communicative objectives

The English teaching as a foreign language would have the following

communicative objectives for our students of 4th CSE:

ü To understand general and specific information of oral texts.

ü To express and to interact orally in common communicative situations, inside

and out of the classroom, using an effective, suitable way and an appropriate

level of 4th CSE.

ü To read and to understand autonomously written texts, in order to extract general

and specific information and of using the reading as a source of pleasure,

personal enrichment and knowledge of other cultures.

ü To write effectively simple texts about materialism and advertising. To achieve

it, students would use linguistic structures for obtaining a coherent and cohesive

text.

ü To use the basic elements of the language in a reflexive and correct way

(phonetics, lexicon, structures and functions) in academic and common contexts.

ü To develop the autonomy in the learning, to think about the learning process and

to be able to transfer the knowledge of the mother tongue to the foreign

language that is being learned.

ü To use the learning strategies and the didactic resources (dictionaries, books of

consultation, Internet, etc.) for the obtaining, selection and presentation of the

written information of autonomous form.

ü To know how to participate in debates about different topics respecting all the

opinions and the turn to speak without interruptions.

ü To value the foreign language and the languages in general, by means of

communication among people of different origins and cultures. As a result, they

will avoid the linguistic and cultural stereotypes or any type of discrimination.

ü To show a receptive attitude and auto confidence in the learning capacities and

in the use of the foreign language.

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3) Table of contents

The contents of our didactic unit are divided in four groups in which we can find

all the issues that the teacher will try to achieve with his/her students:

a) Oral communicative skills (Listening and speaking):

Ø Comprehension of the general and specific meaning of oral texts on

known topics presented in clear and organized form.

Ø Development of the communicative strategies in the interaction to

improve the fluency in the interpersonal communication.

Ø Use of strategies of comprehension of oral messages: use of the verbal

and not verbal context and of the previous knowledge of the situation,

identification of key words, identification of the attitude and intention of

the speaker, etc.

Ø Use of own conventions of conversation in activities of real and

simulated communication: word shift, change of topic, etc.

Ø Autonomous use of communicative strategies to initiate, to support and

to end the interaction.

Ø Oral production of descriptions, stories and explanations of personal

experiences, events and diverse contents, having into account the

cohesion and coherence elements.

Ø Valuation of the formal properness in the production of oral messages.

Ø Participation in conversations and simulations on daily topics and of

personal interest with diverse communicative ends, showing respect

towards the mistakes and difficulties that other classmates could have.

Ø Spontaneous and precise answers to communicative situations in the

classroom.

b) Written communicative skills (Reading and Writing):

Ø Identification of the topic and the issuer of a written text with the

contextual support that the own text contains.

Ø Inference of meanings and unknown information, by means of the

interpretation of linguistic and not linguistic elements.

Ø General and specific comprehension of diverse texts, in digital or paper

support, of general interest or referred to contents of other matters of the

curriculum.

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Ø Autonomous reading of more extensive texts related to their interests.

Ø Obtaining information from different sources, in paper or multimedia

support, for the accomplishment of specific activities.

Ø Consolidation of reading strategies already used before.

Ø Composition of different texts, with adapted lexicon to the topic and to

the context, with the necessary cohesive elements to mark with clarity

the relation between ideas and to use with autonomy strategies basic in

the process of written composition (planning, writing a text and review)

Ø Use, with a certain autonomy, of the correct register to the reader whom

one directs the text (formal and informal)

Ø Personal communication with speakers of the foreign language by means

of the postal correspondence or using IT means.

Ø Correct use of the spelling and of the different punctuation sings.

Ø Interest for the presentation taken care of the written texts, in multimedia

or paper support.

c) Language awareness:

c.1. Functions and Grammar:

Ø Present and past simple.

Ø Discourse markers and linkers.

Ø Interrogative pronouns.

Ø Expressing opinions and preferences: I love/like/enjoy/don't like/hate + -

ing//it's too..., etc.

c.2. Vocabulary:

Ø Vocabulary in relation to the main topics: materialism, money and

advertising.

c.3. Phonology:

Ø Distinction between /z/ and /s/; /b/ and /v/. Autonomous recognition and

production of different patterns of rhythm, intonation (questions and

phrases), and stressing of words and phrases.

d) Sociocultural aspects:

Ø Valuation of the importance of a foreign language in the international

relations.

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Ø Identification, knowledge and critical valuation of the customs, rules,

attitudes and values of the society, the language of whom we study, and

respect to cultural patterns which are different from the own ones.

Ø Deepening in the knowledge of the most important cultural elements of

the countries where it is spoken the foreign language, obtaining the

information by different means.

Ø Interest and initiative in the accomplishment of communicative

exchanges with speakers or learners of the foreign language, using

different means (paper or digital means)

Ø Appropriated use of linguistic formulae associated with concrete

situations of communication: comity, agreement, discrepancy, etc.

Ø Valuation of the personal enrichment that supposes the relation with

people who belong to other cultures

Ø Respect to different opinions about topics of interest and comprehension

of different sociocultural perspectives.

Ø Comparison and contrast between the own culture and the transmitted

one by the foreign language, so that is favoured with the critical

valuation of the own language and the acceptance and the respect of the

foreign one.

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4) Methodology

In the history of English teaching as a foreign language there have been different

educational methods: the "grammar-translation method", the "direct method", the

"audiolingual method" and the "structural-situational method". All of them had some

drawbacks in their implementation. However, these methods were important because

they contributed to the building of the current methods. Nowadays, the main methods

are the communicative approach, specially the communicative approach, and the task-

based learning.

We are going to follow an eclectic approach based on the communicative

approach and the task-based learning. It is a mix approach due to the fact that the task-

based learning is difficult to be used in class and in some cases we need a method easier

than that one, which is the notional-functional approach. Both methods fulfil the main

objectives of the Official curriculum. It establishes that students have to achieve an

effective communicative competence in the oral and writing skills which help students

to express themselves correctly. Moreover, students have to use all the knowledge that

they have from their mother tongue to establish a relation between this mother tongue

and the foreign language.

Referring to our didactic unit, we focus our attention on the oral skills,

vocabulary, every day situations and the relation between their mother tongue and the

foreign language. It is why we feel that the notional-functional approach and the task-

based learning are the perfect methods to teach English.

On the one hand, we find that the notional-functional approach is based on using

more authentic language rather than repetitive phrases or patterns. Also the teacher's

main role is a facilitator and monitor rather than leading the class. Moreover, we want to

teach grammar as this method establishes: the grammar practice is hidden in the context

of texts, listening and speaking. Feedback and correction is given after tasks have been

completed rather than interrupting the flow of language. Also vocabulary is learnt by

direct methods such as illustrations or the context. Finally, the use of the mother tongue

is permitted to allow students to understand what and why they are doing something.

On the other hand, we also want to use some ideas from the task-based learning.

For example, activities are important because students acquire knowledge actively (the

concept of "Learning by doing). These tasks can be: real-world tasks (communicative

tasks that the learner may achieve through language in real life) and pedagogical tasks

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(the learner is required to carry out in the classroom). Finally, it is important to know

that the focus is on the use of authentic language and asking the students to do

meaningful activities using the target language.

In conclusion, our didactic unit is based on the current teaching methods which

are the notional-functional approach and the task-based learning. They are important

due to the fact that they help students to improve their communicative competence.

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5) Resources

Nowadays teachers can use all kind of resources in order to teach a foreign

language. In our case and as we wrote in the point of "justification" (p. 3), our high

school is old fashioned. It is why teacher will bring things to the class to call the

student's attention, motivate them and make easier the learning of a new language.

First of all, teacher will bring a laptop and a projector to show videos from

Internet in the 10th activity. We think real materials from the every day life are

important in order to simulate real communicative situations. The laptop will be also

useful to show the presentations from the 10th activity.

Secondly, teacher will facilitate to her/his students 6 bilingual and monolingual

dictionaries to help students in the readings of the 3rd and 7th activities. We know that

our students of 4th CSE do not have a wide range of vocabulary and we also know that

these texts are difficult to be understood if students do not understand the main ideas.

So we feel that giving them the chance of looking up the unknown words and asking to

the teacher, our students will learn more vocabulary.

In relation to the previous paragraph, we will use vocabulary charts like the one

in the 2nd activity. It is because we think that it is something useful to give to our

students the definitions of the words and try to match them with the right word.

Another resource will be photographs from real and known advertisements in

order to help our students in the last activity. Samples of the real life are helpful and

approach the students to the real life in EEUU and UK.

Finally, we have to point out that most of our activities are based on the

communicative approach; it is why we do not use a lot of resources. We feel the oral

skill is the most important one because it could be a way to learn the other three skill:

writing, grammar, listening.

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6) Assumed knowledge of the students

Our students are taking their 4th CSE, it is why the teacher has to assume some

English knowledge of her/his students in relation to what they did the year before in

their English classes and according to the official and educational curriculum.

Referring to functions and grammar, the teacher will assume the following

contents:

ü Expressing quantity: Much/many/a lot of/too/not...enough.

ü Adjectives and their attributive or predicative positions.

ü Comparative adjectives.

ü Making suggestions and the answer: Let's.../How about+ -ing?/Why don't

we...?/Shall we...?/Acceptance, rejection or alternative suggestions as the

possible answers.

ü Punctuation and orthography.

Drawing our attention to vocabulary, the teacher will assume that students know

common and basic words not related to the main topic of the didactic unit.

We also expect that they can understand listening and writings with basic

vocabulary according to their level. Moreover, they would have to know the structure of

letters, e-mails and compositions and how to give to their writings cohesion and

coherence.

Finally, in relation to the learning strategies, we expect that students know how

to use and work with computers in order to prepare presentations or find information.

They also would have to know how to use a dictionary and how to find definitions and

vocabulary autonomously.

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7) Anticipated problems

Usually, activities have some parts or aspects which could be difficult for our

students and we have to anticipate these possible problems in order to help the students.

Regarding the activities of our didactic unit, we have to point out the difficult to

express spontaneous ideas and put in order their personal opinions, as students have to

do in activities 1, 6 and 11. Moreover, in the 11th exercise, students have to share ideas

and respect other opinions and turn to speak. All the previous ideas are reasons that

explain why we want to explain to our students the constructions to express opinions

and preferences: I love/like/enjoy/don't like/hate + -ing//It's too....etc.

Secondly, we feel that students will have problems reading the texts from the 3rd

and 7th activities. We know that students have a lack of words, but teacher will help

them giving to them dictionaries. Teacher will also answer to all the questions to make

easier the learning of vocabulary and he/she will explain the main ideas of the texts.

From our point of view, vocabulary is central in the process of learning a new language.

For this reason we want to teach vocabulary in a beneficial way.

Furthermore, students will have to use the first text of the 3rd activity in order to

learn the grammar of this unit. We know that this exercise will be complicated but we

think that these kinds of "deductive exercises" are more helpful and useful for students

due to the fact that they have to think about possible grammatical rules.

Finally, referring to pronunciation, we think that it would be difficult to

distinguish some phonemes such as: /s/, /z/, /b/, /v/. It is why we have proposed an

activity to practice and distinguish them.

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8) Activities

1) Answer the following questions orally in class:

a) What do you think about the word "shopaholic"?

b) Which topics could be related to "shopaholic"?

c) Which things would you buy if you have €200?

d) Do you really need these previous items?

2) Match the following words with their correct definition:

a) Pocket money 1) (US) an organization which sells goods or services in order to make money.

b) Credit card 2) The activity of buying and selling goods and services, or a particular company that does this, or work you do to earn money.

c) To get by 3) Money that you pay for a journey on a vehicle such as a bus or train.

d) To debit 4) Small amount of money which parents regularly give to their child.

e) Fare 5) Larger amount of money that young people are given regularly, usually by parents.

f) Allowance 6) To be able to live with difficulty by having just enough money.

g) Stall 7) To take money out of a bank account.

h) Outlet 8) Small plastic card which can be used as a method of payment.

i) Store 9) A large table or a small shop with an open front from which goods are sold in a public place.

j) Business 10) A shop that is one of many owned by a particular company and that sells the goods which the company has produced.

k) Company 11) (US) any type of shop.

l) Materialism 12) The system of thought which states that the best action or decision in a particular situation is the one which brings most advantages to the most people.

m) Utilitarianism 13) The belief that having money and possessions is the most important thing in life.

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3) Read the following text and try to answer the questions writing 2 complete

sentences.

Help! My daughter's used my credit cards!

A few weeks after my daughter's 13th birthday, I glanced over a bank statement

and saw a couple of suspicious items. I had been debited nearly £10 by iTunes, the

Apple music download website, although I have never downloaded music.

I checked my credit card statements and found another £10 debited to Virgin

Mobile. My wife examined her cards and found more things paid for without her

permission. Suspicion fell on Emily, who denied it, even though the evidence pointed

straight in her direction (she later confessed). Teenage spending had arrived; our

wallets would never be our own again.

Little more than a year ago, Emily was getting by on just £1.20 a week pocket

money - we had started out by giving 10p for every year of her age - when she

discovered she was being given less than most of her classmates. The weekly sum was

raised to £3, but her desire to spend money increased and she was soon asking for

money from both of us at every opportunity. If we refused we risked being met with

verbal abuse, angry expressions and a slammed door.

It's a familiar situation to Canadian clinical psychologist Maggie Mamen.

"Every parent wants their child to be happy; they don't want them to be the only one

without a mobile phone - they don't want them to have less; she says. "but the more

parents give their children, the more having all the things they want starts to be seen as

a right, rather than something special!".

In the end, we decided to tackle the incessant demands for money by giving her

an allowance. After consulting her friends' parents, Emily now gets £50 a month to

cover most of her clothes, cosmetics and entertainment, plus £10 top-up on her mobile,

two DVD rentals and one cinema trip each month. "Ordinary clothes, such as winter

coats and underwear are still paid for by us, as well as her essential toiletries. And

train or bus fares. And lunch if she is out for the day.

Clare Brooks, a writer, also has a 13-year-old girl, Laura. She says: "We

decided to give her an allowance because of the amount we found ourselves paying out

every month. We asked her to write down how she would spend £40 a month; now it

covers all her extras". The advantage of an allowance, says Brooks, is that "I can now

say 'no', because she knows she wants it, she has to pay for it herself". Most parents

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would like their children to help around the house, but as Brooks puts it: "Occasionally,

we do pay her for extra housework, but I say I'll give you £2 to hoover the sitting room,

and she says: "You must be joking, I want five".

For parents, there are two issues. First, how to cope with the demands of

children and teenagers who want to spend money as if they were adults, and second a

concern that their children are growing up expecting money to be always given to them,

and not prepared to say or wait for something they really want.

(Adapted from The Observer)

Questions about the previous text:

a) Why was her pocket money raised to £3?

b) According to Maggie Mamen, what is the problem with giving children to

much pocket money?

c) What things does Emily pay for from her allowance?

d) Why did Clare Brooks start giving Laura an allowance?

e) What is Laura's attitude to housework?

f) Apart from the amount their children spend, what is the other thing which

worries parents?

4) Pay attention to the words in bold from the previous text. Could you identify

their verbal tenses? Why did the writer use these verbal tenses? Find the grammatical

rules using the verbal context to explain the use of these tenses.

5) Look the orange words which explain the use of these tenses. Fill the gaps of

the following sentences using present or past simple paying attention to these specific

words which indicate to you if you have to use one tense or the other one.

a) A year ago, we ______________(go) to Paris and now we ___________(talk)

about it with everyone. This travel ________________(be) amazing!

b) When we ____________________(discover) that you

_______________(spend) all our money buying clothes, we ________________(want)

to call the police.

c) A few weeks after her mum's birthday, she ____________(buy) a present for

her. She __________________(forget) it!

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d) Yesterday Maria _________________(go) to the post office but it

_____________(be) close.

e) Every day Blair ___________________(rent) a smart dress to go to a party.

6) Referring to the previous text, could you check some discourse markers and

linkers which are in purple? Fill the gaps of the following sentences using these

discourse markers:

Also/Consequently/Despite/Because/Or/First

a) He was sacked ____________ he always arrived late to the office.

b) The factory closed and ___________________ many workers lost their jobs.

c) I want to go to Chicago __________ to NY. I'm not sure about it.

d) _______________ knowing the risks, he decided to spend all his money.

e) _______________ they bought a lot of furniture. They __________ rented a

beautiful house to throw a party.

7) In groups of 3/4 people, try to find a common opinion to the following

questions and introduce them to the rest of the groups. Then, all the groups have to

work to get a class opinion which can have exceptions depending on the group:

a) Which of these things do you think young people should pay for from their

pocket money or allowance and which should parents pay for as extras?

Pay from pocket money Parents should pay

Shoes

Essential clothes

Fashion clothes

Cinema tickets

Music

Cosmetics

Magazines

Mobile phone costs

Travelling expenses

Meals out

School material

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b) Do you think teenagers should earn some of the money they need by doing

housework or taking a part-time job? Why (not)?

c) How much pocket money should parents give their children at the following

ages? Why? 13//15//18

d) What sort of things do teenagers typically spend their money on? What do/did

you spend money on as a teenager?

e) Is there anything you would like to have but can't afford to buy?

f) What is the best age for young people to have their own bank account? When

should they have their own credit card?

g) Should young people be encouraged to save? Why? What for?

8) Read the following text and match the 6 missing fragments with the numbers

that you find in the text. You would need to understand the context to know which the

correct fragment is. You are encouraged to use the dictionary.

Who's playing mind games with you?

Designing a shop is a science, as we found out when we did some research.

We all know how supermarkets use the smell of baking around the store to draw

shoppers in and how soothing music can make you stay longer while faster music is

designed to keep you on the move. (1) Tim Denison, who is a retail psychologist,

confirmed this increase and he let me in on some of the secrets of the retail sector.

The shops are clearly far more sophisticated than you might think. (2) In fact

this can start before you even get that far, with warm air over the doorway to

encourage you in. Of course, that wouldn't work in hot countries. They have their own

version with air conditioning at the entrance.

Smells are still a favourite - travels agents sometimes release a coconut odour to

get you in the holiday mood. Items placed at eye level are supposed to sell better, and

the end-of-aisle displays are best for persuading people to buy food they hadn't intended

to. (3) You're then more likely to stop and buy something. Colours are also used

successfully: a red carpet is thought to get you in the right mood for spending, while

blue is too much like water, and could make you feel uneasy.

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But where the art is really catching on is in the way it differentiates between

women and men. A woman entering a shop might well find party clothes at the front.

"The key to effective retailing for women", explains Tim "is to make the buying of

clothes and engaging experiences". (4) They will be grouped not by what they are but

their style - classic or casual, for instance.

When men go shopping it's a different ball game. They want to buy a pair of

jeans because their old ones have worn out. In fact, they probably want to get exactly

the same jeans. (5) So menswear shops are laid out with everything in its place and men

can buy what they want and go - shirts all together here, trousers over there, shoes

along there.

(6) They say that people want things made easy for them in today's "cash rich,

time poor" society. That's why strawberries and cream are put together - to save people

the trip between the fruit and the dairy sections. There's no doubt that some of these

techniques work but it's a real science to work out what goes where.

Fragments of the text:

a) You spend longer turning corners with awkward trolleys, so they catch your

eye.

b) The minute you walk through their front doors, most of your senses are

attacked.

c) These kinds of techniques have been around for a while, but there's evidence

that their use is growing.

d) These shoppers don't want to be faced with ideas and suggestions.

e) Such items are placed near each other so they can be visualised together, as

an outfit.

f) Retailers would argue that they're meeting our needs.

9) Write the definition of the following words using their textual context in the

previous text:

shooting music/keep you on the move/retail sector/warm air/to get you in the right

mood/catching on/a different ball game/to save

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10) Write an essay of 200 words minimum about: "Pros and cons of strategies to

sell in shops". You have to bare in mind the correct structure of this type of essay and

you have to use the present and past simple.

11) Watch the following 2 videos about two famous films.

a) "Confessions of a shopaholic": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1-ROgywabs

b) "The Devil wears Prada": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG0xYJJbko8

Then, prepare a presentation of 6 minutes in groups of 4 people about their main

messages in relation to materialism and utilitarianism. You could use the following web

pages to get more information about these two topics and any kind of visual and

multimedia elements to make the presentation:

a) http://www.wikihow.com/Escape-Materialism-and-Find-Happiness

b) Documentary about materialism: "The high price of Materialism"

http://www.newdream.org/blog/high-price-of-materialism

12) DEBATE: Imagine that you have to go to a TV show to talk about the

importance of famous people in the adverts of famous brands in order to sell objects.

Prepare a short debate of 10 minutes in groups of 3/4 people and try to get a

conclusion about the topic. You can use the following pictures to have ideas in relation

to the topic.

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9) Planning of pedagogical tasks for each lesson:

1st Lesson STEPS AIMS ACTIVITIE

S & TASKS TIMING INTERACTIO

N PATTERNS SKILLS COMMENT

S PRESENTATION-CONTROLLED-ORAL PRACTICE

To call the attention of the students in relation to the main topic.

Teacher asks 4 questions about the main topic of the didactic unit. Students answer these questions giving their personal opinion.

2’ 5'

T-SS SS

Speaking, listening

The turn of speaking and the respect related to their answers are important.

CONTROLLED-ORAL AND READING PRACTICE

To match a word with its correct definition.

T explains SS the activity. Individually SS match the words with their meanings. While they are doing the exercise, teacher solves doubts about vocabulary. T asks SS to correct orally the exercise.

2’ 7' 4'

T-SS S T-SS SS-T

Reading, listening, speaking.

T gives a vocabulary chart to each student.

CONTROLLED-READING AND SPEAKING PRACTICE

To read and understand the text.

T asks different SS to read different parts of the text. SS have to understand the general idea of the text.

10' 10'

T-SS SS SS-T

Reading and listening. Reading and

T gives a copy of the text to each student. T gives 6 bilingual and

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SS ask their doubts of vocabulary to the T and SS also use dictionaries.

listening. monolingual dictionaries to students.

CONTROLLED-ORAL PRACTICE

To answer correctly the questions about the text.

SS individually answer the questions about the text and T helps them clarifying doubts. T asks to some of the SS to correct the answers and the rest of the class can help these students who are correcting.

10' 5’

S T-SS SS

Speaking

ROUND-UP PRACTICE

To let them integrate what they have just learnt to their previously-learnt knowledge

Homework

W

2nd Lesson

STEPS AIMS ACTIVITIES

& TASKS TIMING INTERACTION

PATTERNS SKILLS COMMENTS

REVIEW To review the contents taught in the last lesson.

Teacher reviews what they did in the last lesson. Teacher solves the student's doubts about the exercises they did.

5’ 3'

T SS-T

Speaking and Listening.


To finish the correction of the

T asks the SS to finish the corrections of the

8' T-SS

Reading, speaking and listening.

23

answers of the last reading.

questions about the text they started to do in the last session. SS say their answers and and they help among them in case SS have doubts about the right answer. T checks that all the SS did the activity.

SS-T T

SEMI-CONTROLLED-ORAL AND READING PRACTICE

To identify the verbal tenses of the words in bold. To deduce the grammatical rules of the use of the present and past simple from the textual context.

T asks the SS to identify the verbal tenses of the words in bold. T checks that students know about the present and past simple. T asks them to deduce the grammatical rules in pairs of 4 to explain why the writer uses these tenses in the article. SS explain their deductions about the grammatical rules and T helps them to find the correct rules.

2’ 10’ 10'

T-SS SS T T-SS GROUPWORK SS-T T-SS

Listening and reading Listening and reading Speaking and listening

CONTROLLED-READING AND SPEAKING PRACTICE

To check the orange words which indicate the use of the past or present simple.

T asks the SS to pay attention to the orange words which indicate the obligation to use a present or past

3’ 4’

T-SS SS-T T-SS

Listening and reading. Speaking

24

CONTROLLED-WRITING AND READING PRACTICE

To fill the gaps with the correct verbal tense paying attention to verbal markers.

simple. SS say the words to the T, and T explains their relationship with the two verbal tenses. SS individually have to fill the gaps of the sentences with the right verbal tense paying attention to verbal markers. T asks to some SS to correct the activity orally. The rest of the SS will help giving alternative answers. T takes notes about the students' behavior in the activity.

5' 5'

S T-SS SS-T T

and listening Writing and reading. Speaking and reading.

T gives a copy of the 5th and 6th exercises to students.

ROUND-UP PRACTICE

To let them integrate what they have just learnt to their previously-learnt knowledge. to do the 6th exercise using the dictionary and their deduction.

Homework W

25

3rd Lesson

STEPS AIMS ACTIVITIES & TASKS

TIMING INTERACTION PATTERNS

SKILLS COMMENTS

REVIEW To check if all the contents explained in the last lesson have been understood.

Teacher reviews what they did in the last lesson. T solves the student's doubts about the exercises they did.

5’ 3'

T SS-T

Speaking and listening.

CONTROLLED-ORAL AND READING PRACTICE

To check the purple words which are discourse markers and linkers. To explain the importance of discourse markers and linkers in the text. To correct the 6th activity students did at home.

T asks the SS to pay attention to the purple words which are discourse markers and linkers. SS individually explain their findings. T corrects the answer of the SS and explains the importance of these words. T asks to some students to correct the 6th activity. The rest of the class can help to those who are correcting giving their opinion about the answer.

5’ 5' 5'

T-SS S T-SS SS-T T

Speaking, listening and reading. Listening Speaking, reading and listening.

FREE-ORAL PRACTICE

To answer a set of questions.

T explains the activity and divides the class in 4 groups.

2' 15'

T GROUPWORK

Reading and speaking.

T gives a copy of the 7th task to each group.

26

Groups have to answer the set of questions. T helps groups and solves doubts.

Speaking

CONTROL-ORAL PRACTICE

To present the groups' answers to the questions. To get a common class answers to the questions.

Groups say their conclusions to the rest of groups. T takes notes about the students' behavior and the kind of answers groups give. T explains that now groups have to give a class conclusion to all the answers using the common features of their first answers.

10' 5'

SS T SS-T


It is important to respect the turn of speaking and all the opinions.

ROUND-UP PRACTICE

To let them integrate what they have just learnt to their previously-learnt knowledge. To read the text of the 8th activity and look up in the dictionary all the words they do not understand. To try to match the

Homework

W T gives a copy of the 8th activity to each student.

27

6 missing fragments with the rest of the text.

4th Lesson

STEPS AIMS ACTIVITIE



S REVIEW To review

the contents taught in the last lesson.

Teacher reviews what they did in the last lesson. Teacher solves the students' doubts about the exercises they did.

3' 3'

T S-T



To read the text of the 8th activity aloud. To correct the 8th activity students did at home.

Teacher asks to those students who did not read in the 3rd activity to read the text from the 8th activity. When they finish a paragraph, T solves doubts and mistakes in pronunciation. T asks to the rest of the students which were not reading to answer aloud the questions they did at home. While they are answering, those who are not participating can help giving their own answer to check if it

6' 5' 5'

T-SS S T-SS S-T

Reading, speaking and listening. Reading and listening.

Students would need to bring the 8th activity.

28

is correct or not. If there were students who did not do the exercise, T takes notes about it. And she writes about things that students have to improve.

CONTROLLED-WRITING AND ORAL PRACTICE

To write the meaning of a list of words

T explains the 9th exercise and divides the class in pairs. In pairs students have to write the meaning of a list of words using the context of these words in the text of the 8th activity. While they are doing the exercise, T solves doubts about the activity. T asks some of the students to correct the exercise. Pairs that are not participating in the correction can contribute giving their own answer. T corrects the answer and improves them.

4' 9' 7' 3'

T-SS PAIRWORK T-PAIRS T-PAIRS PAIRS-T T-SS

Listening and speaking. Reading, writing and speaking. Speaking and reading. Speaking.

T gives a copy of the 9th activity to each student.

CONTROLLED WRITTEN PRACTICE

To write an essay of 200 words.

T explains the 10th activity

3' T-SS S-T

Listening and speaking

T hands out a copy of the 10th

29

which will be handed in the next lesson (5th) and solves all the students' doubts.

T-S . exercise to each student.

FREE PRACTICE

To prepare a presentation for the last lesson (6th).

T explains the 11th activity which will be prepared for the 6th lesson showing the videos and checking that his/her students understand the main ideas of the listening. Moreover, T divides the class in 4 groups and solves the doubts about the activity.

8'

T-SS SS-T T-SS


T gives a copy of the 11th activity to each group. T would need a computer to show to her/his students the videos of the activity.

ROUND-UP PRACTICE

To let them integrate what they have just learnt to their previously-learnt knowledge To finish the essay of the 10th activity for the next lesson (5th lesson). To prepare the presentation of the 11th activity for the 6th lesson.

Homework

W

30

5th Lesson STEPS AIMS ACTIVITIE



S REVIEW To review

the contents taught in the last lesson. To collect all the essays students have to do for this lesson.

Teacher reviews what they did in the last lesson. Teacher solves the students' doubts about the exercises they did. Teacher collects all the essays students have to do for this lesson. Teacher takes notes of those people who do not hand the essay.

3' 3' 2'

T-S S-T T-S T

Listening and speaking

Students would have to bring to class their essays.


To explain how do a debate.

Teacher explains how a debate functions and how it has to be done. Teacher can also explain how to express opinion and preferences in order to show correctly their groups' opinions.. Teacher divides the class in 4 groups which will use 5 different photos to prepare their

5' 2' 3'

T-SS T-SS SS-T

Listening and speaking.

Teacher gives a copy of the photos to each group.

31

own opinion about the topic. Teacher solves doubts about the debate.

FREE-ORAL PRACTICE

To prepare the debate in groups.

Groups prepare their ideas and opinions. Meanwhile T helps SS to prepare their ideas to be defended.

15' GROUPWORK T

Listening, speaking and writing.

To do the debate defending the groups' ideas.

Groups defend their ideas. T takes notes about the groups' participation and how students speak and defend their groups' ideas.

10' GROUPWORK T

Speaking, listening and writing.

The respect is central in relation to the speaking turn and the rest of ideas.

To get a common opinion and conclusion about the topic of the debate with all the groups.

Groups talk among them to get a common opinion about the topic. T helps them in having this class' opinion.

12' GROUPWORK T


ROUND-UP PRACTICE

To let them integrate what they have just learnt to their previously-learnt knowledge To finish the presentation for the

Homework

W

32

following lesson (6th)

6th Lesson

STEPS AIMS ACTIVITIE



S REVIEW To review

what they did in the last lesson.

Teacher checks what they did in the last lesson. Teacher solves the students' doubts about the exercises they did.

3' 3'

T-SS S-T T-S

Listening and speaking.

CONTROLLED-ORAL TASK

To hand to the students all their essays. To explain the main mistakes

Teacher hands all the essays that students gave to him/her in the last lesson. Teacher explains the main students' mistakes to make them aware of the mistakes' importance. Teacher solves individually all the students' doubts about their essays.

2' 15'

T-SS T-SS S-T T-S


FREE-ORAL TASK

To show the groups' presentations.

Teacher distributes the order of the presentations. The 4 groups show their presentations in front of the class.

2' 25'

T GROUPWORK


Students would have to bring their materials for their presentation. Teacher deals a assessment chart to each group.

33

Meanwhile, groups evaluate the presentation using a chart. T pays attention to the presentation to check if her/his students have achieved teacher's expectations for this unit.

The respect is central in relation to the turn of speaking and the classmates' ideas.

To make aware to the students of the bad and good points of their presentations.

Teacher proclaims the winning group using the charts that the rest of groups have filled out during the presentations.

5'

T-GROUPS


ROUND-UP PRACTICE

To let them integrate what they have just learnt to their previously-learnt knowledge

Homework

W

34

10) Final task of the unit

The final task of our didactic unit, Are you a shopaholic?, is a project which will

be made in three groups of 5 people and a group of 4 people. This project will consist

on recording an advertisement of 5 minutes maximum and this video will be about

promoting one of the following local shops: Papelería y librería Tinta China,

Droguería y perfumería Tomás, Almendras Llopis, Joyería Más or any of their choice.

The students will have 10 days for planning and recording the advert during

their free time and they will able to use computers and video cameras.

In their speech students will have to use the vocabulary and the tenses which

have been taught in class in relation to this didactic unit. Moreover, the structure that

they will have to follow in their speech is the following one:

a) Introduction about the business: slogan, where it is located, etc.

b) Why people have to go to this shop (strengthens)

c) Innovative ending (singing the slogan, doing something funny to call the

attention, etc.)

Then, we will spend a lesson presenting and showing the four advertisements to

all the class. Furthermore, groups will have to vote the winner using a table with

different patterns to take into consideration in the evaluation. Groups will grade these

aspects from 0 to 5:

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Did you enjoy it?

What do you think about the performance?

Do they have act as a group? What do you think about the

speech?

Did they use vocabulary from the unit Are you a shopaholic?

Did they use the verbal tenses correctly?

Have you understood the general message of the video?

Has the advert fulfilled you expectations?

Would you go to buy to this shop after watching this advert?

Final Score

35

This final task will have the value of 50% of the value of this unit. The winners

will have the complete 50%, the second group will have the 40%, the thirds will have

the 30% and the fourths will get the 20%.

Also we can add and individual evaluation using the same table to know if the

group itself share the class's opinion.

In conclusion, we think this kind of activity is perfect to encourage teamwork

and this group evaluation will be helpful to be objective.

36

11) Attention to students with specifics educational needs

Nowadays, not all the students come from the same country or share the same

mother tongue and not all the students have the same capacities to learn a foreign

language. Moreover, the numbers of students with special educational needs are

increasing in the classrooms and consequently teachers have to modify significantly the

elements of the Official curriculum. Teachers also find students with different attitudes

towards English and it is why the answer to these students will consist of making them

see the positive aspects of English and the collaborations among equals.

All the previous ideas are factors which are living in current high schools and

teachers have to deal with all of them using specific activities and changing the Official

curriculum.

Particularly in the context of our class, as we explained previously in the

justification (p. 3) of this didactic unit, we find 19 students from different countries and

using different languages: Valencian, Spanish, French and Romanic; and not all of them

have the same capacities to learn.

Referring to differences because of race and culture, we have to point out that it

is a more and more frequent reality the integration of foreign students to the classroom.

In these cases we can consider three aspects: if the condition of being immigrants does

not suppose a discriminating element, if they integrate with normality in the group-

class, and if these students have not had a suitable schooling. For these reason, it will be

considered grouping students which favours the integration of immigrant students

preventing the formation of ghettos in the classroom. Secondly and finally, paying

attention to the different level of capacity to learn a new language, we should not make

significative curricular adaptations. Its purpose is that students can achieve the

capacities of the Official curriculum. The teacher will have to adapt some activities and

materials. It is why teachers will use reinforcement and extension activities.

Going back to our context, we propose an example of reinforcement activity and

an example of extension activity in order to help these students with higher or lower

capacities than most of the students:

37

a) Reinforcement activity:

This activity will consist on practicing typical phonemes which cause a lot of

problem in their pronunciation and in their distinction: /f/ vs. /v/; /s/ vs. /z/. To practice

them we will use different famous slogans which contain words with these phonemes:

ü Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline. (Maybelline)

ü So easy a caveman can do it. (GEICO)

ü Taking Care of Business. (Office Depot)

ü I want my MTV. (MTV)

ü A diamond is forever. (DeBeers)

b) Extension activity:

The following activity will consist on an investigation in groups of 4 people to

find and increase the number of words related to the topics of "advertisement", "money"

and "materialism". Students can use Internet, dictionaries and books to look up these

words and they would have a week to do it.

Later, groups introduce to the rest of the class the words they have found and

teacher writes them to get a more completed list of vocabulary.

38

12) Assessment and evaluation criteria

The traditional way to assess has been through using tests. The biggest

difference between our old ideas about testing and newer ones about evaluation is that

we have moved away from memorization and towards helping students to learn: the

procedures they use and the attitudes they bring to class. We want to assess their ability

to use the language but also the how and the why; moreover, what students think about

their own learning. With this view, evaluation is not just seen as an assessment, but as

an aid to learning.

The evaluation of this didactic unit, Are you a shopaholic?, will be based

basically on group and teacher assessment. It means that every single activity will be

evaluated and take into consideration for the final grade.

First of all, the teacher of the group will take notes of the students' difficulties to

help them to improve. At the same time, teacher will check if students know how to

work in group and if they collaborate in the activities contributing with their personal

knowledge of ideas. It is why we would follow a continuous assessment because we

would take into consideration every single thing they do or say in all the activities of

our didactic unit. The following chart is and example of continuous evaluation table:

Students Writing

(15%) Reading (20%)

Listening (15%)

Speaking (20%)

General aspects (30%)

Behaviour & Group work (15%)

Tasks (8%)

Interest (7%)

Moreover, teachers can prepare a formative evaluation as an instrument to be

used in the continuous evaluation. This kind of assessment is important because it is a

feedback that teacher gets to check how successful the teaching programme is and if

his/her students are doing all the activities. We think that formative evaluation can be

applied to our didactic unit using the following structure and contents in a personal

portfolio:

39

Secondly, students will grade to their classmates at the end of some of the

activities, for example in the 7th, 11th and 12th exercises and in the final task. It could

be a way of being objective using different kinds of evaluation such as the following

chart where they would find different patterns to mark (body language, quality of the

explanation, etc) and they would grade from 0 to 5.

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Would you go to buy to this shop

after watching this advert?

Did you enjoy it? What do you think about the

performance?

Do they have act as a group? What do you think about the

speech?

Did they use vocabulary from the unit Are you a shopaholic?

Did they use correctly the verbal tenses?

Have you understood the general message of the video?

Has the advert fulfilled you expectations?

Final Score

At the same time, some of the activities, such as the 7th, 10th, 11th and 12th and

the final task, can have an individual evaluation. We have to encourage the work-

autonomy and the self-critical patterns. It is why we can listen to the individual and

personal opinion of our students who would grade their individual work using objective

patterns. In the following example, students would write a brief comment to answer the

questions:

Student's Portfolio: Contents

a) Homework b) Essays c) Project work d) Articles/texts/songs the student has found e) Material used in presentations f) Lesson-redesigns g) Extra-tasks h) Workbook i) Informal assessments

40

COMMENTS BEFORE THE PRESENTATION:

a) What was difficult for you? b) How did you prepare your presentation? c) What did you expect about your presentation?

DURING THE PRESENTATION: a) Have I chosen an interesting topic for the classmates? b) Have I looked for the necessary information? c) Have I thought in how to explain and in how acting? d) Have I done a good script for me? e) Have I used helping material? f) Have I memorized the text?

AFTER THE PRESENTATION:

a) Did I felt comfortable? b) Have I said what I prepared? c) Do I believe that classmates have payed attention to me and have understood me?

SUMMARY: a) I have learned... b) I am capable of... c) I can explain / speak / say... d) It was difficult... e) I have liked... f)I have not liked... g) My classmates...

Final Score:

Teachers can also use these previous charts as a way to group all the things that

they are going to evaluate in the final mark of different activities such in the 3rd, 7th,

8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th. Teachers would grade from 0 to 6 in order to be objective

considering different aspects as we can read in the following chart:

41

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 INTRODUCTION: 1) Justification of the theme. 2) Anticipation of the parts of the exposition. 3) Motivation of the listeners' attention.

STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION: 1) Selection of the proper information in relation to the listeners. 2) Difference between main and secondary ideas. 3) Correct order of the ideas.

CONCLUSION: 1) Summary of the main ideas. 2) Logical topic. 3) Use of specific words to end the presentation.

THE USE OF DISCOURSE MARKERS AND LINKERS: 1) Introduction of the topic. 2) To mark order 3) To continue 4) To emphasize 5) To exemplify 6) To summarize

GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH THE RECEPTORS: 1) Changes in the oral register 2) Value the receptors

REPETITION OF IDEAS: 1) Definitions 2) Examples 3) Repetitions 4) To share known information 5) Anticipated information

Finally, we want to include an assessment referring to the teaching. Nowadays,

it is important to teacher to know about their students' opinions. It is a good way to

discover the things that they have to improve from their teaching method. Students

would grade different aspects from 0 to 6:

Characteristics Score Comments

a) The teacher has the ability to teach. b) The teacher maintains a good level of communication with the students.

c) The teacher has facilitated my learning, thanks to her/his help I managed to improve my

Students' assessment about the teacher

42

knowledge and skills. d) The teacher knows how to explain the contents of the unit.

e) The materials that the teacher uses in class are interesting and useful.

f) The teacher worries about my difficulties in relation to what he/she teaches.

g) The teacher knows how to call my attention and how to motivate me.

h) The teacher knows how to make easy and interesting the contents of the subject.

i) In general, I am satisfied with my English teacher.

Final Score:

In conclusion, we think that assessment is important to know if our students are

learning in the correct way. However, we do not believe in a final test. Despite this, we

feel that the everyday studying is central in the process of learning English as a foreign

language, being a cumulative learning process. As a result, we have introduced a kind of

evaluation in which every single task counts in the final mark and which will help us to

achieve all the communicative objectives that we established at the beginning of this

didactic unit.

43

13) Sources

a) Bibliography:

ü BROOK-HART, G. Complete First Certificate, Student's Book. Cambridge,

Cambridge University Press, 2008.

b) Pages from Internet:

ü "The devil wears Prada": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG0xYJJbko8

ü "Confessions of a shopaholic": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1-

ROgywabs

ü Documentary about materialism: "The high price of Materialism"

http://www.newdream.org/blog/high-price-of-materialism

ü A list of slogans: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Advertising_slogans

ü Dictionary: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

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