lunes, 28 de noviembre de 2011

Teaching Sequence. 5th year, Secondary school.

Planning for classroom implementation (six-hour lesson)
PARTICIPANT: GOMEZ LOPETEGUI, Viviana Pamela.
CLASS: 5th NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 25
MODALITY: Natural Sciences.
ESTIMATED TIME: six periods.
CHOSEN GENRES: video advertising; information and scientific reports.
RESOURCE MATERIAL: Internet.
AIMS:
To raise awareness of:
• The discourse in scientific reports.
• How information can be transmitted in different ways, through different genres and text types.
• How different genres can have a different impact on the audience.

OBJECTIVES:
• To understand how advertisings can persuade people.
• To reflect on the effectiveness of audiovisual materials.
• To compare different types of genre.
• To reinforce contents and skills of other subjects, acquiring contextualized language items and taking a positive attitude towards the foreign language.



Lead – up activities
First, students will be introduced to the topic (Global Warming) through a video advertising which shows a polar bear loosing his home, due to the loss of glacial territories.
(I've used A TUBE CATCHER. It's really fast! =-) )

Then, I will ask students about the impact of the video on them, trying to focus on their immediate emotions, feelings and thoughts. After sharing their feelings, they will be asked to create a word cloud with WORDLE including the words which reflect their immediate emotions.
(expected words) Pity- sympathy- sadness- fear, etc.
After that, I will ask them to think about the elements of the video which make their emotions or feelings emerge. In that way, I will make them think about the different persuasion strategies used (music, images, etc.) They will watch the short video again, if necessary. The idea of this task is to turn the attention to the effectiveness of audiovisual materials, the impact of this genre on the audience and the different persuasion strategies applied. Afterwards, I will turn students’ attention to the legend which appears at the end of the video: ‘Global Warming. When you feel it, it’s already too late’. I will try to help them to discover the topic, by means of asking questions about the images they have seen on the video and the transparent or familiar words which are part of the final legend. Then, they will also activate their previous knowledge about the topic (this group of students is supposed to have information about global warming, since it is a topic dealt in the subject Earth Sciences)
After introducing the topic through the video, students will use their previous knowledge and critical thinking in order to classify some causes and consequences about global warming. The idea of this task is to activate students’ previous knowledge and to provide them with necessary concepts and ideas in the foreign language.

 Look, read and classify these concepts into CAUSES and CONSEQUENCES of global warming.


Burning of fossil fuels: pollution. 
Rising sea levels.
Deforestation.
Rising temperatures.
Rising population. Sea-ice melting.


After checking the previous classification with the whole class, I will invite them to add more causes and consequences to the lists.

Procedure:
In the next activity, students will work with the information report taken from a BBC page. This task will involve their comprehension skill, since they will be required to read different sections of an information report, so as to choose the appropriate title for each. To help students understand content, I will remind them to pay attention to visual support, familiar or transparent words and references.
 Read the report and choose the correct titles for each section.
List of titles. There is an extra title!
1) What is being done about it?
2) What is the 'ozone layer' got to do with global warming?
3) How are extra greenhouse gases produced?
4) Is global warming bad?
5) What are the greenhouse gases?

……………………………………(Title)
The earth is naturally warmed by rays (or radiation) from the sun which pass through the earth's atmosphere and are reflected back out to space again.
The atmosphere's made up of layers of gases, some of which are called 'greenhouse gases'. They're mostly natural and make up a kind of thermal blanket over the earth.
This lets some of the rays back out of the atmosphere, keeping the earth at the right temperature for animals, plants and humans to survive (60°F/16°C).
So some global warming is good. But if extra greenhouse gases are made, the thermal blanket gets thicker and too much heat is kept in the earth's atmosphere. That is when global warming is bad.
……………………………………………. (Title)
Greenhouse gases are made out of:
• water vapour
• carbon dioxide
• methane
• nitrous oxide
• ozone
• chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
They are all natural gases, but extra greenhouses gases can be made by humans from pollution.
…………………………………… …….. (Title)
Extra greenhouse gases are produced through activities which release carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons). These activities include:
• Burning coal and petrol, known as 'fossil fuels'
• Deforestation.
• Animal waste which lets off methane

…………………………………………. (Title)
The United Nations has meetings where world leaders agree on what to do about global warming.
Every five years, the Earth Summit happens.
In 1997 there was an Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and in 1997, an agreement was made at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan, to cut the amount of gases that industries make.
Leaders agree the world can cut the amount of carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere by changing the way power is produced too.
In February 2003, the British Government set out its plans to produce electricity using "greener" ways.
After checking the selection of titles with the whole class, I will drive students’ attention to the main characteristics found in the written report. I will expect their answers. Later, they will be required to spot the differences between the video and the written material regarding the following aspects:
 Intended audience.
 Audience’s reaction.
 Information included.
 Purpose.
(Oral work: even when students use their mother tongue to discuss these aspects, this task provides them with the opportunity to raise awareness of the main characteristics of each genre).
The next task will require students to apply the knowledge built up to here, and it will be used later to raise their awareness of the passive voice construction (focus on grammar)
 Choose the right concepts to fill in the blanks. Re-read the report if necessary.
Global warming- The Earth’s correct temperature- Extra greenhouse gases- Fossil fuels.
a- ______________________ are produced by human activities which generate pollution.
b- ______________________ is produced by extreme rising temperatures.
c- ______________________ are produced by the burning of coal and petrol.
d- ______________________ is produced by sun’s rays.

(Once we check the fill-in the blanks activity, I will make questions related to sentence construction, guiding students so that they can focus on the noun phrases acting as subjects and the use of verbs. They will also be guided so as to discover the function of the exponents: expressing certainty. Having a repeated pattern will also help them to discover the passive voice construction).


Round- up activity.

To conclude this teaching sequence on global warming, I will ask students to think and search for possible solutions to the problem. They will be given a model to express the possible solutions. (Later, students will use their productions at this stage, so as to write a problem-solution text)

 What can be done? There are ways you can help cut greenhouse gases and help stop global warming. Read and add more.

Paper can be recycled to stop deforestation.
Fuel-efficient vehicles can be replaced by healthy modes of transport. Use your bicycle!


Systematizing language.

Students will be required to pay attention to the different constructions seen, so as to compare their elements and functions.

• Look at the examples again and circle the appropriate function: expressing certainty or probability?

Global warming can be stopped by recycling.
Certainty / Probability
Global warming is produced by extreme rising temperatures.
Certainty / Probability
Fossil fuels are produced by the burning of coal and petrol.
Certainty / Probability
Fuel-efficient vehicles can be replaced by healthy modes of transportation.
Certainty / Probability

1 comentario:

  1. I liked the topic AND the teaching sequence very much. (I had lost the video!!)

    Anyway, I think that global warming is a "politically correct" topic, the problem with aboriginal peoples in Argentina can also be tackled. A fortnight ago a young man (in his 20s) was killed in Santiago del Estero bec he refused to leave some lands (monte) to the "owner" who needed the land to pant SOY!!!

    So you could connect a "good topic" and make it worth. Everybody feels pity for a polar bear, seldom do for "un indio santiagueño", if you know what I mean.

    Of course, I wouldn't expect the topic to be tackled in 6 classes>>but think in terms of THEME (+ abstract concepts)>>>perhaps you could work with another teacher of Politics or Geography.

    Good language awareness! Is there a TASK to exploit it?

    stella :-)

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