SECUENCIA DIÁCTICA: MY LAND

 Trainees: Paula Dalgalarrondo, Celina Zipenko, Andrea Melado, Emilia Baun 

Tiempo estimado: cuatro sesiones 

Fundamentación: 

La presente  secuencia tiene por objeto promover el desarrollo de la literatura en base a la comprensión de textos relacionados con la realidad de los/as alumnos/as. Para ello, abordarán la comprensión de la short story “My Land” de la Dirección General de Educación Primaria de Buenos Aires, decodificando el mensaje tanto a nivel fonológico como gramatical, aunque no se conozcan todas sus palabras, con apoyatura en imágenes y la guía de la/el docente. 

La lectura no es sólo un momento de encuentro placentero en el aula, sino también una oportunidad para desarrollar gradualmente habilidades que acompañarán al/la alumno/a a lo largo de su desarrollo como ciudadanos/as críticos/as, como es el análisis y reflexión de la información. 

La lectura en la lengua extranjera no sólo facilita la adquisición de un universo vocabular en contexto,  sino que les permite anticipar el contenido de un texto, para luego de su comprensión e interpretación, evaluar si dichas preconcepciones fueron acertadas o no. 

La implementación de la literatura en el aprendizaje ayuda a los/as estudiantes a comprender los contenidos, ya que los mismos se encuentran situados en un contexto determinado. Por lo que los mismos se entienden por su función dentro del marco escrito, no por la mera memorización de su significado aislado. Además, la adquisición de la segunda lengua, en este caso el Inglés, se desarrolla de manera natural con ayuda de narraciones. La cual, en este caso en particular aborda una problemática de interés cultural, como es el sentido de pertenencia a una comunidad, y como el ambiente en el que cada individuo reside forma parte de su identidad, enmarcada en el eje de reflexión intercultural. Luego de su lectura, pretendemos analizar cuál es el ambiente que los alumnos sienten como parte de su identidad, ya sea su barrio, pueblo /ciudad, provincia, país en fin, aquel espacio geográfico y sus características que los identifican. 

Propósitos:

 

• Reconocer la geografía local, sus animales y plantas nativos

• Promover el respeto y cuidado de su tierra

• Analizar aquellos símbolos/ significados que forman parte de su identidad 

• Promover el reconocimiento y apropiación de vocabulario referido a los colores y adjetivos para la descripción del paisaje 

• Trabajar de manera interdisciplinaria con el área de Actividad Plástica 

Objetivos: 

• reconocer la geografía local y sus seres vivos, tanto plantas como animales

• promover la creatividad y expresión de identidad de cada alumno

• desarrollar el habla en la lengua que se aprende a través de la descripción de una obra artística 

• promover el respeto a la identidad del otro 

Saberes: 

• vocabulario referido a los colores 

• vocabulario referido a las plantas y animales locales 

• demonstratives para describir el contexto 

Actividades: 

Sesión 1

1. La docente proveerá a los/as alumnos/as de las imágenes concernientes a la short story, para que ellos/as la describan y luego ordenen las mismas de acuerdo a como ellos/as sugieren sucede la historia. 

Para este propósito la docente formulará preguntas guía, tales como:

Who are they? Are they friends or family? Where are they?,etc 

Luego, la docente procederá a leer la historia, con apoyatura en imágenes y gestos. 

As homework: 

• Investiga: ¿Qué animales y plantas habitan tu localidad? Escribe sus nombres en tu cuaderno.  

             Sesión 2: 

1. En conjunto con el área de Cs Naturales, los alumnos reconocerán seres vivos nativos de su localidad con apoyatura en imágenes. 

Para ello, deberán dibujar las especies que ven en su vecindario y clasificarla tanto en inglés como en castellano, confeccionando un afiche bilingüe. Se utilizarán diccionarios castellano - inglés durante el desarrollo de la actividad. 

Sesión 3: 

1. La docente presentará el material necesario para que el alumnado pueda describir el paisaje que lo rodea. Para ello, se suministrará a los/as alumnos/as con flashcards, para indicar el uso de los pronombres determinativos. Por ej: 

Luego se dividirá la clase en grupos. Cada grupo deberá pasar al menos una vez y reconocer el ser vivo ilustrado en el afiche utilizando los pronombres explicados. 

Sesión 4: Proyecto My Land

En conjunto con el área de Artes Plásticas, cada alumno dibujará su tierra, es decir, aquel paisaje que lo identifica, haciendo uso del conocimiento adquirido. Para ello, podrá utilizar diferentes técnicas, tales como collage, pintura, dibujo,etc. 

Luego, presentará su trabajo ante la clase, describiendolo haciendo uso de los saberes aprehendidos en el área de lenguas extranjeras. 

Example: 

This is a tree.

That is a Hornero’s nest.

Those are  pine trees. 

That is the sun. 

Feedback:

This is a very interesting didactic sequence since it considers literature and the intercultural perspective of teaching a foreign language. This intercultural approach should be further developed in the rationale. Another important aspect is that it develops the activities in an interdisciplinary way (CLIL).

The expected linguistic output is appropriate for the level.

The didactic sequence would be highly motivating for primary school students.

EXCELLENT

TASK 5: Teaching English Pronunciation

 Task 5: Teaching English Pronunciation

PART A:

A Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories point out the importance of teaching pronunciation within the premature stages of learning so, with an adequate exposure to foreign language, children can attain magnificent pronunciation, as a result of the plasticity and flexibility available for the articulation of new sounds. These being closely related to neurological and biological factors since from the age of 2 until puberty, the brain works as a whole along with a sensitive/critical period which occur within the brain of prepubescent children. An innate biological clock allows direct learning from the inputs’ exposure until hemispheric lateralization (brain’s division) is completed.

This claim remains important in foreign language acquisition due to the fact that once lateralization occurs the maximal conditions for language learning diminish resulting in progressively poorer attainment levels. EXCELLENT AND COMPLETE ANSWER.

B. Identity is related to pronunciation since the way we speak is a reflection of our identity; we express ourselves and converse with others establishing our individuality by means of language either consciously or unconsciously.

Someone’s pronunciation and/or linguistic code is one expression of that person’s self-image.

C. Sociocultural aspects should be taken into account when supporting the early exposure to a foreign language as we are social beings. According to Schumman (1975), “children are endowed with a greater degree of freedom as regards cultural prejudice and show less resistance to acculturation” (p.?), so they should be exposed to as much input as possible prior speaking. Since our input will most likely be the first one obtained by students, they won´t present any fossilized mistakes, but it will be our duty to provide them with a proper model to follow.

D. The challenge of providing suitable input lies in the fact that children are somehow ‘sponges’ as they have a natural predisposition to absorb and imitate the input they receive for what teachers have a great responsibility towards data choice to present in the classroom and to keep updated and continue professional development, especially in the phonological area. One of the priorities for the teaching and learning of pronunciation lies on the teachers’own self-monitoring and their ability to recognize salient mistakes in their student’s oral performances which deviate from the model aimed at.

EXCELLENT

E. Accurate phonological production it is expected before the understanding, focusing on the communicative approach as a result of discourse with the clear aim of reaching the minimal general intelligibility. Therefore, this what does “this” refer to? occurs when it there exists a distinction of the RP phonemic system which is capable of conveying a message efficiently other accents are also “efficient” from a native English listener’s stand point, given that the context of the message is known and that the listener has had time to ‘tune in’ to the speaker’s pronunciation.

F. Both the parameters of RP and suitable intelligibility can be met in successful communication, in context reached through suprasegmental features such as proper stress, rhythm and intonation. By focusing on a communicative approach, the aim is to help the learner acquire intelligible pronunciation highlighting its communicative values. great

G. Supresegmental features (stress, rhythm and intonation) can be acquired somehow both separately and collaboratively with other skills. Stress should be central to the meaning and identity of a word; when teaching vocabulary, these must be essential (both in isolated words and in context as a way of representing the most meaningful choice of the speaker) because it may lead to misunderstandings -could be taught throughout new language presentation comparing and contrasting minimal pairs or even through collaborative tasks to undertake a review-. At the same time, rhythm communicates emphasis so that the listeners can understand the speaker’s meaning –could be taught through the repetition of drills and chants making use of the total physical approaches like stories, songs and a bingo-. Last but not least, intonation could be held on as an integrated planning with lexis and grammar.

H: Pragmatic discourse features are closely related to the teaching of pronunciation because we must teach language in use; we need to keep updated to provide a good contextualised model. Also, we should teach that content words tend to be more stressed than functional words, new information tends to be stressed, and the fact that

there are some rules that are language-dependent.

I. In the When teaching of English pronunciation, it is no longer required a proficiency level (word order: a level of proficiency is no longer required), but rather a legible communicative one. Since language is communication, it will always remain important such skills as pronunciation to result incommunication. (rephrase).

PART B:

After analysing the activities on all books, we can conclude that both approaches are used, being the bottom up approach used firstly so as to present and practice new sounds in isolation, and the bottom down approach, to add intonation and rhythm practice and make communication meaningful, as seen in the chants and riddles present in the study material.

Taking into account the fact that both approaches should be considered so as to teach students that pronunciation is made by a complex interrelated set of factors, we have prepared two activities which reflect each method:

Bottom up approach: Short Vowel Sounds Practice

Grade: 5th

Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUSCz41aDug nice song, though it should be introduced after teaching / practising all the vowels individually. if not, it would be confusing.

First, students will practice the short vowel sounds they´ve previously learnt individually, altogether by singing the chant. Later, they´ll be divided into groups of five. Each group will be assigned a vowel sound with which they'll have to create a chant for their classmates to sing. For the purpose of explaining alumni (Students) how to create a chant, using the vocabulary they already know even though they know the language, you could provide them with different vocabulary on the board, the teacher will show them the following example on the board, so they can use it as guide:

The short I is for pig

the short I is for pig

the short I is for a big pig

the short I is for a big pink pig

which sings to me

Write you own chant:

the short …. is for ….

the short I is for …

which …...................

In the end, we will put all the verses together to make a whole song, which students will record on video with the “if you happy and you know it” song´s melody. They could use masks from of the animal chosen made in the art lesson to record it made in arts class.

Task 4

 PART A: Theory.

After reading chapter 4, Learning Words in Cameron, L. 2001.Teaching Languages to Children. Cambridge: CUP. 

1. Summarize how to extend children’s vocabulary beyond the textbook and children’s vocabulary learning strategies. 

For the resolution of the 4th task we chose the 3rd unit of the textbook “Follow your trail 2” by Santillana ideal for pupils between the ages of 9 and 11 years old. 

a) The thematic unit is based on healthy eating. This includes food and drinks, meals and nutrition all embedded within the expression of preferences (likes and dislikes) and healthy eating habits (routines).

b) There are taught items of vocabulary: food and drinks, meals and nutrition.

c) In a first instance, food and drinks are presented according to the food pyramid classification, after that a list with tips to achieve good eating habits together with meals. In the next page it is presented in context, as discourse towards a dialogue. After that it appears embedded in grammar, in reading comprehension activities, mixed with comparative forms and preferences both written and oral. In the end, at the performative stage vocabulary is presented so that pupils can put into words grammas and vocabulary seen in the unit 3 + previous knowledge, whereas in the last activities, writing formats recognition and personal productions are focalised since those pages actually try to raise awareness about what we know as CLIL and CSE.

d) Pupils will be able to activate their knowledge as regards advertisements, healthy eating awareness and personal habits.

e) This vocabulary would contextually be used to express habits/routines, preferences, healthy eating, to go to the supermarket among others both in written and spoken language.

f) The strategies promoted for learning the vocabulary are the use of picture grams to easily find the meaning, the contextualisation, the use of listening strategies in order to differentiate between written and oral language, reading comprehension exercises and collaborative speaking tasks to improve confidence, tolerance with the rest of the class and to develop fluency.

g) Since young learners reach knowledge through repetition, there are lot of exercises with regard to listening, reading, writing and speaking.

Practical 3

 

Practical 2 CEFR

 1) Read chapter 5, Describing Learners (Harmer, 2007: pp95) and answer:

a- Which different language levels are described for explaining language proficiency?

Students are generally described in three levels according to their language proficiency: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Still, some sublevels were considered as well. Within beginners we can distinguish between real and false beginners, among beginner and intermediate, we often qualify class students as elementary, and then the intermediate level itself can be divided into lower, mid and upper intermediate.Exc. 

b- What are the aims of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) and ALTE (the Association of Language testers in Europe) levels?

The aim of both CEFR and ALTE is to provide a common basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, examinations and textbooks among other materials not only across Europe but also within the rest of the language learning world. The Common European Framework is based on a document setting out in detailed statements on what students “can do” at various levels. This indicates students’ abilities in each of the four skills practiced in different language courses (listening, speaking, writing, reading). Moreover, it gives information about all the levels and it is divided into A1 and A2 (beginner), B1 and B2 (intermediate) and C1 and C2 (advanced). At the same time, the Council of Europe and the Association of Language Testers in Europe have been working to define those levels for learners of a number of different languages. Exc

2) Look at the ppt by David Little and answer:

- What is the rationale for the CEFR action-oriented approach?

- Describe the three bands and their use.

- What kind of descriptors are used? What are their characteristics?

The action-oriented approach considers students as active participants of the learning process and users of the language in real situations.

Hence, it divides the learning process into three bands: basic user (A1 - A2), independent user (B1 - B2), and proficient user (C1 - C2).

Descriptors display the learner´s capabilities in a foreign language. It is written in a simple language so as to make the learning process transparent and promote pupils' autonomy. Its goal was to promote paralinguistic, cultural diversity as well as cultural and linguistic tolerance and democratic citizenship. Exc.

 

1)    After reading the article ECML's 2nd medium-term programme (2004-2007) Training teachers to use the European Language Portfolio, answer:

-       Does the portfolio state the specific grammar and vocabulary for each level?

                        The portfolio does not state specific grammar and vocabulary required for each level explicitly, but it does implicitly.The aims for ach level are described in terms of communicative and linguistic functions.

- What is the difference between communicative language activities and communicative competences?

Communicative competences are based on the experience students have acquired after the resolution of a large number of activities, whereas communicative language activities state what a student can do with the foreign language. Such activities involve the reception, production, interaction and mediation of the language. 

- What do the competences of interacting and mediating imply?

These competences imply that students would have to use all of their resources and tools in order to understand either, oral or written texts, so as to make sense of their message. But they don't work on their own, since they help each other out in the classroom.

- Describe achievement and avoidance strategies (SLA).

Avoidance strategies are ways of scaling down ambitions to fit resources in order to ensure success in a more limited area, whereas achievement strategies are about scaling up and finding ways to cope with the new language. For that reason,  for which the language user adopts a positive approach with what resources she/he has available -whether making use of the first language, compensating, building on previous knowledge, trying out or self-correction by monitoring the success of the communication-. These strategies (avoidance & achievement) are communicative strategies since they are used with the intention of achieving successful communication, or of coping with a communicative problem, in addition to the fact that can also be a parallel effect of aiding acquisition, because the language user sets this in a long-term object and place him/herself in the role of learner. Exc

4) Which of the levels stated in the ALTE can do statements will your primary school students be able to reach? Why?

We agreed on the fact that primary school students finishing sixth grade will be able to reach A1 level, since, as we can appreciate in the curriculum, children should be able to write simple isolated phrases and sentences, to express simple sentences about themselves and imaginary people, to ask for or pass on personal information in written form, and to show control of limited simple grammatical structures and sentence patterns. Exc

5) Focus on the macroskill and level of the textbook (*) you were given. Explain the language level and determine through descriptors what the learners are expected to do and know at this level.

Malcom Mann 

Steve Taylore-Knowles

Laser (Student’s book) B1+

Macmillan

Macroskill chosen: Speaking

Topics Taken from the book provided:

● Talking about family

● Comparing

● Making suggestions

● Expressing uncertainty 

● Talking about experiences

● Speculating 

● Agreeing and disagreeing

● Giving examples

● Talking about hopes 

● Expressing attitudes and opinion 

● Prioritising 

● Discourse management

● Talking about interests 

● Seeking clarification 

According to the information given, students from a B1+ level would be able to communicate with confidence on matters related to his/her interests and also express their personal opinions or beliefs, giving detailed accounts of experiences as well as describing their feelings and reactions. Furthermore, they would be able to exchange information on familiar topics, such as hobbies, work or travel, during speeches in everyday conversations, also describing their dreams, hopes and ambitions for the future. Moreover, they would be able to maintain discussions while expressing their feelings and thoughts about cultural topics as well as giving brief comments on the views of others, communicating agreement or disagreement. Besides, they would be able to explain why something is a problem and suggest possible solutions whilst comparing and contrasting alternatives. 

 

 

Linguistic Imperialism Relection

 Having analyzed Philipson viewpoint on linguistic imperialism as a theoretical construct from which to explain how some languages are used more than others (pg 238), I must agree with the author´s thinking, since I have witnessed first hand the influence of English language in our daily lives. English words and phrases are present not only in advertising and music, but also on people´s informal communication mixed with Spanish. 

As the writer of “Realities and Myths of Linguistic Imperialism” assured, (1997) “Linguistic imperialism takes place within an overarching structure of asymmetrical North/South relations, where language interlocks with other dimensions, cultural (particularly in education, science and the media), economic and political.” which can be proved thanks to the historical events our country has gone through. 

English Language as a Foreign Language commenced being taught in our formal education system during Frondizi´s government after he promoted secondary private education with a bilingual orientation. (Puiggros, pg 152), though it had been firstly available for an elite who could afford private tuition. 

In 2006, it became officially part of Argentina's public education curricula when 26206 was sanctioned. So, as it can be observed, there has been an educative and economical structure which has encouraged and naturalized the teaching of English language aided by international institutions such as the IMF, under the ideas of individual growth and better job opportunities which have rooted deeply in both, middle and high social classes. Although, some resistance can be seen in more conservative social groups who fiercely protect our traditions and believe that the spread of english trough pop culture keep children and teenagers away from our cultural products, such as national folklore. 

Nowadays, due to the fact that english has become a lingua franca, and not only a language spoken in certain countries, like the USA or UK, it becomes necessary for us, as future educators to realize the importance of learning about the different englishes available as a result of multiculturalism, by contextualizing them in our culture. Learning a foreign language will not only provide students with a useful skill but it will give them a wider view of the world and cultures that inhabit it, making them more respectful and critical. As a professional I would use trap music, since it contains words in English so as to show 6th graders how English language surrounds us. After all, as the British professor states, we indeed live in a multicultural world where bilingualism and multilingualism are necessary and desirable societal goals (pg 246), so they should be cultivated in an appropriate educational scenario.

References: 

Robert Phillipson (1997) Realities and Myths of Linguistic Imperialism, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 18:3, 238-248, DOI: 10.1080/01434639708666317

Puiggrós, A. (2018). Qué pasó en la educación argentina: Breve historia desde la conquista hasta el presente (Spanish Edition) (1° edición ed.). Editorial Galerna.

Practica Educativa II: English Around Town