Elisabet Castaño, Alba Comajuncosas, Alicia Córdoba, Manel Ruiz. Group 7A Learning English Using Stories Universitat de Barcelona. 2020 - 2021
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INDEX 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………3 2. Contents……………………………………………………………….4 3. Didactic unit…………………………………………………………...5-8 4. Assessment…………………………………………………………...9-12 5. Conclusions…………………………………………………………...13 6. Bibliography…………………………………………………………...13 7. Annexes………………………………………………………………..14-23
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1. INTRODUCTION Stories can help children learn a foreign language such as English. In this regard, reading stories is a meaningful way to acquire new vocabulary, set certain grammar structures and improve pronunciation. Furthermore, it is important to note that children learn in a different way than adults do. Having fun is particularly important for the children since they learn better with fun activities such as reading a tale. Then, one of the greatest benefits of stories lies in the fact that they help children to establish a positive bound with English. Nevertheless, stories are much more than a way to learn a language: stories can help develop children’s imagination and creativity. But are also windows open to the world that help children learn rules of behavior, cultural aspects and, last but not least, how to solve everyday problems (Martínez, 2007). Bearing all these elements in mind, we have chosen the story of “Gregory, the terrible eater” to introduce students to introduce students to healthy eating habits. Gregory is a goat that refuses to eat the meals his parents say are healthy: tin cans, old shoes, cardboard boxes, etc. In fact, Gregory is the opposite of what the title suggests: he has a balanced diet with fruits, vegetables, eggs, and fish. As we can see, Gregory’s story can help children learn and acquire positive habits and appropriate eating behaviors. Therefore, we have planned a didactic unit to deal with this topic which is consistent with the contents set in the primary curriculum of the Catalonian Decree 119/2015. In this regard, this unit plan is specially related to the health and personal care dimension since it tries to promote physical well-being, emotional balance, and disease prevention. This didactic unit consists of 5 sessions and it has been created for students of fourth of primary. Finally, it is worth noting that the lesson plan has an interdisciplinary approach that involves English Language, Arts and Crafts, and Science. Therefore, students will put into practice a wide range of skills and knowledge.
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2. CONTENTS English area: ●
Comprehension of simple instructions and the global sense of oral texts.
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Identification of the basic lexic related to food with the support of different pictures
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Production of short oral messages to talk about daily life using the grammar structures and lexic worked and the oral communication rules (speaking time, tone of voice, respect towards the other interventions, etc.)
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Understanding of the global sense of digital and written texts of healthy and unhealthy food using the reading strategies learnt in other languages.
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Production of simple texts related to healthy and unhealthy food using the grammar structures and lexic worked and the writing strategies and resources learnt in other languages.
Science: ●
Elaboration of a research on the basis of a relevant problem or question using cooperative work, different sources of information and digital technologies (elaborating a recipe).
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Oral and written reasoning of the information and the solution to the research project
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Habits of hygiene, rest and physical activity that support a healthy lifestyle
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Recognition of a varied and balanced diet as a basis for a healthy lifestyle
Arts & crafts: ●
Artistic expression of curricular contents using different techniques, procedures and creativity
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3. DIDACTIC UNIT
UNIT PLANNING Year and Age Group: 9-10 years old.
Reasons for age choice: We think that they have already worked on this topic in their L1 and, consequently, it is a good moment to work it in the EFL class. In addition, they have the autonomy needed to complete the activities that we demand them to do. We also believe that the types of activities that we propose are very consistent with this age, because the activities have a certain degree of difficulty but, nevertheless, we use storytelling, which will make learning fun for students.
OBJECTIVES -
To revise and extend English vocabulary. To work on creativity and teamwork. To classify food in the food pyramid. To recognize healthy food.
COMPETÈNCIES BÀSIQUES Tick (√) where appropriate √
1. Competència comunicativa lingüística i audiovisual
5. Competència digital
2. Competència matemàtica
6. Competència social i ciutadana
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3. Competència en el coneixement i la interacció amb el món físic
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7. Competència d’aprendre a aprendre
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4. Competència artística i cultural
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8. Competència d’autonomia, iniciativa personal i emprenedoria
LEARNING OUTCOMES ●
Define healthy food.
● Recognize the food pyramid. ● ● ●
Sort a variety of foods into food pyramid categories. Describe which foods they should eat more of (or less) than others. Understand that healthy food is important to all people.
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ASSESSMENT -
Rubrics for: -
Teacher assessment. Peer assessment. Self assessment. Adequacy of the activities.
MATERIALS AND RESOURCES Session1: Food Flashcards, riddles cards and the song “Do you like broccoli?” Session 2: Pyramid worksheet, food magazines, pencil, scissors, glue. Session 3: Recipe worksheet, pencil, video about healthy/unhealthy food. Session 4: Play dough, paper dish and paper and pencil (write down the presentation). Session 5: Paper and pencil (for the presentation) and the rubrics.
SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES T 1h
I Group work (4)
Session 1: Introduction
DIFFERENTIATION
Activity 1: “Do you like broccoli ice cream?” To stimulate children’s curiosity and to introduce the topic the teacher and the students will sing “Do you like broccoli ice cream?” To ensure that pupils are attentive to this activity they must complete a worksheet with the vocabulary of the food that appears in the song. After that, the students will talk about their favorite foods.
-The students with dyslexia will have the worksheet in advance so that they can work the vocabulary at home. They will also be provided with a colored strip to help them to focus on a single line of text when they read.
Activity 2: Reading “Gregory the terrible eater” Time to read the story of Gregory the terrible eater who is a goat that likes eating healthy food, but his parents insist that every goat must eat boxes, shoes, paper and stuff like that. To help children to become more involved in the story the teacher will read the book using techniques of storytelling to bring characters to life (using movement, dramatic pauses, vivid language, etc.). Furthermore he will ask questions to the student to ensure that pupils are actively listening. Activity 3: Flashcard game After reading the story about the students will do a practical activity to help them with vocabulary learning. The teacher will show them flashcards with food vocabulary that “Gregory the terrible eater has previously introduced. The students should make groups of four children, then, every team will be divided into pairs. They will play a memory
-In the flashcard activity, the teacher and the students with dyslexia will read and repeat several times the flashcard names of the food.
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game with flashcards that only show the picture of the food. The cards will be face down and taking turns, each couple should turn a pair of cards to find the match. If they find the match one member of the couple should ask: “What’s the name of my food?”. The other team member should answer the name of the food correctly. If the student gives the right answer the couple wins a point, if not the other couple has a rebound option (they can win an extra point). Win the pair with more points.
I 1h
T 1h
Group work (4)
I Group work (4)
T
I
1h
Group work (4)
Session 2: The food pyramid
DIFFERENTIATION
After reading the book, we will work on the food pyramid. We will ask the students to find all of the foods that appear in “Gregory the terrible eater” book. After finding them, we will give them some food magazines and they will have to look for pictures of the food they found in the book, cut them and stick them right in their food pyramid, classifying all of the food correctly. Later, we will ask them to look for any other food they want in the magazines, cut the pictures and stick them in the pyramid in the right place. After they have stuck all of the food pictures, they will have to write down the name of each food under the pictures.
Because this activity is in small groups, if we had a student with dyslexia having problems spelling any food, they could get help from the students in their group. They could also use the flashcards from session 1 to check how to spell the name of a specific food learned with the flashcards.
Session 3: We make a recipe!
DIFFERENTIATION
To help students to consolidate their knowledge about healthy/unhealthy food they will previously watch the following video: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnfTHsdTodA and after that we will show flashcards with cooking verbs. Then, the students will think about a special dish that they would like to “cook” for Gregory and they will have to create a recipe where they will have to include the ingredients and the different steps to cook their special recipe following the worksheet. They will have to think about something healthy that would fit in a balanced diet according to the pyramid.
If we had a student with dyslexia, we would adapt the activity so the student could do it on the computer and he/ she could use the corrector when needed.
Session 4: Let’s create the recipe!
DIFFERENTIATION
In this session, they will have to create what they wrote in the recipe for Gregory in In these two sessions there’s no need to lesson 3 with play dough. So, in small groups they have to create their own meal with adapt anything because they are able to create something with play dough on
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the play dough and talk about how they are going to present it in front of the class. During this session if we have enough time, we’ll start with some presentations. T 1h
I Group work (4)
their own level and then they can prepare what they are going to say in the presentation.
Session 5: Continuation and wrap up In this last session we are going to continue and finish all the presentations and to sum up the topic and the microteaching we will talk as a big group about what they like, about what they learn and put in common all the kids’ thoughts. And they are going to do it with the self-assessment and adequacy of activities rubrics.
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4. ASSESSMENT Before starting the plan unit the teacher, with the collaboration of the students, will design a rubric with the important items to take into consideration in the activities. One advantage of having a rubric is that students know in advance what is important in the activities they do. The assessment that we have planned has three levels or stages: -
First level: the teacher will provide feedback about the performance of the pupils. It’s important to guide students to improve their skills.
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Second level: the pupils will assess another classmate (peer-assessment). One interesting point of peer-assessment is that it allows children to become actively involved in the activities because they have to take care of their classmates' progress.
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Third level: the students will assess their own performance. For instance, if they are able to cooperate, listen, help and respect the others. Also, it is important to ask them if the activities were fun, original, understandable, that is to say, if they were adequate to their level.
TEACHER AND PEER ASSESSMENT
Exemplary
Accomplished
Developing
Beginning
Vocabulary
Knows all the names of the food and is able to relate each vocabulary word to the concept it refers to.
Knows most of the names of the food (except 3 or less) and is able to relate each vocabulary word to the concept it refers to.
Knows partially the names of the food (about half) and is able to relate each vocabulary word to the concept it refers to.
Doesn’t know the names of the foods (or 1 or 3 food items).
Classification (food pyramid)
Classifies +15 of the foods correctly.
Classifies 10 15 of the foods correctly.
Classifies 5 10 of the foods correctly.
Classifies 0 - 5 of the foods correctly.
Distinguishes healthy and unhealthy food
Is able to Is able to Is able to differentiate the differentiate the differentiate concepts concepts healthy the concepts
Is not able to differentiate the concepts
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healthy and unhealthy and is able to determine whether a food is healthy or not.
and unhealthy and is able to determine whether a food is healthy or not (making less than 3 mistakes)
healthy and unhealthy but he is not able to determine whether a food is healthy or not
healthy and unhealthy and is not able to determine whether a food is healthy or not
Creativity
His/her work is different and has many original components.
His/her work is somewhat different and has some original components.
His/her work is mostly predictable and standard. It has hardly ever original components.
Her/his work it’s highly predictable and standard. It does not have any surprising components.
Group work
The student never imposes his/her opinion and always respects the other’s contributions. In addition, the student is willing to collaborate in all group tasks.
The student rarely imposes his/her ideas and is generally willing to collaborate in group tasks.
The student can occasionally impose his/her ideas, especially when frustrated. However, he/she is usually willing to collaborate in group tasks.
The student rarely ever respects his/her peers’ contributions and ideas. Moreover, the student usually doesn't want to work in group tasks.
Observations:
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SELF ASSESSMENT In class I’m able to... My name is __________________ Today is _____________________ Help Participate Listen Respect
My name is _____________________ Today is ________________________ I know the names of the food in English I can say my opinion in English “Healthy” and “unhealthy”: I know the difference I know all the food groups I can classify the food in the correct group I can write a recipe in English
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ADEQUACY OF THE ACTIVITIES The class activities were...
My name is __________________ Today is _____________________ Fun Interesting Original Understandable
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5. CONCLUSIONS To sum up, we want to conclude saying that as we mention a lot of times in class, storybooks have many possibilities to work in class with the students. We can use books and stories with the little ones to the older ones. we have to adapt the story we are using, the focus point that we want to work with, and the activities that we are going to work with each group of age. for instance, like we made here with the story of Gregory adapting to work food in English with fourth grade. Learning using stories is a really good tool to learn and reinforce vocabulary, whether in Catalan or Spanish or learning a foreign language, as in this case in English. It also improved reading habits. we can use stories that can be used to create whole units like a microteaching of work and be an alternative to course books. it is also important the activities and sessions that are planned to work with before, during and after the book. For us telling a story is an appealing way to transmit information as it opens the window to imagination. Finally, they are fun, versatile and highly motivating for both, children and their teachers. Because as teachers we think that we have to enjoy being a storyteller, and if we don’t like it children won’t enjoy it, we think that motivation is one of the most important points.
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY ●
Armagan Citak. (2015, 12 November). Healthy Unhealthy Food Quiz [Vídeo]. YouTube. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnfTHsdTodA
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Martínez, I, B. (2007). A story-based approach to teaching English. Encuentro 17, 5256. Ministerio de educación, cultura y deporte. La atención al alumnado con dislexia en el sistema educativo en el contexto de las necesidades específicas de apoyo educativo. Colección Redie. Retrieved from: Páginas desdeLaatencionalalumnadocondislexia.pdf (educacionyfp.gob.es) Sharmat, M. (2009). Gregory, the Terrible Eater. Scholastic.
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Servei d’Ocupació Curricular. (2015). Currículum educació primària.Barcelona:
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Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament d’Educació. ●
Super single songs. (2013, 9 October). Do you like broccoli ice cream? Super single songs, Video collection, Volume 2, T1. Retrieved from: Do You Like Broccoli Ice Cream? | Super Simple Songs - YouTube
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7. ANNEXES Annex nº 1a:
Name: ____________________________________ Date:__________________
WATCH THE VIDEO, THEN MATCH THE PICTURES WITH THE WORDS
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Reading strips for students with dyslexia
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Annex nº 1b: While reading activity list of questions. ❖ Why do you think Gregory is called a terrible eater? ❖ What do you think is going to happen with Gregory in this story? ❖ What does Gregory think about how he ate at the beginning of the story? ❖ Do you like the food Gregory eats at the beginning of the story? ❖ What types of food do you think goats are supposed to have? ❖ Is Gregory eating food that is going to keep him healthy? ❖ What kinds of food do you think like to eat Gregory’s parents? ❖ What do you think of the food Gregory’s parents eat? ❖ What do you think is going to happen with Gregory after changing his eating habits? ❖ What do you think is going to happen with Gregory now?
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Annex nº 1c: Flashcard game example
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Annex nº 2a: Example of pyramid worksheet.
Name: ____________________________________ Date:___________________
FOOD PYRAMID
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Annex nº 2b: Example of completed food pyramid worksheet.
Name: ____________________________________ Date:___________________
FOOD PYRAMID
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Annex nº3: Example of recipe worksheet.
Name:__________________________________________ Date: ___________________________ RECIPE: LET’S CREATE A HEALTHY DISH! How to make a ___________________________________ INGREDIENTS ● _________________________ ● _________________________ ● _________________________ ● _________________________ ● _________________________ ● _________________________ ● _________________________
INSTRUCTIONS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
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Annex nº4: Cooking flashcards
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Annex nº5: Example of play dough creation.
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