The teaching of gospel parables and other short stories from a CLIL approach in year 6 of the Primary stage in Madrid, with special focus on verb tenses, reported speech and the passive voice.
Autor: Luis Miguel Castro Hernández Tutor: Myriam Codes Valcarce
Salamanca, mayo de 2014
Table of contents
CHAPTER 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 3 CHAPTER 2 The case for religion taught in english .................................................................................. 6 1 Main features and aims of Bilingual Education projects ..................................................................... 6 2 CLIL approach to languages. ................................................................................................................... 7 3 Religion and English improvement from a CLIL perspective .........................................................11 3.1 Which are the most appropriate years? ........................................................................................13 CHAPTER 3 Selection of parables and short stories................................................................................14 1 Use of texts for teaching grammar .......................................................................................................14 2 Criteria for selection ................................................................................................................................15 2.1 Negative criteria. ..............................................................................................................................15 2.2 Positive criteria. ................................................................................................................................16 2.3 Syllabuses of Religion Education and English in Madrid..........................................................18 CHAPTER 4 Strategies for using parables in the classroom ...................................................................25 3 Lesson structure. ......................................................................................................................................25 4 Language skills and learning objectives combined .............................................................................26 4.1 Reading activities..............................................................................................................................27 4.2 Writing activities...............................................................................................................................30 4.3 Speaking activities ............................................................................................................................34 4.4 Listening activities............................................................................................................................36 5 Assesment .................................................................................................................................................38 CHAPTER 5 Work with a parable: “The good Samaritan”. ....................................................................41 1 Text of parable: The Good Samaritan (Luke 10, 25-37) ...................................................................41 2 Unit development ....................................................................................................................................43 Conclusion. .......................................................................................................................................................47 BIBLIOGRAPHY. .........................................................................................................................................48 1
Anexxe I. Religious Education syllabus for year 5 and 6 of the Primary Stage. ....................................51 Annexe II. Correction marks. ........................................................................................................................53 Anexxe III. Story map. ...................................................................................................................................56 Anexxe IV. KET language specifications. ...................................................................................................57 Index of illustrations: Figure 2-1 The Language Triptych. Taken and adapted from (Mehisto, Marsh, & Frigols, 2008) and (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010) ........................................................................................................................ 9 Figure 2-2 The 4C’s framework, from Coyle, Hood, & Marsh (2010, page 41) ...................................10 Figure 4-1 Lesson plan: structure and timing. ............................................................................................25 Index of tables: Table 2.2.1 Three models of CLIL. Source: Bentley (2010). ...................................................................... 8 Table 2.2 Children applying for RE in Spain. Infant, Primary and Secondary aggregated. .................12 Table 3.1 Language target level for 1st and 2nd cycle. .................................................................................19 Table 3.2 Language target level for 3th cycle. .............................................................................................19 Table 3.3 List of parables and short stories.................................................................................................21 Table 4.1 Lesson progress graphic organizer. ............................................................................................25
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Jesus spoke all this things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable (Matthew 13, 34).
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The theme for this project derives from my personal interest in teaching Religious Education (RE) in English. The first time I attended a Catholic mass in Ireland in the 90’s I found myself being able to communicate with people outside liturgy but completely lost in the Assembly. With no little effort, I learnt by heart all the answers of the mass. This has been a life-long gain, since those expressions containing lexis and grammar points come to my mind so easily any time I need a specific structure. Back in Spain, in collaboration with a colleague, I offered an extracurricular activity for Secondary Students: Liturgy Workshop. Since bilingual education begun gaining popularity in Madrid I’ve been considering that teaching Religion in English would render more benefits than choosing other subjects like Music or Arts & Crafts. Also, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) methodology is commonly applied for teaching content subjects in English, and RE could follow this methodology. Anytime I commented this with colleagues and other school administrators a positive reaction was provoked. Some downsides were also presented to me: practice of Religion will be in Spanish, not English, and lack of qualified teachers. These, I was told, were the main barriers. Some other argued that it should be allowed by bishops. Regarding this, not asking permission would be enough to avoid a denial. As for the two first drawbacks, is it not the same with other subjects? So I’ve kept considering it plausible and waiting for the occasion to teach RE in English. Time has come. The present project pretends to justify such an innovation and make a concrete, real proposal to implement RE in English in a School in Madrid. The school I have chosen is Colegio Alfonso XII in S. L. de El Escorial. The year we want to introduce this innovation is the sixth of the Primary stage. This school has gained approval for an Own Pedagogic Project to be implemented in the following years. Part of this project includes an increase in the number of hours per week dedicated to teaching English teaching as a foreign language (EFL), from 3 to 5. At the same time, Arts & Crafts and Music will be taught in English from a CLIL perspective. Also, one out of four hours of Ciencias Sociales will be taught as Science: a part of the syllabus of the subject also taught in CLIL. Finally, the administrators of the school have decided to use one of the two hours of RE to be taught in the same way. This project emerges as a response to this initiative. In the case of RE, one out of two hours that this subject had so far will be deducted and passed on to English. Why? Because of the requirements that a RE teacher needs to which we must add the qualification to teach in a foreign language, as we shall show latter. This organization of a Bilingual 3
Education Program (BEP) in this school is following actually two different subject-led models of CLIL (see chapter further below). Due to this peculiar way of organizing this teaching of RE in the 6th year, our project could be considered other than a CLIL approach. But we have to say that no matter the official organization, a CLIL approach will be used. As it will be only one hour per week, at the end of the year this will amount to 33-37 hours of teaching for year 2014-2015. We have calculated a margin of error due to celebrations during the year in the school as well as days off for reason of long weekends and feast days that are unknown in September. We are bound to the syllabus of the Spanish Conference of Bishops (SBC). To fulfill it we will use one of the RE hours: the one taught in Spanish; the hour transferred to English will be a bit more freely used to teach values related to the Kingdom of Heaven preached by Jesus Christ in parables and other short stories. This will introduce pupils into real texts of the Bible (so far they have been using abridged versions, videos and some other adapted materials). In this paper we will begin with a justification of our pretension of teaching RE in English. As it is not customary to do so, we will try to show benefits that support our election of this subject. Then, we will continue to outline main features of CLIL approach to languages and content as a theoretical basis from which we will draw some indications and ideas for our project. Later, an analysis of content and target levels will be detailed in order to determine learning outcomes. Together with it, we shall establish simple and easy-to-use criteria for text selection. Once we have texts and objectives, we will find some characteristics of the activities to develop with children in the classroom when working with the parables from a CLIL approach, searching for a new methodology in the teaching – learning process and assessment. When doing this and if examples given, we will introduce activities with parables, most of the times the Good Samaritan; this will serve to get an idea of how real work in the classroom should run. Finally, a brief scheme of work with a parable will give as an idea of the way we would like the project to be deployed. The objective of the present project is to probe that RE is eligible to be taught in English in bilingual schools and we will make a proposal for its implementation in the Primary stage, showing its benefits and outlining the activities involved. In order to do so, we will follow next steps: -
In the first place, we will justify the pretension of teaching RE in English and evaluate the appropriateness of RE taught in English when a Bilingual Education Project has been deployed in a school.
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A revision of the main features of CLIL approach to languages will follow and appropriate relation to RE taught in English will be showed.
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Then, we will determine the best moment to begin with RE in English, considering only the Primary stage. 4
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Once we know what, how and when to teach RE in English, we will analyze RE and English syllabuses in Madrid for our target years to test if they are compatible.
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From the previous point we will determine criteria for selecting religious materials and language areas to be taught simultaneously. A list of parables and stories from the Gospel will emerge as well as three grammar areas to focus on.
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Finally, we will outline the type of activities for the classroom that will be used to cover content and language objectives at a time from a CLIL approach improving all skills in children. Assessment will also be briefly described and we will select a methodology for it.
Now, let’s begin with our pretension of RE taught in English within bilingual projects.
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CHAPTER 2 THE CASE FOR RELIGION TAUGHT IN ENGLISH 1 MAIN FEATURES AND AIMS OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION PROJECTS Bilingual Education Projects (BEP) in Spain are becoming more and more popular in society. Parents choosing a school for their siblings prefer a bilingual education for them when available. Madrid is no exception to the trend, rather its pioneer (Comunidad de Madrid - Consejería de Educación, 2013). What does a BEP consist of? A few key factors are the foundations for any BEP in Spain (Dobson, Pérez Murillo, & Johnston, 2010) (Comunidad de Madrid - Consejería de Educación, 2013): - An early start. Children begin to learn a Second Language (SL) at the age of three or even before. - An increase in the number of hours per week dedicated to learn and use a Second Language (SL), including here the presence of Language Assistants whose mother tongue is the SL that is being taught. - The use of the SL for learning another subject-matter of the curriculum. Sometimes this is referred to as the CLIL approach. This third factor is gaining more a more popularity among Education Administration Authorities for State Schools as well as for the private or fee-paying sector (in projects such as BEDA created in Madrid or PIPE, present in several autonomous regions). Nothing new so far. But it's not customary to teach Religious Education in English when a BEP is implemented in a school. This is not the case with Science, Arts and Crafts and Music, which are the most commonly used subject matters for this purpose (Anghel , Cabrales, & Carro, 2012). Physical Education is also frequently chosen (Machunsky, 2007). No objection has ever been raised to Religious Education as suitable for BEPs. On the contrary, Mathematics and Spanish (Lengua Castellana) are frequently not eligible. Nevertheless, it remains as a weird option for teachers, Head teachers and the broad School Communities. This is why choosing Religious Education for being taught in English following a CLIL approach deserves some kind of justification: many would expect it! We consider it is in terms of its contribution to the aims of the BEP that such a defense should be argued. Which are the objectives of BEP? There is no “official” list of them and each program sets out its own aims, but we can summarize then in this common lines: 1. Any BEP pretends to increase the competence of the students in a SL (the most common one in Spain is English). This follows a rather recent shift in teaching methodologies from knowledge-based learning to the development of skills and concepts. 2. Get students who are aware of the diversity of both cultures, his own one and the culture of the SL. 6
3. Facilitate the exchange of students (sometimes teachers). 4. Promote the international mobility of the labor workforce in Europe and the world. If only two out of them had to remain, numbers 1 and 4 would probably be chosen. Most parents want their children to be fluent in English not only because it means an enlargement of their cultural background but mainly due to the increase in employment opportunities it renders. This is why in any BEP an official certification is also expected by families and School managers as a result of the project.
2 CLIL APPROACH TO LANGUAGES. Together with the extension of bilingual education a new way of teaching English has emerged. The acronym CLIL stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning and was coined by David Marsh in 1994 (Johnson, 2014). It is a recent way of teaching English and other subjects not only is Spain but all over the world (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010). It is becoming more and more popular in schools with a BEP: some institutions and publishing houses design teacher courses on CLIL, school principals use it as a magnet for demand and Education Authorities begin to mention it as a new efficient approach for BEPs. But, what do we mean by CLIL? The European Commission in its well-known 1995 white paper on education (European Comission, 1995) stated that it was necessary for students to finish school time being proficient in two European languages. In achieving this goal, the report suggests that secondary school pupils should study certain subjects in the first foreign language learned. Since then, the use of a foreign language to teach school subjects has not stopped increasing. It is considered a powerful way to improve learning and proficiency in a foreign language. The term ‘Content and Language Integrated Learning’ was adopted in 1994 in European countries (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010). It is not just another fashion doomed to pass by leaving no trace. On the contrary, using another language to teach and enhance opportunities dates back to the Sumerian times, continued throughout history in classic Greece and Rome and so on to our times (Mehisto, Marsh, & Frigols, 2008): In European medieval times, learning through a second language (Latin) was customary and there was no other way to get into University (Illanes & Saranyana, 1996) (Dhondt, 1972). Despite this, in recent years CLIL is being introduced and showed off as innovative; and in fact it is new up to a certain point and in some sense. If innovation means using new methods for improving learning, CLIL is fairly considered as new tool. And it is simple and complex at the same time. There are three main different models for CLIL to be implemented in schools: language-led, subjectled and partial inversion, as shown in the following table, taken from Bentley (2010):
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Table 2.2.1 Three models of CLIL. Source: Bentley (2010).
Soft CLIL
Type of CLIL Language – led
Time
Context
45’ per week Some curricular topics are taught during a language course.
Subject-led
15 hours per Schools choose parts of the subject syllabus term
Hard CLIL
which they teach in the target language.
Subject-led
About 50% About half of the curriculum is taught in the
(partial
of
immersion)
curriculum
the target language. The content can reflect what is taught in the L1 curriculum or can be new content
Time column in this table is just a reference and schools and autonomous regions in Spain differentiate among them in this aspect. In Madrid, 30% of the curriculum (first foreign language courses included) suffice to be a bilingual school. Only a few of schools with a BEP reach half of the time in CLIL. Despite different models can be found in schools, generally speaking Content and Language Integrated Learning is a bi-focal approach to education in which a second language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language. This is not a new form of language teaching and learning, neither other way of content teaching. Rather, CLIL is a fusion of subject and language didactics, sharing elements of different practices: language immersion, bilingual education, contentbased language teaching, teaching of English as a second language, etc. CLIL is content-based learning, teaching curricular subjects through a foreign language: a SL is used to learn and communicate at the same time, the curricular contents determine the type of language to be used without grading it for the pupils; so language is determined by the subject, not the other way round. It is not a language-led teaching that imports texts from other subjects to highlight language dimensions of it. It is rather a subject-led teaching and learning process in which explicit language teaching may not play any role in the making. By doing so, content and language learning outcomes are realized in classroom. Curricular content is learnt, and incidental learning of language fulfilled. The concept is applied successfully in primary, secondary and tertiary education as well as across different types of schools. Some of the basic assumptions of CLIL in language learning is the increase in quantity of exposure to the SL and quality of its use. As CLIL implies teaching content subjects, the total amount of time using a SL is raised up. But not only we get more hours of teaching a SL but a new way of doing it, as use of the SL occurs in a very unnoticed, natural way for pupils, because their attention is focused on content rather than language. This is only the first aspect of quality of exposure. CLIL demands 8
a more interactive way of teaching. Curriculums, syllabuses and programs establish what must be learnt, i.e., outcomes. Almost no reference is made to the how we teach, apart from a surprising new reference in LOMCE that considers methodology as part of the curriculum. But CLIL has something to do with methodology, the way / how to teach content. CLIL is more than translating a subject into another language. If any synergy is to be gained, i.e., something more than the sum of teaching English and content one apart from the other, some kind of new strategy is required. It’s a method or approach that combines teaching of content from the curriculum with teaching of a foreign language (Bentley, 2010). An essential element in this new strategy is classroom communication, a dialogic form of pedagogy based on interaction by teacher – pupil and pupil – pupil dialogue. This will render children engagement, learning and understanding. Language is used to learn at the same time that the use of language is learnt. Focus is on content objectives. But at some stages language objectives will have to be taught and used, for example, grammar, use of English and vocabulary. There will be contentobligatory language and content-compatible language. English becomes the language of learning, for learning and so we make language through learning, as shown here (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010):
Figure 2-1 The Language Triptych. Taken and adapted from (Mehisto, Marsh, & Frigols, 2008) and (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010)
By language of learning we refer to the language elements required to understand subject concepts. But we will work not a sequence of grammar structures, but the notions and functions of language needed. For example, if we come across a past perfect verb form in a parable, no revision of all past tenses must be done; rather, the idea of finished action in the past with pre-defined phrases that can be used for content. Language for learning refers the type of language use they need to learn, such a descriptions, inference, discussion, etc. Finally, language through learning refers to the fact that there is no understanding without language. In the Secondary stage, I use to reply to those pupils who pretend they have grasped a new concept but are unable to express it in written or oral forms: “If you are not able to say it, you didn’t understand it”. Understanding cannot take place without saying, at least for oneself, i.e., without language. And language benefits from understanding. Both go hand in hand when learning occurs. 9
In CLIL education, language is more than just a means. It is part of content. In this sense, links with culture and context play a key role, as in any other subject. Language, in this connections, must be a bit more than a mere instrument. Globalization has made of English a lingua franca for many people and some attention to correctness has dimmed. There are some characteristics of English used as a lingua franca that shouldn’t be avoided in CLIL classroom, such as non-use of the –s in the third person simple present, excessive use of general verbs like to, have, make, etc. (Harmer, 2007). We must find a balance between two poles: use of English as a lingua franca, tolerating its mistakes, and pretending to be working with proficient speakers. Saying that language is part of content and not just a means refers us to the 4C’s of CLIL (Bentley, 2010) (Mehisto, Marsh, & Frigols, 2008) (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010): content, communication, cognition and culture. These are called the four components of CLIL. They are all connected. The first C needs no comment; in this project, content will be Religion, some of its objectives for third cycle in particular. Communication –second C – is a reminder that subject and language skill must be produced simultaneously and this involves children production of language, oral and written. For this to happen, teacher talking time must be reduced in favor of children talking time. Learning is a cognitive process –hence the third C – and skill associated such as reasoning, creative thinking or evaluation should be fostered. A crucial part in promoting children cognition will be giving them useful language tools. Finally, the last C stands for culture. Cultural diversity, other perspectives to judge our own social environment help children value their traditions as well as others. The 4C’s can be mapped as follows:
Figure 2-2 The 4C’s framework, from Coyle, Hood, & Marsh (2010, page 41)
Finally, we cannot finish this chapter without mentioning two more key concepts in CLIL: BICS (Basic Interpersonal Commutative Skills) and CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency) (Bentley, 2010). They are a blending of what we have said above but for reasons of popularity among theorists of CLIL some mention is expected. BICS, necessary for the everyday life in a 2L environment, are achieve sooner than CALP, requested only in academic contexts. To summarize CLIL approach in a few key points: - CLIL is a content-led teaching. 10
- Communicative skills are promoted - A shift from teacher-led to children-led activities is promoted. - Language incidental learning occurs and is considered also when teaching - Context and culture are integrated in the process
3 RELIGION AND ENGLISH IMPROVEMENT FROM A CLIL PERSPECTIVE In the previous chapter a brief theoretical basis for CLIL has been laid down. Now we will try to show briefly how RE, when taught in English, contributes to the aims of a BEP: 1. RE contributes to the development of skills in English thanks to: - Richness of vocabulary. The range of words covered is wider than that of subjects like Physical Education or A&C and it could be similar to that of Science (when History and Geography are part of it). The corpus of words used in some subjects has two disadvantages for the BEP: a) A big deal of the vocabulary is not of common use in everyday language, such as botanic taxation, chemical properties of elements, ancient history, games and sports from other cultures, etc. RE is based on many everyday used words and even the most specific vocabulary children will use (God, Church, Assembly, Gospel, Saint, Holy, pray, Mass, faithful, Catholic....) is somehow a source of common cultural background since Religion is present in our countries, sometimes in an explicit way, always because it has permeated our culture. b) In some subjects, a very limited number of grammatical structures suffices for going through it with a further development of skills in SL. For example, if we set apart classroom language which is common to any subject, in PE there is a clear tendency to overuse verbal present tenses and the lexis is very limited. I have been randomly taking a few pages from a Physical Education and a Science book for first year of the Secondary stage and compared to the parable of the Good Samaritan. The number of words in KET lexis was clearly inferior in the case of PE and Science. This is not a scientific method and no clear conclusion can be drawn from it, but give as an idea. c) RE deals with a vast number of fields: History (Sacred History, History of the Church), Geography (of the Holy Land, Religions in the world), World Religions, Liturgy (Rites, Church Year, Sacraments), ethics, attitudes, everyday circumstances and so on. d) RE fits a good number of teaching methodologies: readings, listening, debates, drama, collaborative learning, group work, social work and all those in common with other subjects.
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- Enhances the awareness by helping children understand the rich tapestry of faiths and cultures they can come across. It helps children reflect upon what they like and what they dislike, what is important to them and why they do the things they do. - Strengthens the mobility of our students by providing them with vocabulary they could use in religious contexts and ceremonies they could attend when abroad, no matter if they do so for personal or professional reasons. I recall the demand of a former pupil of my school. After one year working for Google in Ireland, while visiting Madrid during his summer holidays, he came back to his school and complained because we had taught him English for work and everyday business, not for his personal Christian life: he had not been taught prayers like the Our Father, Glory, and so on. Not everything is positive in the case for RE taught in English. RE is not a compulsory subject in Spain and is taught from a confessional standpoint. Recent data for year 2013-2014 show that a majority of families opt for RE (Conferencia Episcopal Española, 2014): Table 2.2 Children applying for RE in Spain. Infant, Primary and Secondary aggregated. Type of school
Proportion of families who choose RE for their children
State Schools
56,6%
Private Catholic Schools
97,8%
Private non-Catholic Schools
69,8%
Only Catholic RE is widely available in our country (also Evangelical, Islamic and Jewish RE is offered in some schools in our country). According to the above data from the Spanish Conference of Bishops, a high amount of students would be out of a BEP that includes RE taught in English. This is not a minor problem. A BEP including RE through a SL can be implemented only in Catholic Schools where 100% would be inside the project. For this reason, our project is designed for Catholic Schools with a BEP. As shown in the first part of this chapter, in the context of Catholic Schools, RE is not only eligible for CLIL teaching, it can be considered one of the best options for language improvement in terms of vocabulary, grammar structures, diversity of topics and relation to the context. Nevertheless, together with this advantages we may find some bumps in our way to introduce RE in English. Families want CLIL initiatives to last, i.e., to be a long-term program. There are four main barriers for CLIL to be implemented in schools (Mehisto, Marsh, & Frigols, 2008): First of all, there is a need to overcome prejudices and misconceptions about CLIL. Then, we will have to face a barrier for any school administrator: Do I have qualified teachers for teacher RE from a CLIL perspective? Only since 2010-2011 have Spanish Universities begun to offer Bilingual Degrees aimed at BEP schools 12
(Johnson, 2014). Third, CLIL means a greater workload, due in part to shortage of materials. Finally, the attitude of school administrator towards some of the implications of CLIL programs, such as selecting only best students for a bilingual section in a school or the reluctance of head teachers who do not feel personally well equipped to support teachers. For our project, elements two and three come to the fore. The requisites for teaching RE in Spain are higher in number than for any other position in a school. Teacher in the Primary Stage only need to be in possession of a Primary Education Degree, and that is all; you can be hired. But when it comes to RE, you need two more requirements: DEI or DECA (a certificate issued by the Spanish Conference of Bishops that guarantees a certain degree of religious education and pedagogic aptitudes) and the mission canonica –at least it is required in Madrid-, issued by the bishop of the Diocese were you are going to teach. But when it comes to Secondary stage, it’s even harder. Besides a University Degree, you will need a Master’s Degree as Teacher for Secondary School (formerly, it was easier with CAP), plus DEI or DECA for Secondary Stage and mission canonica. DEI/DECA for Secondary stage is quite hard to get, as some Theological Studies have to be completed. If it is hard to find teachers of RE (the shortage of then will be clearly notices in the following years, especially in the Secondary stage), when a CLIL program in Madrid is to be implemented, teacher involved in it need a C1 level of English, whilst in mot of the rest of autonomous regions in Spain B2 is enough to teach content in English. Our second barrier is shortage of materials. Almost every publishing house oriented to the school market (Santillana, Oxford, SM, Edelvives, Casals…) has produced textbooks for Science, Arts and Crafts, Music and, in some cases, Physical Education. No one for RE, so far; and no off-the-shelf material can be found in our country. For other subjects, cooperation among teachers is of great help. In our case, it’s harder to do so. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, but materials for RE are quite different to those used in Science, Music or Arts. Probably, and this is a personal opinion, collaboration and material sharing with the English teacher would be easier.
3.1 Which are the most appropriate years? As stated above, RE is confined to Catholic Schools if we want it to be taught in English and granting same opportunities for all. But supposing we have the resources, which is the best moment for implanting a CLIL program with RE? The usual year for receiving the First Holy Communion in Catholic Schools is the fourth of the Primary Stage, i.e., at the end of the second cycle. It is necessary for the students to learn all RE contents in Spanish for this reason and wouldn't help initiating a CLIL approach at this stage of their studies. Later during the third cycle no Sacrament preparation is ahead and the moment comes for the introduction of the vocabulary and content in L2, using all their previous knowledge. Basics in RE
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have already been achieved and this is a great help for progressing in English while at the same time they learn new contents. There is at least one more reason in favor of 5 th and 6th years. The level of English required to understand the parables is not achieved by students till they are this age. As we will probe later, parables require a KET – PET level in terms of lexis and grammatical areas. In some cases, simplification of authentic material will be necessary. Therefore, introducing RE in English in previous courses could result into demotivation of students and frustration of this initiative. On the contrary, extending it to the Secondary stage could be its consolidation by means of better result in terms of language improvement; but this is beyond our reach at this moment.
CHAPTER 3 SELECTION OF PARABLES AND SHORT STORIES 1 USE OF TEXTS FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR Using texts for teaching is a quite common practice. English textbooks use them for almost any content. If we try to classify texts for our purpose, four sources can be established (Thornbury, 1999): - Coursebooks, as contained in books printed and used for helping teachers. - Authentic. This is a real life text, not produced for educational purposes. - Teacher. Here all texts that a teacher writes for use in the classroom. - Students. Many times students are asked to write and this outcome could be used for teaching. Teacher and student texts are written for the purpose of teaching a specific grammar point or topic they display because they have been tailored with that in mind. Course book texts are, in some way, teacher texts, as they have been written with the same intention, and have several inconveniences: (a) They have an unreal air; (b) Students find then uninteresting and unmotivating; (c) They are not real-life texts. Authentic or real texts do not contain these disadvantages, but could face others. Some of them are these: (a) A wide gap between density and content and students level of understanding in terms of vocabulary and grammar areas; (b) Syntactic complexity could be unfeasible for children; (c) Sometimes they lack context of the school and have an unreal style or air, ending up considered as impenetrable and demotivating. 14
Taking all what’s been stated into account, authentic texts should be preferred when possible. To overcome its possible negative aspects we should consider –when necessary- adapting them before use. Its complexity could be measured in terms of (1) vocabulary, (2) grammar structures and (3) syntax unknown and/or unfamiliar for children. Texts can be adapted using synonyms for odd words, already known grammar structures and children friendly syntax. We could also find authentic texts adapted to children without abridging them or making any modification. Such is the case with tales and parables. “A parable is a piece of real life intended to communicate one idea” (Ratzinger, 2007, pág. 184). We must add another line of argument for text selection. For teaching verb tenses and passive voice narrations and stories are amongst the best options (Wright, 2009) (Thornbury, 1999) (Harmer, 2007). For this reason, parables and short stories should be optimal for our project, unlike other texts from the Gospels such as discourses; for example, Jesus’ discourse on the bread of life (John 6, 26-59).
2 CRITERIA FOR SELECTION Jesus Christ revealed himself with words and deeds having an inner unity (Dei Verbum 2). He did not use discourses and wrote no book. It was his disciples that put pen to paper and wrote some of his sayings and what he did. This is why Gospels are full of stories and parables. These are considered one of the most characteristic sayings of Jesus, together with some other discourses like the Sermon on the Mount. Parables narrate a particular event that evolves in a way that is other than the common sense would expect. By doing so, the parable invites the reader to take a certain position in relation to what is told. This is sought in order to trigger a change of attitude in real life (Theissen & Merz, 2000). It is important to distinguish parables from allegories, fables and other literary forms present in the Gospels. This is beyond the realm of this paper. We will accept as parables those which are widely considered as such and useful for our purposes. There is no official list of parables accepted by scholars. Narration was the preaching style preferred by Jesus as modern theology has pointed out, giving birth to a new line of study in Christianity as well as a new dynamic in evangelization (McGrath, 2001). In order to focus on some of them, we will establish some criteria for selection.
2.1 Negative criteria. We will select texts that could be acceptable and accessible for all the children. We will not use miracles, genealogies and theological discourses by Jesus. The passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ will also be set aside in our work. The reason to do so is that this texts contain many aspects that can be accessed only by faith. For the same reason (although some exception could be accepted) the passion. For example, when Jesus feeds the five thousand (John 6, 1-15) attention of the children could be very easily focused on how it could be; not in vain, such a account of Jesus deed is intended 15
to lead readers into faith, it is a sign (i.e. miracle) from the Gospel writer point of view. It’s our intention to avoid catechizing children. Nonetheless, it could be achieved from an incidental point of view using parables. One distinctive aspects of parables from miracles and other passages from the Gospels is that parables can be fully understood from a non-theistic point of view, as they enhance universal values. We will provide two examples: one parable and a short story. Let’s take the parable of the two sons (which is really short); it serves as a way to introduce children into prompt responsibility, which is a universal attitude to life. And so could be done with all the parables. If we choose one of the short story we propose to be used, we will get the same outcome. Let it be Peter’s denial of Jesus, after he was arrested. Isn’t it an excellent way of talking about friendship and loyalty? The absence of faith in the children of their belonging to any other religion or confession wouldn’t be any obstacle to work with this texts. The aim of RE is to develop the ability to ask relevant questions not only about religion but also draw on that they read and learn and make critical questions about the real world they live in (Teece, 2012). Despite what we’ve just stated, we should recognize that the Gospels are a whole and any text needs context to be fully understood. Some of the stories we will select have some degree of dependence on the context and will have to be introduced. This is the case with stories like Peter’s denial of Jesus, John the Baptist death or the last supper. Should we discard this stories for this reason? Europe has been, up to some degree, a Christian civilization; even the western civilization in which we have been grown up is a Christian one. It is known the Roman expression: “the Christian roots of Europe”. Therefore, our use of parables and the short stories we will select comply with the condition of being fully open to all and embedded in our cultural background.
2.2 Positive criteria. We will select texts that fit into the children’s level of English, are suitable for classroom use and have a narrative structure. In accordance with our project, passages should meet the following requirements to be selected: - Length. Any parable or story should have a manageable length for classroom use. The whole passion of the Lord could be considered a single story with narrative characteristics and target grammar structures, not to mention its core role in the Gospels; but it’s too long to be selected. And some other stories, like “The cure of Peter's Mother in Law” in Mt 8, 14-15, may be too short for our purposes. Some of the texts in our final selection will need more than one teaching period while some other won’t deserve a second. - Narrative structure: A narrative text is an account -written or spoken- of connected events in order of happening (Axelrod & Cooper, 2010). In order to achieve our aims, our text should have several clear elements: 16
- Setting: where and when the events take place. Many parables and gospel stories are timeless, i. e., do not have a specific location in history; but a brief setting is always offered somehow. - Characters (and characterization of them). - Problem, conflict or situation that characters have to face. - Sequence of events: event 1 → event 2 → and so on. - Resolution or outcome. - Moral lesson of teaching to be obtained. Nonetheless, parables are a unique and some of these elements have a distinct taste. Some of these characteristic aspects are (Theissen & Merz, 2000): (a) sobriety: they use only the essential number of characters; (b) law of duality: never more than two people speak or act at the same time; this will help understanding by children; (c) only one line of narration: no parallel stories; (d) law of repetition; (e) interruption of the story just after the crucial point: the story does not end with the resolution that could be expected in a tale. For example, we do not know if the elder son gets himself reconciled with his father and his brother (Lc 15, 11) or if the budding fig tree ends up bearing some fruit, and we ignore the resolution of the man who was attacked in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Applying this criteria of narrative structure, some parables in the Gospels will be discarded. It is the case of John 10, 1-8, the parable of the good shepherd. Despite the very same Gospel says it is a parable (παροιµια) and many authors consider it as such (Wikenhauser, 1967), we do not have a course of events consisting of a setting, problem to be solved and resolution, with characters interrelated. Only parables and stories that could fit into this scheme or be outlined in a story map (see story map by Taberski in the Anexxe III) will be selected for our project. - Presence of target grammar structures. Our selected text should contain one or more of the next grammar structures: - Verb tenses, in particular those in the list of KET grammatical areas (see below); the higher the number of tenses, the better. Parables and short stories make greater use of past and present verb tenses; a balance should be sought through classroom activities. - Must contain expressions suitable to be transformed from direct to indirect speech, and the other way round. - Some expressions that could be transformed from passive to active voice, and vice versa. - Vocabulary.
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All the texts we will propose for work in the classroom meet the features described above. Only canonical Gospels will be considered. For example, the so called Gospel of Thomas contains many of the same oral traditions that will be ignored in this project, as well as short stories for Apocrypha. The Oxford 3000TM is a list of the words which should receive priority in vocabulary study because of their importance and usefulness, according to the experts who have developed it. The Oxford Text Checker has been deployed to put it into action. This tool -available on the Internet- gives back the percentage of words in a text that are included in the Oxford 3000TM. As it is well known, too many new or difficult words could make comprehension impossible. In order to help balance new and known vocabulary, all our texts will have at least 90% of their vocabulary contained in Oxford 3000TM. Proper names such as Jerusalem, Christ, Samaritan, Pharisees, etc. won’t be considered in this calculation. This content words will be explained by teacher using vocabulary teaching methodologies. To reach the proportion or new vocabulary already mentioned, some changes in the original texts could be made without mentioning, provided the meaning and message of the text remains the same.
2.3 Syllabuses of Religion Education and English in Madrid In March 2014 the Ministry of Education in Spain has published the national curriculum for the Primary Stage. When it comes to English, contents are organized according to the Common European Framework (CEF) for Languages. Curriculum is made of contents, criteria for assessment and standards. This three aspects are grouped in four sections that correspond to the four basic skills: listening (comprensión de textos orales), speaking (producción de textos orales: expression e interacción), reading (comprensión de textos escritos) and writing (producción de textos escritos: expression e interacción). Despite the reference to the CEF, no level of English is established for the Primary Stage as an objective to be achieved by all children. According to article 7.f. of the law (Real Decreto 126/2014), the aim for this stage is to achieve the basic communicative competence that will prepare children to produce and understand simple messages and cope with everyday contexts. We consider that the so called standards by the Ministry of Education could also fall into the category of language functions or communicative tasks. Finally, this Real Decreto adds to the curriculum a set of syntactic – discursive contents that we could refer to as inventory of grammatical areas. These are much more specific and help us in a great deal to know what level of English should be the target for year 6 of this stage. The Ministry of Education rules for the whole nation. The Autonomous Region of Madrid will specify for itself what the Ministry of Education has established for all. This development has not taken place so far, as of May 14, 2014. Right now and, for sure, during this course year 2013-2014 and the next one, the curriculum for Madrid is drawn up in the Decreto 22/2007 of this Autonomous Region. This is a more detailed curriculum. But, what are the specific standards for schools in Madrid 18
following a BEP? Long ago, a teacher trainer told us during a lesson: “Tell me the way you assess your students and I will tell you the way you teach”. This saying has remained in my mind since. Now, I have clear understanding of it. The trend in OCDE countries is to use the international, external, and standard evaluations as a leverage to reform education systems. Unlike other regions, Education Authorities in Madrid have established clear standards for schools that follow a BEP in a twofold way. In the first place, they have establish a Colegios Bilingües de la Comunidad de Madrid Syllabus, that specify for each cycle in the Primary stage learning objectives and evaluation criteria in the target 2L . This document follows the same structure of language objectives that Cambridge ESOL has for its examinations: language functions, grammar structures, vocabulary; a detailed list of them is provided. Added to the syllabus, any school with an approved BEP must evaluate all its children (excluding those exempted in accordance to the resolution that rules the external test for children under a BEP) at the end of years 2 (7 years), 4 (9 years) and 6 (11 years) of the Primary Stage. For any of these, the level of English required goes as follows (see Resolution issued on 12/22/2013, by Dirección General de Becas y Ayudas a la Educación): Table 3.1 Language target level for 1st and 2nd cycle. Year
CEFRL Level
Skills to evaluate
2nd
A1
Oral skills only
4th
A1 – A2
Oral skills only
Table 3.2 Language target level for 3th cycle. Year
Examiner
Type of test
CEFRL Level
Skills to evaluate
6th
University of Cambridge
KET
A2
Reading, listening,
PET
B1
ESOL Examinations
writing and speaking.
This external assessment can take place at the end of the second trimester or during the third. There is no specification about the venue. A detailed report of the test results must be sent within the school year to the Education Authorities for system and school evaluation. Our objective is to use Gospel texts for children following a BEP in Madrid. For this reason, our standards will be those required for students who have not been exempted from this final external test. As seen above, two different levels of English are acceptable as learning outcomes at the end of the stage: Key English Test and Preliminary English Test. We will choose KET level as our level target. Despite there are not yet conclusive and public results for public or independent schools with BEPs in this stage, for the sake of prudence, we consider KET as a realistic target for our students. 19
Madrid Education Authorities have assumed the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF) and have chosen Cambridge ESOL for measuring these standards. We must now proceed to check what children can do at A2 level. What are the verb tenses covered by KET examinations and to what extent reported speech or the passive have to be developed by children who have to pass external texts for BEP schools? To answer this, we must focus our attention to the inventory of grammatical areas and lexis covered by KET examination. We will also consider topics, and language functions, notions and communicative tasks. A full account of language specifications for KET can be found in the Annexes; PET standards follow the same pattern (Cambridge ESOL, 2012). We will pay careful attention to grammatical areas and will not ask children to go beyond that level if at all possible. For example, we will give preference to those verb tenses included in KET, with the exception of past perfect simple (like in Luke 15, 14: “After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need”), because this verb tense is very much used in narratives and reported speech. For the rest of the grammatical areas, most of times KET specifications will suffice for working with the parables. For example, the types of conditional that appear in examinations after KET (example: I would go if you came soon; If I were you, I wouldn’t go) will rarely appear. In the case of modals, the list and uses contained in KET is wide enough. It would be desirable and extremely useful the analysis of any text susceptible of use in light of KET specifications: verb forms and tenses, clause types, modals, etc., but it would go beyond the scope of this project in time consumption and extension to show. A hint of the work that would have to be done will be seen in the preparation of the text of the Good Samaritan. Together with the curriculum of English for 5th and 6th graders in Madrid we have to take into account RE syllabus for our target years (See the Anexxe I). Does it fit to our proposal of working with the parables and short stories? The curriculum of RE is determined at national level and no difference among Autonomous Regions exist. Now, we have to revise the objectives assigned to RE in the last two years of the Primary stage by the Spanish Conference of Bishops (Conferencia Episcopal Española, 2007), of which we will consider here only those related to our project, respecting their original order and it’s Spanish version: RE - 1. Las respuestas a las grandes preguntas del ser humano en el Judaísmo, el Cristianismo y el Islam. El sentido y alcance de la fe y las buenas obras. RE -2. La dignidad del ser humano creado por Dios Padre. Los derechos humanos. RE -3. Relatos del Nuevo Testamento en que los testigos acreditan que Jesucristo es Hijo de Dios y verdadero hombre. RE -4. El hombre nuevo y la ley del Espíritu. El amor de Dios y el amor al prójimo.
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RE -5. El ser humano es responsable de sus actos. El valor de la conciencia, la verdad, la libertad y la voluntad. RE -6. Jesús llama y envía a sus discípulos por todo el mundo para continuar su obra de salvación. RE -7. Respeto a las convicciones religiosas como condición mínima para la convivencia. RE -8. Compromiso y solidaridad con el mundo de hoy. RE -9. Manifestaciones de la presencia de Dios en la cultura cristiana. Valoración de las expresiones artísticas de las religiones presentes en el entorno. RE -10. Dios prepara una tierra nueva donde habitará la justicia. RE-11. Identificar algunas instituciones de la Iglesia dedicadas a la ayuda a los necesitados. RE-12. Resumir la fe de la Iglesia acerca de la vida eterna. Once we know the level of English required from children in year 6 as well as the curriculum of RE at this moment, we have generated a few criteria in order to assess if any text is adapted for our purpose. We have revised most of the passages in the gospels and selected a closed list of them following the criteria we have established. We offer here a list of parables and short stories to work with (in the reference, 01 stands for Matthew, 02 for Mark, 03 for Luke and 04 for John; the rest follows the usual way of Bible citation): Table 3.3 List of parables and short stories
Type
Gospel ref. 01 02, 1-5a.7-
Title of the passage
The Magi (the wise kings)
Related RE syllabus
Other
12
Other
01 07, 24-27.
The wise and the foolish builders
01 12, 1-8
Picking grain on the Sabbath.
Parable
01 13, 24-30
The weeds
RE2, RE7
Parable
01 13, 31-33
The mustard seed and the yeast
RE5, RE10
Parable of the sower.
RE1, RE5, RE8
Other
01 Parable
13,
8.18-23.
RE3, RE9 RE5 RE1, RE2, EE4, RE5, RE8, RE10
3b-
21
Parable
01 13, 44
The hidden treasure
RE1, RE5
Parable
01 13, 45-46
The pearl
RE1, RE6
Parable
01 13, 47-50
The net
RE2, RE5, RE7
Other
01 14, 13-21
The return of the twelve and the feeding RE3, RE4, RE8, RE11, of the five thousand.
RE12
Other
01 14, 3-12
the death of John the Baptist
RE5
Parable
01 18, 12-14
The lost sheep
RE2
Parable
01 18, 21-35
The unforgiving servant.
RE4, RE5, RE8
Other
01 19, 16-24
The young rich man.
RE1, RE3
Parable
01 20, 1-16
The workers in the vineyard
RE3
Parable
01 21, 28-32
The two sons
RE5, RE8
Parable
01 21, 33-43
The tenants
RE3
Parable
01 22, 1-14
The wedding banquet
RE1, RE3
Other
01 22, 15-22
Paying the poll-tax to Caesar
RE5, RE6, RE7, RE8
Other
01 24, 42-51
The faithful servant
RE5
Parable
01 25, 1-13
The ten virgins
RE3, RE5, RE12
Parable
01 25, 14-30
The parable of the bags of gold (talents) RE1, RE5, RE8 RE1, RE2, RE3, RE4, RE5,
01 25, 31-46
The sheep and the goats
Other
RE6, RE8, RE9, RE11, RE12
Other
01 26, 17-30
The last supper
RE3, RE6, RE9
Other
01 26, 69-75
Peter disowns Jesus
RE5
Parable
01 27, 11-26
Jesus before Pilate
RE2, RE3, RE4
22
Other
01 27, 32-44
The crucifixion of Jesus
RE3, RE9
Other
01 28, 1-9
Jesus has risen
RE3, RE9
Parable
03 07, 41-43
The two debtors (the parable of the creditor)
RE4, RE5, RE8 RE1, RE2, RE4, RE6, RE7,
03 10, 25-37
The good Samaritan
Parable
03 12, 16-21
The rich fool
RE1, RE5
Parable
03 15, 11-32
The parable of the prodigal son
RE1, RE5
Parable
03 15, 8-10
The lost coin
RE1, RE6
Parable
03 16, 1-10
The unjust steward
RE5, RE7
Parable
Parable
03 16, 19-31
The rich man and Lazarus
RE8, RE11
RE1, RE4, RE8, RE11, RE12 RE2, RE3, RE4, RE6, RE8,
04 13, 2-17
Jesus washes his disciple's feet
Other
04 18, 1-14
Jesus arrested
RE5
Other
04 20, 24-29
Jesus appears to Thomas
RE3, RE12
Parable
02 04, 26-29
The seed growing secretly
RE10
Other
RE10
For our purposes, as no official version of the Bible has ever been officially established by the Holy See since the Second Vatican Council, we have chosen the New International Version ® (NIV®) (International Bible Society, 2011). Some of the reasons for selecting this version of the Bible are: -
Firstly, it’s an ecumenical translation of the Bible, commonly used by Catholics and Protestant confessions. Despite produced in Evangelical grounds, no tendency in its craftsmanship has arisen so far.
-
Secondly and most important, an online version of it is freely available at biblegateway.com with this features: o
Friendly search engine of biblical texts.
o
Audio version of each passage, with more than on narrator to choose. 23
o
Free apps for mobile devices have been developed. Thanks to it, it can be accessed almost anytime anywhere.
-
Finally, the NIV is a translation no so stuck to the original text, leaving a wider space for interpretation and easier to understand. It’s more user friendly: important for our purposes.
For these reasons, we have considered NIV® the most appropriate for use in our classroom. I can add that personally this is a version I’ve been listening for years since it was first published in CD and I’ve become used to it.
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CHAPTER 4 STRATEGIES FOR USING PARABLES IN THE CLASSROOM 3 LESSON STRUCTURE. Children, especially in the Primary stage –I would say always– need routines, predictable environments, which also correlates with good management behavior and, up to a certain point, with engagement (Bentley, 2010) (Cowley, 2007). Learning is not an exception to this general rule. To help this become true, in every teaching period we will try to follow the same lesson plan:
Timing
1st: Warming up activities 2nd: Literacy development 3th: Unit development 4th: Conclusion remarks
Figure 4-1 Lesson plan: structure and timing.
Timing is approximate and each day and group follows its own pace. The starting point of each lesson should be an introduction to the topic and the learning objectives; if a new topic had already been treated in previous lessons, remembering what was learnt will help. Using a graphic organizer for each didactic unit is a good way to get connected through all lessons that conform a unit. Table 4.1 Lesson progress graphic organizer.
K (What I know) Who are your friends?
W (What I want to know)
L (What I have learnt)
Whom should I be kind to?
Who deserve to be treated by What does Jesus tell us about? you as such? Who is your neighbor?
What situations may I find similar to…? Past and future actions Retelling
The K column helps us to evaluate the background to any topic and set up learning outcomes. A short conversation with the classroom taking notes (in the blackboard or preferably in the laptop so that we can recapture it at any moment and days later) will be enough to check background knowledge. Also, some other issues not directly related to the classroom can be addressed at this moment. 25
The materials we will use are those common and available at school: blackboard, a New Testament for each boy in the classroom (paperbacks are quite cheap if purchased), digital projector with laptop, pen and paper. At different stages we will use crayons and materials for drawing.
4 LANGUAGE SKILLS AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES COMBINED The way we teach children in the primary school depends on their development stage. We shouldn´t ask a child to perform an activity involving complex verbal tenses if he/she has not yet achieved such a control of time conceptualization. On the other hand, requiring a 11-12 years old boy too childish activities will result in demotivation. According to Phillips (1993), holistic learning decreases with age. This means their approach to language is not intellectual in the first years. This has advantages and disadvantages. As they grow up, more sophisticated and intellectual activities can be done. Some other aspects to be considered in the selection of activities are these (Phillips, 1993): - Children must understand in a very simple way what we expect them to do. Our instructions shouldn´t leave any room for questions like: “But, teacher, then, do I have to write it on the paper….?” Clear explanation of academic tasks derive in better performance regardless the stage. “It is critical for English learners to have instructions presented in a step-by-step manner, preferably modeled or demonstrated for them” (Echevarría, Vogt, & Short, 2010: 85). - Scaffolding, as based in Vygotsky’s socio-cultural psychology (Echevarría, Vogt, & Short, 2010). Tasks must be within children abilities, i.e., achievable, but at the same time sufficiently stimulating so that some degree of satisfaction can be drawn from success. This is the field that Vygotsky described as learner’s zone of proximal development (ZPD). Progress is made possible thanks to cultural mediation provided by school activities. In the course of the activities, teacher can practice verbal scaffolding in various ways like paraphrasing, using ‘think-alouds’, providing correct pronunciation by repeating students’ responses, slowing speech and so on. Together with it, we have procedural and instructional scaffolding. Also, this theoretical framework reminds us of the beneficial effect that activities involving grouping children can operate, provided at least one of them is ahead of the rest, helping his peers to progress thanks to his mediation. - Activities should be largely orally based, and the younger the more. - We must allow sufficient wait time for student’s responses. Wait time is the lapse between utterances during an interaction. Many teachers are scared of the void and fill in the silence. We will also let children fully express themselves, letting them to go on speaking even if a controlled practice is at stake. - Written activities must be used sparingly with young children; a bit more is possible at the end of the primary school. Children under 7 are not proficient even with the mechanism of writing. On the 26
contrary, with 11-12 years, this skills have been fully achieved and the moment for productive creativity has arrived. In this cycle, writing can be given more presence. - We must take into account the multiple intelligences theory in some way. Activities should be varied and it is desirable to cover all the intelligences: Bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, naturalistic, and spacial (Morgan & Fonseca, 2004). We would like to add the spiritual intelligence and its sub-skills, but still we do not have much literature (Castro Cavero, 2012). Of course, we cannot address all the intelligences in every classroom period, but we should include along the year at least a bit of each, and it would be desirable to do so for each parable / story we work with. Harmer offers a selection of activities for each of the eight intelligences to help teachers in producing of selecting for classroom use (2007:91). Regardless the intelligence they focus on, there are some kind of activities that always work well with primary school children. Songs and chants, games, physical response activities, coloring, cutting, drawing, sticking, smart repetitive stories, and simple, repetitive speaking activities have a clear instructional value. We could very easily match all this activities with one or more intelligences. Our challenge is getting children fully engaged and motivated and, at the same time, cover all grammar objectives we stated from the outset. Through engagement we will develop children skills more easily. There are four language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Reading and listening are receptive skills; writing and speaking are productive (Harmer, 2007). Reading consist in making sense of a written text, whilst listening refers to an oral one. The order we will follow in its presentation is that of the KET examination; there are a lot of materials for its preparation (Dymond, Kenny, & French, 2005) (Cambridge ESOL, 2008) (Cambridge ESOL, 2007). KET examination consists of 3 papers: Reading & Writing (9 parts or exercises included), listening (5 activities) and speaking (2 activities). We will make a few considerations about the features of the activities that we propose based on theoretical grounds but, at the same time, our tendency will be working the parables with activities as similar as possible to those of KET. Our primary aim is to know Jesus teaching on the Kingdom of God, but we can do that at the same time we get ready for KET. Generally speaking, specialists consider children should be introduced into English beginning with listening and speaking, which is the natural process of acquiring language; then, reading and writing come (Phillips, 1993) (Taberski, 2000).
4.1 Reading activities To make sense of a text students have to grasp the meaning of words, sentences, phrases and the text as a whole in itself and, at the same time, the grammatical links between sentences (cohesion). But full understanding of a text implies connecting with prior knowledge (coherence) and widening, if learning occurs. There are also many different ways to read and quite different types of texts that influence reading sub-skills, this is, reading skills that are part of a main one (Cambridge ESOL, 2005) 27
(Spratt, Pulverness, & Williams, Melanie, 2005): Scanning or reading for specific information, reading for detail, extensive/intensive reading and skimming (reading for gist or to get a general idea of a text). Any of these sub-skills should be, up to a certain point, promoted in our children as they could benefit of them in their lives. Activities to work with a text can be oriented to develop each of these sub-skills. For example, a gap-fill exercise, or wh- questions focus on reading for specific information while a task activity asking to give a different ending to a story drives reading into whole text meaning. There are many types of writing, in length, layout, topics and types of language; all these features are determined by content and intention of the text. Some are: letters, articles, information brochures, stories, postcards, leaflets, textbooks, poems, ad, etc. We will limit our project to one specific category: stories / parables, i.e., narrative texts. English teachers and other colleagues won’t have such a narrow scope and will work more extensively with other genres. Our activities will be developed for stories. In the third cycle children are becoming more and more fluent in their mother tongue. Research has shown that reading skills can be transferred to reading English, provided lots of opportunities for extensive reading are available and texts have a degree of difficulty that correspond their age (Spratt, Pulverness, & Williams, Melanie, 2005). For this to be true, both authentic and simplified texts should be combined. We will do both things. First time we offer students a parable / story, all words and phrasings that fall outside the KET lexis or inventory of grammatical areas will be simplified or its meaning offered at the end of the text. This last technique is specially intended for proper names. Later, when comprehension of the text has been fully achieved, original version will be considered as well. Anyway, most of the selected parables / stories’ lexis and grammatical areas fall inside the KET target objectives. The process to adapt parables will be as follows: text from the parable / story will be copied from the online version of the NIV®, then pasted into the Oxford 3000® text checker and the result analyzed. All words signaled as odd, will have to be simplified, substituting the original for any other as similar as possible and included in KET lexis; the use of a Thesaurus could be helpful. After this has been done, most of the words will be KET target. But a final revision of the text will have to be done by carefully checking that for the first use of the text all words and grammatical areas are inside our list. If not, and only in the case of lexis (not grammatical areas), we will check if they are included in the PET vocabulary list. Before simplifying these, we will evaluate based on our experience, if it is necessary for children, and will follow this rule: all words included in PET but not in KET will be considered for simplification, but no one outside PET. Words that appear in PET for the first time deserve a special attention by teacher to see if children can follow the reading easily; it would be helpful underlying them in teacher’s notes. Having a clear list of KET / PET specifications and thanks to the length of the selected parables and stories, this is not a very time demanding task.
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As we are in RE, there are many words specific to this field that have to be learnt. They won’t be in KET / PET lexis. We can recognize three categories in this group (examples follow): -
Proper names: Christ, Jew, Judea, Jerusalem, Bible, Gospel, Jesus, Testament, Apostle…
-
Religious argot / jargon: Christian, justification, eternal, heaven, hell, salvation, pardon (as forgiveness), priest, holy, consecrate, faith, faithful,… Many of the first category belong to this one as well.
-
Common words that relate someway: donkey, cross (as a place of killing), mercy (to have mercy on somebody), pity (as having pity on somebody),
None of these words or expressions are in the target list for third cycle but are content words for our purposes. Its meaning will have to be taught and used for receptive and productive skills. Teacher will underline in personal notes to take them into account. Most of them are familiar to children in their mother tongue and they will easily recognize them. Explaining this words will be crucial for progress in the subject, as some authors have experienced (Webster, 2010) (Dubruiel, 2006). Explaining and exemplifying this vocabulary correlates with engagement of children in classroom learning and liturgy. Reported speech is not easy for 6th graders, and receptive skills are easier than productive ones. Many of them won’t be confident enough to transform from direct to reported speech but most of the classroom will be able to distinguish the correct phrasing. In order to help them see and progressively understand correct reporting, a reported speech quiz will help and is a very easy to elaborate-and-use activity (Beare, 2014). Activities for reading should make reading (inter)active (Barton, 2006). Some of the types of activities that we will produce for working with parables are these: moving and matching, quizzes, etc. Here are a pair of them: Moving and matching activity: The Good Samaritan. Each pupil receives a set of pieces of paper inside an envelope. Each paper with a character or a description on it. Instructions are written on the envelope: “The good Samaritan. Group in pairs the characters and their description, one for each”: Samaritan / was traveling; robbers / beat and stole the Samaritan; priest / passed by; innkeeper / accepted taking care of the Samaritan; Lawyer / questions Jesus; neighbor / the man who was attacked. Quiz. The Good Samaritan. This activity is projected onto the screen and one of the pupils is asked to use the mouse to tick the correct answer on behalf of classmates who are pointed out by the teacher. Tick the correct answer (only one is correct) Gave money to the innkeeper: ☐ Samaritan ☐ Priest ☐ Levite ☐ Robbers He had oil and wine with him: ☐ Samaritan ☐ Priest ☐ Levite ☐ Robbers 29
Pass by when saw a man half dead: ☐ Samaritan ☐ Priest ☐ Jesus ☐ Disciple Who made a question to Jesus? ☐ Samaritan ☐ Lawyer ☐ Disciple ☐ Robbers Quizzes train scanning skills and it is useful discussing this strategy with children. Reading aloud is another strategy to be used with children (Barton, 2006); helps with fluency and intonation; also helps to assess pronunciation. But this must be done with caution: children must have gone through it and made sense of it. Only then should they be asked to read aloud. If they have not understood the text we cannot expect a good pronunciation and intonation, and demoralization could be one of the results. One first step would be teacher reading it before asking then to do likewise; this gives them “time to grapple with the meaning and are aided by the teacher’s intonation” (Barton, 2006: 96).
4.2 Writing activities There are several general writing strategies and among the main ones we can enumerate these (Axelrod & Cooper, 2010): Cueing the reader; Narrating; Describing; Defining; Classifying; Comparing and contrasting; Arguing; Analyzing (visuals, realia, audios…); Designing documents. Most of these are also categories for speaking productions by the children. And we have different kinds of writing: letters, single words only, short sentences, long sentences; we can use form or paragraphs… Any case, an essential part of writing is conveying a message to somebody. It can be a message to myself (when I write personal notes as a reminder of something) but we have a message and a receiver. From this point of view, some activities that we have proposed for reading shouldn’t be categorized as writing: completing gaps in a sentence, correct the wrong words, taking notes for listening, ordering jumbled words or sentences, writing short answers in reading comprehension or listening, etc. These are activities for reading and listening (receptive skills) but not properly writing – productive activities. Getting children into writing is, perhaps, the hardest work among the four sills, especially with boys (Barton, 2006). Motivating them in the process is the key for good results and once achieved, engagement raises, triggering an ascendant trend. Finding efficiently motivating activities is key for success. We won’t ask them to write an essay, but rather short sentences and types of tasks at their reach that could result in motivation rather than demoralizing them. The result of children’s writing is a piece of text, no matter the format. It is usually on paper but word processors are becoming more a more usual, especially in Secondary education. For the Primary stage, handwriting should be preferred for the sake of consolidating the graph motor skills. Giving feedback to pupils on his own results is an essential part of the learning progress. Emphasizing their achievements though correction should also be taken into account, transforming a usually demotivating feedback into an encouraging activity. To do so, correcting should go beyond marking 30
into teaching students what a correct writing would have been and giving them the opportunity for rewriting and improving their texts. If we are to go beyond this, letting children correct themselves is a plus. In order to do so, we need a clear system for correcting written texts. Many proposals can be found and most of them are acceptable. We suggest a combination of two models of correction marks that can be found in Anexxe II (Warriner, 1995) (Cassany, 2000). Care must be taken in correction, because, as Phillips reminds us, “it is important to make children feel that you appreciate their work and are not simply looking for mistakes in their English (1993:58). Given a closed well-known set of correction marks, children will understand quite well what was perfectible in their writing assignments. Such a set of marks could be displayed on a noticeboard or any other visible place in the classroom for helping pupils. The lack of this mechanism reduces the correction of written texts to a mere grading procedure. It’s frequent to see many texts with just a grade on it, paragraphs crossed over with no hint of the reason, and so on. Establishing and using a set of correction marks that are simple, easy to use and understand, helps the children see what the mistake was and a way to transform it into a well written text (Cassany, 2000). Correction marks are especially useful when a portfolio assessment system is established, as we will suggest for our project. Using this marks will help go beyond summative into formative assessment (Capel, Leask, & Turner, 2005). Correction, anyway, shouldn’t be limited to writing; rather, it is convenient for all skills and most of activities. Teachers should predict errors, consider ways of correcting errors, list them and practice correction techniques. Correction involves if, why, when, what, how and who should do the correction (Vale & Feunteun, 1995). We will offer a range of types of writing activities covering its two sub-skill: accuracy and communication (Spratt, Pulverness, & Williams, Melanie, 2005). When we ask children to use capital letters when appropriate, full stops, choose connectors such as ‘next’, ‘then’, ‘because’ and so on, we are seeking accuracy. On the contrary, if we ask them to write a sentence comparing two characters, expressing an opinion, writing a new ending or narrating a personal experience, we focus on communication. Today, more emphasis is put on the second skill, but the first should not be forgotten. May be in past times excessive attention was given to accuracy (orthography, syntax and grammar) and communicative aspects were set aside. This is not so any more. Together with the previous distinction between accuracy and communication, writing activities can be closed or open (Phillips, 1993) or in other words, controlled practice activities in which teacher or materials limit the language to be used or freer activities such as discussions, sharing, comparing, retelling, exchanging experiences and so on (Vale & Feunteun, 1995) (Spratt, Pulverness, & Williams, Melanie, 2005). In first and second cycles of the stage, controlled practice activities like drills, linking names to pictures and all of this kind are more appropriate. Sixth graders could find it demotivating as very easy tasks for them is a deterrent of engagement. Combining both types activities and progression from controlled to freer tasks is also a way of scaffolding in the tough way to writing. 31
Writing, especially when it is a bit more ambitious than short sentences, has several stages that could help if shown to children. According to Mehisto, Marsh & Frigols give us these (2008:214-216): -
Brainstorming (gather ideas, no matter if not well connected)
-
Making notes. More ambitious than brainstorming
-
Planning: putting order into notes and ideas.
-
Drafting. No accuracy still needed.
-
Editing. Children try to do a final wording and form.
-
Proof-reading.
One variant for brainstorming is going a bit forward and build a mind-map. This technique can be defined as “the creation of detailed brainstorm plans to map the contents of the mind making use of color, shapes, images and so on” (Cowley, The A to Z of teaching, 2004, pág. 74). Basically, it is a way or organizing ideas; it is useful for reflection and analysis of events, contexts, problems. As writing is written thinking and analysis, mind-mapping our ideas prepare us in the task of thinking before putting ideas on a sheet (Buzán, 2004). I have personally used brainstorming and mental maps for preparing an essay with Secondary students. Mental maps are a more powerful tool for preparing it, especially in the case of girls. Asking pupils to begin writing out of nothing is stressing for them and frustrating for the teacher. Some of them will ask: “But… what do I have to say?” Despite that, many children pretend to begin with the end, editing from the start. We teachers should encourage our children to begin with brainstorming and notes, time-lines for stories, list of characters, events, etc. Some tools like a story maps are helpful to organize ideas and notes (Taberski, 2000) (Wright, 2009). We have selected a very simple and easy-to-use story map for our project (see Anexxe III). Teaching the process of writing, beginning with easy tasks and ending up with editing and proofreading is, also, a way of scaffolding; it is more important to do this when children have more difficulties at school. During my stay at school as a trainee, my tutor showed me the effectiveness of beginning with brainstorming, making a list of characters, taking notes, drawing, drafting and, also, proof reading. Children in the classroom who were above the average in most subjects were able to do good writing with no aid or previous stages; it was those with more need who benefited more from the process. Some suggestions for writing activities are these: -
A character – role chart from which sentences are written:
Was/were traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho
Robbers
Priest
Samaritan
No
Yes
Yes
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Was not accepted by Jews.
No
Yes
Was compassionate
No
No
Yes
He became neighbor of other person
No
No
Yes
We ask children to write a sentence per row following a model: Example sentence: The robbers and the priest were not compassionate, but the Samaritan was. -
Labeling characters or pictures with adjectives. A closed list of features or adjectives can be shown and children are asked to ascribe them to characters; telling then that it isn’t a close series of qualities is a variant.
-
Writing statements from a set of words. We can ask students to use certain verbal tenses, passive voice, and so on.
-
Grammar and vocabulary exercises. Most of the exercises for teaching grammar or preparing for examinations are made up of lots of activities that involve a piece of writing. Accuracy and correct use of grammar areas are their main goals. Introducing this tasks into our lessons will help understanding of the parable as well as language learning. Our teaching shouldn’t pivot around it, but a certain percentage of them should be considered. We should target A2 level and many materials are available (Vince, 2010) (Dymond, Kenny, & French, 2005) (Murphy, 2007) (McCarthy & O'Dell, 1999). We will look at these books for inspiration and use their models to compose our own exercises to work verb tenses, reported speech and passive voice using vocabulary and topics from Gospel parables and short stories.
-
Completing a story or changing it (this can be done with almost all the parables / stories): o
Imagine and write a new end. Example: suppose the innkeeper refuses to take care of the man who was attacked and…
o
Imagine a previous story. Write a personal biography of the Samaritan: job, family, house…
-
o
Write a new title for the parable.
o
Introduce a new character that changes the course of the events.
Describe a situation that is similar the story of the parable. Point out differences and in what it is like.
Retelling a personal experience (actually happened to a child or imagined; or with a well-known person as main character) linked someway to a parable will combine both verb tenses and reported speech. In order to help retelling, i.e., language productive skills, it is advisable empowering then with some easy-to-use tools pack. Such a kind of kit should include: 33
-
Sentences and phrases adaptable to any personal story.
-
List of verbs and adverbs
-
Linking groups of words for beginning, connections and conclusion.
-
Writing a script for a short play to be represented for the rest of students.
We can propose other activities that can be done along the period in which a parable in being used, more than one period. For example, an acrostic like this two: Solidarity And Mercy Add together for Real Interest in Those in need And making them our Neighbors The second consist of making an acrostic with characters, proper names and actions found in the parable or story, synonyms are accepted, but no prepositions, articles, conjunctions and such words.
4.3 Speaking activities Speaking is a productive skill (together with writing) that consists in producing speech to convey meaning to other people. Teaching young learners is more rewarding than with older pupils, because they are less ashamed or conscious of mistakes, more focused on communication than in accuracy (correct use of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation) (Harmer, 2007). The younger the children, the easier for boys to speak (not girls); and once they are teenagers and peer pressure hikes up, whole class speaking becomes less probable (Barton, 2006). Because of this, with our sixth graders there is an argument to increase pair and group work to boost participation. Pair-work activities are ideal for worming up and getting tuned for English. For pair-work some rules apply (Barton, 2006: 39-40): children must know the language involved or modeled in detail; clear instructions on what they are expected to do; set a time limit. Main aspects in speaking are accuracy, fluency (reached when we use normal speech without stops or self-correction), interaction and body language (Spratt, Pulverness, & Williams, Melanie, 2005).
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We should combine confidence-building exercises with accuracy; the latter will be gained at the end. A sequence of skills development is this (Barton, 2006:42): Repetition / drilling / imitation ↓ Teacher support is gradually reduced ↓ (guessing games / teacher gives pupils two options to choose from) Structured pair work (pupils have aces to visuals or textual prompts to choose from)
↓ Teacher – led questions and answers ↓ Pupils give opinions, ask questions, deal with the unpredictable Children enjoy little, easy, structured conversations (teenagers often get bored with them), learning and singing short song, and short phrases they can repeat. They get very much engaged with music; we know it through experience of other colleagues in the stage. As they get older, they gain the capability of manipulating language (Phillips, 1993). In our classroom we will try to combine controlled practice activities of speaking (focused on a structure given and where accuracy in demanded) with others that are more open or creative, interactive and communicative. We will, also, give speaking a reason to be done for the sake of engagement: having to tell a classmate, reporting teacher what his classmate thinks or has said about a particular topic –orally or on paper-; this poses an end-product that drives his efforts. Tasks or activities are planned speaking. We must consider that inside the classroom there will be a certain unplanned amount of it: asking permissions, for example. But planned speaking is now our main concern. It is not possible for teacher to hold conversations with all and many times we will group the students. When groups are more than three, there are several technics useful to avoid one or more in the group sitting back and letting everyone else do the work. One of them is asking the pupils to assign a number to each of them without telling the teacher, who will decide what number will report for all. Some other ways of getting all children taking part in conversations when they are arranged in groups can be seen in Harmer (2007: 347-353). We will use one of then with some parables: Games. Teacher will make a list of characters, things or other objects in the parable; children will be grouped and each team in its turn will have to guess what the teacher is thinking. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a list could be: oil, wine, lawyer, donkey, Jerusalem, inn, priest, road, donkey, money. Children only can make yes / no questions. Finally, after reading a parable and in order to develop the sub-skill of fluency, a role – play activity is appropriate. A child must imagine he is someone in a specific situation; we can also assign him a 35
role he must play. Dramatizing based on scripts by them would be most helpful. A short drama of the parable of the Good Samaritan, lasting about 10’ and prepared along the year could end up with a performance for the whole school (or several courses) in May. The scripts of the play can be produced by children adapting vocabulary to them or taken from the DVD used in the classroom. This would be ambitious and requires preparation, but could be rewarding for both teacher and children with benefits for them beyond content and language. Before launching the activity, confirmation of performance should be gainen from headship of studies. When it comes to drama and RE we should separate it from typical Christmas festivals. They have pros and cons. They are useful for exploring creativity and enjoyment and benefit from a captive audience. On the other hand, Christmas festivals usually do not develop religious concepts neither key skills. This is why I think dramatization of parables shouldn’t be kept for Christmas but rather for some other moment at the end of the year. Drama should be used within RE lesson and as a way to dive into religious ideas and feelings via other intelligences; there are many techniques to put drama into RE (Webster, 2010). For this reason, we will propose the use of a script by children to perform for other students as a way of going deeper in the understanding of the parable. This will produce incidental learning together with.
4.4 Listening activities According to Barton, listening is “the most difficult skill to master”, specially “for boys, whose aural skills are often inferior to those of girls” (2006:60). It is awkwardly clear through the change from the familiar voice of the teacher to a strange, recorded voice. Differences between spoken and written English are clear (Spratt, Pulverness, & Williams, Melanie, 2005). Children also regard listening a passive and unpurposeful process. We must bear this in mind and in order to minimize it we will use only three different voices for listening activities: teacher’s, online audio bible of the NIV ® available at biblegateway.com or its CD version (International Bible Society, 2001), and a DVD series on the History of Salvation (Monte Tabor Films, 2001). This way, we are reducing the strangeness of voices in the classroom but, at the same time, giving children a variety of accents, intonations and a taste of real pronunciation. Listening of the whole parable should never be done at the beginning of work with a parable; before, and introduction to the topic, vocabulary and characters must have been done in order to prepare them for listening. Also, a full reading and some activities on the parable should be have been completed. Nevertheless, audition of certain verses of the parables (very easily done with the online version) could be effective in introducing new vocabulary. For new words and refining of pronunciation, online version of some dictionaries is also recommendable. There are clear differences in using audios and videos in the classroom for listening activities (Harmer, 2007). Nevertheless, we must take into account that the first source of listening in the classroom is the teacher and we shouldn’t underestimate its potential, and we are so in many informal and sometimes unorganized way. But when it comes to videos we must tend to a structured use, avoiding 36
a mere watching. Purposeful watching engages children much more and if the topic or story is partially known, children will find it achievable. The video series we have proposed is to be used at the end of work with a parable /story; it widens the plot providing background for characters, introduces new dialogues and depicts a broader context. We will make watching purposeful by means pausing and predicting what will happen next, turning projector off or mute while audio still runs (asking children to guess what happens), writing on the board several statements that they will decide if are true of false, or we ask pupils to stand up each time they hear a certain word or phrase. Other activity- game that could be used when viewing a parable is called spot the lie. Before viewing we will make a few statements about the extended narrative of the parable contained in the DVD and children must find out a lie. In the case of the Good Samaritan we can say: “The innkeeper’s daughter reported his father of the presence of two robbers” (it was his son). Finally, we will always use English subtitles when viewing. Some of the new narrative that videos add to the parable can be contrasted with other writings or imagined scenarios by children in the classroom. We can ask the children if they have imagined the Samaritan dressed that way, if the inn looked like that, and so on. This contrasting can lead us into speaking and writing. All four skills are interconnected and going from one to another shouldn’t be avoided. Purpose for listening also determines the way we do it: we may listen for gist (general idea), specific information, details, attitudes of characters or we do extensive listening (Harmer, 2007). These strategies are similar to those of reading that we saw before. When viewing or listening a parable we have already done several activities and it does not make sense listening for gist; rather, activities must go in search for details or specific information, catching the attention of students. One activity in search of detail is a cloze exercise on the audio script (that the teacher has to write extracting it from the DVD), like follows: (At the house of the merchant. Father and son in conversation)
Daughter: Why are you going to Jericho when Mamma doesn’t want you to ____? Father: If I buy ________ in Jericho, I get the first choice from the caravans. I get the freshest basil, the hottest peppers. (The youngest son eats some spices, gets red and asks for help. Father gives him water)
Father: Quick, Rebecca, get some _____! Never, never, eat spices, Aaron! Never! Preparing this cloze exercises may be very time consuming for teacher but renders benefits in engagement, especially when a portfolio evaluation is in course. Many other activities can be done. When watching a film, we can ask for details regarding images combined with the script. For example: “What animal was the priest riding on? And the Samaritan?”, “What did the innkeeper predict the
37
robbers would do?”, “In the film, who is your favorite character and why? Who is the ugliest and / or you disliked most?” etc. The answers to this questions take us into writing and/or speaking. One final type of activity we will introduce in each parable is using the audio of the DVD of the parable without images. Why? As a training for KET. KET (and PET) examinations make audio listening without video. Listening has two parts and in both of them children are asked to select an item out of several. For this reason, we will select a scene from the parable. Children will be told the setting: where it takes place, characters, order in the sequence of events in the story and other details. This introductions can go as follows: “We are going to listen (no watching) a part of the parable of the Good Samaritan. We will listen the innkeeper, his son and two robbers (named Nadab and Kish), the ones who attacked the man. Robbers are staying at Gaal’s inn. More possible answers than questions are given. Listen carefully and try to guess the answer for each question”: Example: 0 → C 0
What part were the robbers sitting?
A
Dead
1
What did they have for dinner?
B
Delightful
2
How did the robbers pretend to leave those attacked?
C
corner
3
One robber, Kish, calls Nadab…
D
soldiers
4
The innkeeper decides to call the…
E
Fish and chips
5
Robbers decide to leave the inn because they do not want
F
Soup
G
trouble
any…..
Key: 1→ soup
2→ dead
3→ delightful
4→ soldiers
5→ trouble
5 ASSESMENT Testing, evaluation and assessment are not quite the same (Vale & Feunteun, 1995). Without diving deep into the differences, for us, assessment is the method and result of finding out what children know and understand about gospel parables and stories as well as certain language objectives as a result of the classroom – teaching – learning process that has taken place during a certain period. When it comes to RE, learning about religion and learning from religion are two aspects to evaluate; the first one account for what a child knows about a parable like the Good Samaritan: does he now who are the characters or the resolutions and moral? Learning from it is more difficult to assess as it includes aspects such as connection to previous personal or known contexts and application to our 38
days. This requires interpretation, reflection, imagination… that takes us into some subjectivity; nevertheless, it can be bound when consciously and carefully done (Webster, 2010). Besides, CLIL assessment has specific features and is multidimensional (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010). Do we assess content or language? What tools will be used? How we measure the progress? How can we remove language difficulties from content achieving? What about assessment of pair or group work, especially in speaking activities? And oral reading? The two main questions are what and how of assessment. Planning and assessment are closely related. First is easily answered: since we are in a CLIL approach, the 4C’s are what we consider for assessment. As for the how, there are many and we must make our own. I personally consider that when assessment if done matters as well. Answering the previous questions we have chosen portfolio assessment. Some authors present it as an innovation, but I consider it a traditional way of assessment. I remember that during my periods at school this method was already in use. Some teachers called it “el cuaderno”, i.e., a collection of written work during a period of time, sometimes the whole course; usually, it was never the only aspect taken into account. Portfolio assessment has some benefits (Harmer, 2007). Provides evidence of student efforts and progress; fosters students reflection and revision of own materials and helps them to self-evaluate. Gives them the chance to edit before handing in. But also pitfalls can be pointed out in portfolio assessment. It’s time consuming for teacher and introduces the need of selecting some materials. For this reason, we will ask students to gather all their work over a term and we will assess them by looking at three or four pieces of work over this period and giving a special mark to it. When evaluation day comes, teacher will revise all the work by a student; previously we will ask each pupil to select three or four best pieces of work. These will be given a certain weight of portfolio assessment. The rest will be assigned to completion, order and presentation. Another drawback of portfolio is procrastination, resulting in lack of revision or undone work; but as students will work on their own way inside the classroom, and almost no homework to be done except personal revision of own material, this inconvenience shouldn’t be high. On the other hand, sometimes we do not know if they have been helped by others. I do not think portfolio assessment could be the norm and in fact recent moves in Spain follow those that have already taken place in other countries (Capel, Leask, & Turner, 2005): external assessment of children and schools and public accountability. External assessment is high on the political agenda and there is a pursuit of raising standards and school / system improvement. Assessment, also, influences the way we teach and this project is no exception, as we are constantly looking at content (parables and their message) and language specifications of Cambridge ESOL. Religious Educations does not seem to become a subject for external assessment but when taught from a CLIL approach this comes into stage. Portfolio on itself will not be enough but we will set written or oral examinations aside. Portfolio cannot be representative of speaking, for example. Together with portfolio, personal notes by teacher 39
based on classroom observation will be needed; this is what some people call ‘low’ stakes assessment, i.e., “the informal, routine and low-key day-to-day assessment where the results may not be formally recorded” (Capel, Leask, & Turner, 2005:306). Informality, anyway, isn’t at odds with records of achievement in reading (that in most of cases will leave a trace on portfolio), speaking and listening. Writing will be saved in portfolio. Most of speaking activities will have to be assessed on the move, as well as aspects like pronunciation, physical responses to a listening and many other aspects. There are many ways of keeping record of oral reading (accurate reading, substitutions, attempts at words, self-corrections, insertions, omissions, repetitions, ‘skip and return’…) and speaking activities, and feedback on this tasks by students help them quite a lot. There are even systems for counting ‘errors’ and estimation of accuracy, fluency and other aspects (Taberski, 2000). In our project, some kind of assessment procedures of the everyday routines and tasks of children in the classroom, especially oral reading and speaking, must be introduced.
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CHAPTER 5 WORK WITH A PARABLE: “THE GOOD SAMARITAN”. The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of those texts considered to be at the heart of Christianity and concerns the fundamental human question (Ratzinger, 2007). Found only in Luke 10, 25-37, it comes together with the Commandment of Love given by Jesus to his disciples. This commandment, also known as the golden rule, can be found in any civilization (Lewis, 1978). Because of the characters, of different religions, and the moral attitudes it instills in the reader, this text could well be used on ecumenical and interreligious grounds (Otero, 2013), and even with non-believers (Ratzinger, 2007). For these reasons, it is a text for all pupils regardless their background. This is why we would like to begin with this parable in September. Due to the limited extension of this paper, an outline of the didactic unit must suffice. A detailed planning will have to be done for the head of studies in September. Planning is a key part of teaching. Lesson plans differ greatly from school to school; we will have to follow the scheme or outline of our school for the Primary stage. The reader of this paper may well say that a complete, detailed lesson plan for the whole year would have been a better option as theme for this project. He may be right. But reading, taking time to consider all options available will enrich greatly such a planning. As many people say, best practical tasks are those that involve lots of theory.
1 TEXT OF PARABLE: THE GOOD SAMARITAN (LUKE 10, 25-37) In accordance to what we established in the previous chapter, a simplification of most of the parables will be necessary for a first reading. Once children have understood the basic massage, vocabulary and plot of the parable or story, then we can go forward to reading and listening of the original text. For a first reading and work on the parable, a simplified version will be delivered following the methodology that we explained above. The result in the case of this parable would be this: 25 On
one occasion a lawyer (an expert in the law = lawyer) stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he
asked, “what must I do to win (inherit = win) eternal life?” 26 “What 27 He
is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You 29 But
have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
41
30 In
reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked
by robbers. They undressed him (stripped him of his clothes = undressed), beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
32 So
too, a Levite, when he came to the place and
saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he was kind to him (took pity on = was kind to) him.
34 He
went to him
and bandaged his wounds, putting on them (pouring on = putting on them) oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to a hotel (an inn = a hotel) and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the mann of the hotel (innkeeper = man of the hotel). ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will pay (reimburse = pay back) you back for any extra money you may need (expense you may have = money you may need).’ 36 “Which
of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of
robbers?” 37 The
expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do like they did (likewise = like they did).” Levite: Levites were assistants to the priests in the temple of the Jews and very well considered people. They were respected by all people. Levites are descendants of the tribe of Levi. Samaritan: inhabitant of Samaria, a land north of Judea and south of Galilea. Samaritan and Jews were enemies and they could not even stay together in the same place, touch each other or even have a conversation. Samaritans believe in five gods, instead of in the only One, Yahweh. Denarii: It’s a coin from the times of Jesus. Its value was equivalent to one day wage. Robber: a person who steals thing from others; thief. Donkey: an animal of the horse family, with short legs and long ears (project an image). Justification: to feel oneself just and also in front of others. Justify: verb. [Red is the original text from the NIV®] [Green is for word explanations at the end of the text] [Blue color means the word is new in PET lexis or more advanced, will not be simplified and deserves attention. Only in teacher’s notes] [Texts will be handed in to children with verse number so that they become familiar with Bible reading and also for helping references] We also have to be conscious of the grammatical areas covered by the text and evaluate the degree of difficulty for children. This should be done in advance with each of the parables / stores used. Identifying the degree of difficulty helps teachers support students during listening and reading. We 42
will simplify any phrasing that contains grammatical areas beyond KET level. We must pay special attention to verb tenses, modals and clause types, as these are the areas that introduce the higher level of difficulty. The number of occurrences won’t be a high figure. Again, following the plan outlined above, every classroom period will follow the same scheme or time schedule: morning meeting → literacy development → unit development →plenay.
2 UNIT DEVELOPMENT In this section we will describe the activities for a period, the first with the parable of the Good Samaritan. For the rest of the lessons we will suggest some activities without further development. We will open every teaching period with a morning meeting, i.e., worming up activities. After greetings and notices, an introduction of the work for the next days will be made. Children are told that a new story will be the focus of attention for the coming lessons. For this parable we will write on the board two words that will give a hint of the value we will be dealing with the following days: neighbor and solidarity. We will ask a few students what the meaning of this words is. We have to go beyond the first meaning of neighbor as one who lives close to us. Children will quickly say that a neighbor is a person who lives next to you; we will show them the reciprocity of neighborhood with comments like “well said, but then you are his neighbor, aren’t you?” Later, we will try to let them see that, in some sense, any human is a neighbor since we all live in the same ‘house’: planet earth. Following on to the second concept, they will immediately relate it with some campaigns for raising funds or meals in the school, and we will agree with them. Later, we will make them some questions like: “Do you think neighbor and solidarity have anything to do?” Literacy is the second part in a period. We’ll continue with pair-group; each will be given a set of words taken from the simplified version of the parable that they will have to classify: common nouns, proper names, verbs: lawyer (n) / stand up (v) / inherit (v) / reply (v) / Lord (n) / God (n) / soul (n) / strength (n) / neighbor (n) / Jerusalem (n) / Jericho (n) / attack (v) / robber (n) / clothes (n) / beat (v) / dead (n-adj) / priest (n) / pass by (v) / Samaritan (n) / pity (n) / bandage (n) /oil (n) / wine(n) / donkey (n) / hotel (n) / take care (v) / look after (v) / return (n) / pay (v) / mercy (n). All words will be printed on a sheet from which children will cut off the words using a scissors and array them in three columns. We will ask them to say out loud the words in each category and we will write them on the board. Later, they will point out words in the list of which they do not know the meaning. Anyone in the classroom, raising up his hand, will attempt a meaning for the word; from time to time, we will ask a children who rarely takes part to try out with a word we guess he may know. We won’t intend to have a perfect definition, just take an idea. At the beginning of the lesson, we will appear with a bandage, but no explanation should be given despite inquiries. This bandage will be displayed in a visible place 43
in the classroom during the days we work in it. It will be like a ‘sacrament’ of solidarity (this could be explained later on if chances are given). Next step will be dialogue in pair groups following a model conversation between the teacher and a student. We will select one or two verbs to make a dialogue in pair groups. For this first teaching period, we will use the verb look after (included in KET lexis). We tell them to ask each other following a model we will write on the board: -
“Pupil 1: Who looked after you when you were a baby?”.
-
“Pupil 2: When I was a child, I was looked after my mum and grandmother”.
We will give them a wait time of 1-2 minutes and later the teacher will ask some pairs in the following way: pupil 1 will be asked about pupil 2, and the other way round. This mechanism gives the dialogue an end-result that motivates. Teacher will ask one of them to report him what the other said. Again, a model for reporting must be offered: -
“Pupil 1 says that his mum looked after him when he was a child”.
We will ask them to follow the pattern in order to learn to use the reported speech scheme. Now, we will progress to the passive voice, using a model once more. This time we will ask them to retell the answers of his mate in the passive voice in this way: -
“Pupil 1: you have told me that you were looked after you mum. Were you ever looked after by a nanny?”
-
“Pupil 2: same question.
Teacher will walk around and help if any difficulty arises. We will repeat the same questioning to children (if possible involving all them during the activity) about his mate, giving them a model: “Pupil says he was looked after his aunt when his mum was out”. Next step will be unit development. In this stage, we will use the overhead projector to display a map of the holy land in the times of Jesus Christ. It must contain the roads, in particular that from Jerusalem to Jericho, a scale (to guess the time it takes from one city to another) and North signaled. We will ask children calculate the kilometers from that the Good Samaritan rode (Mathematics at stake: this is a content they have already covered). Later we will point to the land of Samaria, Galilee and Judea. Later, a small copy of the map will be delivered to each pupil, who will glue it to a notebook or collect it in a file. We will ask them to color those three regions and mark with a green thick line the route of the parable. This task may well be left for homework. Now, we will tell them that the parable we will read takes place in the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. This story was told by Jesus to his disciples to teach them what a neighbor is and what solidarity consists in. 44
Teacher will read it aloud for the whole class. Mimic and facial gestures are for themselves explanatory and help children catch the meaning of vocabulary and the message of the parable; this mimic should be prepared by the teacher beforehand, i.e., he must rehearse for the storytelling (Wright, 2009). Next step is delivering the text of the parable to the whole classroom. During reading, we will ask them to: -
Circle the characters.
-
Underline places.
We will let them make any question they do not understand. Now we will work on the parable and the passive voice (in this we are following Thornbury, 1999: 77-79). While they do this, we will write on the board next questions that probably will make them come back to the text: Who asked Jesus? What did he ask Jesus? Who was attacked? Where? How badly? Who was the attacker? Who helped the man who was attacked? Where was the man taken? Who took him? Now the teacher can let them answer or tell them to copy the questions and write down the answers. After that, the teacher writes these two sentences on the board: 1. Robbers attacked a man on his journey. 2. On his journey a man was attacked by robbers. He tells the class to turn the text over and asks if they know which of the sentences is taken from the parable. Now he will elicit the difference in form between the two sentences, pointing out that in the first the subject of the verb is the actor while in the second the subject is the man who suffered the attacked. Now we write the structure: subject + to be + past participle. We invite them to guess why the second sentence was chosen instead of the first, and explains that it is because the man is the important character, not the robbers, and usually themes or important things go at the beginning of sentences. Now we invite them to take one of the sentences in verse 30 and transform it from active into passive, using the model written on the board. We can also do the reverse, i.e., write a passive sentence that corresponds to an active one on the parable and ask them to find it. After that, we will ask the children if they have ever known of a similar experience of if they have been told. It could be a car accident, a bicycle crash or any other person who was badly treated (it could be a pupil in the school) and different reactions took place: some people passed by but somebody arrived who helped to he who was in need. 45
At this point, time will be over (¡And probably we didn’t do it all!). A plenary or summing up of what has been learnt should be done. For the rest of the lessons, writing should be introduced extensively. Children should complete the story map (See the Anexxe III) and, using the same pattern, write the story map of a real or imagined situation. This takes time and reflection. Teacher must use correction marks and encourage rewriting when necessary. Another ideal activity with this parable would be the use of minimal pairs for working the difference between past simple and present perfect, following the sample lesson by Thornbury (1999: 63-65). In this selection of sentences context is essential. For example, we can offer three minimal pairs with a context. For the first, we imagine a policeman or soldier who has learnt about the attack on the man, questions the priest and he answers: (a) I have seen that man sometime; (b) I saw him this morning. For the second minimal pair, we imagine the same policeman questioning one of the robbers: (a) Have you ever been on the road to Jericho? (b) Where you on the road to Jericho this morning? And the third, the policeman questions the innkeeper, who says: (a) Many injured people have come to my inn since I own it; (b) this morning, a man arrived half dead. Now the teacher elicits the structure behind both verb tenses, and explains that the present perfect is used when something happened in an unspecific moment in the past. When we use the simple past, we refer to a concrete experience in a specified past time. We can offer them a scripted dialogue with gaps to be filled with the correct verb tense; we correct it for the whole class and later it can be performed in pairs. Gap activities can be introduced at any time for content and language. Children are quite used to then, they are easy to do and correct and with immediate reward. Freer activities involve for many students more stress. Work with the authentic text must be introduced in the following lesson. Listening activities with gaps to fill in are an appropriate technique. Later, in the last/s lesson/s with the parable a full watching of a DVD will be offered. We have already talked about it in this paper. Film watching can be used for didactic purposes in different ways (Harmer, 2007).
46
CONCLUSION. We come to an end with this paper and it is time for revising if our objectives have been fulfilled. It’s been clarified what a BEP consists in and the new perspective introduced by CLIL methodology. From both points of view, we have been able to show that RE taught in English is a powerful resource for improving children skills in content and language, while helping in the aims of any BEP in a higher degree than other subjects. We have also shown that the chain of Catholic schools is the context in which this initiative makes sense and the last years of the Primary stage as the most appropriate moment to begin. Then, we have clarified the learning outcomes to be pursued when RE is taught this way and a specific proposal of materials together with a set of activities for classroom has been outlined. We would have liked to end up this project with quantitative results confirming that RE taught in English from a CLIL approach is highly efficient for English learning as well as for RE objectives. Nonetheless, we knew from the outset that this could not be done. We would need years to implement the project and a few groups with homogeneous students for comparison. This has not been possible so far but could be in the coming years. Our humble intention was to justify the pretension of teaching RE in English from different points of view. It does make sense in the context of bilingualism, which is spreading all over Spain. We have also probed that parables and short stories from the Gospels do have a correspondence with RE and the English learning objectives for BEP schools in Madrid. Finally, we have proposed a list of parables and short stories, as well as a set of activities for the classroom. We cannot offer the experience and evaluation of them as this project is due to begin in September 2014. This will be a pioneering innovation in schools following the Spanish education system. If extended to other schools, feedback, benchmarking, sharing of material and specific courses will arise and the initiative will consolidate. Understanding from administrators, teachers volunteering to take a step in this direction and specific training could be combined to produce a new impulse in promoting RE and English in our schools. Only benefits would follow. This project has emerge as a humble step in this renewal:
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43, 19)
47
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Anghel , B., Cabrales, A., & Carro, J. M. (mayo de 2012). Evaluating a bilingual education program in Spain: the impact beyond foreing language learning. Downloaded on April 19, 2014, from: earchivo.uc3m.es/bitstream/10016/14380/1/we1214.pdf Axelrod, R., & Cooper, C. (2010). The St. Martin's Guide to Writing (9 ed.). Boston - N. Y.: Bedford St. Martin's. Barton, A. (2006). Getting the buggers into languages. How to motivate students to speak, listen, read and write in a modern foreing language (2 ed.). London - N.Y.: Continuum. Beare,
K.
(2014).
Reported
Speech
Quiz.
Recuperado
el
5
de
may
de 2014,
de
http://esl.about.com/od/printablequizzes/a/p_reported1.htm Bentley, K. (2010). The Teaching Knowledge Test Course. CLIL Module. Cambridge: CUP. Buzán, T. (2004). Cómo crear mapas mentales. Barcelona: Urano. Cambridge ESOL. (2005). Teaching Knowledge Test. Handbook for teachers. Cambridge: CUP. Cambridge ESOL. (2007). Cambridge Young Learners Tests. Handbook for teachers. Starters, Movers, Flyers. Cambridge: CUP. Cambridge ESOL. (2008). Key English Test. Handbook for teachers. Cambridge: CUP. Cambridge ESOL. (2012). Cambridge English Preliminary. Preliminary English Test (PET). Handbook for teachers. Cambridge: CUP. Capel, S., Leask, M., & Turner, T. (2005). Learning to Teach in the Secondary School (4 ed.). London - New York: Routledge. Cassany, D. (2000). Reparar la escritura. Didáctica de la corrección de lo escrito (7 ed.). Barcelona: Grao. Castro Cavero, J. (2012). Aproximación a la inteligencia espiritual. Zamora: Monte Casino. Comunidad de Madrid - Consejería de Educación. (2013). Madrid, Comunidad Bilingüe. Madrid: BOCM. Conferencia Episcopal Española. (19 de april de 2007). Currículo del área de Religión y Moral Católica. Downloaded
on
February
2,
2014
from
http://www.conferenciaepiscopal.es/index.php/legislacion-ensenanza.html Conferencia Episcopal Española. (6 de marzo de 2014). Nota de la Comisión Episcopal de Enseñanza y Catequesis sobre la opción por la enseñanza religiosa católica en el curso 2013-2014. Downloaded on April
23,
2014,
from
conferenciaepiscopal.es:
http://www.conferenciaepiscopal.es/index.php/estadisticas-ensenanza/3854-nota-de-lacomision-episcopal-de-ensenanza-y-catequesis-sobre-la-opcion-por-la-ensenanza-religiosacatolica-en-el-curso-2013-2014.html 48
Cowley, S. (2004). The A to Z of teaching. London - New York: Continuum. Cowley, S. (2007). Guerrilla guide to teaching. The definite resource for new teachers. London - New York: Continuum. Coyle, D., Hood, P., & Marsh, D. (2010). Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge: CUP. Dhondt, J. (1972). La alta edad media (2 ed.). Madrid: Siglo XXI. Dobson, A., Pérez Murillo, M., & Johnston, R. (2010). Bilingual Education Project Spain. Educational Report. Findings of the independent evaluation of the Bilingual Education Project British Council (Spain) Ministerio Education (Spain). Downloaded on February 2, 2014, from www.britishcouncil.es: www.britishcouncil.org/spain/sites/default/files/pdfs/bep-ingles.pdf Dubruiel, M. (2006). The How-To-Book of the Mass. Everything you need to know but no one ever taught you. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor. Dymond, S., Kenny, N., & French, A. (2005). KET Testbuilder (2009 ed.). Oxford: Mcmillan. Echevarría, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. J. (2010). Making Content Comprehensible for Secondary English Learners. The SIOP Model. Boston: Pearson. European Comission. (1995). White paper on education and training. Downloaded on May 1, 2014, from http://ec.europa.eu/white-papers/index_en.htm#block_14 Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching (4 ed.). Harlow: Pearson. Illanes, J. L., & Saranyana, J. I. (1996). Historia de la Teología. Madrid: BAC. International Bible Society. (2001). New Testament. NIV. Audiobook. Hong Kong: Zondervan. International Bible Society. (2011). Holy Bible. New International Version. New Testament (4 ed.). Belfast: Biblica. Johnson, M. (2014). Bilingual Degree Teachers' Beliefs: A case study in a terciary setting. Dwonloaded on April 23, 2014, from www2.uah.es/master_tefl_alcala/pdf/tfm/matthew_johnson.pdf Lewis, C. S. (1978). The Abolition of Man. Reflections on education with special reference to the teaching of English in the upper forms of schools. London: Harper Collins. Machunsky, M. (2007). Developing Material for Physical Education Lessons in CLIL. Kassel: Grin. McCarthy, M., & O'Dell, F. (1999). English Vocabulary in Use. Elementary. Cambridge: CUP. McGrath, A. E. (2001). Christian Tehology. An introduction (3 ed.). Oxford - Maden: Blackwell. Mehisto, P., Marsh, D., & Frigols, M. J. (2008). Uncovering CLIL. Content and language Integrated Learning in Bilingual and Multilingual Education. Oxford: Macmillan. Monte Tabor Films. (2001). El Buen Samaritano. Madrid. 49
Monte Tabor Films. (2001). El evangelio en dibujos animados. Madrid: Monte Tabor. Morgan, J., & Fonseca, M. (2004). Multiple Intelligence Theory and Foreign Language Learning: a Brain-based Perspective. International Journal of English Studies, 4(1), 119-136. Murphy, R. (2007). Essential Grammar in use. A reference and practice book for elementary students of English. Cambridge: CUP. Otero, H. (2013). Fascinación del buen samaritano. Cómo trabajar con la parábola. Religión y Escuela(269), 35-41. Phillips, S. (1993). Young Learners. Oxford: OUP. Ratzinger, J. (2007). Jesus of Nazareth. From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration. London: Bloomsbury. Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, Melanie. (2005). The Teaching Knowledge Test Course. Cambridge: CUP. Taberski, S. (2000). On solid ground. Strategies for teaching reading k-3. Portsmouth: Heinemann. Teece, G. (2012). The Primary Teacher's Guide to Religious Education. Witney: Scholastic. Theissen, G., & Merz, A. (2000). El Jesús histórico. Salamanca: Sígueme. Thornbury, S. (1999). How to teach grammar. Harlow: Peaerson. Vale, D., & Feunteun, A. (1995). Teaching Children English. A training course for teachers of English to children. Cambridge: CUP. Vince, M. (2010). Elementary language practice. English grammar and vocabulary. KET / A2 level. Oxford: Macmillan. Warriner, J. (1995). Holt High School Handbook. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Webster, M. (2010). Creative Approaches to Teaching Primary RE. Harlow: Longman. Wikenhauser, A. (1967). El evangelio según San Juan. Barcelona: Herder. Wright, A. (2009). Storytelling with children. Oxford: Oxford U. P.
50
ANEXXE I. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION SYLLABUS FOR YEAR 5 AND 6 OF THE PRIMARY STAGE. 1. La estructura de la religión. El concepto de Dios y de hombre. Origen y destino del hombre. Las mediaciones. 2. Manifestaciones de la estructura del fenómeno religioso en la antigüedad (Mesopotamia, Egipto, Grecia y Roma). 3. Las respuestas a las grandes preguntas del ser humano en el Judaísmo, el Cristianismo y el Islam. El sentido y alcance de la fe y las buenas obras. 4. El ser humano, el sentido de su vida y su salvación en el Hinduismo y el Budismo. 5. La dignidad del ser humano creado por Dios Padre. Los derechos humanos. 6. Relatos del Nuevo Testamento en que los testigos acreditan que Jesucristo es Hijo de Dios y verdadero hombre. 7. Jesucristo, Salvador y Redentor del pecado y de la muerte. 8. Jesucristo, plenitud del hombre. 9. La presencia de la Virgen María en el Evangelio y en los Hechos de los Apóstoles. 10. El hombre nuevo y la ley del Espíritu. El amor de Dios y el amor al prójimo. 11. El ser humano es responsable de sus actos. El valor de la conciencia, la verdad, la libertad y la voluntad. 12. Los sacramentos para el crecimiento y propagación del Pueblo de Dios: Orden sacerdotal y Matrimonio. 13. Jesús llama y envía a sus discípulos por todo el mundo para continuar su obra de salvación. La venida y presencia del Espíritu Santo. La expansión de la Iglesia. 14. La Iglesia, nuevo Pueblo de Dios. Manifestaciones de la estructura jerárquica de la Iglesia. El Papa, los Obispos, los Sacerdotes, la Vida Consagrada. La Iglesia Universal y la Iglesia diocesana. 15. La Iglesia en el mundo actual. Significado y sentido de las notas de la Iglesia. Mapa de las grandes religiones en el mundo de hoy. 16. Respeto a las convicciones religiosas como condición mínima para la convivencia. 17. Compromiso y solidaridad con el mundo de hoy: manifestaciones en la Iglesia y en otras religiones. 18. Las fiestas del pueblo de Dios. Su valor comunitario y rememorativo. El encuentro con Dios a través de las fiestas. 51
19. Manifestaciones de la presencia de Dios en la cultura cristiana. Valoración de las expresiones artísticas de las religiones presentes en el entorno. 20. Dios prepara una tierra nueva donde habitará la justicia. La Unción de los enfermos. Las postrimerías del ser humano.
52
ANNEXE II. CORRECTION MARKS. Correction marks for written work, adapted from Cassany (2010) and Warriner (1995). Symbol
Example
Meaning of symbol Capitalize a lowercase letter
Lowercase a capital letter
Change/introduce a letter (correct letter written in between) Insert a missing word, letter or punctuation mark
Leave out a
word, letter or
punctuation mark
Leave out and close up
Close up space
Change the order of letters
Transpose words (write and circle ‘tr’ in nearby margin) Begin a new paragraph
53
Add a period
Add a comma
Add a space
Add a colon
Add a semicolon
Add a hyphen
Add an apostrophe
Wrong or inappropriate word, a correct or more accurate one should be chosen (a suggested word written above o in the margin) Wrong
phrasing
(alternative
proposed)
A
mistake
in
this
fragment:
structure, confusing ideas, lack of coherence…
54
Unintelligible (illegible for poor graphical
writing,
unclear
meaning…) Unexpected mistake for you: you can to do it well (underline for clarity) Positive and negative aspects (some comments at the end of the writing).
Consensus on a set of correction marks should be reached for all subjects and years on the same stage. This is especially true in the case of Spanish and English subjects. Consensus on correcting marks does not necessarily lead into grading / marking agreements, and perhaps shouldn’t.
55
ANEXXE III. STORY MAP. Taken and adapted from (Taberski, 2000, pág. 191). Name: _________________________________________ Date: ______________ Title of the parable: __________________________________________________
® 2000 S. Taberski
56
ANEXXE IV. KET LANGUAGE SPECIFICATIONS. Language purposes Carrying out certain transactions: making arrangements Making purchases ordering food and drink Giving and obtaining factual information: personal non - personal (places, times, etc) Establishing and maintaining social and professional contacts: meeting people extending and receiving invitations proposing / arranging a course of action exchanging information, views, feelings and wishes. Language functions There are six broad categories of language functions (what people do by means of language): Imparting and seeking factual information Expressing and finding out attitudes Getting things done Socializing Structuring discourse Communication repair Inventory of functions, notions and communicative tasks The realizations of these functions, notions and communicative tasks will be in the simplest possible ways. InvFN&CT1
Greeting people and responding to greetings (in person and of the phone)
InvFN&CT2
Introducing oneself and other people Asking for giving personal details: (full) name, age, address, names of relatives and
InvFN&CT3
friends, etc.
InvFN&CT4
Understanding and completing forms giving personal details
InvFN&CT5
Describing education
InvFN&CT6
Describing people (personal appearance, qualities)
InvFN&CT7
Asking and answering questions about personal possessions
InvFN&CT8
Asking for repetition and clarification
InvFN&CT9
Re-stating what has been said
InvFN&CT10 Checking on meaning and intention InvFN&CT11 Helping others to express their ideas 57
InvFN&CT12 Interrupting a conversation InvFN&CT13 Asking for and giving the spelling and meaning of words InvFN&CT14 Counting and using numbers InvFN&CT15 Asking and telling people the time, day and/or date InvFN&CT16 Asking for and giving information about routines and habits InvFN&CT17 Understanding and giving information about everyday activities InvFN&CT18 Talking about what people are doing at the moment Talking about past events and stated in the past, recent activities and completed InvFN&CT19 actions InvFN&CT20 Understanding and producing simple narratives InvFN&CT21 Reporting what people say InvFN&CT22 Talking about future situations InvFN&CT23 Talking about future plans or intentions. InvFN&CT24 Making predictions InvFN&CT25 Identifying and describing accommodation (houses, flats, rooms, furniture, etc.) InvFN&CT26 Buying things (costs and amounts) InvFN&CT27 talking about food and ordering meals InvFN&CT28 talking about the weather InvFN&CT29 talking about one's health InvFN&CT30 following and giving simple instructions InvFN&CT31 understanding simple signs an notices InvFN&CT32 asking the way and giving directions InvFN&CT33 asking for and giving travel information InvFN&CT34 asking for and giving simple information about places InvFN&CT35 identifying and describing simple objects (shape, size, weight, color, purpose or use, etc.) InvFN&CT36 making comparisons and expressing degrees of difference InvFN&CT37 expressing purpose, cause and result, and giving reasons InvFN&CT38 making and granting / refusing simple requests InvFN&CT39 making and responding to offers and suggestions InvFN&CT40 expressing and responding to thanks InvFN&CT41 giving and responding to invitations InvFN&CT42 giving advice InvFN&CT43 giving warnings and stating prohibitions InvFN&CT44 asking / telling people to do something InvFN&CT45 expressing obligation and lack of obligation InvFN&CT46 asking and giving / refusing permission to do something 58
InvFN&CT47 making and responding to apologies and excuses InvFN&CT48 expressing agreement and disagreement, and contradicting people paying compliments InvFN&CT49 sympathizing InvFN&CT50 expressing preferences, likes and dislikes (especially about hobbies and leisure activities) InvFN&CT51 talking about feelings InvFN&CT52 expressing opinions and making choices InvFN&CT53 expressing needs and wants InvFN&CT54 expressing (in)ability in the present and in the past InvFN&CT55 talking about (im)probability and (im)possibility InvFN&CT56 expressing degrees of certainty and doubt Inventory of grammatical areas Verbs Gr1
regular and irregular forms Modals
Gr2
can (ability; requests; permission)
Gr3
could (ability; polite requests)
Gr4
would (polite requests)
Gr5
will (future)
Gr6
shall (suggestion; offer)
Gr7
should (advice)
Gr8
may (possibility)
Gr9
have (got) to (obligation)
Gr10
must (obligation)
Gr11
need (necessity)
Gr12
needn't (lack of necessity) Tenses
Gr13
Present simple: states, habits, systems and processes and with future meaning (and verbs not used in the continuous form)
Gr14
Present continuous: present actions and future meaning
Gr15
Present perfect simple: recent past with just, indefinite past with yet, already, never, ever; unfinished past with for and since
Gr16
Past simple: past events
Gr17
Past continuous: parallel past actions, continuous actions interrupted by the past simple tense
Gr18
Future with going to
Gr19
Future with will and shall: offers, promises, predictions, etc. Verb forms 59
Gr20
Affirmative, interrogative, negative
Gr21
Imperatives
Gr22
Infinitives (with and without to) after verbs and adjectives
Gr23
Gerunds (-ing form) after verbs and prepositions
Gr24
Gerunds as subjects and objects
Gr25
Passive forms: present and past simple
Gr26
Short questions (Can you?) and answers (No, he doesn't) Clause types
Gr27
Main clause: Carlos is Spanish
Gr28
Co-ordinate clause: Carlos is Spanish and his wife is English
Gr29
Subordinate clause following sure, certain: I'm sure (that) she's a doctor.
Gr30
Subordinate clause following know, think, believe, hope: I hope you're well
Gr31
Subordinate clause following say, tell: She says (that) she's his sister.
Gr32
Subordinate clause following if, when, where, because: Interrogatives
Gr33
What; What (+noun)
Gr34
Where; When
Gr35
Who; Whose; Which
Gr36
How, How much; How many; How often; How long; etc.
Gr37
Why
Gr38
(including the interrogative forms of all tenses and modals listed) Nouns
Gr39
Singular and plural (regular an irregular forms)
Gr40
Countable and uncountable nouns with some and any
Gr41
Abstract nouns
Gr42
Compound nouns
Gr43
Noun phrases
Gr44
Genitive: 's & s'
Gr45
Double genitive: a friend of theirs Pronouns
Gr46
Personal (subject, object, possessive)
Gr47
Impersonal: it, there
Gr48
Demonstrative: this, that, these, those
Gr49
Quantitative: one, something, everybody, etc.
Gr50
Indefinite: some, any, something, one, etc.
Gr51
Relative: who, which, that Determiners
Gr52
a + countable nouns 60
Gr53
the + countable / uncountable nouns Adjectives
Gr54
Color, size, shape, quality, nationality
Gr55
Predicative and attributive
Gr56
Cardinal and ordinal numbers
Gr57
Possessive: my, your, his, her, etc.
Gr58
Demonstrative: this, that, these, those
Gr59
Quantitative: some, any, many, much, a few, a lot of, all, other, every, etc.
Gr60
Comparative and superlative forms (regular and irregular)
Gr61
Order of adjectives
Gr62
Participles as adjectives Adverbs
Gr63
Regular and irregular forms
Gr64
Manner: quickly, carefully, etc.
Gr65
Frequency: often, never, twice a day, etc.
Gr66
Definite time: now, last week, etc.
Gr67
Indefinite time: already, just, yet, etc.
Gr68
Degree: very, too, rather, etc.
Gr69
Place: here, there, etc.
Gr70
Direction: left, right, etc.
Gr71
Sequence: first, next, etc.
Gr72
Pre-verbal, post-verbal and end-position adverbs
Gr73
Comparative and superlative forms (regular and irregular) Prepositions
Gr74
Location: to, on, inside, next to, at(home), etc.
Gr75
Time: at, on, in, during, etc.
Gr76
Direction: to, into, out of, from, etc.
Gr77
Instrument: by, with
Gr78
Miscellaneous: like, about, etc.
Gr79
Prepositional phrases: at the end of, in front of, etc.
Gr80
Prepositions preceding nouns and adjectives. By car, for sale, on holiday, etc. Connectives
Gr81
and, but, or
Gr82
when, where, because, if
Topics T1
Clothes
T2
Daily life
T3
Entertainment and media 61
T4
Food and drink
T1
Health, medicine and exercise
T2
Hobbies and leisure
T3
House and home
T4
Language
T1
People
T2
Personal feelings, opinions and experiences
T3
Personal identification
T4
Places and buildings
T1
School and study
T2
Shopping
T3
Social interaction
T4
Sport
T1
The natural world
T2
Transport
T3
Travel and holidays
T4
Weather
Due to extension, we do not include lexis here.
62
