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Annex 7.1 Learning Unit Learning Unit: 'Celebrations' Martín Arce Teixeira 68564 Diseño, organización y desarrollo de actividades para el aprendizaje del Inglés Universidad de Zaragoza Academic Year: 2013-2014 Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 1 Table of Contents 1. Introduction and justification 2. Contribution to the key competences 3. Objectives 4. Contents 5. Methodology 6. Evaluation 7. Differentiation 8. Lesson Plans 8.1 April Fools' Day 8.2 Strange Celebrations Around the World 8.3 Burning Man 8.4 Lottery Celebrations 8.5 International Wedding Trip 8.6 Gloucester Cheese Rolling 9. Conclusion 10. References 11. Annexes Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 2 1. Introduction and justification This unit has been prepared for one group of 2nd Bachillerato in the Pablo Serrano High school, situated in the "Las Fuentes" neighbourhood in Zaragoza. This is a working class district which was built in the beginning of the 20th century with the industrial development of the city and the construction of condominiums for the workers of the area. The “Pablo Serrano” High school is a quite big school situated in a low-middle class context with a significant array of students with very different interests, needs, backgrounds or motivation. Education of ESO, Bachillerato and Professional Qualification are offered in the “Pablo Serrano”, but as there are over a thousand students studying at the school, there are also several programs allocated to the attention to diversity, such as PCPI, PAB or PT. The class this unit plan will be implemented is one with 26 students of one of the groups of 2nd Bachillerato of the centre. They would be often called the 'not-so-good' group, but the truth is that it was the most heterogeneous group. There were very different levels of English, as some students could already speak quite fluently and other could not speak very much, and at the same time there were students from very different personal backgrounds; e.g., one student who was raised in Senegal, or another one whose family came from Colombia. Therefore it was certainly a challenge to take this into account and integrate this diversity in the unit plan. I was given the topic "Celebrations" by my tutor, so this is the starting point for each of the lesson plans. Different subtopics have been approached so that every lesson plans is different from the previous one in form and content, but still has a common root that connects them all; for example, one can find himself/herself working on Aprils' Fools one day, on different celebrations around the world or with lottery celebrations. This unit plan adjusts to the legal context given for that year and course, therefore it relates to the legal guidelines pointed out in the BOA, published on the 17th July 2008 and the LOE of 2006 which define the competences, objectives, contents, the methodology and the evaluation criteria that should be followed for second of Bachillerato. Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 3 2. Contribution to the key competences In difference with that of the Compulsory Secondary Education, the key competences are not explicitly defined, nor structured for Bachillerato in the LOE. (It is only briefly named that students should be able to get into active life with responsibility and competency) Given the present situation, the Aragonese Curriculum suggests that those key competences of the previous stage are still applicable bearing in mind that they have been introduced by following European indications. Those are, to some extent, copied from the previous stage in the Aragonese Curriculum, even though they are all included within the communicative competence. It is stated that the Bachillerato stage should follow similar guidelines to those of the previous stage, but at the same time, it should be taken into account the new characteristics of a more mature and autonomous student body.  Competence in linguistic communication: As students are continually interacting with each other and with the student, they have to communicate ideas constantly. There are jigsaw exercises in which there is information gaps and the only way to solve is by using the linguistic communication.  Learning to learn competence: The tasks provided to the students ask them to actively work on their own having the tutelage of the teacher, therefore it is them who are to learn by themselves, being the teacher a mere facilitator of the process.  Competence in processing information and use of ICTs: By using computers to search for information online to complete tasks that require the use of ICTs, as well as processing the information contained in the videos presented in the classroom.  Cultural and artistic competence: Many of the topics are cultural related issues and the writing assignments are thought to promote their creativity and to help them think further than their usual boundaries. As well several different topics of other cultures are presented to them about which they might have never heard before, opening their eyes on those issues.  Autonomy and personal initiative competence: By offering the students an array of different topics to which they can relate to in an open way, they have the Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 4 chance to autonomously put in the information they might consider relevant and of their interest.  Competence in social skills and citizenship: One of the main aspects that is tackled in this unit plan are the social skills, as students are most of the time working with their partners, getting to know each other and exchanging ideas with one another. 3. Objectives The objectives for this unit plan have been designed according to those objectives defined for the academic stage of Bachillerato in the BOA July 17th 2008: 1. To express and interact orally in an spontaneous and effective way in various communicative situations to be able to exchange information on different topics, such as different celebrations or to come to an agreement within a group. 2. To understand oral texts about cultural celebrations related to the English-speaking world and from different sources such as internet and from newspapers. 3. To express oneself in written form clearly and well-structured, in an adequate style to the addressee and bearing in mind the communicative intention of the produced text. 4. To understand and explain written texts about celebrations with different related topics and genres. 5. To autonomously read texts with different goals, according to their interests and needs, such as the organization of a trip, taking into account reading as a source of information, enjoyment and leisure. 6. To use the foreign language in an autonomous way to progress in their learning by reflection on its working, its acquisition and the development of diverse learning strategies, using all means at their reach, including the information and communication technologies. 7. To get used to different celebrations that constitute part of the aspects of the sociocultural environment of the foreign language to facilitate better intercultural comprehension. Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 5 8. To develop autonomy of learning by active participation in the planning, evaluation, and control of the process, explaining the decision and accepting the responsibility attached to them. 4. Contents Bloque 1: Listening and speaking. -Understanding the general and specific meaning of conferences and discourses about concrete topics and with certain abstraction within the field of general and academic interest of the student body. -Use of strategies to understand and infer non explicit meanings, to understand the main ideas or to check comprehension using contextual keys in orals texts about diverse topics. -Improvised oral production of diverse messages related to their interests and presentations previously prepared about general topics or about their specialization with reasonable fluency and formal correction. -Participation in discussions and debates about current issues, offering relevant information, using appropriate examples, defending their points of view with clarity and showing a respectful and critical attitude towards other people's interventions. Bloque 2. Reading and writing. -Prediction of information based on textual and non-textual elements of written texts about diverse topics. -Comprehension of general information, specific and detailed in different textual genres referred to an array of topics. -Planning the writing expression by using mechanisms of organization, articulation and cohesion of the text. -Composition of texts with a certain degree of complexity about current issues, with personal or academic interests, with clarity, reasonable formal correction and adaptable vocabulary according to the topic and using the appropriate register. Bloque 3: Knowledge of the inner workings of the language -Increase in the variety and complexity of the grammatical structures used in the communication and the variety of functions, according to the different types of text and communicative intentions. Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 6 -Participation in the taking of decisions about the learning process: identification of the own needs, objectives formulation, planning and monitoring of the process. -Autonomous use of different learning resources: digital, bibliographic database, etc,... -Application of strategies to revise, expand, and consolidate vocabulary and linguistic structures. -Interest in take advantage of the learning opportunities, inside and outside the classroom, using the information and communication technologies. -To value the confidence, initiative, and cooperation to learn languages. Bloque 4: Sociocultural aspects and intercultural awareness. -Reflection about the significant similarities and differences between customs, behaviours, attitudes, values or beliefs hold between the speakers of the foreign language and the learner's own language. -Use of different registers according to the context, interlocutor, communicative intention, communication channel, etc,... -To value the foreign language as a means of communication and understanding between people, as a way to facilitate access to other cultures and to other languages as well as to personal enrichment. -Acknowledgment of the importance of the foreign language as a way to access to knowledge that are of the future academic and professional interest of the student body. 5. Methodology Since my personal perception of the teaching-teaching process is usually one which has historically tended to focus more on the formal aspects of the language such as grammar and vocabulary, I have decided to follow a more cooperative and communicative approach by using a Task-based syllabus, so students are given the opportunity to use the language in a integrated way in the classroom beyond the typical teacher-student interaction, in order to promote the student's output, not forgetting at any moment that they should also be given enabling tasks, so that they have the necessary assets to successfully complete the activities. The classroom activities are presented within a context which the students might encounter in real life, so that the communicative needs to complete the tasks will be similar to those required to successfully carry out the different activities that they could Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 7 come across with. As these students are usually following the course book in which they are not asked to actively participate in groups, I think they will enjoin the opportunity to use the language actively in groups without the constraints of the book activities, letting them to produce language more freely and boosting their motivation and interest in the classroom activities. Due to the realistic nature of the activities, skills are usually integrated and no lesson is focused on a one single skill but on several of them; for example, a listening is taken as a starting point to practice speaking by raising the student's interests on a topic. Grammar, as such, is only approached in only one of the lessons and from a inductive perspective, so that students have to actively come up with the rules of the second conditional. The Aragonese curriculum also expounds the importance of the diversity of the tasks, communicative situations, and kinds of oral and written texts. This has been taken into account in this unit plan by providing in each lesson a different type of activity to the students, based on different authentic sources, trying to be as close their interests and communicative needs as possible, so that they would be challenged to extract relevant information from them. Martin Ortiz (1999:151) states that "the communicative approach is an integrative one in which the main goal is to prepare and encourage learners to exploit in an optimal way their limited communicative competence in the second language in order to participate in actual communication situations". This statement should be taken into account when planning the lessons in a communicative approach. Students should be continuously offered opportunities to participate and use English. Only by doing so, we will be to able to proof the students that English is not simply a subject they have to pass, but a living language which can be extremely useful to them in the real life. To achieve this, meaningful and realistic interaction must be sought at all times, to show the students the use, purpose and reasons for learning a foreign language. This didactic unit has been therefore though based on the different needs and interests of the learners. They play a huge role in the classes, most of the time they are the one working and not the teacher. 6. Evaluation According to the Aragonese Curriculum, within the methodology there should be included a system of continuous evaluation of the teaching-learning process. This Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 8 system should guide and provide information to all the participants of the process, i.e., the teacher and the learners, so that the students are aware what is required from them and the teachers can gather information on the teaching-learning process in order to be able to deal with the different problems that may arise. In each lesson, the worksheets are gathered as a piece of evidence of the work done, and some notes should be written down just after the lesson takes place. This, along with the teacher's notes, will represent 60% of the student's mark. 40% of the evaluation grade is given by the student, who will grade on each of the worksheets his/her individual performance and the group performance. By doing so, we can have the information needed to be able to provide the students with continuous evaluation which is suggested by the curriculum. The following table shows the criteria to be followed in each of the lessons: Title of the Lesson Teacher (60%) Student (20%) Peer/group mark (20%) April Fools' -Attitude and participation in the classroom activities. -Accuracy in the answers of the listening task. -Correctness and use of language in the writing task. -Originality of the written text. -Participation and attitude. -Oral performance. -Collaboration to the group to come up with the answers. -Use of appropriate vocabulary and language grammar in the written text. -Understanding of the explanations of the video to the partner. -Clarity and correctness in the explanations of the video to the 'blind learner. -How the group worked together to achieve the common goal. Strange Celebrations around the World -Attitude and participation in the classroom activities. -Accuracy in the answers of the. -Correctness and use of language. -Conciseness and clarity of summarized ideas. -Crosswords performance. -Participation and attitude. -Oral performance. -Clarity and fluency of presentation of the group ideas to the rest of the classmates. -Correct use of appropriate vocabulary and language grammar in the presentation. -Fluency in the explanations of the video. -Clarity and correctness in the explanations of the video to the 'blind learner. -How the group worked together to achieve the common goal in the crosswords. Burning Man -Attitude and participation in the classroom activities. -Accuracy in the answers of the listening task. -Correctness and use of language in the writing task. -Originality of the written text. -Participation and attitude. -Oral performance. -Collaboration to the group to come up with the answers. -Accuracy in the answers of the listening task. -Use of appropriate vocabulary and language grammar in the answers of text. -Fluency in the explanations of the video. -Clarity and correctness in the explanations of the festival. -How the pair worked together to answer the questions. Lottery celebrations -Attitude and participation in the classroom activities. -Accuracy in the answers of the listening task. -Correctness and use of language in the writing task. -Originality of the written text. -Participation and attitude. -Understanding of the text and questions. -Collaboration to the group to come up with the answers. -Appropriate use of second conditional in the 'Building around Game'. -Creativity. -Group performance and participation. -How the group worked together to write a nice story in the 'Building around Game', taking into account the participation of all members of the group. International -Attitude and participation in the (Individual mark 40%) N/A Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 15 -Teacher will link this with the following task by creating a small talk in the classroom about big festivals and events, trying to engage students so that they describe their own personal experiences. -Writing activity. Students have to write a postcard to a new friend they have just met at the Burning festival. (See worksheet) 3' 10  Individual work Evaluation of the learning and teaching process: -Have I predicted properly the timing of each sub-activity? Yes. The timing was good, but this depends on the students' motivation the day this lesson plan is implemented, because they were very focused throughout the lesson, so not much time was lost between activities. -Was the provided vocabulary useful to understand the video? Yes, these key terms helped them to have a general idea of what the idea of the video could be related to. -Did the students need a second listening of the text? Did they need the subtitles? Yes, a second listening was needed. I decided to provide them with subtitles in the second viewing to help them understand more. -Was the listening tasks too easy to answer? Were they relevant? Some were easy to answer, but there were a couple of them which were not answered by anyone. -Have the students been able to infer the context of the listening text from non verbal communication and clues? Yes, as some of the students did not understand very much, they relied on the images to gather extra information on the video. -Were the students interested in the topic? Did they find it amusing? Yes, they had never heard of such a festival and the amazing stuff seen on the video made them very jealous. They would rather be in the festival than in the classroom. -Did the students get engaged in the writing activity? Yes, this group is a very creative one which seems to love this kind of open exercises in which they are let free to use language as they want. Assessment and feedback: -The teacher observes how the students interact with each other during the activities, providing feedback and support when required. -The worksheets are gathered to provide feedback afterwards. Action Points: -I did not print out the worksheet in colour, so the images were not very clear. That would help them to understand them. Homework: -The students who did not finish the writing activity will hand it in the following session Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 16 4. Lottery celebrations Time and date: 8/04/2014 11.30AM Grade: 2nd of Bachillerato Unit of Work: Celebrations Number of students: 26 Title of the lesson: Lottery celebrations Learning Outcomes: -To be able to recognize grammar features. -To identify and understand the gist of a written text. -To be able to develop and idea found in the text -To use an appropriate format in the performances, to maintain the audience engagement and to present the information in an appropriate sequence. Activities: -The teacher will begin the lesson by showing a picture of a couple celebrating. Students have to say why they think these people are celebrating. Eventually the lottery will come up, if not the teacher should suggest it. -The worksheet will be given to the students. They will read it and discuss questions in pairs. -Class share. The questions will be then discussed with the whole group. -The teacher will try to elicit what the students know of the type two conditionals. A couple of sentences of the last of the questions of the worksheet will be written on the blackboard and the students will be asked to come up with a rule. -Each student takes a piece of paper and groups of 4 or 3 are formed. Students will play a version of the game "Building around" taken from "Fun with Grammar" by Suzanne Woodward. They will be writing as many stories as the number of students a group has. Every composition will begin by "If I won the lottery, I would..." and will be completed by the first student. The stopwatch will be set for a minute and a half for each sentence, after that the students will pass their piece of paper to the next student, therefore they all will be writing in every piece of paper. Students have to link the previous sentence with the following one by reformulating and adding new information. -Each group will choose the story they like the most and, taking turns, they will have to perform it on stage as a short theatrical play. Time: 5' 10' 5' 7' 12' 12' Procedure:  T-S Interaction  Individual reading  S-S Interaction  Class share  T-S Interaction  Individual work  Group work  S-S Interaction  Group discussion Materials: -Projector -Lottery winners.jpg -Annex 4 Worksheet Evaluation of the learning and teaching process: -Were the students able to complete the tasks? Were the text's difficulty adequate to the student´s level? Yes, they all made correctly and without big problem, so the text might have been a little too easy for their level. -Have my students been able to correctly produce type two conditionals? Yes, the inductive approach was very useful, as they had to actively understand the functioning of this grammar point. -Have I managed to clearly explain the 'Building around' exercise? Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 17 Yes, even though I had to explain several times, so everyone knew how to properly do it. Assessment and feedback: -The teacher will observe the students who commit mistakes and oral feedback might be given. -The written stories will be gathered to provide written feedback to the students. Action points: -The stories they wrote did not make much sense, so the performances did not work very well. Homework: -None Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 18 5. International wedding trip Time and date: 9/04/2014 11.30AM Grade: 2nd of Bachillerato Unit of Work: Celebrations Number of students: 26 Title of the lesson: International wedding trip. Learning Outcomes: -To be able to identify certain information a written text. (Scanning) -To use the ICTs to select and extract relevant information. -To autonomously understand the information of a webpage. -To draft and write a text to be delivered in the context of a wedding. Activities: -The teacher will play this wedding proposal video and will promote a small talk with the students about weddings. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtPkxzHKLpk) -What do you think about rejecting the proposal in public? -What would you have done? -Would you ever publicly ask anybody to marry you? -Students will work individually in each computer and should fill up the worksheet with the different tasks. The teacher explains what they should do. -Students book a flight on the Ryanair website or on any other flight company they might find. -Students book a hotel online. They can access any website like www.booking.com or www.ebooker.com -Students buy a wedding gift at Harrods' website. They have to choose among the available presents in the website. Time: 7' 3' 15' 15' 15' Procedure:  T-S Interaction  Class discussion  Class management  Individual work  Individual work  Individual work Materials: -Projector -Worksheet (Annex 5 Worksheet) -Computer Evaluation of the learning and teaching process: -Have I been able to help the students complete the different activities? Yes, I walked around the classroom helping the students when they could not know how to advance or how to write down what they have found or chosen, but at the same time, they were helping each other out very much. -Have I predicted properly the timing of each sub-activity? It depends, for some students the timing was very good, but others needed much more time and could not finish all the activities. -Were the students interested in the topic? Did they find it amusing? Not really, but the fact that we were working with the computers did the task much more entertaining for them. They liked very much the things they found at the Harrods' website. Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 19 -Were the students able to complete the tasks? Yes, they knew more or less how this kind of websites work, so the context of internet helped them to understand their structures. Assessment and feedback: -Students have to hand in the trips they have organized. Clarity and correction will be expected. -Real time feedback is given throughout the lesson so that they can realize the mistakes they might commit. Action points: -None Homework: -Writing the wedding speech to be delivered in the event. Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 20 6. Gloucester Cheese Rolling Time and date: 10/04/2014 8.30AM Grade: 2nd of Bachillerato Unit of Work: Celebrations Number of students: 26 Title of the lesson: Gloucester cheese rolling Learning Outcomes: -To be able to understand the main ideas of a text (skimming) -To summarize the main idea of the text in few words. -To recognize specific ideas and pieces of information within a text. (scanning) -To be able to take turns in a discussion and to react to other classmates' arguments. Activities: -The teacher will play a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffIaVzavIxE) to introduce the topic of the lesson. He/She will stop the video in the minute 2.15 and ask the students what they think that may occur just afterwards. Is the man in the video trying to break a new world record? what is he willing to do? why are there people gathering in this place? Do you think this is real? What clues do you have so far in the video? After a small talk, the video will be played until the end, disclosing the race down the hill chasing the rolling cheese. -The 3 texts are graded according to their difficulty. (Normal, challenging and very challenging difficulties) and they are offered to the students, so each of them will choose the one which he/she believes adapts more to his/her motivation or skills. Students with the same text will get together and will be asked to read their texts. -Afterwards, they will be asked to comment the text in groups and to make some annotations, as they will not be allowed to take the original texts in the following step. -New groups of 3 students will be formed in which each of them should have read a different text. Taking turns, they should explain their group mates what the text is about and to comment on one specific aspect that they have found curious. -Students will be asked to take back the texts and to take turns asking the given questions. Each text has questions whose answers are found in any of the texts of the other group members. They have to take turns and write down the different answers they may come up with. -The teacher will ask the students from different groups to comment on the different questions and the class will share their answers and opinions. -Class debate: One of your friends have decided to participate in the event, but you think that he should not, because he may get injured or even die. Students will be asked if they believe that this event should be banned because of the health risks. The following statements will be read aloud and students have to decide whether they agree, disagree, partially agree or partially disagree. There will be 4 signs on each corner of the classroom with the different opinions and students have to move around the room with each statement. A member of each group should argue why they have decided to defend their stance. -This event should be completely banned, as it is threat to the public health. -Participants should pay by their own the medical expenses in case they get injured in the event. Time: 5' 5' 5' 9'(3'x3 studen ts) 10' 5' 10' Procedure:  T-S Interaction  Class discussion  Class management  Individual work  S-S Interaction  S-S Interaction  S-S Interaction  Individual work  T-S Interaction  Group discussion Materials: -Video projector -Work sheet (Annex 6 worksheet) -Annex 6 - dynamic debate signs Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 21 -Police should impose big fines to those who attend this banned event -The woman who provides the cheese of the event should also be fined. Evaluation of the learning and teaching process: -Have I predicted properly the timing of each sub-activity? Yes. The timing was good. -Have I provided sufficient explanations and help to the students? Yes, the students knew well what to do. - Were the different texts' difficulty adequate to the student´s level? Yes, as there were three different levels, each students picked the difficulty he/she felt was good for him, but because of groupforming requirements, some students had to work with texts a bit more difficult than those that they chose firstly. -Were the students dynamic and active during the activities? Yes, they were really involved and concentrated in the classroom. -Have the students been able to discuss the different statements and to provide arguments for their stance? Yes, but some of them changed very easily their point of view after an argument was done, so they could not really counter argue with more arguments. Assessment and feedback: -The worksheets will be gathered after the class to check the students' participation and involvement in the activities. Action points: -Better planning for the group formation is needed, so that everyone works with the text he/she really wants to. Homework: -None Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 22 9. Conclusion After so much theory in this Masters, it has been great to be able to get to do things on the real field. If we are to believe that 'learning by doing' is one of the most useful approaches to learning we should definitely practice that, as is it not the same to talk about programming a didactic unit, than to actually prepare it. It is the only way the teacher can encounter problems that may arise while reflecting a preparing the lessons and the whole didactic unit. Teachers always have to be able to tackle unexpected problems and this not but the perfect practice for that. It should also be marked that there is a huge gap between the theoretical preparation of the unit and the real life of the classes. I thought this difference would be much less, but actually one can never predict how things will work on the class, therefore even more value should be given to the previous preparation of the lessons. I have had the feeling that the workload to prepare one single didactic unit was almost unbearable, as if several of them would have to been prepared for different classes the amount of work would be huge. I guess that the experience plays a big role making the task much more doable. In my opinion, students really liked what we did in the classroom mainly because of the methodology we followed. They are used to follow the book and grammar exercises, therefore they are not at all excited in the classroom, because they do not seem to be involved in what they are doing. Having them playing an active role in the classes made them involved in the process of learning without knowing. This besides the work in groups made a difference in their attitude. I think this paper has been one of the most productive ones so far in this Masters, as one could finally apply all the concepts and ideas that were presented along all the subjects and make them work together as a new machine that could actually be taken into the road to be tested. I am certainly sure that will proof very useful in the future as a teacher. Annex 7.1 Learning Unit 23 10. References Organic Law 2/2006, 3rd of May, of Education (LOE) BOA, Aragonese Curriculum. 9th May, 2007 BOA, Aragonese Curriculum for Bachillerato. 17th July, 2008 Martín, Patricia Ortiz. Language Teaching. Theoretical Basis & Curricular Design. (1999) Amarú Ediciones Panorama BBC TV Show. Questions sheet. April Fools' Day 1957 Useful vocabulary: burst into flame: to be very hot. harvest: The process or period of gathering in crops. e.g. "farmers work longer hours during the harvest" fortnight: a period of two weeks. crop: A cultivated plant that is grown on a large scale commercially, especially a cereal, fruit, or vegetable. frost: a white deposit of ice particles a bumper year: good and productive year to be puzzled: perplexed, e.g. "she looked puzzled and angry with him" home-grown: produced in one’s own garden or country. It´s 1957 and you are watching this BBC TV Show with your deaf grandmother. She cannot understand what they said in the video and she is very curious to know what is it about. She asks you: -Where does this story takes place? -Was there a good harvest? why? -What food is picked from the trees? -Are these people professionals in this field? ------------------------------------------------- Creative writing: You work as a scriptwriter for the TV news. Today is April's fool and you want to make fun of the audience. Think about a prank you could play on the audience and prepare it to play it on tonight´s show. 1) Choose a real story in the news. For example, a famous football match which has taken place recently. Of course, you can also write a new one from scratch. 2) Invent some new features of the involved characters. For example, the referee received money to make the home team win. 3) Add in some new objects or characters to the story. A crazy naked German entered the football field and stole the ball. 4) Write the story to be able to present it in the TV! Use many adjectives and emotional vocabulary to add some depth to the story. 5) Last but not least, be creative! This should be a creative writing, so don´t set yourself any limits. Text 4: Day of the Dead Day of the Dead is an interesting holiday celebrated in central and southern Mexico during the chilly days of November 1 & 2. Even though this coincides with the Catholic holiday called All Soul's & All Saint’s Day, the indigenous people have combined this with their own ancient beliefs of honoring their deceased loved ones. They believe that the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31, and the spirits of all deceased children (angelitos) are allowed to reunite with their families for 24 hours. On November 2, the spirits of the adults come down to enjoy the festivities that are prepared for them. In most Indian villages, beautiful altars are made in each home. They are decorated with candles, buckets of flowers, peanuts, plates of turkey, tortillas and big Day-of-theDead breads called pan de muerto. The altar needs to have lots of food, bottles of soda, hot chocolate and water for the weary spirits. Toys and candies are left for the angelitos, and on Nov. 2, cigarettes and shots of mezcal are offered to the adult spirits. Little folk art skeletons and sugar skulls, purchased at open-air markets, provide the final touches. Source: http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/support/dodhistory.html 1. The academic year is about to finish and you have to decide where you would like to go. You and three more classmates want to go to the same celebration, but the rest of your classmates have some other preferences. You have found online this text that briefly describes the celebration where you want to go. You have to convince the rest of the class that your destination is the best one! (a) Group brainstorming: You and your three classmates have to brainstorm together about key ideas or words you think that would be interesting to include in a proposal of your celebration. (b) Individual reflection: Each student writes three important ideas of the celebration they would like to emphasize about this celebration that they find interesting. (c) Colleagues meeting: You will not have a lot of time to present your proposal to the rest of the classmates, so come to an agreement to choose the three most important ideas that the group will select to present this celebration effectively and interestingly. (d) Presenting this celebration offer: You meet other three classmates who happen to have a different preference than yours. Each student will try to convince the other with their offer. Use the ideas you decided with your group to present your proposal. Present your offer really nice and interesting, so that they will choose yours! / When you have finished presenting your offer, you will be one of the three customers, so write down one thing that you like or dislike from each offer. 2. -You have eventually reached an agreement and you are on the plane heading your destination. The flight attendant offers all the passengers to play a crosswords competition. Be the first one to fill it up in order to get your travel for free! Across 5. A recently dead person 6. Any social class or system based on such distinctions as heredity, rank, wealth, profession, etc 9. A period of the year characterized by a particular climatic feature or marked by a particular activity, event, or festivity 10. A single piece of cloth wrapped round the hips 12. An emotional state or reaction 14. A large outdoor fire 15. To hurry or cause to hurry 16. A loud and confused noise, especially that of people shouting 17. Fine, dry particles produced by the grinding, crushing, or disintegration of a solid substance Down 1. A raised place or structure where sacrifices are offered and religious rites performed 2. A person who performs religious ceremonies 3. Bringing great happiness or good fortune 4. A person who watches at a show, game, or other event 7. The skeleton of a person’s or animal’s head 8. An annual religious celebration 11. The action of or noise produced by laughing 13. A desire or hope for something to happen 14. An acceptance that something exists or is true Strange celebrations Across 5. A recently dead person 6. Any social class or system based on such distinctions as heredity, rank, wealth, profession, etc 9. A period of the year characterized by a particular climatic feature or marked by a particular activity, event, or festivity 10. A single piece of cloth wrapped round the hips 12. An emotional state or reaction 14. A large outdoor fire 15. To hurry or cause to hurry 16. A loud and confused noise, especially that of people shouting 17. Fine, dry particles produced by the grinding, crushing, or disintegration of a solid substance Down 1. A raised place or structure where sacrifices are offered and religious rites performed 2. A person who performs religious ceremonies 3. Bringing great happiness or good fortune 4. A person who watches at a show, game, or other event 7. The skeleton of a person’s or animal’s head 8. An annual religious celebration 11. The action of or noise produced by laughing 13. A desire or hope for something to happen 14. An acceptance that something exists or is true Strange celebrations a p b l s r l t p i d e c e a s e d c a s t e s r c f k s e a s o n t e u t e a a l d t s l l o i n c l o t h r a u f e e l i n g h w t i b o n f i r e s e r u s h c l a m o r i p o w d e r f Burning Man Festival: History of the Celebration (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNv93IgQymA) 1. Match the following images with the corresponding words and try to guess their meaning: self-reliance effigy pilgrimage trace to dispose kinship to go up in flames 2. You work for a local newspaper and you have been sent over to the Burning Man Festival. When you come back to work you do not remember very much and your boss asks you many questions! Sit in pairs and try to answer some of the following questions:  Where does this festival take place?  How did it all start?  Why did the police intervene? What were the consequences of the police intervention?  When did the participants start to make pilgrimages to the festival? Why?  What is the Black Rock City? What is its shape?  How can you explain the idea of radical self-reliance?  What are the only two things you can you buy at the festival? If you want/need something else, how could you get it?  What do they do with the artwork that is created during the festival?  What do you think are the ideological principles that guide the Burning Man? 3. Writing activity. You have just come back from a festival where you have made a new cool friend from Chicago. Write him a postcard recalling some good moments you might have experienced together and invite him to visit you at your place by suggesting some nice activities you could do together. 1. You are reading the news online and happen to come across the following article online. Is this the best lottery winner celebration going? Toronto grandmother wins $40 million and can't stop dancing! How would you react if you won $40-million in the lottery? Maria Carreiro says she ran down the street “like a crazy woman” and checked the ticket at her local store again. “I’m not drunk,” the exuberant winner said. Just happy. And then she continued dancing. And right through the press conference following her jackpot win, she didn’t stop dancing. It was refreshing to see. Pure joy. Quite frankly, it was better than the commercials the lottery companies run. Greg McKenzie, President of Lottery at OLG, presents a cheque for $40 million to Maria Carreiro after she won the April 5, 2013 LOTTO MAX jackpot. The 51-year-old grandmother did her happy dance again and again, as she described how she planned to spend some of the money. She’s going to buy a house. And two cars. There will be money for her five grandkids. She and her husband, a construction worker, are going to go to Hawaii, for the honeymoon they never had. She’s also going to buy a new wardrobe, get her nails done (!) and take her family out to dinner. Then she’s going to invest the rest. (Source: http://o.canada.com/business/is-this-the-best-lottery-winner-celebration-going/) 2. Imagine you are living in England, you have no money and no job. So, after reading this article you decide to buy a lottery. Think and imagine... -Do you think that Maria will do well with the money? -Is Maria going to be selfish with the prize? -What would you do with the prize if you won $40 million? Would you be like Maria?  Your brother/sister/best friend is marrying to an English man/woman in the London. You are asked to help organizing the wedding trip for your whole family, but remember you can only spend 1000 euros per person. The wedding will take place on Sunday 15th June 2014. Go online and... (a) Book a flight online. Remember you can find very cheap tickets on the Ryanair website, but do not discard others. Write down the dates and prices of the flight. (b) Book a hotel for all your family members, not far away from Hyde Park, as this is where the wedding will take place. Write down the address of the hotel, and the price. (c) Find a nice wedding gift from Harrods', the most exclusive British shop. Describe what you have bought and for how much. (d) Homework: Prepare the speech you will deliver in the wedding. (350 words) You can follow these guidelines: -Introduce yourself to your new English family. -Tell a story about the couple. -Share some good points about the groom and the bride, and how lucky they are for having each other. -Thank the parent for their overwhelming support to the new couple. -Propose a toast for the couple. TEXT 1:  You and two of your friends have heard of a weird celebrations that takes place annually in a city in England, but you only know that there is a cheese rolling down a hill and a bunch of people running behind it. You want to know more to see if it would be fun to participate. You have checked the internet and have came across the official website of the event! Read the following extract you have found on it. Coppers Hill: Majestic, yet menacing! (Medium difficulty) Probably the most frequently asked questions are in regard to the Hill and particularly the incline! Pictures, no matter how good, never show the reality of the steepness of the hill! When you stand at the foot of the hill, it towers menacingly above you, you look up and up to the top, you realise you are looking right up at the sky! So steep is it, that the rays of the sun rarely fall on the slope itself! Stand at the top, on the edge of the flat top, and look around you, you can see for many miles to the mountains in the distance, the view on a clear day is wonderful! Now look down to your feet, the ground falls right away from you, one slip and you will fall, now you see far below you, the finishing line, just before the cottages which from here look so small! It is terrifying to imagine running down such a slope! The slope has a gradient that is in places 1-in-2 and in others 1-in-1, its surface is very rough and uneven and it is almost impossible to remain on foot for the descent. Injuries incurred are usually minor and competitors (particularly the successful ones) enter again year after year. Wet conditions are rewarded for the runners by a softer hill surface, with a reduced prospect of injury, whilst dry conditions make the ground harder for the fallers. (source: http://www.cheese-rolling.co.uk/more_cheese_rolling_facts.htm)  2. You will meet your friends tomorrow, so as you will need to write down some key ideas in a piece of paper to take with you, just in case they want to know more about what you have found.  3. The next day, you meet your other two friends with who you want to know more about this. Your partners found also some information about the event, but all of you still have some questions about it. Ask the following questions to your friends: -Do you think it is dangerous to participate in the Gloucester Cheese Rolling? why? -Is it safe just to watch the race? -Why was the event cancelled in 1998? -Has there been any official cancellations of the event in the past years? -If it has, was there any alternative event hold instead? Who organised it? -How will we be made public any new information on the future of the Gloucester cheese rolling? Annex 7.2. Research Project 1 Classroom climate as a tool to improve students' participation Martin Arce Ana Segura Ana Estella Jorge Martín Irati Zenotz Evaluación e innovación docente e investigación educativa en Inglés (2013-2014) Annex 7.2. Research Project 2 Introduction One of the main concerns of teachers of English as a foreign language is how to encourage students' participation in the classroom. Taking part in meaningful communicative interaction is essential for foreign language learning. However, every language teacher has experienced the frustrating situation of seeing that students are not engaged in the lesson. One of the main ingredients of learners' engagement is a classroom climate where they can feel relaxed, free to contribute, and entertained. Increasing group cohesion and making students feel an important part of the class can help significantly in creating this learning-friendly atmosphere. In this research project, we have tried to demonstrate how group work increases group cohesion, and as a consequence, improves students' participation. Literature review The goal of learning a foreign language is the development of the communicative competence in that language. The Aragonese Curriculum for Secondary Education defines this competence as “the intuitive command of a speaker is using and interpreting a language appropriately in the process of interaction and in relation with the social context” (Aragón, 2007: 200). As we can see, communicative interaction is a key factor for an effective language learning. As the Aragonese Curriculum points out, learners need not only to be in contact with the language, but to use it in communicative situations in order to elaborate a conceptual system about how the language works at the morphosyntactic, sociolinguistic, and cultural levels. Therefore, one of the main duties of foreign language teachers is to provide students with ample opportunity to use the language. However, encouraging students' participation is not always an easy task. Many factors affect the learners' degree of involvement in the classroom. Perhaps one of the most important ones is what Krashen (1982) calls “affective filter”. According to his hypothesis, affective variables have an impact on the second language acquisition process. These variables include motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety. A high affective filter prevents input from being assimilated by the learner. Neuroscientific research validates this theory: “Classroom experiences that are free of intimidation may help information pass through the amygdala's affective filter. In addition, when classroom activities are pleasurable, the brain releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that stimulates the memory centers and promotes the release of acetylcholinem, which increases focused attention” (Willis, 2007). Therefore, “our Annex 7.2. Research Project 3 pedagogical goals should not only include supplying comprehensible input, but also creating a situation that encourages a low filter”, that is, promoting “low anxiety among students”, and keeping them "off the defensive"(Krashen, 1982: 32). Getting students to work in small groups, as opposed to traditional teacher-centered, individual work lessons, can help create a comfortable and anxiety-reducing classroom atmosphere, and consequently, improve the quantity and quality of students' participation and interaction. Among the benefits of group work for second language acquisition, Long and Porter (1985) include that this learning structure increases language practice opportunities, improves the quality of student talk, promotes a positive affective climate, and therefore motivates students. According to Crandall (1999), learners' anxiety is reduced if they are given the opportunity to try out their contributions within a small group or pair before participating in front of the whole class. By organising group activities, we can create group cohesion. Defined by Dörnyei and Malderez as “the extent to which individuals feel a strong identification with their group”, cohesion is directly related to the quality and quantity of cooperation and interaction within that group, being cohesive groups more productive than non-cohesive groups (1997: 73). Group cohesion also increases significantly learners' motivation. In conclusion, activities in which students can interact with other partners in small groups can make them feel more comfortable and less intimidated. Consequently, they will feel more engaged and their participation will increase. As a result, since students are more involved in communicative interaction, their learning will improve. Research hypothesis “If we are able to create a climate in which students feel comfortable and participate freely, learning will be more effective and enjoyable for all the participants, and individual participation will increase and improve” Related questions:  How does affective filter affect participation?  What kinds of activities promote group cohesion and a comfortable learning climate?  How can participation be evaluated in order to see if there has been an improvement in quality and quantity?  What learning outcomes will be improved as we build a better learning climate? Annex 7.2. Research Project 4 Research instruments To gather data about the cohesion of the groups we would be working with, we decided to interview the teachers before and after implementing our exercises in the classroom. We thought it would be interesting to have some information from one of the closest person to the group. The interviews made to the teachers are related to their perceptions of the group and its cohesion. At the same time we decided to have the view of the members of the group about the group itself. We gave them a questionnaire before and after implementing our group cohesion exercises so that the information gathered could be contrasted. We wanted the students to get to know each other better to learn, play and interact in groups and to work with a common group goal. So we decided to implement these three exercises to promote group cohesion in the different classrooms: 1. “Tea Party”: Students form two concentric circles and match up face-to-face with another student. In the first round, the students in the outside circle describe for five minutes a past event of their lives using the past simple. When time is over, the students in the inner circle do the same. Then the outside circle moves one place to the left. In the second round, the students in the outside circle describe the experience told by the previous partner. 2. “Jobs and Countries”: Students work in groups and have to come up with an alphabetic list of Jobs and Countries. They have to be as quick as possible. The objective is to recycle vocabulary. 3. “Minimal Pairs Slap game”: Some consonant minimal pairs are presented to the students. Two groups are formed whose members will stand in a queue. Two different cards are shown which happen to be distinguished by only one phoneme. the teacher pronounces one of the two cards. One student of each group should pick up the correct card before the other does. We have thought of these activities because they tackle the main components of cohesion described by Fortsyth (2010: 123): Social cohesion, by putting emphasis on the relationships among the members of the group; task cohesion, by assigning tasks to be performed as a coordinated unit; perceived cohesion, to promote the sense of belonging to the group; and emotional cohesion; by increasing the emotional intensity of the group and its members encouraging their emotional links by relating to personal experiences. Annex 7.2. Research Project 5 Research context The project was carried out in two different kinds of educational contexts in the city of Zaragoza. On the one hand, we implemented our activities in two Secondary Education (ESO) classes of compulsory education. First, a 3rd grade group of 24 students between 14 and 15 years old from the high school IES Parque Goya. Second, a 3rd grade group of 29 students between 14 and 15 years old from the IES Pilar Lorengar and third, another 3rd grade group of 27 students. On the other hand, one class in a Language School of non-compulsory education was subject to our activities. It was a B1 group of students between 19 and 79 years old, whose motivations for learning English were mainly business or traveling. Starting point and expected outcomes As previously described, we started with several different groups of teenagers, and a group of adults. All of them were learning English, either in a High School or in a Language School. What we did in our classes was several exercises that were said to increase group cohesion, to enhance the relationships between the students and in the very end to lower the affective filter. In all the activities the partners to work with were chosen randomly so that they got to work with students they were not used to work with, or even with big groups. Before carrying out the activities that we had planned, we handed a survey to check on the group cohesion existing in each class, the average result was 7.11/10 so we could say that the groups were quite united. What we intended with our activities was to rise up the group cohesion. The point of promoting group cohesion is to create a comfortable learning climate. The affective filter affects participation, so what we were trying with our activities was to reduce this filter in order to make students participate more, and make them feel more comfortable when they interact in the classroom. The expected outcome of our work was that the proposed activities were going to be able to increase the existing cohesion. The activities were based in group work, trying to avoid students working always with the same partners. We gave them a chance to get to know each other better so the fact that they do not know each other well, or that they do not have a close relation with another student would not affect their participation in the classroom. Group work was a resource to make them establish relationships with other students that in other context they would not have worked with. Our goal was to achieve the point where they Annex 7.2. Research Project 6 get used to work in groups because it is another way of learning, not only contents that the teacher is giving but also learning different aspects from their own partners. When someone feels good and comfortable, the learning process flows in a way that helps students to learn more easily. The reaction that we expected from our students was one of enjoyment, because this kind of activities are fun and they require movement in the class, in the sense that they are not all the time sitting in the desk listening to the teacher and doing exercises. Analysis of the results It was interesting to observe the information that was obtained from the teachers. In order to make students participate and establish relationships among them is differently carried out by every teacher. However, most of the teachers use pair work, role-playing, icebreakers and initial questions to promote interaction and participation in the classroom. In terms of participation, the teachers involved in the project agree that the individual factors, the role of the students inside the classroom, motivation and interest on the topic affect participation. They also believe that group cohesion is important since, as far as they say, learners who feel confident and comfortable with their classroom partners are the ones who participate more and are the ones as well who do not mind making mistakes. In the same way, all the teachers emphasize the importance of making students feel good and relaxed in the classroom instead of overwhelming them because this is the way they can participate freely. If this does not work, some teachers tend to ask directly or to take participation into account as part of the final mark. According to the results of the students' questionnaires we can say that in general the groups that we have been working with are interested in English. It is remarkable the results of the 2nd year classroom because a 70% of the students feel good when they are talking in English, meanwhile in the rest of the groups a half of the class does not feel comfortable when they talk in English. Nevertheless, there is a high percentage that does not feel anybody is laughing at them when they speak in English; this is the same in all the classrooms even though they say that they feel shy and nervous when they speak. A few learners feel calm and self-confident, specially students from the 3rd year group A. Most of the students say that they participate in order to learn but they also do it because the teacher asks them to and in order to improve their marks. In the 2nd year class the general tendency is to learn because they are Annex 7.2. Research Project 7 interested in showing the teacher what they know. Besides, more than a half of the students in high school practice English outside the classroom; by listening to music, watching movies, TV serials etc. It is important to highlight that 83% of the students of the EOI practice English outside the classroom. Another interesting point is that while 100% of the students of 2nd year ESO ensure that they learn in English lessons, there is a 30% in the 3rd year group B that feel they do not learn. Between a 70 and 90% of the students prefer to work in teams since, as they stated, it is more fun, active, entertaining, they learn more and they feel to be helping while they are being helped. 2nd year ESO’s group is the one with a higher group cohesion followed by 3rd A and the EOI. Being 3rd B the last group with a group cohesion average of 5.9/10. The activities worked perfectly in the classroom since all the students commented that they enjoyed the lesson. The conception of group work, on the other hand, has changed since more than 90% of the students affirmed that after having work in groups; they wanted to do it more often. From 80% to 90% ensured that they had participated more by the fact that they were feeling more comfortable, although the percentage of feeling good during the classroom did not change from one survey to the other. Nevertheless, students of 3rd year B had the impression of having learned more in this session while the rest of the groups have learned the same as always. We can affirm that the group cohesion in the group has considerably increased being this one between 8.6 and 9.4 average. Conclusions With this research project we have been able to observe how students' attitude towards group work has improved after the implementation of the activities. They have chosen group work rather than individual work. The fact that they were having fun, were relaxed and did not realized consciously that they were learning can have been enough reasons to obtain a positive idea about what group work implies. Moreover, we have been able to observe how students who usually do not participate due to embarrassment or lack of self confidence became more engaged in the lesson because they felt involved in the game. Surveys before and after activities revealed that there was an increasement in average group cohesion. We think that this is closely related to the fact of students' having fun and establishing relationships with classmates with whom they do not usually work. However, as the teacher pointed out after the lessons, close friends eventually created sub-groups within larger groups. We can infer that the games, rather than increasing group cohesion, helped to Annex 7.2. Research Project 8 create a calmer climate, which is vital for participation, as the experimented teachers commented with us. Nonetheless, we think that gaming, contact and constant interaction help little by little to increase group cohesion. But this is something that you cannot observe in just one lesson. For the reason exposed above, we consider that, in our future teaching daily life, it would be interesting to implement cooperative learning in our lessons, to help students feel more comfortable inside the classroom. This way their participation would increase and consequently their performance would increase as well. We consider that actual teachers should have in mind that students consider this working structure a positive one. Official institutions should encourage teachers to use cooperative learning in the classroom because it would help students become better learners, not only of English, but in any field. References ARAGÓN. (2007). Orden de 9 de mayo de 2007, del Departamento de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, por la que se aprueba el currículo de la Educación secundaria obligatoria y se autoriza su aplicación en los centros docentes de la Comunidad autónoma de Aragón. Boletín Oficial de Aragón 1/06/07. CRANDALL, J. (1999). Cooperative language learning and affective factors. In Arnold, J. (ed.) Affect in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DÖRNYEI, Z. & MALDEREZ, A. (1997). Group dynamics and foreign language teaching. System, vol. 25, no 1, pp. 65-81. FORTSYTH, R. (2010). Group Dynamics. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning. KRASHEN, S. (1982) Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon. LONG, M. H. & PORTER, P. A. (1985). Group Work, Interlanguage Talk, and Second Language Acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 2. pp. 207-228. WILLIS, J. (2007). The Neuroscience of Joyful Education. Educational Leadership Online, vol. 64. Retrieved from http://www.district287.org/clientuploads/287Staff/SEL/ME_ PrereadingJudyWillisEdLeadArt.pdf Annex 7.2. Research Project 9 ANNEXES Annex 7.2. Research Project 10 QUEREMOS SABER CÓMO TE SIENTES EN LA CLASE DE INGLÉS. ¡¡CUÉNTANOS!! Contesta las siguientes preguntas: Desacuerdo Más o menos desacuerdo De acuerdo Totalmente de acuerdo Me interesa el inglés Me gustan las clases de inglés Pienso que mis compañera/os se ríen de mi cuando hablo en inglés Cuando el/la profesor/a me pide hablar en inglés me siento bien Me gusta practicar el inglés fuera de la escuela/clase (música, películas, etc.) Me siento bien en clase Aprendo en la clase de inglés ¿Te gusta trabajar en equipo o prefieres trabajar solo/a? ¿Por qué? Cuando el/la profesor/a me pide hablar en inglés me siento... ¿Cuándo participas por qué lo haces? __ Para sacar buena nota __ Para aprender __ Porque me interesa el tema __ Para demostrar que se __ Porque me lo pide el profesor __ Otro motivo: __________________________________________________ Del 1 a 10 ; ¿cómo de unida crees que está la clase? (cohesión grupal) ¿Te gustaría contarnos algo más sobre el grupo de clase en cuanto a cohesión?