Using internet to collect information and images Using Word to type texts in English
10.3 LINGUISTIC OBJECTIVES
Listening and understanding videos on the UK and London
Listening, understanding and singing traditional English songs Reading and understanding simple texts on the topic
Using English to describe places, customs and traditions of the British Islands and London Using the language to interact, participate in games and drama activities
Knowledge of computer-related terminology
10.4 LINGUISTIC CONTENTS
VOCABULARY
Geography and natural landscapes (North, South…, landscape, hills, river…)
Means of transport (plane, ferry, bus…)
Monuments and attractions in London (Buckingham Palace, British Museum…) STRUCTURES
Structures for simple descriptions (It’s a…, There is/are…, this is/these are..., It has got... you can travel by..., you can see/ visit…, it is called... on Sunday morning you can see..., he/she was born...) and interactions (Do you like...? What's/Who's your favourite...? How many....?).
Structures to take part in games and drama activities (Stand there, go over the…, stand in front of/ near/ behind..., put your hands/arms/ legs like this…use your hand to make the flag…now you are Buckingham Palace!). Structures to use the PC (switch on/off the computer, write, save, copy…)
10.5 LEARNING SKILLS
Being able to search for and select information
Being able to use different sources of information
10.6 ACTIVITIES DESCRIPTION
During the activities, students were divided into two mixed groups. The first one worked with the English teacher to write texts, while the second one in the ICT laboratory had to choose images and use Word to type the contents produced by the other group. Both groups worked with both teachers at different stages. Although the project involved a fourth and a fifth grade, students needed quite a long time to gather information on the geography of the UK, its administrative-territorial division, and the city of London. At the beginning of the school year, the teacher showed a map of the UK and its division into Countries, she started using games to associate each Country with its capital, their state symbol, flag or patron saint. Afterwards, she started comparing them with the flag of Italy and Genova, and their symbols. Finally, she introduced the city of London with its monuments and attractions.
After having showed the images and repeated the names, the teacher emphasized their function and importance in Italian. All students were given a worksheet they had to crop to associate each image of a monument with its caption in English. Each image was glued on specified areas of the students' exercise book in order to create a big map they will have had to colour. More detailed learning activities entailed watching videos and DVDs in English (Discovering London, Elisabetta Rosati, Celtic Publishing), using real materials such as leaflets, maps, underground tickets, and searching for information in English on the web (The Official site of The British Monarchy - http://www.royal.gov.uk/ , Wikipedia, etc.). In addition, the teachers planned whole-body activities. On the one hand, students acted and sang “London Bridge is falling down”, on the other, they re-built the city through whole-body exercises.
Three of them were lying on the floor representing the Thames, two of them on top of the others represented Tower Bridge, while others who represented the Tower of London, the Big Ben, the London Eye etc. had to make sure they were on the correct bridge. At the end of the activities, students wanted to share their hard work and present it with a good lay-out; the use of the stickers contributed to make the whole project more engaging. During the last four months of school, students engaged in producing texts.
The English teacher provided and searched for useful linguistic structures with the students to include simple captions. Together, they introduced the specific language and terminology on geography and attractions. The students engaged in conversations on the simple sentences produced with the teacher, then wrote them down, and then typed them by using Word.
The activity was further enriched by games such as crosswords or word search, working on definitions and words crossing. Teachers took care of the layout, while the sticker album was printed at a typography shop. The students sold the album in their neighborhoods on the occasion of special events and celebrations, and in some schools. They used the earned money to conclude the project in the best way possible, visit London, a city they only saw through pictures, videos and teachers stories. Learning by doing...and their dreams came true!
10.7 POSITIVE ASPECTS
The project allowed the students of two classrooms to come into contact with one another, collaborate, have common interests and focus on what was a real occasion to carry out some research, rather than an ordinary subject to study. Students had the impression they were travelling through their paper-based work and their internet research. It was a journey which made them curious and which made them love the countries they were studying the language of. We should not forget how proud students were for having created, with their teachers support, a lovely final product that is simple to use and fun to play with thanks to the stickers.
10.8 DIFFICULTIES EMERGED
The project required the teachers several extra (non-paid) hours of work to plan but most of all to lay out and arrange the images chosen by the students. During the final stage of the project, the teachers worked until late hours looking for background images and mistakes to correct, counting the pages and the stickers.
More info in the website www.clil4children.eu