S.S.I.S – UNICAL

Scuola di specializzazione all’Insegnamento Secondario

Lingua straniera – Inglese (classe 45/A)

Modulo: Abilità orali e scritte

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACTIVITY PLAN

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prof. Pietro Gentile

Specializzanda:

Annalisa Parodi

Matr. 1198

 

 

 

 

 

ACTIVITY PLAN

 

INTRODUCTION

 

This activity plan consists in a reading which deals with the topic of the Christmas festivity. The reading is taken from a textbook for Scuola Media, Open Roads, it is brief and simple, so it is suitable for students of Scuola Media, in particular for students of the third year. The reading explains the real origins of Christmas festivity and his traditions and it is accompanied by the listening of a very famous song “We wish you a Merry Christmas” to introduce students to the “carols” theme.

 

LEVEL OF THE STUDENTS: A2 of the Common European Framework

 

ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS FOR THE STUDENTS: students may not be able to understand some difficult word (e.g. mistletoe or woodland) , so the teacher will use pictures or flashcards to anticipate the meaning of these words. As far as the pronunciation of these words teacher will repeat the words several times in order that students can memorise them with the correct pronunciation.

 

PREREQUISITES:

§         in relation to GRAMMAR:

-         Knowledge of the basic grammar forms: present and past tenses forms, regular and irregular verbs, negative and interrogative forms, prepositions of time and place, use and position of the adjectives;

§         in relation to FUNCTIONS:

-         describing places, situations and events in a simple way;

§         in relation to COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES:

-         can understand phrases and expressions related to areas of most immediate priority;

-         can understand and extract the essential information from short recorded passages dealing with predictable everyday matters which are delivered slowly and clearly;

-         can understand very short, simple texts containing the highest frequency vocabulary, including a proportion of shared international vocabulary items;

-         can identify specific information in simpler written material he/she encounters such as letters, brochures and short newspapers articles describing events;

-         can interact with reasonable ease in structured situations and short conversations, provided the other person helps if necessary;

-         can express what he/she likes and dislikes;

-         can write a series of simple phrases and sentences linked with simple connectors like “and”, “but” and “because”;

-         can write short, basic descriptions of events;

-         can write about everyday aspects of his environment e. g. people, places, a study experience in linked sentences.

 

OBJECTIVES:

§         in relation to GRAMMAR:

-         to consolidate the knowledge and the use of: present simple, past simple, present perfect, passive forms of the verbs, prepositions of time and place, short answers;

§         In relation to VOCABULARY:

-         To enlarge specific vocabulary about festivities (in particular about Christmas festivity and his symbols).

§         In relation to LINGUISTIC SKILLS:

-         Listening: to improve listening strategies especially listening for gist

-         Reading: to improve reading strategies like scanning (to get specific piece of information), skimming (for general knowledge), extensive and intensive reading

-         Speaking: to enable students to speak about a familiar topic as Christmas festivity, describing its meaning and the things they like concerning this celebration, in particular about their favourite symbols, decorations, presents, etc.

-         Writing: to improve writing skills, in particular how to write significant sequences and paragraphs, how to give logical and grammatically proper answers in written form.

§         PEDAGOGICAL AIMS:

-         To learn how British people celebrate Christmas

-         To acquire a deeper knowledge of the real origins of some Christmas traditions

-         To learn what is a “carol”

-         To make a comparison between the British way of celebrating Christmas and the Italian one.

 

TIME: 3 hours

 

MATERIALS:

-         Photocopies

-         Books

-         Dictionaries

-         Blackboard

-         Pictures

-         Flashcards

-         Photos

-         Cards

-         Tape recorder

-         Cassettes of Christmas songs

 

 

 

 

PROCEDURE

PRE-READING

Pre-reading activities are warming up ones which start from what the students know or may easily guess.

Aims of the pre-reading activities: 

-         To anticipate the new topic

-         To revise language (especially vocabulary)

-         To introduce new words related to the new topic

-         To create expectations and motivation.

 

Activity 1 (5 min.)

This is a brainstorming activity. The teacher draws a spidergram on the blackboard and at the centre of it he/ she writes “Christmas”. Students have to say all the words they know about things, feelings, symbols, etc. concerning Christmas festivity.

 

Activity 2 (5 min. )

Students have to answer the following questions orally:

§         Do you like Christmas? Why?

§         What do you know about it?

§         In which way is it celebrated in Italy?

§         Would you like to know more about it?

 

Activity 3  (10 min.)

The teacher shows students some pictures concerning some symbols of the Christmas festivity like the Christmas tree, the holly, the mistletoe, the tinsel etc. The teacher says the names of each things he/she shows and students have to repeat after him/her. Then they have to write on their copybooks the new words they have learned.

 

 

 READING

“

ENGLISH CUSTOMS

In Great Britain as in Italy many of the feast days and festivals people have always celebrated, originate from older festivities connected with the key dates in the agricultural cycle.

The early Christian Church recognized the importance that these festivals had for the people and merged the seasonal pagan celebrations with saints days and religious festivities thus producing holidays which were accepted by everybody.

 

CHRISTMAS

The Nativity – the birth of Christ – is celebrated on the traditional date of december 25^th because his real birthdate is unknown. This Christian festivity absorbed several pagan festivals, many of which were held in honour of the reappearance of the sun after the winter solstice.

The traditional Christmas tree and other decorations of holly and mistletoe and other evergreens have pagan origins too, as they were considered to provide refuge for the woodland spirits until other trees produced their leaves again.

The candles are symbols of the heat and the light given by the sun.

The customs of singing Christmas carols is very old. Originally the word “carol” meant dancing in a circle because the dancers (carollers) did so when they sang.

Christmas cards were introduced one hundred years ago in the Victorian period.”

(from: Open Roads, SEI, Torino, 1983)

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHILE-READING

Aims:

-         To get inside the text

-         To scan the text

-         To skim the text

-         To read the text in an extensive way and in an intensive one

-         To listen to the song and catch the overall meaning of it

-         To enhance pronunciation

-         To strengthen language in its grammar structures through written exercises

-         To get the complete comprehension of the text

-         To work on cohesion and coherence

-         To focus on “cause-effect” links

-         To acquire specific knowledge (English customs and what is a “carol”)

-         To learn how to make greetings and how to write a greetings card.

 

Activity 1  (10 min.)

The teacher gives students the photocopy of the text, which presents two paragraphs and two titles. Students have to look at it without reading it accurately. Then the teacher asks students: “What is the function of the titles? Try to predict what do the paragraphs deal with.” The teacher writes every answer on the blackboard.

 

Activity 2  (10 min. )

Students have to read the text and check if their predictions were right. In reading the text students do not have to understand every word, they have to catch the overall meaning. The first reading is just for gist.

 

 

 

Activity 3  (15 min.)

Students have to read the text again and to underline the words they do not understand and to circle the words they have only just learned. Then with the help of a dictionary they have to fill the following charts:

 

ENGLISH	ITALIAN
Christmas Holly …….	Natale Agrifoglio ………

 

Activity 4  (20 min.)

Students have to write simple sentences concerning the text they have read, linked with simple connectors like “and”, “but” etc.  Ex. The birth of Christ is celebrated on december 25^th but his real date of birth is unknown.

 

Activity 5  (20 min.)

Students have to answer the following Wh-questions:

-         What is the origin of many of the feast days and festivals people have always celebrated in Great Britain?

-         What did the early Christian Church recognise? 

-         Why is the Nativity celebrated on december 25^th?

-         What did the Christmas festivity absorb?

-         What are the origins of the typical Christmas decorations?

-         What do the candles symbolise?

-         What is a “carol”?

-         When were the Christmas cards introduced?

 

 

 

 

Activity 6  (30 min.)

This is a listening activity. The teacher makes students listen to the very famous Christmas song: “We wish you a Merry Christmas”. (It is an enjoyable way to learn what a carol is, to explore the Christmas vocabulary again and to practice listening strategies.)

The first listening is for pleasure and students do not have the lyrics of the song.

In the second listening students have to understand the general meaning of the song and try to individuate the words they have already learned. The third listening is more involving. The teacher gives students a jumbled text of the song and they have to put the sentences in the correct order. In doing this activity students have to work in group.

Then teacher gives students the photocopy with the lyrics of the song and invite them to sing with him/her.

 

Activity 7  (15 min.)

The teacher shows students some Christmas cards presenting messages of greetings. Students have to read them aloud various time. Then teacher gives students photocopies presenting Christmas cards without any words. Students have to write on them greetings messages.

 

POST-READING

Aims of the post-reading activities

-         To check a general comprehension

-         To develop analysis and synthesis capabilities

-         To promote interaction

-         To develop creative writing

-         To give reasons and to support personal ideas

 

Activity 1  (25 min.)

Students are involved in a role-play activity. The role-play consists in a dialogue between a British kid and an Italian one. They have to exchange information about the way Christmas is celebrated in their countries.

 

Activity 2  (5 min.)

Students have to answer the following questions:

-         What have you learned about Christmas in Great Britain?

-         Do you like the way in which British people celebrate it? Why?

-         What does Christmas mean to you?

 

 

 

Activity 3  (10 min.)

Students have to imagine of having a friend or a relative who lives in Great Britain. They have to draw a Christmas card and write a greetings message to him/her.

 

 

STUDENTS’ ASSESSMENT AND GRADING: in evaluating students’ activities  the teacher will take into account the following criteria:

 

For oral activities:

q       Content

q       Communicative effectiveness

q       Correctness

q       Vocabulary

q       Pronunciation and intonation

 

 

For written activities:

q       Content

q       Communicative effectiveness

q       Vocabulary

q       Linguistic competence

q       Spelling and punctuation

 

 

By Annalisa Parodi

Matr. 1198