S.S.I.S. – UNICAL

Scuola di Specializzazione all’Insegnamento Secondario

Lingua Straniera – Inglese (Classe 46/A)

Modulo: Laboratorio di Esperienze Didattiche della Civiltà Inglese

CELEBRATING

IN THE STATES

Prof. Pietro Gentile

Dott. ssa Ruffolo Ida

Matr. 862

CELEBRATING IN THE STATES!

SCHOOL:

Ø Liceo Scientifico

CLASS:

Ø 3^rd year

LANGUAGE LEVEL:

Ø B1

MODULE NUMBER:

Ø 4^th of the 3^rd year

TITLE OF TEACHING UNITS:

Ø “I have a dream” (Martin Luther King’s Day)

Ø “The Star Spangled Banner” (Independence Day)

Ø “The New World” (Columbus Day)

Ø “Trick or Treat” (Halloween)

Ø “Happy Thanksgiving” (Thanksgiving Day)

Ø “Santa Claus is coming to town” (Christmas)

Ø Revising

Each unit on the celebrations (3 hours per unit) is divided into three parts:

- history of the holiday

- significance of the holiday

- celebrations today

The last unit is dedicated to the assessing.

TIMING:

Ø 21 hours

PREREQUISITES:

Ø Grammar

- Knowledge of the basic grammar

Ø Vocabulary

- Vocabulary related to places

- Sufficient vocabulary to express himself/herself on everyday life

Ø Functions

- talking about topics related to everyday life

- describing situations and reactions

- exchanging information on familiar matters

Ø Communicative Activities (can do statements)

- 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 short, simple texts containing the highest frequency vocabulary

- Can understand everyday signs and notices

- Can find specific information in simple everyday material, such as prospectuses, menus, reference lists and timetables

- Can identify specific information in simpler written material he/she encounters

- Can participate into conversations of familiar topics, express personal opinions and exchange information on topics that are familiar, of personal interest or pertinent to everyday life

- Can check and confirm information, deal with less routine situations and explain why something is a problem

- Can express thoughts on more abstract, cultural topics

- Can maintain a conversation or discussion but may sometimes be difficult to follow when trying to say exactly what he/she would like to

- Can exchange information and express his/her opinion on practical problems

- Can generally follow changes of topic related to his/her field

- Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information

- Can ask and answers questions about pastimes and past activities

- Can write short, simple formulaic notes

- Can give a simple description or presentation of people, living conditions, daily routines and likes/dislikes, as a short series of simple phrases and sentences linked into a list

- Can explain what he/she likes/dislikes about something

- Can give short, basic descriptions of events and activities

- Can describe him/herself, his/her surroundings, people and places in simple terms

- Can give a short , basic presentation on a familiar topic

- 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, past activities and personal experiences

- Can write about everyday aspects of his environment

OBJECTIVES:

Ø Grammar knowledge and use

- Prepositions of time and place

- Comparatives and superlatives

- Consolidation of the simple past tense (regular/irregular verbs)

- Linkers of aversion (however, but, moreover….)

Ø Vocabulary

- Adjectives used for expressing opinions

- Words and expressions used when talking about places

Ø Functions

- Expressing opinions on traditions

- Agreeing and disagreeing

- Making comparisons

- Talking about past events

- Describing places and events

Ø Communicative Activities (can do statements)

- Overall Listening Comprehension:

- Can understand factual information, identifying both general messages and specific details, in both reading and listening activities

- Listening to Audio Media & Recordings:

- Can understand the main points of simple audio material about familiar subjects delivered relatively slowly and clearly

- Overall Reading Comprehension:

- Can read straightforward factual texts on subjects related to his/her field with a satisfactory level of comprehension

- Reading for Orientation:

- Can find and understand relevant information in everyday material, such as letters, brochures and short official documents

- Can scan longer texts in order to locate desired information, and gather information from different parts of a text, or from different texts in order to fulfil a specific task

- Reading for Information & Argument:

- Can recognise significant points in straightforward newspaper articles on familiar subjects

- Overall Spoken Interaction:

- Can participate into conversation of familiar topics, express personal opinions and exchange information on topics that are familiar, of personal interest or pertinent to everyday life

- Can check and confirm information, deal with less routine situations and explain why something is a problem

- Can express thoughts on more abstract, cultural topics

- Conversation:

- Can maintain a conversation or discussion but may sometimes be difficult to follow when trying to say exactly what he/she would like to

- Formal Discussions & Meetings:

- Can take part in routine formal discussion of familiar subjects which is conducted in clearly articulated speech

- Information Exchange:

- Can ask for detailed information

- Can summarise and give a personal opinion about an article, discussion or documentary

- Overall Written Interaction:

- Can convey information and ideas on abstract and concrete topics, check information and ask for further details

- Overall Spoken Production:

- Can fluently sustain a straightforward description of one of the subjects within his/her field of interest, through a linear sequence of points

- Sustained Monologue:

- Can describe real events

- Can briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions

- Can develop an argument well enough to be followed without difficulty most of the time

- Overall Written Production:

- Can write straightforward connected texts on familiar subjects, by linking a series of shorter discrete elements into a linear sequence

- Reports & Essays:

- Can write very brief reports to a standard conventionalised format, such as an article, which pass on routine factual information and state reasons for actions

- Can summarise, report and give his/her opinion about accumulated factual information

GENERAL AIMS:

Ø Pedagogical aims

- To compare these celebrations with the ones learnt in the previous modules

- To find the differences between the American way of celebrating and the Italian way, in order to know one’s own civilization better

- To find the links with other subjects such as history, geography, social studies, so on.

COMPETENCES INVOLVED:

Ø General competences

- Declarative knowledge (savoir)

- Knowledge of the major aspects of the country, such as geographical and political

- Knowledge of aspects of everyday living in the USA

- Knowledge of the living conditions

- Knowledge of the major values and beliefs, such as traditions, history, national identity, religion and social change

- Knowledge, awareness and understanding of the relation (similarities and distinctive differences) between the ‘world of origin’ and ‘the world of the target community’

- Existential knowledge (savoir-être)

- Openness towards, and interest in, other persons, ideas, societies and cultures

- Willingness and ability to distance oneself from conventional attitudes to cultural differences

Ø Pragmatic competences

- Can express himself/herself with relative ease

- Can use a wide range of simple language to express much of what he/she wants

- Can express the main point he/she wants to make comprehensibly

- Can interact on the topic expressing his/her own opinion

- Can link simple elements into a linear sequence of points

Ø Sociolinguistic Competences

- Can use and choose expletives in everyday situations

- Can distinguish the right language register in conversations on topics which are familiar to him/her

Ø Linguistic competences

- Has sufficient language to express the main points of an idea

- Communicates with reasonable accuracy in familiar contexts; notwithstanding the errors his/her messages is clear

- Pronunciation is clearly intelligible

- Spelling and punctuation are reasonably accurate

TEXTS TO BE USED:

Ø Spoken

- Presentations

- Discussions

Ø Written

- Articles

- Leaflets

- Extracts from books

- Questionnaires

- Posters

- Definitions from dictionaries

- Essays

- Exercises

- Notes

TASKS TO BE PERFORMED:

Ø During the module

- Key-word searching

- Skimming/scanning activities

- Taking notes

- Listing

- Answering Comprehension questions

- True/false

- Fill in the chart

- Sharing information

- Summarising

STRATEGIES:

Ø Reception Strategies

- Can identify unknown words and extrapolate their meaning from the context on topics related to his/her field and interests

Ø Interaction Strategies

- Can intervene in a discussion on a familiar topic

- Can summarise the point reached in a discussion

- Can help the development of ideas on course and invite others into the discussion

- Can ask others for clarification on what they have said

Ø Production strategies

- Can exploit any resources available to communicate the main points he/he wants to get across

- Can use a simple word meaning something similar to the concept he/she wants to convey and invites “correction”

- Can correct errors in the use of tenses

REMEDIAL WORK:

- To be defined according to the outcomes

AIDS:

- Magazines

- Handouts

- Books

- Leaflets

- Posters

- Blackboard

- Transparencies

- OHP

- Tape recorder

- Cassettes

ASSESSMENT TOOLS:

Ø written

- writing an article for the school newspaper describing one of the celebrations studied

Ø oral

- participating in a debate on Italian and American holidays

CRITERIA FOR CREDIT GRANTING:

Ø Ss’ works will be assessed through 2 grids, one for the written work and another for the oral: each grid will have the following features:

Ø For the written work:

- Content

- Communicative effectiveness

- Use of right register

- Grammatical correctness

- Spelling and punctuation

Ø For the oral work:

- Content

- Communication

- Use of lexis

- Grammatical correctness

- Pronunciation and intonation

WRITTEN WORK: MAXIMUM 8 MARKS

	Complete and articulated (coherent/cohesive)	Complete	Sufficient	Incomplete/ insufficient
Content	8	7	6	4
Communicative effectiveness	8	7	6	4
Use of right register	8	7	6	4
Grammatical correctness	8	7	6	4
Spelling/punctuation	8	7	6	4

ORAL WORK: MAXIMUM 8 MARKS

	Complete and articulated	Complete	Sufficient	Incomplete/ insufficient
Content	8	7	6	4
Communication	8	7	6	4
Use of lexis	8	7	6	4
Grammatical correctness	8	7	6	4
Pronunciation/Intonation	8	7	6	4

MODULE ON CIVILIZATION FOR THE 3^RD YEAR OF HIGH-SCHOOL

Celebrations Around the World

Previous and following modules:

Ø 1^st module: England (21 hours)

Ø 2^nd module: Scotland (10 hours)

Ø 3^rd module: Ireland (10 hours)

Ø 4^th module: USA (21 hours)

Ø 5^th module. Canada (10 hours)

Ø 6^th module: Australia (10 hours)