INTRODUCTION
Methodologists and teaching experts have been
arguing since
Emphasis has been shifted from “how” to teach
to “what” to teach. The centrality of the communicative purpose in language
learning brought some experts of the Council of Europe, to elaborate a project.
The aim of the project was to make the free movement of men and ideas easier,
“by increasing the effectiveness of language learning”. According to these
needs, these experts made an operational analysis of objectives, a detailed list
of “what” the foreign language learner ought to practice if he was to be in
control of his social intercourse with native speakers of the foreign language.
Their conclusion was that a language would have been better classified in terms
of “what” speakers want to do with it (Communicative Functions) and in terms of
what meanings people want to convey with it notions rather than in terms of
abstract grammatical categories. Experts, than, elaborated lists of
communicative needs and language functions to be expressed through
notions.
According to this communicative and functional approach, learners should always perform realistic learning tasks, having immediate and relevant goals to attain: after each learning unit, a student should gain the ability to perform grammatically correct and semantically appropriate acts of speech; to talk about something efficiently, to express some basic needs, in a word, to communicate.
Language should be divided into language
“units” of study, as a coherent combination of elements to be mastered. The
mastery of given number of units, for a given purpose may lend to the
acquisition of some formal qualifications.
After this long but necessary premise, here I
come to my practical teaching Unit. It is a section of module entitled: “Political life and Institutions in the
The reason of my choice depends on two main
factors:
- the students have already had the
opportunity to come in touch with some civilization topics about the United
Kingdom and the United States, so they can be stimulated to approach new and
specific issues in a wider perspective;
- the topic of this Teaching Unit also gives the
students the possibility to analyze a particular aspect of the American
society like that of “Death Penalty” in detail. Students can also develop the
ability to find differences between the country in which the foreign language
is spoken and their own country.
The purpose of this Teaching Unit is to prepare
students to take on the roles of responsible and informed citizens, and to work
cooperatively in a safe classroom environment where differences of opinion can
be productively expressed.
TEACHING UNIT
TITLE: “Rethinking
1.
Human rights
1.1
Amnesty
International
1.2
The United
Nations
1.2.1
Human rights in the UN
Charter
1.2.2
Being a member of an International
Organization (Dialogue)
2.
Rethinking
2.1
Introduction to the
topic
2.3.1
News from
2.3.2
A voice against capital
punishment: B. Sprinstein’s Ded Walking man”.
ADDRESSEES: second year of High School (Liceo Scientifico)
LANGUAGE LEVEL:A2 + (CEF)
HOURS: 8 hours
PRE-REQUISITES
Grammar: Knowledge of basic
grammar.
Vocabulary: vocabulary referred to places, people, habits.
Functions: describing people, objects and places,
describing daily routines, events, talking about the past.
Communicative Activities (can do
statements)
v
Can use a basic range of words and phrases
related to personal details and situations.
v
Can identify specific information in simple
written material.
v
Can communicate inside routine tasks requiring
a simple and direct exchange of information.
v
Can give a simple description or presentation
of people, living conditions and daily routines.
v
Can take part in conversations on familiar
topics, expressing personal opinions and exchanging
information.
v
Can express opinions on more abstract, cultural
topics.
v
Can describe him/herself, his/her surroundings,
people and places.
v
Can write short, basic description of events,
past activities and personal experiences.
v
Can write on everyday aspects about his/her
environment.
GENERAL AIMS
v
Consolidation of students linguistic competence through gradual and continuous
exposure to L2.
v
To find differences/similarities between the
American society and the Italian one, in order to better understand our
culture.
v
To find links with other subjects, such as
history, geography, religion etc.
v
Reinforcing receptive and productive skills:
listening, reading, speaking and writing.
PEDAGOGICAL AIMS
v
Capability to co-operate, work in group,
respect and share other’s opinions.
OBJECTIVES
Grammar: consolidation of present tense, present
continuous tense, past tense of regular and irregular verbs, going to future,
passive form of verbs, superlatives of adjectives, present perfect tense
including use with for, since,
prepositions and their uses. Will
referring to the future for informing and predicting, using different
linkers in the sentences (but, and, then,
because, etc).
Lexis: vocabulary related to the specific topic,
adverbs of frequency e.g. sometimes,
often, never, expressions of past time e.g. yesterday , last night, etc.; adjectives for
describing and expressing opinions.
Functions: describing daily routines, events; describing
current activities; talking about past events; talking about future plans and
intentions; ; expressing opinions, agreeing and disagreeing, making simple
comparisons; talking about the future; giving reasons; stating the duration of
events.
Communicative activities
v
Answering questions about the topic and
participate in informal discussions, giving more information, facts,
details;
v
Giving appropriate contribution with short
statements;
v
Show understanding by responding appropriately
to simple questions;
v
Provide information and offer opinion where
appropriate,
v
Identifying both general messages and specific
details in reading and listening activities;
v
Reading chosen texts on subjects related to a
specific field with a satisfactory level of comprehension;
v
Finding and understanding relevant information
in Authentic Materials, such as: articles from newspapers, web pages,
songs;
v
Gathering information from different texts in
order to fulfil a specific task;
v
Summarizing an article, or other types of oral
or written texts;
v
Taking part in conversations on topics,
expressing personal opinions and exchanging information;
v
Asking for further details and
explanations;
v
Writing clear texts, brief reports, simple
articles, by linking a series of elements into a linear
sequence.
COMPETENCES
INVOLVED
GENERAL
COMPETENCE
DECLARATIVE KNOWLEDGE
(savoir):
v
Knowledge of the geographical, economic,
historical and political aspects of the countries in which the foreign language
is spoken.
v
Knowledge of the basic aspects of political and
institutional life in the
v
Knowledge of aspects related to traditions,
history, geography, national identity and attitudes.
SOCIOCULTURAL
KNOWLEDGE
v
Knowledge of the society and culture of the
country in which the language is spoken, e.g.:
-class structure
-institutions
-history
-national identity
-politics
INTERCULTURAL
AWARENESS
v
Knowledge, awareness and understanding of the
relationship between the “world of origin” and the “world of the target language
in terms of similarities and differences”.
INTERCULTURAL SKILLS AND
KNOW-HOW
v
Ability to bring the culture of origin and the
foreign culture into relation
v
Cultural sensitivity and the ability to
identify and use a variety of strategies to get in touch with those from other
cultures.
EXISTENTIAL COMPETENCE (savoir-etre)
v
Openness towards, and interest in, other
people, ideas, societies and cultures;
v
Willingness to relativise one’s own cultural viewpoint and cultural
value-system.
LINGUISTIC
COMPETENCE
v
Using a sufficient grammatical accuracy,
appropriate vocabulary, clear pronunciation, in order to express opinions on the
cultural topic in a comprehensible way.
SOCIOLINGUISTIC
COMPETENCE
v
Using appropriate language register according
to the context.
PRAGMATIC
COMPETENCE
v
Expressing notions and ideas in a
comprehensible way, using a discrete range of simple
language.
v
Linking a series of shorter, discrete simple
elements into a connected, linear sequence of points.
v
Interacting on the topic expressing opinions,
ideas and wiewpoints.
TEXTS:
Articles from magazines, extracts
from books, songs, web pages
TASKS TO BE PERFORMED:
Key-word searching, skimming and
scanning activities, listening activities, comprehension questions, fill-in the
blanks, multiple choice activities, sharing information, discussing, writing
dialogues, writing letters, searching information on the Internet, True/False
activities.
STRATEGIES:
Reception: Identifying cues in the context; inferring the
meaning and the significance of a message;
Production: Building on previous knowledge;
self-correction;
Interaction: Identifying information, co-operating, asking
for help, asking for clarifications, giving
clarifications.
REMEDIAL WORK:
It will be defined according to the
outcomes, and may include: cloze tests, multiple choice questions, scrambled
order exercises, fill-in the blanks, etc.
AIDS:
Books, monolingual
and bilingual dictionaries, magazines, cassettes, CD, CD player, OHP,
blackboard, photocopies.
PROCEDURE
FIRST PHASE
Warming up
STEP
- what do you know about human
rights?
- how many humanitarian organisations do you
remember?
STEP 2 the teacher collects their answers and
proposes a multiple choice exercise:
Read each question and choose the
correct answer:
- The following are terrible violations of
human rights. Which is the most widespread violation in the
world?
- violence against
women
- death penalty
- torture of political
prisoners
- forced child
labour
- What are the people who leave their country
because they are victims of persecution?
- immigrants
- refugees
- poor people
- foreigners
- What is the international global document of
human rights today?
- the UN Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
- the International Convention on
the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination
- the UN Charter
- the International Red Cross
Charter
While-reading
activities
STEP 3 READ AND UNDERSTAND
Read “Human rights in the UN
Charter”, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and “Amnesty
International”. Then answer the questions.
Amnesty International (AI) is an independent
campaigning movement that works to promote the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. In particular AI’s aim are: campaigns to free all prisoners of
conscience; prompt trials for political prisoners; to abolish the death penalty,
torture and other cruel treatment of prisoners; to end political killings and to
oppose human rights abuses through opposition groups. AI has a million members
and supporters in 162 countries. For further information go to this web site: www.amnesty.org
the Charter of the United Nations was signed on
26th June
- peace between all world
states;
- defence of fundamental human
rights;
- social progress for each country.
Human rights have a central role in
the UN charter. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN
General Assembly on December 10, 1948. this list of
fundamental rights represents an international common standard of achievement
for all peoples and all nations.
The document is composed of a Preamble and 30
articles. You can read part of the declaration and find the full text on the
following website: www.un.org
Preamble “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity
and of the equal and inalienable rights of the all members of the human family
is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. Whereas disregard
and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have
outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human
beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear want has
been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people
[…]
|
GLOSSARY Campaigning: propaganda Trial: giudizio, processo Supporter: sostenitore Achievement: raggiungimento Disregard: ignorare Contempt: disprezzo |
LANGUAGE NOTE
Before making SS work on these
texts, there is a Grammar Focus: On the blackboard the T writes some examples of
language containing grammatical structures, in particular the “Past Tense”, the
“Passive Form of the Past Simple”, the “Superlative”
Past Simple of Be and Regular
Verbs
1 Be
Where were you last night?
I was in
Where was Ross?
He was in
2 Regular
Verbs
To form the simple past of a regular
verb, add ed.
To make a question, use the
auxiliary did+
infinitive.
The Human Right Charter
established….
What did the Human Right Charter
established?
The Past Passive
Is used when we don’t know, or it is
unimportant, who has performed an action. It’s formed by the past of the verb be and the past
participle
Active
In 1945 the UN signed the Charter of Human
Rights
Passive
The Charter of the UN was
signed…..
Superlative Forms
We use the superlative form to
compare three or more things.
Freedom of speech is the highest
aspiration….
Death penalty is the most
cruel punishment….
From these examples, the T invites
SS to infer the rules and make hypothesis about them, by creating examples of
language themselves and getting feedback from the teacher.
Then, in order to check if these
rules have been received by SS, the T suggests a series of structured exercises,
such as: Complete sentences with the
appropriate forms of the verbs, (including positive, negative and
interrogative); transforming a given number of sentences in the passive form;
sentences in which they have the wrong superlative form and they have to write
the correct one, and other kinds of exercises carefully chosen from the
Workbook.
Questions
- When and where was the Charter of the United
Nations signed?
- What are the
principle aims of the Charter?
- What are the key words of the Preamble of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
- Have all members of humankind got equal and
inalienable rights?
STEP 4 the teacher divides the class into four
groups, asking them to read the text about Amnesty International again and
discuss about the following question:
- Which do
you think is the most important aim of Amnesty International. Why?
The students are left to express
their opinions freely, to compare their ideas, suggestions and
viewpoints.
STEP 5 the teacher asks students to listen to the
following dialogue between Patricia and George:
Patricia:
Hey, George. I’ve got a job for you!
George:
Me? Who says
I’m looking for a job?
Patricia:
It doesn’t matter. This is something you’ve got to do. It’s not a job,
really. I want you to come to a protest meeting with me.
George:
A protest meeting? Is this one of your mad ideas,
Patricia?
Patricia:
No, not at all. I want you to come to a protest meeting organised by
Amnesty International. You do know what that is, don’t
you?
George:
Yes, sure. It’s that human rights organisation, isn’t
it?
Patricia:
Exactly. I’ve been a member for a year. We try to free people who have
been sent to prison just because of their beliefs, and we work against
governments that torture their prisoners. So, what do you think?
George:
It sounds like a good idea to me. But do you really believe that protest
meetings help?
Patricia:
In my opinion they do. When thousand of people all over the world
protest, it must make governments realise that what they are doing is
wrong.
George:
I suppose you’re right….as always! What is the meeting going to be
about?
Patricia:
it’s to protest against the death penalty in some
countries.
George:
Ok. I’m not sure how I feel about the death penalty, but I’ll come and
hear about it.
Patricia:
Very good, George. I’m sure you won’t regret it.
LANGUAGE NOTE
The T writes on the blackboard some
sentences taken from the dialogue and invites SS to reflect on these grammar
structures:
Present Continuous
I’m looking for a job
Patricia is inviting George to a protest
meeting etc…
Present Perfect
(For/Since)
I’ve been a member for a
year
I haven’t seen Tom since
Monday
Future with Be going
to
What is the meeting going to be
about?
I’m not going to the meeting
Future with Will
I will come to the
meeting
I’m sure you won’t regret
it
(Obviously the T provides other
examples showing the different forms of these Tenses and lets SS practice on
them through different kinds of exercises, to do in the class and at
home).
STEP 6 the teacher asks students to listen to
the dialogue again, in order to answer the following
questions:
- Does Patricia think that protest meetings
help?
- What is the protest meeting going to be
about?
- Does George agree to go to the meeting?
Why?
STEP 7 in order to check students’
comprehension, the teacher suggests another exercise:
-In their conversation, Patricia and
George ask for and exchange opinions about Amnesty International and the death
penalty. Read the following expressions from the text and decide which of them
are related to asking for and exchanging opinions.
§
I’ve got a job for you
In my opinion
§
I suppose you are right
It doesn’t matter
§
At the moment I’m trying to…
I want you to
§
I’ve been a member for a year.
I’m not sure
§
I’m sure you won’t regret it.
Count me in.
§
It sounds like a good idea.
What do you think?
Post-reading activity
STEP 8 in the production phase, the teacher
asks students to split in pairs and to perform the following role
play:
Student A: you’re a supporter of an International Organisation, a friend from abroad is visiting you. Persuade
him/her to come with you to a protest meeting. Explain about the organisation
and state your opinion in support of its cause.
Student B: you’re the friend from abroad. You aren’t sure
that protest meetings help.
Build up a dialogue using the
expressions from the previous dialogue between Patricia and
George.
SECOND PHASE
Brainstorming activity.
STEP 1:in order to introduce the the “Death Penalty” topic, the teacher draws a mind map on
the blackboard. Then he/she asks them:
What images, concepts, ideas, sensations come
to your mind when you think of these two words? Close your eyes for a minute,
then write down as many words as you can and complete
the following two wordwebs.
LIFE
DEATH
DISCUSS
Compare the results of your two
brainstormings with those of your classmates. --What words do you have in common?
-Make two lists of these words related to
“life” and “death”.
STEP 2 the teacher asks students to divide a piece of
paper into two sections and asks them to answer the following
questions:
- What do you know about the death
penalty?
- What would you like to know about the death
penalty?
-Give reasons for your
answers
To perform this activity, the T
gives them approximately 15 minutes. Then the T divides the board into two
halves and writes down their collective responses and
questions.
STEP 3 at the end of this task, the T asks them to
discuss and clarify what they wrote on their paper. SS are invited to express
their opinions freely.
While reading
activities
In this phase, the T gives SS a photocopy
in which they can get some information about death
penalty:
The death penalty is the most cruel punishment. It has been under charge, because there is always the risk that a person is innocent. Moreover it hasn’t been proved that death penalty stops or reduces crime. Efforts to abolish the death penalty are increasing over the world. Many people, including associations, religious organizations, etc. are raising doubts about the application of this kind of punishment. Since 1990, many countries have abolished the death penalty; at the moment 112 countries have abolished or do not use it, while 83 countries still have death penalty.
In 2002, at least 1,526 people were executed in
31 countries.
STEP 4 the teacher asks SS to read the text, then in pairs they have to answer these
questions:
- Does death penalty stop or reduce
crimes?
- How many countries have abolished
it?
- How many people were executed in
2002?
STEP 5 during this phase, the T shows SS a short
abstract from an interesting article entitled: “The Death penalty on trial”. In
the article there are some missing words, SS have to
complete it using words from a list written below:
“the Death Penalty on
trial”
he ……. in his prison in
These death-penalty cases stir emotions, G. Bush …….. to NEWSWEEk in an exclusive
interview ……… the decision. …..
|
Found from told for
was
will
about
execution |
STEP6 the T asks SS to read the article quickly and
silently, in order to infer the general meaning and answer some
questions:
He was in his
prison in
These death-penalty cases stir emotions, G. Bush told to NEWSWEEk in an exclusive interview about the decision.
…..
-Answer the following questions:
- what is the main topic of this
article?
- where does the execution take
place?
- who is the man sentenced to
death?
STEP 7 then the T asks SS to read the article again
in order to get more detailed information and perform the following
activities:
-What kind of atmosphere emerges from the
article? Tick as appropriate.
o
Joy
o
Horror
o
Calm
o
Anguish
o
Sadness
o
Happiness
-Go
through the text and decide if these statements are True or False.
1. the man
has been sentenced to death by electric chair
T
F
2. advanced
DNA testing proved his innocence
T
F
3. the man
didn’t request any meal
T
F
-Find the meaning of the following words in
your monolingual dictionary, then translate them into
Italian:
- TRIAL…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
- EXECUTION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
- GUILTY…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
- AVAILABLE……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
- CONVICTION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
Post- reading activities
(Production)
STEP 8 the T gives SS the following task they have to
perform individually:
Imagine that you have the
opportunity to write a letter to the President of the
- Peace/war
- The environment
- Death Penalty
- Third-world
countries
STEP 9 The teacher divides the class into three
groups. Each group has a different task: SS have to go on the Internet and find
out information on the following issues.
GROUP 1: Find information about the
Italian association “Nessuno Tocchi Caino”.
GROUP 2: Find information about
“Religion and the Death Penalty”
GROUP 3: Find a list of countries
that have Death Penalty
_______________________________________
As a final activity on this topic,
the T decides to make SS work on a song by a famous American singer: Bruce
Springsteen. The title of this song, which is also the sound-track of a film is: “Dead Man Walking”. T explains that SS have to
listen to the song 3 times. For each listening they’ve got different tasks.
Since the song contains some contractive forms such as: comin’, I’m gonna,
walkin’ etc., the teacher provides
explanations on them, also showing SS the full form of these verbs.
STEP 1 First
listening
Listen to the song and try to understand as
many words as you can
STEP 2 Second listening
SS listen to the song again and write down all
the words they have understood, the T collects all the information writing them
on the blackboard.
STEP 3 Third listening
SS listen again, checking their comprehension
and eventually add new words they can recognize.
T corrects the wrong words giving indications
about spelling and meaning. SS can help the T giving suggestions to the other SS
(peers correction)
STEP 4
The T cuts the text of the song into slips of
papers. Each S gets a slip of paper with a line from the text on it. The T
explains them that they have to listen to the song and try to reconstruct it
from the beginning to the end. Then SS have to listen to it once again and, when
his own part begins, each S stands up and joins the others, forming an orderly
row.
The T plays the song 3
times:
-1st listening:
SS listen and read their slip of paper
-2nd listening:
SS form a queue
-3rd listening:(or more)
SS check
STEP 5 Fill
in the gaps (Past tense of Verbs)
The T explains this activity and
gives copies of the text with the missing words
-First listening
SS listen to the song and focus on
the missing words
-Second listening
SS listen to the song again and try
to fill in the blanks with Past Tense forms of the missing
verbs.
-Third listening
SS now listen to the song once again
and check.
Check writing
T writes on the blackboard the right
verbs, following the correct sequence of numbers.
This is the text which lacks the
verb forms written at its bottom.
There’s a pale horse comin’
I’m gonna ride it
I’ll rise in the
morning
My fate
____________
In St. James Parish
I ________ born and
christened
Now I’ve got my
story
Mister no need for you to
listen
It’s just a dead man talkin’
Once I _______ a job I
_______ a girl
But between our dreams and
actions
Lies this
world
In the deep
forest
Their blood and tears
_________ over me
All I ________ feel
________ the drugs and the shotgun
And my fear up inside of
me
Like a dead man talkin’
‘Neath a summer sky my eyes ________
black
Sister I won’t ask for
forgiveness
My sins are all I
have
Now the clouds above my
prison
Move slowly across the
sky
There’s a new day comin’
And my dreams are full
tonight
|
CHECKING: 1: decided; 2: was; 3: had (x 2); 4:
rushed; 5: could; 6: went |
At the end of the while-listening
activities, the T gives the SS the complete text of the
song.
STEP 6 Post-listening
phase
The T asks SS to go through the song
again and to answer the following questions:
- Did you like this song?
Why?
- Who is the person speaking? Is it
a man or a woman?
- How does he
feel?
- Alone
- Happy
- Sad
- Guilty
- Frightened
- Innocent
- Fearful
- Alone
STEP 7 Work
in groups
The T asks SS to divide themselves
into groups and to perform the following activity:
-Read the song again, then discuss
on:
- The singer’s attitude towards the
death penalty
- The main emotion expressed by this
song.
CRITERIA FOR CREDIT
GRANTING
Students will be assessed through 2
grids, one for the written work and another for the oral
work.
In the written work, the T takes
into consideration the following aspects of the language: Grammatical accuracy,
Content, Vocabulary, Coherence and Cohesion, giving a value to each of
them:
WRITTEN ACTIVITIES
|
Grammatical
Accuracy |
Content |
Vocabulary |
Coherence
and Cohesion |
|
0.3 |
0.2 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
ORAL ACTIVITIES
|
Spoken
Fluency |
Grammatical
Accuracy |
Vocabulary |
Pronunciation |
|
0.3 |
0.2 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
VIRGINIA PATRICIA IERARDI
V°
Ciclo SSIS
Matr.
1643
Cl. 46/A
(Inglese)