ALUMNO PRACTICANTE: Asencio Nadia

Período de Práctica: Tercer período Institución Educativa: Colegio CastexDirección postal: Brown 99, BarilocheSala/Grado y sección: 4to y 5to año ACantidad de alumnos: 13Nivel lingüístico del curso: IntermedioTipo de Planificación: ClaseUnidad Temática: En el bosqueClase Nº3Fecha: 02/10/2014Hora: 7:45 hsDuración de la clase: 80 minutosFecha de primera entrega: 29/09/2014

Teaching points: In the rainforest – biomes - climate

Aims:

Ss will be able to identify the new vocabulary presented. Ss will be able to identify the new grammar structure presented and its usage. Students will be able to develop their speaking and listening abilities through

motivating activities. Ss will cooperate with each other in order to complete an activity using ICT

resources. Ss will be able to study content through a different perspective.

Language focus:

Functions Lexis Structures Pronunciation

Revision Interpreting texts, a map, a video and to ask/answer questions in order to get information.

Vocabulary related to different natural places: waterfall, beach, mountain, lake, forest, Vocabulary related to different biomes: names of each biome, characteristics and main causes.Vocabulary related to weather: hot, cold, rainy,

Present simple:

They receive the highest radiation in the summer.The Solar radiation reaches the ground nearly vertically at noontime during almost the entire year.

Weatherrainforest

New Talk about different places of the world related to climate and weather.

Vocabulary related to climate zones: tropical zone, cold zone, tempered zone, subtropical subtropical zone –Heat – greenhouse – saltiness – warmthmild

Comparatives: short adjectives:colder, hotter, cooler, lower, :The pole zone is colder than the subtropical zone.Long adjectives:interesting - fascinating – amazing – excitingThe tropical zone is more fascinating than the subtropical one.

Than, colder, climate,

Teaching approach: Communicative approach – CLIL lesson Materials and resources: Pictures, computers, internet, copies Seating arrangement: Ss will work at the tables; they are situated in rows facing

the board. The tables are longer than the usual ones, so at a same table three or four ss may work together. (ss do not sit down in groups)

Potential problems students may have with the language: If students have any difficulty to understand the new vocabulary, the T will use visual aids and they also have the possibility to use on-line dictionaries. If we have any problem with the internet connection the T will encourage ss to talk about the meaning of the words and to focus on the context of each of them to infer the meaning.

Assessment: Students’ ability to use the new vocabulary and the grammar structures though several activities.

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Procedure:

Routine (5 minutes)

First, the T will say: “Hello! How are you today? I need a helper to write the date on the board. Please, Marcos, Can you help me?” and she will encourage ss to spell the date for the student to write it. Then, she will say “I brought the prizes for the ss who won the bingo last class, you can eat them during the break” and she will give each of those ss a chocolate and some sweets for the rest of the class.

Warm – up (15 minutes) – (since we did not complete the poster activity from last class, I want to do it today).

She will tell them: “let’s review what we learnt last class! Can you tell me please?” and she will guide ss comments with some questions such as: what is a biome? Can you name some of them? How many are there in the world?”.

Then, she will tell them: “Very good! Now, we will work in groups of 3 to make some posters with the main characteristic of each biome. You can focus on the activities from last class, you should also look for more information on the web. You have 15 minutes to complete the posters. And she will choose some ss to explain the exercise to check comprehension. She will also write a model on the board to model the act.:

Here are some links:

http://www.kidsdiscover.com

http://education-portal.com

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm

Climate: Main characteristic:

Main plants/animals:

Presentation (10 minutes)

After finishing the posters, the T will ask ss to stick them on the wall and she will focus ss attention on the main differences among the biomes to elicit from the students that the main difference of each biome is based on the climatic conditions. She will tell them: “Look at the posters that you have done! Let’s focus on the differences, for example, what are the main differences between the savanna and the tropical rainforest? etc”

Then, she will tell them: “I have found a very interesting map which shows the differences in the climatic conditions all over the world!” but she will cover the references.

D eciduous forests

She will elicit the information from the ss with some questions such as: “How many climatic zones are there? Why do you think that this zone (pointing to the blue one) is blue? Is it hot or cold? And so on” Then, she will write on the board: cold zone – tempered zone – subtropical zone – tropical zone, and she will encourage ss to match the names with each zone of the map. She will say: “these are the names of the four climatic zones of the world. Can you help me to match them? First, discuss it with your peer and then, we will share our opinions. For example, I think that the cold zone is the blue one for the colour of the reference and the location. Discuss the other three, please.”

Development

Activity 1 (5 minutes):

The T will divide the class into two, she will hand out to the first group some sheets of paper with the climatic zones names written on them and to the second group she will hand out the following explanations of each zone:

Source: http://www.meteoblue.com/es/content/438

They receive the highest radiation in the summer. These regions receive less moisture, and that increases the effect of radiation. Therefore, most of the deserts in the world are situated in this zone. In the winter, the radiation in these regions decreases significantly, and it can be temporarily very cool and moist. 

They receive least heat through solar radiation. Because of the changes of the earth angle to the sun, the day length  varies most in this zone. In the summer, polar days occur. The Vegetation  is only possible during few months per year and even then often sparsely. The conditions for life in these regions are very hard. 

The Solar radiation reaches the ground nearly vertically at noontime during almost the entire year. That’s why, it is very warm in these regions. Through the high temperatures, more water evaporates, so that the air is often moist. The resulting frequent and dense cloud cover reduces the effect of solar radiation on ground temperature.

The solar radiation arrives at a smaller angle, and the average temperatures here are much cooler than in the subtropics. The seasons and day length differ significantly in the course of a year. The climate is characterised by less frequent extremes, a more regular distribution of the precipitation over the year and a longer Vegetation period.

She will say: “This group has the names of each climatic zone, and that group has got the explanations of each zone. You have to stand up and look for your information/climatic zone name in order to match them. So, the group with the name cards has to ask questions to find the correct description (and she will encourage them to brainstorm some questions). The group with the descriptions, read them and be prepared to answer your peers’ questions. You have 5 minutes to do it.”

She wil ask ss: What should you do if you do not understand a certain word? (try to infer the meaning from the context or discuss it with your peers). The teacher will choose thre students to give them one description and one word card because there are more ss than slips of paper. Then, she will choose certain ss to explain the task, and she will monitor ss’ work. Yes! If nobody is absent I will have a text or name to complete the activity with them. The idea is that ss read the text and names and to help each other to match the names with the information.

Then, we will check the activity all together, the T will say: “please, the cold zone group stand up and read the text” and we will decide if the description and the name is correct or not”

Answer key: 1 tropical zone 2 cold zone 3 subtropical zone 4 tempered zone

Activity 2 (5 minutes) – pre -watching activity.

The T will say: “Now let’s think about the main reasons of the climate zone differences and how the climate system works” and she will encourage ss to predict the content of the video with some questions, such as: “What factors do you think that affect the climate? Why do you think that there are different climatic zones? Why do you think they have such different landscapes?

Then, the T will ask ss to look for some definitions on the web. She will say:”We are going to watch a video to check out predictions and to understand how the climate system works. But, first we need to know some key vocabulary so you are going to work in pairs to look for some synonyms. For example, a synonym for the word HEAT could be HIGH TEMPERATURE.” She will also write this on the board. Then she will say: “Now, it’s your turn to look for the synonyms of the following words: intensity - reflected – remaining – surface – tiny – greenhouse – tilt – inequality – mild – unevenly“ and she will write them on the board and elicit the synonyms for them and write them too. She will choose a student to explain the task. We will also share our findings and discuss them. (web page recommended: word-reference)

Activity 3 (15 minutes) – watching a video.

The T will say: “Now we are ready to watch the video to check our predictions and to understand how the climate system works. You are going to work in pairs, I will give you a worksheet where you have to complete the sentences with the information from the video. Take some minutes to read the sentences and check if you understand them.” Then, she will elicit the instructions from the ss.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrPS2HiYVp8 (the video contains the script)

Watch the video and complete the following sentences:

1. The climate system is driven by two factors. They are...............................................................................................................................................................................................................

2. When the energy from the sun reaches the atmosphere some is................................. and some is..........................................

3. The atmosphere re-emits the absorbed heat. Some ......................but some...............................................................................................

4. The sun energy is distributed.........................................................................................................

5. Because the earth inclines, the sun’s intensity changes at ................................................................................................................................................

6. There is more heat near the ............................................. than there is ...........................................................................................................

7. To balance this variation, the climate system moves heat from the ............................. to the ......................................... through the atmosphere and the oceans.

Answer key: 1 the way energy moves in/out the atmosphere and the way heat moves around the atmosphere.2 absorbed – reflected3. escapes – heats the earth’s surface again4 unevenly across the globe5 different latitudes and different seasons6 equator – in the poles7 equator - poles

Activity 4 (10 minutes)

The T will hand out some copies and she will copy the chart on the board too. The idea is to compare these two zones and raise ss’ awareness about comparative adjectives.

First, the T will tell them: “Since we know more about how the climate works and the climatic zones, we are going to compare them.” She will say some facts and they have to name the correct zone. She will say: “This zone is WARMER than the .............................. and we will write the sentence in the chart - the conditions for life in this zone are harder than the .............................., etc.

Then, the T will ask ss to focus on the sentences written on the board to notice the grammar structure. She will tell them: pay attention to this sentence: The tropical zone is warmer

than the cold zone. What is this telling us? Is it telling us that the tropical zone is less warm than the cold zone? (While she uses gestures) or is it telling us than the tropical zone is warmer than the cold one? What if I want to compare these two zones with another adjective, for example “hot”? Can you help me?” and she will write the incomplete sentence on the board to encourage ss to notice the usage of the adjective: the tropical zone is....................... the cold zone. She will guide ss answers with some questions: should I write the word “hot” or should I change it? Should I write another word? –while she points to the sentence of the board.

We will check the sentences all together.

TROPICAL ZONE COLD ZONE

The tropical zone is warmer than the cold zone.

The conditions for life are harder than the tropical zone ones.

Then, in order to work share our opinions about the climatic zone we will work with some long adjectives: interesting - fascinating – amazing – exciting. First, the teacher will say and write on the chart: “I think that the tropical zone is more interesting than the cold zone” She will say: focus on this sentence, why do you think that I added another word (more)? Did I change the adjective word? Why? Let’s add more sentences!

Closure (10 minutes) – Homework!

The T will say: “We had a very interesting class about climate today, and now I want you to watch a video about how the human activity affects climate. While you watch it, think and choose a specific activity to investigate for the next class”. She will ask some questions to check comprehension: What are we going to watch? Why? What do you have to do? She will ask them some questions to check their understanding: what are we going to watch? What is the video about? What do you have to choose? And what do you have to do for next class?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa58h4IJ6Hk (we will watch the video in class, it does not have a script since it is an animated video. I have already downloaded the videos. The activities are: Air pollution , habitat destruction, water pollution, poaching and burning)

After watching the video the T will say: “I have chosen an activity, I chose the use of vehicles. So, for next class I will bring information about how this affects the climate, the environment and how can we avoid this. Now, you have to choose one activity that affects the climate, investigate about the causes, effects and how we can avoid those activities to help the environment. Then, she will encourage ss to explain the homework. She will say: “see you next class! Excellent work today!”