Sequence Three
Listening and speaking includes four main rubrics. The first one Skills and strategies outcomes is a preview of the communicative objectives to be achieved by the students.
In this rubric, a number of receptive strategies are activated. They should be the focus of the students’ attention throughout the second sequence. Indeed now we are moving from ********-based study to discourse-oriented learning, and the student is accordingly requested to move from ******** analysis to discourse analysis. In this sequence, the aim is to ‘unlock’, or ‘unpack’ texts to look into relations of cohesion and coherence, at lexical chains, etc. It is the examination of the logical relations between sentences in a text that will make students discover the connotative import of discourse (E.g. mood, tone) and trace ‘underside meanings’.
Before listening is a rubric that prepares the students for the understanding of an aural text through pre-listening activities, and thus allow her/him to predict ******* through a set of questions. These activities prepare for note taking as well.
As you listen is a rubric which includes activities requesting learners to listen for gist, for detail, and to check their expectations/inferences, confirm them or reject them.
After listening is a post-listening stage which involves activities of a more intensive nature. Unlike pre-listening activities which focus on top-down thinking through prediction of ******* (from a picture, for example), post-listening activities deal with bottom-up listening and help students to give shape and significance to the texts. Thus, they can construct a plan from notes and summarize the *******. After listening activities, other skills such as speaking, reading and writing can be practised.
Saying it in writing
This is the natural follow-up of the previous, receptive stage, as it allows learners to build confidence through the production of material related to the listening *******. This rubric prepares the students for the next section Reading and writing, a stage that follows logically from this one.
Sequence Four
The Reading and writing sequences start with Skills and strategies outcomes, a rubric which defines the objectives to be achieved by the students (linguistic, communicative, cognitive), and the levels of reception and production of a message expected.
Before reading, As you Read, and After reading focus on the students’ use of their skimming and scanning skills to make sense of authentic and semi-authentic materials. The students will first activate their pre-existing knowledge to make predictions about the topic. In many cases, they will also be required to identify the structure of the text, to infer meaning and to pinpoiint inferences from context and follow up abstract ideas.
Writing development: This is the last skills rubric in which the students will have opportunity to express opinions, give reasons, present arguments: they will have now sufficient vocabulary and grammatical command as well as the required skills and stragegies to do the writing tasks. Here, the students will demonstrate their sense of organisation, cohesion and coherence, and will draw on appropriate registers to communicate their main message.
The writing activities that we have suggested reflect real-life tasks, such as writing simple reports, brief articles, formal and informal letters, etc. Let us focus now on the ultimate learning-and-doing outcome, namely the project.
IV. About the project
As said in the foreword to the Student’s Book, ‘the project designing procedure runs in parallel with the unfolding of the unit’. It is the visible and assessable manifestation of the students’ competencies, i.e. the end result of their command of ******** and of the skills and strategies they have acquired throughout the unit.
The project is signalled seven times in the unit: at the top of the first page, five times throughout the unit (Brainstorming - Fact finding – Organising - Writing up – Assessing) and a seventh time – in a more detailed way, towards the end of the unit. These are flash-points, so to speak, designed to chart the students’ progress in giving shape and consistency to their project. This charting should take the form of monitoring sessions (twenty minutes at the end of a class meeting) during which the students will discuss and sort out the ways and means that apply to their project. The follow-up between two sessions is assumed to be done by the students, as a group, outside the classroom.
BRAINSTORMING is the first of such sessions, with the teacher acting as facilitator. The aim is to get the students to envisage and agree on the tasks involved, the possible sources of information and the format and ******* of the end product.
FACT FINDING
Most of the activities at this stage take place outside the classroom. The students enquire about where and how they will get the information they need (the Internet, a survey, an interview?…) and about the equipment they may want to use (cassette recorder, picture camera, drawings?…) as well as the places (a museum, a business company?…) they may have to visit. They may not have to meet in class at all.
ORGANISING
This is where the feedback of the students is made use of in a rational and efficient way. Divide the class into groups (5 studens per group to the maximum). Get each group to appoint a spokesperson who will make the final report to the class at the end of the project. Get all groups to agree on the tasks assigned to each of them. Otherwise leave it for each group to decide who does what and in what sequence. All the ensueing work will be done outside the class, or even outside the school.
WRITING UP
This activity will preferably take place between school hours provided each group manages to find a time and a place of its own. Otherwise, devote a whole class meeting to this session – time permitting, of course! – with each group working separately. This will involve writing (in correct English) but also editing (what colours to use, how much space will be devoted to illustrations, how much to text…) and negotiating (with possible opinion clashes). The teacher’s role at this stage is one of soft monitoring. Move from one group to another, giving advice whenever necessary.
ASSESSING
At this stage the work of each group is assessed by a board of assessors (one from each group) chaired by the teacher, or by a student elected by his peers. Make it informal however. The session starts with the spokesperson of each group reporting to the class about the work done and presenting the ‘product’ realised for appreciation. The same operation is repeated for each group. The board of assessors will eventually award the First Prize to the best project.
Naturally, the indications above should, by no means, be regarded as gospel truth. It is up to you to adapt the pedagogical route which you think to be the most suitable for your class.
Finally, it may be of interest for you to note that we have proposed alternative projects, of a ‘lighter’ kind, designed for students who want to work on their own, as well as pertinent and helpful websites (to be complemented if need be).
VI. Conclusion
New prospects has been thought out in such a way as to instill in learners ease and confidence in their communicative use of English. The units of this coursebook offer a variety of activities reflecting real-life situations and prompting the students to practise English in creative ways. Their consolidation of skills, whether oral or written , is to be realised through a number of activities stemming from the competency-based approach. The objectives of such activities are clearly identified and explained at each stage of learning/teaching.
The tasks in question have cognitive aspects elaborated in accordance with Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. The surface levels involve knowledge, comprehension and application while the deeper levels of cognitive processing appeal to analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Every unit contains a number of tasks which have been designed to provide subject-matter knowledge, lower and high order thinking skills, reading strategies and compositional skills. These will enable the students to achieve proficiency in the three competencies, namely interaction, comprehansion/interpretation and production.
At all events, we hope that this coursebook will be a pleasant pedagogic tool, and a useful document to help our students in their progress towards success at the Baccalauréat examination.
UNIT ONE: EXPLORING THE PAST (pp. 14-44)
Use the pictures as an entry to the theme of the unit.
E.g. What do the pictures represent/show?
Where are these monuments located? etc.
Get the students acquainted with the project outcome by referring
them to page 42 so as to set them thinking about it.
LISTEN AND CONSIDER (pp.15-20)
******** outcomes (p.15)
Go through the ******** outcomes with your students so they will have a clear understanding of what the learning objectives of the section are.
Getting started (p.15)
1. The civilizations represented on the map are (from left to right) :
Ancient Greek, Ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, Babylonian and Indus Valley civilization.
You may try to elicit the names of the civilizations that later flourished in the same areas.
2. The right answer is the Sumerian Civilization. There is no need to confirm or infirm the hypotheses made by the students at this stage of the lesson since the objective of the question is to raise interest and to make hypotheses. Students will check their answers by listening to the script in the Let’s hear it rubric.
3. Just as for the first question, the aim here is not to test the students but to get them involved in the lesson.
4. The students will give their own definitions. The important point here is to make them think about the theme of the unit. Have some students jot down the words they associate with civilization (E .g. sculpture, literature, astronomy…) on the board and justify their choice.
Let’s hear it (p.16)
Task 1 (p.16)
Ancient Greek civilization: 4,000 years ago - Ancient Egyptian civilization: 5,000 years ago - Sumerian civilization: 5,500 years ago -Indus Valley civilization: 4,500 years ago - Chinese Civilization: 4,200 years ago
Task 2 (16)
Sumerian civilization 1 (5,500 ago) - Ancient Egyptian civilization 2 (5,000 years ago) - Indus Valley civilization 3 (4,500 years ago)- Chinese civilization 4 (4,200 years ago) Ancient Greek civilization 5 (4,000 years ago)
Task 3 (p.16)
A. The Sumerian civilization is the oldest civilization in the world. T
B. Most of the ancient civilizations rose along rivers. T
C. Agriculture did not form the basis of ancient civilizations. F
D. Ancient civilizations flourished during periods of peace. T
E. Most ancient civilizations fell into ruins because of war. T
F. Ancient Egyptians invented agriculture. F
Task 4 (p.16)
Have the students compare their answers. Then engage them in a discussion particularly with reference to answers to question D and E. These are important issues and should develop consciousness about the importance of peace for development, refinement in the arts and so on.
Task 5 (p.17)
You: How many civilizations has the world known so far ?
Your partner : Well, according to some historians the world has known 26 or 27 civilizations so far.
You : Which one is the oldest/earliest civilization ?
Your partner : The oldest/earliest civilization is the Sumerian civilization.
You : How long ago did it start/begin/flourish/rise ?
Your partner : It started in Mesopotamia some 4000 years ago.
You : What about the Ancient Egyptian Civilization ? When and where did it start ?
Your partner : Well, Ancient Egyptian Civilization started some 5,000 years ago along the Nile Valley.
You : What was the marjor cause of the collapse of these civilizations ?
Your partner: According to most historians, the major cause was war. Most of the ancient civilizations fell into ruins as a result of external invasions.
Around the text (pp.17-19)
Grammar Explorer 1 (p.17)
For me (zero article) civilization is synonymous with (zero article) refinement, (zero article) refinement in (zero article) architecture, in (zero article) law, and in (zero article) life styles. (The) culture and (the) literature of (a) society also contribute to (the) flourishing of its civilization.
Encourage students to explain the use of the three types of articles in English. Place emphasis on the zero article before abstract nouns. Refer students to the Grammar Reference on pp.211-212) only once they have tried to do the task. If necessary, devise a task of your own to consolidate the students’ knowledge of articles.
Grammar Explorer II (pp.17-18)
A. Had to, were able to, and used to express in this order: obligation/necessity in the past, ability in the past, habit in the past (or contrast between present and past realities).
B. The negative of had to, were able to, and used to are in this order: didn’t have to (absence of obligation), were unable to, and didn’t use to.
Make sure the students use these negative in sentences for illustration.
Refer students to SE2 Grammar Reference, pp.197-198.
Task (p.18)
used to live - used to hunt – used to farm – had to migrate – were
able to survive.
Vocabulary explorer (pp.18-19)
Task 1
A. rise – originate- start- begin- emerge
B. mature- develop- evolve – expand- spread - flourish –bloom
C. decline- collapse-fall to decay- into ruins- vanish- disappear
Each of the three categories (A-C) contain verbs which are more or less simmilar in meaning. So it doesn’t really matter which comes first in its category.
Task 2 (p.18)
1= rise(= emerge) 2= mature 3= disappear (=vanish, fall into ruins, fall to decay) 4= originated, began, started, emerged) 5= spread (= expanded) 6= developed (=evolved) 7= evolved 8= flourished
9= declined 10= collapsed (fell into ruins, fell to decay)
Make sure the students realize the importance of appropriacy in the choice of the words. Synonyms should be used to avoid repetition.
Task 3 (p.19)
Go through the tips to make the students aware of what dependent prepositons are before setting them to task.
1. Ancient Egypt consisted mainly of the Nile Delta. 2. It contributed greatly to the development of geometry. 3. If its people were interested in geometry, it was basically for practical purposes. 4 Ancient Egypt depended a lot on the Nile River. 5. Its waters were used for drinking and irrigation.6. Many geometric laws were derived from their attempt to control the waters of the Nile.7. The Ancient Egyptians became so good at geometry that Greek scientists like Thales went to study geometry in Egypt.
The sentences should be rearranged in the form of a paragraph. Refer the students to the Grammar Reference pp.212-215 to check some of their answers to task 3 above.
Pronunciation and spelling (p.20)
A. When was (weak form) Christopher Columbus born ?
B. It was (weak form) in 1450.
A. Was (weak form) he a Spaniard ?
B. No, he wasn’t (strong form). He was (weak form) Italian (emphasis on Italian).
A. Were (weak form) there many good Italian navigators and explorers in Columbus’s time ?
B. Yes, there were (strong form) quite many. Amerigo Vespucci was (weak form) one of them. America was (weak form) named after him.
A. Does that mean that Italian explorers were (weak form) the only ones who explored North America ?
B. No, they weren’t (strong form) the only ones. There were (weak form) also Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Brititish explorers.
Note: The weak form is used when the auxiliary verb is at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence, and when it is not stressed. The strong form is used when the auxiliary verb is at the end of sentence, or stressed.
Think, pair, share (p.20)
Make sure the students contrast the past (used to/had to/were able to) with the present (verbs in the present simple). Provide them with some link words (unfortunately, however, on the one hand, on the other hand). Insist on the need for a concluding sentence.
A century ago, people were able to live in better conditions than their parents thanks to the progress made in science and technology. But in practice, the outcome of this progress was slow to materialise. For instance, most people still used to travel long distances on foot or by stage coach. And as mechanisation was not introduced significantly in daily activities, household chores still had to be done manually, and were therefore time consuming.
On the other hand, community life was still an asset for social cohesion, since people had more opportunities to meet and interact. So they were able to chat with neighbours at shops or in clubs and have a cup of coffee with friends or relatives and tell stories and jokes. Likewise, family visits were frequent and kept the folklore alive, with the grandparents who used to tell traditional tales or sing lullabies or folk songs to their grandchildren. Unfortunately, with the development of audiovisual means such as the cinema, radio, television and then personal appliances like the computer, CD-roms and DVDs, the chances of socialisation are dwindling and the lack of interaction between people may increase stress, loneliness and anxiety.
Could we then complain that we are missing out on some ingredients in life which used to make our great grandparents happier? This is probably so, since closer contacts among neighbours, friends and families had to be beneficial for communal harmony. However,