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Some relevant points from the plans of the Mathematics and email/forum modules
English and Mathematics moduleTitle: Verbal and mathematical languages Duration: this is a module of 15 hours that will be carried out in the second school term (February-June) for one hour a week. The lessons will be held by the two teachers of English and Mathematics who will be co-present in the class. Description: this module is based on an approach according to which some school subjects (or parts of them) can be taught in English so that the students can use the foreign language in the same way they use their mother tongue at school, that is to say with the purpose of learning. Such an approach is often defined CBI (Content Based Instruction) or CLIL (Content and Learning Integrated Learning). According to such an approach language learning is achieved shifting the focus from learning the language as a subject matter per se to learning the language through the study of the contents of other subjects: this central assumption makes it significantly different from the “traditional” language teaching methods. The characteristics of this module will be essentially three: 1) the Mathematics content will be the focus of the lessons 2) the content will be presented through authentic materials developed in English 3) the students’ language and content learning needs will be the focus of the teaching actions. The module is composed of lessons based on the presentation of problematic situations, some expressed through the mathematical language (operations, expressions, equations), others through the verbal language (problems, logic games); the students, individually or in small groups, will have to be able to read and comprehend them, translate them from a language to the other, to discuss and handle them by using both languages in order to find a solution; in the end they will have to be able to re-build the path they have followed from the beginning to the to the end of the process (problem comprehension, reasoning, solution) English will be the language used during the lessons with the purpose of directly acquiring new knowledge about the contents related to the subject matter and indirectly improving the language mastery. The only person in class who is allowed to use Italian will be the subject matter teacher, who will have the role of the content expert. Obviously, since the students’ mastery of the English language is limited, the use of Italian will be tolerated in some points of the lessons, especially when the purpose is task explanation or work organisation. In conclusion the main objective is increasing the knowledge of the Mathematics contents by using English for at least 80% of the lesson. Language objectives · using English as a real means of communication in the school context with the purpose of learning · analysing and comprehending authentic texts about the chosen topics · acquiring the specific lexis related to the themes and the types of communication to be produced · oral production: discussion of the problems in order to better comprehend them; presentations of proposals of “translation” or solution with the help of schemes or other presentation materials · written production: reporting the problem situations in form of written report containing the logical process followed in order to resolve the problem Mathematics objectives · Acquiring new knowledge or reinforcing previous knowledge concerning the topics presented by using a language other than Italian · Acquiring the awareness of the function of both the verbal and mathematical codes as two ways to communicate · Developing the capacity to resolve problem situations Cross-curricular objectives · Developing the capacity of autonomously organizing one’s learning paths by devising personal strategies and creating effective study materials (notes, schemes, graphic representations, etc.) · Developing logic skills · Acquiring the capacity to face problematic situations in a personal and active way · Acquiring the awareness of the function of the language, independently of the specific code used, as a means to acquire new knowledge, organize it in a logic way, develop personal reasoning and communicate such processes and content to the others · Acquiring the capacity of transferring and re-using information, procedures and the abilities acquired during this module also in analogue situations, even if developed in Italian · Strengthening the capacity of co-operating both with the teachers and with the other students in order to achieve a common result. Pre-requisites
Students’ outcomes At the end of this module most of the students will be able to analyse authentic texts concerning simple problem situations expressed in mathematical and verbal languages. They will be able to find the key-points and the relevant data to take into consideration in order comprehend them and to find the solution required. Finally they will be able to present all this to the class both orally and in simple written reports Some students will not be able to do all this, however they will be able to comprehend the problem situations and find the relevant data they contain but they will need the help of the teachers or of their friends to find the solutions required. Some students will have further developed these skills and will be able to analyse authentic texts presenting problem situations expressed both in mathematical and verbal languages; find the key-points and the relevant data to take into consideration in order to comprehend them and to find the solutions required; discuss different methods used by other people in the class and compare them; give reasons of their choices; finally produce oral and written report enriched by personal considerations. Assessment The assessment will have the double purpose of evaluating the content acquisition and the language improvement on one hand, and the students’ level of participation / involvement / interaction inside the learning process accomplished during the lessons at school. As to the first type of assessment, at the end of a group of lessons (2-3) concerning a typology of problems the level reached by each student will be measured through the evaluation of the Maths page they will produce for the school Website containing all the topics and the problems treated; as to the second type of assessment the teachers will base their evaluation on the observation of the students’ behaviour in class.Materials / resources The material will be authentic, that is with an original communicative purpose and not designed for language learning that result suitable with respect to both the content and the language levels of knowledge. They will be presented through graded activities that will respect the level of the students’ language mastery.
The authentic material necessary to carry out the
module according to the approach described above will consist mainly of
texts, exercises and activities presented in some Websites about linear
algebra topics chosen by the teachers. Online dictionaries and glossaries
will help the students to better comprehend the materials and create their
own presentations. Email /forum module
Title: development of language skills, in particular reading and writing, through activities based on email and forum exchanges Duration: this is a module of 30 hours that will be carried out throughout the school year for one hour a week. Description: during the lessons, all the grammar structures already familiar to the students will be developed and reinforced and new ones will be introduced when necessary, in order to allow the students to achieve a pre-intermediate level of language mastery and use the English language more and more autonomously as a means of communication. The specific objective of this module, that is to say the improvement of the four language skills, is obviously present in all the other modules which will be carried out during the year. In this module, in particular, the reading and writing skills will be practiced and developed through an email exchange activity with students from foreign countries and inside a students’ forum which is part of a Website designed for ESL and EFL students Students’ outcomes At the end of this module most of the students will be able to comprehend the messages (emails and forum) and produce their own messages concerning personal information or themes of interest chosen with the partners. Some students will only be able to comprehend the contents of the messages and to produce very simple replies, but sometimes will need the help of their teacher or friends. Some other students will further develop their reading and writing skills and will be able to fully comprehend messages, produce their own messages, re-use in a personal and creative way the grammar structures learned at school, words and expressions derived from the email and forum exchanges, and will be able to help the weaker students in accomplishing their tasks. Assessment The assessment will have the double purpose of evaluating the language acquisition and the autonomy/originality acquired in reading and writing messages on one hand, and the students’ level of participation / involvement / interaction inside the class activities carried out in the multimedia lab. Every message and email written by the students will be corrected by the teacher before being sent. The forum messages will be rapidly checked in the lab before they are posted, the email will be more formally corrected and returned to the students the next lesson. The assessment will derive from all the notes (informal and formal) the teacher will take during and after the lessons about the messages produced and the regular control of a personal porfolio that each student will create, containing the texts of all their exchanges (messages read/received and written). The level descriptors will be the ones devised by the language teachers of the school from the Common European Framework of Reference.Materials / resources The Internet resources used in this module will be the following Website: Of course the students will use any other type of authentic material according to the themes they will deal with during the year, such as other Webpages, printed and online newspapers, books, textbooks, etc. |