Il Ciclo dell'Acqua

Final task: Lights, camera, action!

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CONTENTS

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Why CLIL?

1. Topic

2. Content and Language objectives

3. Activity description

4. Strategies to help students understand

5. Strategies to help students produce

6. Language needs

7. Results/Reflection after implementation

8. Assumed knowledge

9. Teaching materials

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Why CLIL?

 

CLIL is a European term that stands for Content Language Integrated Learning. It involves teaching content through a language other than the students’ first language. For instance, in this case, our students are going to study Science in English. So, they will be learning both the subject and the language.

From a methodological perspective, it can be said that for successful second language acquisition to occur learners should be involved in meaningful and communicative activities.

This means that the main focus of the lessons should be on tasks designed for students to bridge a gap by using all the language resources they have and need to communicate and fulfil successfully such tasks.

We chose CLIL methodology because as Scrivener states in his book “the best way to learn a language is to be very focused on learning about something else (i.e. a content area) rather than focusing on the language for its own sake” (2011: 328).

The principal advantage of learning a language focussing on meaning over form is that students will be provided with opportunities for interaction and authentic communication. In this way, students will acquire English by comprehending language items and concepts that are helpful and directly significant to the tasks they will be performing.

As Escobar states in her article “este enfoque es considerado como potencialmente favorecedor de los procesos de aprendizaje de la lengua meta porque ofrece más cantidad de horas de contacto y mayor calidad de las interacciones en comparación con lo que ocurre habitualmente en las aulas de lengua extranjera” (2016: 85).

Another reason CLIL is worth implementing into the lesson is that students will be exposed to the target language for a longer period, which means a better development of communication skills and an improvement of the language knowledge.

Because education has to be adapted to the new generation of students, who do not understand why they have to go to school, CLIL provides them an engaging and meaningful context, in which they are provided with opportunities to interact and communicate with their peers in order to construct both language and content knowledge.

 

References

• Escobar Urmeneta, C. (2016). Aprendizaje integrado de contenidos y lengua. En D. Masats y L. Nussbaum (Ed.), Enseñanza y aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras en educación secundaria obligatoria.

• Scrivener, J. (2011) Learning Teaching. The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching. Oxford: Macmillan.

 

Additional Bibliography

• Willis, D and Willis, J. (2007). Doing Task-based Teaching. Chapter 1, “The basis of a Task-based approach”. Oxford University Press.

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1. Topic

Scienza: ciclo dell'acqua

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2. Content and Language objectives

By the end of the project students will be able to

1. Distinguish the different states of water: solido (ghiaccio), liquido (acqua), gassoso (vapore).

2. Form accurate sentences using sequential linking words, such as allora, in questa fase, dopo, quando, etc. to explain the water cycle process: evaporazione, condensazione, precipitazione and infiltrazione.

3. Demonstrate an understanding that water preservation is an act of environmental stewardship.

3. Activity description

1. Explain students that water on Earth is always changing. Its repeating changes make a cycle. As water goes through its cycle, it can be a solid, a liquid or a gas.

   • Timing: 2 minutes

   • Interaction: T/group

2. Elicit and pre-teach essential vocabulary for the unit using visual support.

   1. a) Liquido, solido e gassoso.

   2. b) Evaporazione, condensazione, precipitazione e infiltrazione.

      • Timing: 5 minutes

      • Interaction: T/group

3. Students label the different stages of the water cycle in a diagram as they watch the video.

   • Interaction: in pairs

4. Write prompt sentence on the board:

   1. Example:

   • (NOME DEL PROCESSO) + è il processo quando + (STATO D’ACQUA) + cambia / diventa / si trasforma in + (ALTRO STATO D’ACQUA)

   • La condensazione è il processo quando il gas diventa acqua.

5. Students produce written and oral sentences (which will be presented in front of the class) similar to the one provided by the teacher explaining in order the four processes involved in the water cycle.

   1. Example à L’evaporazione è il processo quando un liquido diventa gas.

      • Timing: 4 minutes

      • Interaction: in pairs

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4. Strategies to help students understand

1. Pictures, photos and visuals:  we will be using visual aids in order to present the new vocabulary, relate to prior knowledge and help clarify new contents. We will be using also a diagram which will help students organize the main processes involved in the water cycle.

2. Multimedia: we will be using a video to assimilate key information into their long-term memory.

3. Non-verbal communication: we will be using gestures to clarify concepts, to aid the process of learning and intonation patterns to emphasize ideas.

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5. Strategies to help students produce

1.     Demonstrations: we will provide our students with a model for them to follow when producing their oral and written performances.

Example: see fourth stage of activity.

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6. Language needs

1.     Specific terminology: evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection.

2.     Grammar structures that students will use when writing and interacting with their partners:

a.     Tempo Presente semplice

b.     Language chunks (i.e. ____ si transforma in ____).

c.     Sequential linkers (i.e. prima, ____, poi____, dopo____).

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7. Results/Reflection after implementation

Even though, we did not expect the class to have any knowledge about Italian, they seemed to follow well the explanation. During the implementation, we observed that both visual aids and gestures really helped students understand the main ideas and concepts.

When getting to the productive part of the task, students were willing to participate. However, the first student who volunteered was not completely sure about the procedure, but it was great to see the other students helping her to produce the correct sentence.

As we did not have enough time to implement all we had prepared, students did not get the chance to interact as much as we wished. Our main objective was for students to work in pairs trying to produce the sentences orally using the scaffolding structure provided on the presentation.

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8. Assumed knowledge

• In previous lessons, students have learnt about the natural elements involved in the water cycle, such as mare, fiumi, montagne, laghi, valli, ecc.

• They are able to produce both oral and written descriptive texts using presente semplice and presente continuo and structures, such as c’é / ci sono.

• They are also able to use descriptive adjectives like caldo, tiepido, freddo e fresco and sequential linkers when enumerating or ordering information.

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9. Teaching materials

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