3.
- ACTIVITIES:
3.1.
- The
students are all given a chart. In the first column there will be some
wild animals which are in danger of extinction, and in the first row
there will be numbers given to the 15 E.U. countries in the map of
Europe. After we revise the E.U. countries and the animals which are
becoming extinct, we start telling them a tale in which the main
characters are going to be the animals.
“Once upon a time, not a long time ago, a group of students
who were on a school trip decided to go to see the animals which up till
then they had only seen in books. This was because it was very difficult
to find these animals in their natural habitats. Therefore they had to
fly around Europe to find them in captivity. First they went to Vienna,
where they found the rhino, which was really huge; it was really
fantastic to see such a beautiful animal.”
The
students have to match the animal called a rhino and the number
referring to Austria on the map they were given. They put a cross in the
appropriate box. From now on, the students are encouraged to continue to
tell the tale. It might be advisable to give each student a picture of a
wild animal and the country where it is going to be found.
3.2.
- The
teacher brings into the classroom some toy animals some of which were
presented in the tale, and revises their names again. Apart from the
animals which are in danger of extinction, we are also going to present
some other animals, and besides, the ones which appear when reciting the
rhyme to the students: a mouse, a cat and an owl. We will encourage them
to think of words which rhyme with the animals presented. These new
pictures of the words referring to animals are placed next to the
phonetic transcriptions of
the vowels and diphthongs which should have been stuck on the walls at
the very beginning.
3.3.
- All the toy animals are named again and put into a plastic bag. One of
the students is blindfolded, and asked to put his hand into the bag and
pick out one animal. Once they touch the animal they have to guess what
it is. If they hesitate they can ask for help from the teacher or from
their classmates. They will be allowed to give characteristics of the
animal chosen, always with the help of the teacher: It is a large,
fierce animal that belongs to the cat family. It is orange with black
stripes. It lives in Asia. It rhymes with the word ‘child’. Its
first letter is T. The student will check which animal it is by
asking the others ‘Is it a tiger?’ and the others will answer him/her
by saying ‘Yes, it is’ or ‘No, it isn’t’. If they find it
difficult to answer, we will ask them whether it is something obvious or
the name of the animal they are trying to guess. The activity will
continue until all the animals have been guessed.
3.4.
- Now we ask them whether they are afraid of each animal: ‘Are you
afraid of a mouse?’ ‘Yes, I am’, ‘No, I am not’. Once we have
practiced enough for them to understand the structure, they are given a
chart with all the names of the students in the first column and the 18
animals we have been working with in the first row. What they have to do
is to move around and ask their classmates whether they are afraid of
the animals. If they are afraid they put a cross
and
if not they put a tick. They will continue to ask about the other
animals by saying ‘And what about an elephant?’ When they all
have completed the chart we will make a mural with all of our students’
answers. We will work with expressions such us all of, some of, a
few of, none of, etc.
3.5.
- One of the rows will be reserved for the teacher to be interviewed.
The students will interview the teacher about the animals he/she is
afraid of, and they will complete the chart the same as they did with
their classmates. The expression ‘Well, except for a tiger I’m
not afraid of anything’ will be introduced.
Students:
Are you afraid of a mouse?
Teacher:
No, I’m not, I’m not afraid of anything.
Students:
And what about a tiger?
Teacher:
Well, except for a tiger, I’m not afraid of anything.
Now
the teacher asks the SS and they have to imitate the structure used by
the teacher.
3.6.
- A possible variation would be to ask them if they would be afraid of
different animals if they were different animals. ‘ If you were a
mouse, what would you be afraid of?’ or ‘Imagine you are a mouse,
what are you afraid of? And what about a cat? Yes, a big cat?’
3.7.
- Once we have introduced our SS to everything we think they have to be
familiar with before telling them the tale, we can tell them the tale.
What they have to do while listening to the tale is to mark the animals
which appear in the tale.
3.8.
- Now the teacher takes the place of the mouse, and the SS take the
place of each character: the cat, the trap and the owl. We will make
them remember their role by means of pictures and symbols. They do not
read meaningless words, but associate meaningful pictures and symbols
with their meanings. Once they get familiar with their role, they change
roles. We will pay special attention to linking words, pronunciation,
stress, rhythm, and intonation from the very beginning.
3.9.
- By using linguistic and non-linguistic resources, they will recite the
whole tale aloud.
3.10.
- They are given the tale with all the relevant meaningful words omitted.
What they have to do is to draw and colour all the drawings which have
been omitted. Once they
have finished the picture, they have to tell the tale individually aloud
to the teacher with the help of the picture.
