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DIDACTIC UNIT: THE EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES FERNANDO YARZA GUMIEL. I.E.S. EMILIO JIMENO 1. FINAL TASK
With the help of a map of Europe, the students will orally talk about the
fifteen E.U. countries, and their capital cities. *
It is advisable to record the final task on
video to be shown to other classmates in the future to show them what
they have to learn, and to be watched by the students themselves. 1.1. SUBTASKS 1.1.1. To
locate the fifteen E.U. countries with the help of map of Europe. 1.1.2. To point
at and to name the fifteen E.U. countries pronouncing them correctly. 1.1.3. To match
the 15 E.U. countries with their capital cities. 1.1.4. And
finally, to talk about the 15 E.U. countries and their capital cities. 2. LEVEL
The Didactic Unit has been designed for 3rd cycle primary
school students (aged between ten and eleven). 3. OBJECTIVES OF THE DIDACTIC UNIT. 3.1. The
students will be able to understand specific oral language, related to the 15
E.U. countries and their capital cities, as used by the teacher and the other
classmates. 3.2. The
students will be able to use oral language fluently and competently, using
linguistic and non-linguistic resources, related to the 15 E.U. countries and
their capital cities, showing respect for and interest in understanding and
being understood. 3.3. The
students will be able to read a text related to the E.U. countries and extract
specific information. 3.4. The
students will be able to use autonomous learning strategies developed from
previous language learning experiences, related to other language study methods. *Before we design all
the activities which are to be developed in class in order to achieve the
didactic unit objectives, specified above, we will have to keep in mind the
didactic consequences which are determined by from the psychoevolutionary stage
the 3rd cycle of primary education students are in, and the
methodological principles established in the official curricula.
It is important to point out that the final curricular aim of this area
is not to teach the foreign language itself, but to enable students to
communicate in that language. This implies the adoption of a procedure based on
communication and oriented towards acquisition of communicative competence.
In order to achieve communicative competence or the final goal of
learning English, we have to develop the oral receptive and productive skills of
listening and speaking, as well as the written receptive and productive skills
of reading and writing, which are defined in the official curricula of the
foreign language.
TO SAY SOMETHING and USE THE LANGUAGE FOR SOMETHING are two KEY elements
in the teaching of foreign languages. 4. MATERIALS
A map of Europe, a map of the Aragonese autonomous Community, a photocopy
of the map of Europe for each student, a photocopy of the chart with all the
questions related to the Aragonese autonomous Community, and if we want to
record the final task, a TV set, a video recorder and a video tape will be
required. 5. TIMING
Three 50 minute lessons will be devoted to completing this Didactic Unit. 6. ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE
The alphabet. Spelling words out, phonemic transcriptions, prepositions
of place, the points of the compass, the 17 Spanish autonomous communities, the
15 E.U. countries. 1.
ANTICIPATED
PROBLEMS
Difficulty in spelling words out, difficulty in reading phonetic
transcriptions properly, the 17 Spanish autonomous communities, the 15 E.U.
countries and their capital cities. 8. ACTIVITIES 8..1.
How to get and hold our students’ attention? We will start by introducing the
topic we are going to talk about to our students, but before starting we will
ask them to tell us everything they know about Spain: Where is Spain with respect to Portugal, France, …, to Europe? What’s
its capital city? What is Spain made up of? Where is Asturias, Galicia, Aragón,
…? What are the three main rivers in Spain? Which is the longest river in
Spain? What’s the name of the King of Spain? What’s the title given to the
son of the King and Queen of Spain? What’s the name of the political party
which won the last elections? What’s the name of the President of the Spanish
Government? What’s the population of Spain? What’s the name of the leader of
the Socialist Party?
Once we have written all the answers on the blackboard, the students are
given a photocopy on which they will have to write all the answers. In order to
do this properly, they will have to associate the questions given in the first
column of the chart and the answers written on the blackboard. (Whole class
activity, individual activity).
“
So
there are 17 autonomous communities in Spain, and you know that Spain has been a
member of the European Union since 1985.” And we will go on to talk about the
E.U. countries.
What
do you know about the European Union? What is the European Union
Once
they know that the E.U. is made up of 15 countries, we ask them, with the help
of the map of Europe, to tell us their names. We point at the countries they
name. They are supposed to name them in Spanish, and if they are right we will
say their names in English and then they will repeat them. We will write the
initials of each country on the blackboard. While they continue to name them, we
point at the ones named on the map and they repeat their names. We’ll pay
attention to location and pronunciation.
2nd teaching period: Once we think they know how to locate the
fifteen E.U. countries and pronounce them correctly, they are asked to give the
capital cities of all the members of the E.U. If they are wrong we will point
out this to them. We’ll continue to write down the initials of all the capital
cities next to the countries they are connected with.
“So
Madrid is the capital city of …” We ask the students as many times as
possible until we make sure they all have learnt the fifteen E.U. countries,
their capital cities and their pronunciation. Now we give them a photocopy with
the map of Europe, and in the top right hand side corner are the 15 E.U.
countries, their capital cities and some more information, which will be useful
for them in the future. First, individually, the students will fill in the map
with the numbers given for each country. Then, in groups of four, they will
check their answers. For each group the teacher will correct a quarter of the
information about the countries and then the class will be reorganized again and
each student of each group will be the representative of their groups in the
other groups. The teacher corrects all the exercises and then the numbers they
wrote down on their maps are erased and each country is coloured according to
the line it is in. We revise the countries, their capital cities and, above all,
their pronunciation.
First, all the students are asked individually the location of the
countries: “Where’s Denmark?”
“It’s over here.” Presumably all the students are going to know the
location of all the E.U. countries. If there is someone who doesn’t know the
answers, someone else will help them to find them.
Secondly, the teacher points at each country separately and each student
says the names: “What’s this?” “
It’s Finland.” Presumably all the students are going to know the
location of all the E.U. countries. If there is someone who doesn’t know the
answers, someone else will help them answer.
Thirdly, each student names the fifteen E.U. countries associating them
with their capital cities: “This is
Sweden whose capital city is Stockholm.” Or “Stockholm is the capital city
of Sweden.”
We will pay
special attention to pronunciation. The final task will be recorded. 9.
REINFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES 9.1. GUESS WHERE.
All the student
are told to write down on a piece of paper where they would like to go on
holiday. They are told that nobody is allowed to see the country they have
chosen, because it is going to be a secret.
One of the
students who did not achieve the objectives mentioned is asked to stand by the
blackboard, and he/she is asked by his/her classmates the place he/she chose: “Are
you going to The United Kingdom?” “No, I’m not. I’m not going to the
United Kingdom.” They continue to ask him/her until someone guesses
correctly. The one who guesses is given 1 point, and he takes the place of his/her
classmate. One of the rules they have to follow is that a country can not be
repeated twice. 10.
EXTENSION ACTIVITIES ANIMALS IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION
The
students are all given a chart. In the first column there are going to be 15
wild animals which are in danger of extinction, and in the first row there are
going to be the numbers given to the 15 E.U. countries in the map of Europe.
After we revise the E.U. countries and the fifteen 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 they had only seen in books. And the reason for this was
that it was very difficult to find them in their natural habitats. So they had
to fly around Europe to find them in captivity. First they went to Vienna, where
they found the rhino, who was really huge; it was really fantastic to see such a
beautiful animal. The students have to match the animal whose name is 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 the picture of a wild
animal and the country where it is going to be found. The tale could be recorded. 11. TABLE OF CONTENTS.
12. CONNECTIONS. 12.1. QUESTIONAIRE: GOING ON
HOLIDAY AROUND EUROPE
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