GRADE 11A: Language and culture Hypothesising about the future; narrating

About this unit

This unit is designed to guide your planning and teaching of English lessons. It provides a link between the standards for English and your lesson plans. The teaching and learning activities in this unit should help you to plan the content, pace and level of difficulty of lessons. You should adapt the ideas in the unit to meet the needs of your class. You can also supplement the ideas with appropriate activities from your schools textbooks and other resources. In this unit, students consider the use of English in the media. They explore the role of body language and non-verbal communication and the connection between language and culture.

UNIT 11A.3 10 hours

Resources
The main resources needed for this unit are: an audio text about language and culture; an article of approximately 1000 words about immigration; an article of 1000 words on gestures and their meanings from around the world; a video clip; an audio text about an incident when gestures have been misunderstood.

Expectations
By the end of the unit, most students will: understand and respond to a range of information given in face-to-face or audio-only situations in monologues and dialogues; understand and respond to narratives in monologues or dialogues with two or more participants; talk about situations, choices and possible actions in the present and future using the full range of present and future tenses and time phrases as appropriate; apply understanding of word parts, relationships, and context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, to extend, and generate new vocabulary; distinguish between different varieties of English; actively participate in informal and more formal discussions; predict and describe long-term or continuous actions; recount events and experiences using a wide range of past tenses appropriately. Students who progress further will: describe possible scenarios in the future using the full range of simple and continuous tenses and modals; relate events coherently showing the passage and duration of time, and demonstrating some ability to present events in non-sequential ways. Students who make slower progress will: describe possible scenarios in the future using simple present, first conditional and modal verbs; recount events and experiences using a range of past tenses and sequencing devices.

Key structures and functions

Hypothesising about the future: If present levels of immigration continue, Americas population will increase by 50% by the year 2050. Unless immigration is controlled, there will be fewer jobs for African Americans. Japan must allow immigrants. Otherwise, therell be no-one to look after the elderly population. Japan is worried about the impact more immigrants might have on their sheltered society. Narrative tenses: I was working in Egypt at the time. I had been teaching from ten oclock in the morning until eight oclock in the evening. I was just walking out of the school building when

Vocabulary
Culture: race, minority, melting pot, community, integrate, ethnic, etc. Immigration: immigrant, migrate, minority, legal/illegal, etc. Non-verbal communication: body language, sign language, gesture, to wink (your eye), to nod (your head), to make eye contact, to make/avoid eye contact, etc.

185 | Qatar English scheme of work | Grade 11A | Unit 11A.3 | Language and culture

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Standards for the unit

10 hours
5 hours Language and culture 3 hours Body language and non-verbal communication 2 hours Extensive reading 10A.1.2 10A.1.3 Use bilingual dictionaries in paperbased format and online to find word meanings. Define new vocabulary in Arabic if there is a direct equivalent or in simple English if there is no equivalent, with alternative English phrases or expressions. Use an advanced learners English English dictionary. 11A.1.3

Unit 11A.3
CORE STANDARDS Grade 11A standards
11A.1.1 Recognise, understand and use approximately 4000 words for listening, speaking, reading and writing, extending and consolidating the active vocabulary words from Grades K9. Students regularly use these words throughout the year across the four skills, using topics and lexical sets to group them in meaningful, memorable contexts. Consolidate use of bilingual dictionaries in paper-based format and online to find word meanings. Define new vocabulary in Arabic if there is a direct equivalent or in simple English if there is no equivalent, with alternative English phrases or expressions.

SUPPORTING STANDARDS including Grade 10A standards

EXTENSION STANDARDS including Grade 12A standards

11A.1.4

Use an advanced learners EnglishEnglish dictionary and a thesaurus in paper-based format and online. Use these resources to: define new vocabulary in simple English with alternative English phrases or expressions; check pronunciation of words and the part of speech.

11A.2.1

Consolidate understanding of affixes and word roots from Grades 710, and extend ability to recognise, investigate, and spell root words with a wider range of affixes; generate new words and guess the meaning of unknown words from affixes, to extend vocabulary and support spelling.

12A.2.1

Consolidate understanding of roots from Grades 711. Extend ability to recognise and spell root words, generate new words and determine the spelling of unfamiliar words from a wide range of affixes

11A.3.1

Understand and respond to narratives, anecdotes, stories, plays and films: understand gist; follow dialogue; discern speakers moods, relationships and intentions; express detailed opinions with justification; connect to personal experiences.

12A.3.1

Understand and respond to stories, plays and films: understand gist, dialogue, moods, relationships and intentions; plan and write a critical analysis.

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10 hours
10A.5.1

SUPPORTING STANDARDS including Grade 10A standards

Consolidate the ability to make predictions, describe continuous or long term actions in the future and contrast with specific actions and future states, using the future continuous, the will future and appropriate time phrases. 11A.5.1

CORE STANDARDS Grade 11A standards

Consolidate the ability to talk about situations and events in the future, fixed, planned, spontaneous, predictable, probable or possible, using the full range of present and future tenses and time phrases as appropriate.

EXTENSION STANDARDS including Grade 12A standards

11A.5.2

Consolidate and extend ability to describe possible choices, courses of action, in the past, present or future; and weigh up options and consequences. Use hypothetical language with conditionals and appropriate modals and connectives; Recount and compare events, situations, narratives and personal experiences in the past, using the simple past, past continuous, past perfect and present perfect for the general past, as appropriate. Read extensively from appropriately levelled texts, in a variety of genres in the text range identified for Grade 11 Advanced. Recognise features of discourse cohesion: reference; ellipsis; enumeration; substitution; linking conjunctions which express identity to indicate sameness, opposition to indicate a contrast, addition to indicate continuation, cause and effect. 11A.6.4 Recognise features of discourse cohesion: linking conjunctions which express indefinites to indicate a logical connection of an unspecified type.

11A.5.3

11A.6.2 11A.4.8 Use meta-language to talk about learning English: understand and use key concepts of modality. 11A.6.4

10A.8.4

Use the full range of punctuation with approximately 80% accuracy.

11A.8.4

Use the full range of punctuation appropriately with 85% accuracy.

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10 hours
10A.9.2

SUPPORTING STANDARDS including Grade 10A standards

Drawing on experiences of reading, compose narratives based on known or imagined stories, personal experiences or recounts of events. 11A.9.2

CORE STANDARDS Grade 11A standards

Drawing on experiences of reading, compose narratives based on known or imagined stories, personal experiences, or recounts of events, showing ability to: construct a coherent story plan showing the main characters, the progression of events and the conclusion, as a basis for writing a full version; select and present themes and topics in ways that capture the readers interest; relate events coherently showing the passage and duration of time in a clear chronological sequence; select vocabulary precisely to portray characters and create moods and settings; include dialogue or reported speech as appropriate; use a variety of complex and simple sentence forms to create interest, emphasis, tension; draw the narrative to an effective conclusion; structure the text in paragraphs which break the narrative into coherent and connected parts. 12A.9.2

EXTENSION STANDARDS including Grade 12A standards

Drawing on experiences of reading, compose narratives based on known or imagined stories, personal experiences or recounts of events, showing ability to: relate events coherently showing the passage and duration of time, and demonstrating some ability to present events in non-sequential ways.

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Activities
Objectives
5 hours Language and culture Students are able to: identify and respond to the main ideas and details in a listening or reading text; understand and respond to hypothetical situations and propositions in the past and the future; discuss possible scenarios in the future, based on hypothesis and supposition about familiar and important topics; make predictions, describe continuous or long-term actions in the future and contrast with specific actions and future states, using future continuous, the will future and appropriate time phrases; recognise features of discourse cohesion; understand and distinguish between American and British English in terms of pronunciation and spelling, grammar, vocabulary and dates; use an advanced learners dictionary and a thesaurus in paper-based format and online.

Unit 11A.3
Possible teaching activities
Write on the board a list of non-native words that have become common in everyday English, for example: He got promoted by kow-towing to the boss all the time. Hes sold his house and bought a bungalow as he could no longer manage to climb the stairs. Students read the sentences and guess the meaning of the words from the context. They discuss the origin of the word and, if relevant, how its meaning has been changed in its use in English. Alternatively, write a list of words that have entered the English vocabulary within the past 50 years or so (e.g. bungalow, siesta, coup, yoghurt). Students discuss their meaning, use and their origin. Students think of words that have entered the Arabic vocabulary in recent years and compare their origins with the English words examined. Students listen to a text about language and culture (e.g. the use of Spanish among immigrants in the USA, the use of Caribbean English in parts of London). Students show comprehension by completing exercises to identify the main ideas and details (e.g. multiple-choice questions, true/false questions, gap fill). Students infer the feelings of the writer, giving evidence from the text. Highlight and practise use of future tenses and modals in the text to hypothesise about the future, for example: If present levels of immigration continue, Americas population will increase by 50% by the year 2050. In the future, you might walk into a shop in Florida and hear only Spanish. It could become possible to grow up in America and never speak English. Japan is worried about the impact more immigrants might have on their sheltered society. In groups, students respond to wh-type questions and discuss ideas related to the text. Ask students to think of examples of British culture and American culture that are evident in Qatar. Draw their attention to the use of other forms of English in Qatar; for example, look for examples of Indian-English vocabulary in the press and discuss synonyms. American-English may dominate television, cinema and radio, but forms of English spoken on the Indian subcontinent are very evident in Qatar. Examples can readily be found in the press, shop signs, etc.

Notes
Interactive games practising non-native words commonly used in English and new words that have entered the language can be found at: www.learnenglish.org.uk/words/ activities/foreignma.html www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/routesofenglish/ games/index.html The British Council English language teaching website has an excellent lesson plan with worksheets on how new words are created. See : www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/plans/ newwords/new_words.shtml Reading texts about the melting pot can be found in commercially available ELT books and on the Internet. Suggested search words are multiculturism and melting pot. Audio texts can be found at: www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/routesofenglish

School resources
This column is blank for schools to note their own resources (e.g. textbooks, worksheets).

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Objectives

Possible teaching activities

Pre-teach key vocabulary. Explore the root of the noun immigrant. Students guess the meaning of related words from their context (e.g. to migrate, migration, migrant worker, emigrate). Students read a text about the growing dependency of developed nations t on immigrant labour to support their ageing population. They identify the arguments for and against immigration. They read the text a second time to identify more details and infer the feelings of the writer. Students study the text and identify features of discourse cohesion, for example: reference (use of pronouns, repeating key nouns, demonstrative pronouns, etc.); It is difficult to know how common this attitude is. Many of these people are thought to work as unskilled labourers. ellipsis; Applicants who can prove they arrived before last August, have a job contract and no criminal record, have three months to sign up as taxpayers. enumeration; first, then, finally, secondly, thirdly linking conjunctions which express an idea that is in contrast to what has been said before, but, yet, however, nevertheless, still, though, although, whereas, in contrast, rather Mr Nakatani is worried because Japanese are living longer, yet having fewer children addition to indicate continuation, and, too, also, furthermore, moreover, in addition, besides, in the same way, again, another, similarly, a similar, the same cause, as, because, the reason why, since result, therefore, so, consequently, as a consequence, thus, as a result, hence, it follows that reason, so that, to, in order to Earlier this year, the European Commission argued that with a rapidly ageing population, Europe urgently needed more economic migrants in order to catch up with its global competitors. a time relationship, before, while, as, during, in 1997, at this time identity to indicate sameness. that is, that is to say, in other words

Notes
Useful texts on the subject of immigration policies in Japan (Japan mulls multicultural dawn) and Spain (Spain launches immigrant amnesty) can be found by searching the Internet.

School resources

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Objectives

Possible teaching activities

Students complete exercises to practise discourse cohesion, for example: read a paragraph and identify how many times the key noun appears and circle all the pronouns that refer to it; replace pronouns with key nouns where relevant in a text in which all key nouns (except the first time they appear) have been removed (see example text); practise using conjunctions to join sentences to show the relationship between them; fill in gaps in a text with the appropriate cohesive device.

Notes
Example text: English has become an international language. Except for Chinese, more people speak it than any other language. Spanish is the official language of more countries in the world than it, but more countries have it as their second language. Over half the worlds business is conducted in it between nonnative speakers and seventy-five per cent of the worlds mail is written in it. Moreover, although French used to be the language of diplomacy, it has displaced it throughout the world.

School resources

In groups students discuss questions about immigration in Qatar, for example: Why do foreigners come to live in Qatar? What benefits do foreigners bring to Qatar? What problems can large-scale immigration cause? Should immigrants conform to local culture? What should the government do about immigration? Write on the board England and America are two countries divided by a common language (George Bernard Shaw). Students discuss the statement and what they think it means. Students discuss differences between American and British English (e.g. vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, giving dates). Students use EnglishEnglish dictionaries to find the meaning of common British and American vocabulary, idioms and expressions. 3 hours Body language and nonverbal communication Students are able to: recognise body language and its importance in communication; understand and respond to narratives; construct a coherent story plan; compose narratives based on known or imagined stories. Play, without sound, a video clip that shows interaction between several people (e.g. a group of friends in a caf or restaurant). Students speculate about the relationships between the people in the scene. Ask guiding questions, for example: Who is emotionally closest or involved with which other characters? What's the relationship between characters? Who is feeling angry? What is each person feeling or thinking? Students predict what they think the characters are talking about or what they are saying. Give students copies of the transcript. They read the script and watch the clip again, still without sound, and think about what the character they have to play is likely to be thinking or feeling. This encourages the students to interpret the body language and express it through the way they read the script. Students read or act out the scene in groups. Transcribe the script for the clip you use.

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Objectives

Possible teaching activities

If possible, show students a similar scene from a Qatari video. Ask students to look for differences in the way characters interact. Again, ask guiding questions, for example: Do they touch when they meet? How close do they sit when they talk? Do they touch while talking? Do they make eye contact? Do they openly express any emotions? Discuss the implications for cross-cultural communications. Elicit from students examples of gestures and non-verbal communication (and their meanings) that they use in Qatar (if necessary, mime some). Ask students if they know any gestures or non-verbal communication from other countries. Students complete an online test to see if they can tell whether someone is genuinely smiling or faking it. They complete the quiz and discuss the results, expressing agreement or disagreement with the analysis. Students read an article on different gestures from around the world with explanations as to the meanings. Set tasks such as matching text with pictures of the gestures, and comprehension questions to identify main points and supporting details. Discuss the use of punctuation in the text. Give the students a paragraph of text on a related topic without any punctuation. Students discuss the difficulties of reading the text without punctuation. In pairs they punctuate the text. Check by displaying the text on an overhead transparency and correcting together. Tell the class a personal anecdote of a time when your gestures (or those of a friend) were misinterpreted or you misinterpreted the gestures of someone else. Alternatively, play a recording of someone recounting a story about an occasion when their gestures or body language were misunderstood. Set comprehension tasks for students. Highlight and practise the use of past tenses for narration, for example: I was working in Egypt at the time. I had been teaching from ten oclock in the morning until eight oclock in the evening. I was just walking out of the school building when . Students complete a gapped summary of the story by filling in the verbs in the correct tense.

Notes

School resources

The Internet is a good source for articles on cultural differences. Supplementary resource books also have articles on this topic.

Interview a colleague or friend, either on tape or in the lesson as a live listening. Get the person to recount a personal experience of gestures that have been misunderstood. Books on culture shock are a good source of anecdotes on body language.

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Objectives

Possible teaching activities

Ask students (in groups of four) to discuss their own experiences of misunderstanding gestures. They should ask each other questions using a range of narrative tenses. Each group chooses one story to develop as a narrative. Before they begin to draft their stories, ask students to discuss and list the features of a good narrative. The list should include: coherent story plan (introduction to set the scene, main body of the story and conclusion); clear progression of events showing the passage and duration of time in a chronological sequence, using correct narrative tenses; good vocabulary to portray characters and create moods and settings; use of dialogue or reported speech as appropriate; use of a variety of complex and simple sentence forms to create interest, emphasis, tension. Students work in groups to develop a coherent story plan. They prepare a first draft and then edit their story according to the criteria developed above. Students prepare a second draft.

Notes

School resources

When correcting written work, make notes of common errors and deal with them in wholeclass work arrangement.

2 hours Extensive reading Students are able to: Read extensively from appropriately levelled texts, in a variety of genres in the text range identified for Grade 11 Advanced.

Students read a book from a range of graded or appropriately levelled readers within the range identified for grade 11A. They may be given time to read their book in class and reading should be set for homework. Set a time in which students should complete a certain number of pages or chapters of the book and an activity that shows their understanding of the book. Activities will depend on the content of the book and can include: writing a book review asking for a summary and an opinion of the story or characters; responding to questions to show understanding of the main ideas; completing a table, graph or other diagram; language-focus activity (e.g. tense, use of adjectives; sequencing devices); role-playing characters in the book; discussing issues raised in the book; writing a letter as if from a character in the book; developing a story map.

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Assessment
Possible assessment activities
Listening Students listen to a text about cultural signals and respond to true/false or true/doesnt say statements as they listen. In groups, students prepare a proposal to replace French as an official UN language with either Spanish, Arabic or Chinese. In new groups, students present and defend their proposals.

Unit 11A.3
Notes
Listening carries approximately 20% of the assessment weighting for this grade. Speaking carries approximately 30% of the assessment weighting for this grade. Assessment criteria should include both accuracy and fluency.

School resources

Speaking

Reading

Students read a text about some aspect of language and culture and complete true/false/doesnt say questions. Students write a letter to a newspaper voicing their opinion about immigration in Qatar.

Reading carries approximately 20% of the assessment weighting for this grade. Writing carries approximately 30% of the assessment weighting for this grade. Award marks for completion of task and use of language.

Writing

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