UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DE CUYO

FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA Y HUMANIDADES

SUBSEDE SAN RAFAEL

FINAL WORK
PART ONE
DESIGNING A KIT OF ACTIVITIES

Asignatura: LENGUA INGLESA APLICADA

Curso: Segundo

Profesora: Verónica Cabañas

Alumno: Jesús Centeno Camargo

Fecha de presentación: 23/06/2017

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INDEX

Page

 Support /Students’ characteristics 2

 Activities 3

 WARMING UP 4

 Listening 4

 PRESENTATION OF THE TPIC 4

 Reading 5

 Vocabulary 5

 Listening 5

 Speaking 6

 PRODUCTION AND EVALUATION 6

 Writing 6

 RESOURCES 6

 BIBLIOGRAPHY/ WEBLIOGRAPHY 12

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Suport
Students’ characteristics
This set of activities was already introduced to a group of six students who were between
the ages of 17 to 19. They were in the fifth year of an agrarian secondary school in Agua
Escondida. Only three students belonged to the village where the institution is located,
while the other three came from some “puestos” i.e. rural houses. Their English level was
quite good, despite of the fact that it was taught in 4 hours fortnightly.

The aim of the syllabus was that they had to learn the language communicatively in order
to be able of managing the four macro skills, as well as grammar and vocabulary. That
year there was a tendency to emphasize reading comprehension and writing activities.
Although they were systematically evaluated during the whole year, the exams consisted
of two written term-tests or “trimestrales” in May and August, and a final written and oral
project about farming in November.

Some positive facts to highlight in order to support the students’ learning process were:

 The availability of the netbooks with off-line dictionaries among other devices.
 The possibility of moving freely inside the institution according to the educational
needs (classroom, farmyard, canteen, etc.).
 The principal’s consent to apply and get the resources inside and outside the
institution.
 Excellent internet access in the sport center of the town.

On the other hand, I dare mention the most noticeable liabilities in this group:

 The lack of motivation when dealing with certain topics, like the ones in the first
term.
 The time they attended English classes per month (8 hours in a fortnight).
 The influence of their mother tongue when writing and the misleading English
versión of some regional vocabulary like false cognates.

As regards the last liability, I may state that “the more aware learners are of the similarities
and differences between their mother tongue and the target language, the easier they will
find it to adopt effective learning and production strategies.” (Swan, 1990).

Another key aspect to bear in mind is the importance of students’ beliefs, which is crucial
when learning the target language. According to Bandura, (1986) “these beliefs comprise a

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self-system, and the individuals’ behaviour is the result of the interaction between this
system and external influences. Self-beliefs, which learners create, develop, and hold to
be true for themselves are considered to play a vital role in their successes and failures”.
(Pajares & Schunk, 2004). “Such system has an immediate impact on their behaviour”.
Therefore, I agree with Zeldin and Pajares (2000) who assert that “learners who believe
they do not have the required skills will not engage in tasks in which those skills are
required and these beliefs will affect the choices they make, the effort they put forth, their
inclinations to persist at certain tasks and the resiliency in the face of failure”.

All in all, as they showed interest for activities which involved learning through activities
related to the orientation of the school and chores in rural areas, such as: rearing cattle,
growing fruits and vegetables, among other pastimes like listening to music and playing
the guitar; I decided to introduce last year second “trimestre” differently.

Activities

O’Malley & Chamot’s assumption in “The CALLA Handbook: Implementing the cognitive
academic language learning approach” where the basic premise is that “...students will
learn academic language and content more effectively by using learning strategies. That
is, students, who use strategic approaches to learning, will comprehend spoken and
written language more effectively, learn new information with greater facility, and be able
to retain and use their second language better than students who do not use learning
strategies. Accompanying the use of learning strategies, students gain an important
perspective in their own learning, see the relationship between the strategies they use and
their own learning effectiveness, plan for and reflect on their learning, and gain greater
autonomy as a learner. Because learning strategies can be taught, the teacher has an
important role in [...] supporting the students in their efforts to become more strategic,
independent and self-regulated.”

It is really hard for students who have received a structured education in which memory
has played the main role for a long period of time, to make use of cognitive, metacognitive
and affective strategies. According to the previously mentioned assertions I developed the
following set of activities bearing learning strategies in mind.

 Topic: Soil
 Grammatical topics: Present simple, present continuous, past simple
(revision of the first term) and the modal verb “should” and verb “need”.
 Function: Giving advice

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WARMING UP
Listening
 Pre-listening:
Several photos of the vocabulary included in the lyrics are presented. After that, they have
to stick and label them with phrases on the board. In this stage, they are using previous
and new vocabulary. Students are also allowed to look up words in the Spanish- English
digital dictionary in order to tag the pictures. Once they finish, we practise pronunciation
with the audio of the dictionary.
I also make some comments about a historical picture of the Dust Bowl, which is related to
the song.

 While-listening:
During the song “Dustbowl Children” by Alison Krauss and Union Station, they have to
recognize and write down the words mentioned by the singer. Next, studs are asked about
their findings.

 Post-listening:
After that, they are given the lyric of the song. There, they have to underline the
vocabulary and identify the different tenses (present and past simple). Then, they answer
some questions about the character in the song. The last one will lead to the presentation
of the topic.

PRESENTATION OF THE TOPIC

Learners are given a newspaper advice column in which they have to skim (metacognitive
strategy), i.e. to find the general idea of it and connect the vocabulary to the illustrations.
Later, they have to read the text thoroughly in order to know what the “CultiAdvice” stands
for. Furthermore, they have to identify the role of Green Thumb and Tom in the text. Next,
students are asked to share their findings, and have a discussion about the responses.

Reading comprehension
At this stage, learners have to classify some statements as true or false and justify the
false ones. In order to do this, they have to read for specific information in the text.
Therefore, they used selective attention which is a metacognitive strategy in which they
have to pay special attention to specific key words, phrases, ideas and linguistic markers.
The task also requires analyzing and reasoning because they have to state why they
consider some statements false. This procedure demands reasoning deductively;

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therefore, they have to apply a cognitive strategy again. After the true and false activity, we
check the answers together.

Vocabulary
Before working specific vocabulary about soil, learners are invited to describe the variety
of lands in Argentina using the map of the different regions.
Students are also asked to contextualize the kind of soil in Agua Escondida town;
considering the land at the shore the lake, in the farmyard, in the countryside, etc.
Finally, students have to complete two sets of exercises. In the first one, they have to fill in
the blanks with the correct words and phases from the word blank, while in the second set
the objective is to match the words with the correct definition.
Right after checking the previous excersises, a question to be answered orally will be
introduced: What do we need to take into consideration when planting tomatoes?

Listening
This activity is about a conversation between a customer and a clerk in a plant supply
store. Before starting, students have to read the sentences carefully. Depending on the
questions, students have to choose the correct answer among the multiple choices. The
track is played twice.
Afterwards, I will explain that they are going to work on the strategy “listening for specific
information” which they have already worked at the vocabulary stage. This task will enable
them to listen selectively the word phrases so as to complete the whole dialogue. I am
sure that the activity is much easier to perform since they are more familiarized with the
text and they know exactly what they have to listen to. Finally, the answers are checked on
the board making sure the words are accurately written and pronounced for the following
exercise in which they will have to write a dialogue

Speaking
In pairs and using some cards, learners have to act out the roles of the customer (A) and
the clerk (B). Then, they have to switch roles. The teacher will encourage students to
create and contextualize the conversation using real characters (customers and clerks),
plantation and spots (type of soil) from the town.
The teacher will also suggest the usage of some sentences like:
 I need some…
 What kind of plants is it for?
 You should use…

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PRODUCTION AND EVALUATION

Writing
As a closing activity, students are going to play “Green Thumb”. Consequently, each
student will receive a short description about what is wrong with a certain cultivated crop in
Agua Escondida. Their task is to reply the question, providing a written solution for the
customer’s doubts. The message must include specific vocabulary about the topic, as well
as the grammatical tenses worked in this unit.
All the writings will be presented on a “CultiAdvice” poster or powerpoint presentation with
pictures. Furthermore, they have to be prepared to read the written piece aloud.

RESOURCES
WARMING UP. Listening
 Pre-listening:
Historical picture of the Dust Bowl:
Black Sunday: April 14, 1935, Pampa,
TX. Wind erosion was a terrible problem
in the Great Plains of the United States
in the 1930's during the Dust Bowl, and
again in the drought of the 1950's. These
"Black Blizzards" are the result of tiny
soil particles (silts and clays) suspended
high into the atmosphere. Sometimes
soil particles are carried in the global jet
stream currents.

 While-listening:
Play the song “Dustbowl Children” by Alison Krauss and Union Station,

 Post-listening: Lyric of the song

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 My father's name was Hannibal, Mama was Hanna-Mariah
Everything we owned got all burned up in the Great Depression fire
Strip mines and one crop farming drained the green earth dry
We lost it all till only love was left, and that was one thing money can't buy

We're all dust bowl children

Singing a dust bowl song
And the crops won't grow
And the dust just blows
When the green fields are gone
When the green grass growing fields are gone
When the green fields are gone
When the green grass growing fields are gone

They said in California, there was work of every kind

Well the only job I ever got out there was waiting on a welfare line
Once I had a dollar, once I had a dream
But now all the work is being done by a big ole machine

We're all dust bowl children

Singing a dust bowl song
And the crops won't grow
And the dust just blows
When the green fields are gone
When the green grass growing fields are gone
When the green fields are gone
When the green grass growing fields are gone

PRESENTATION OF THE TOPIC

Newspaper advice column:

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Reading comprehension
True or false activity:

Vocabulary
 Describing Argentinian types of soil.

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  Describing the kind of soil in Agua Escondida town (visit-tour)
 Sets of exercises.

Listening

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Speaking
Cards:

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
 O’ Sullivan, Neil. Agriculture- Career Path. Express Publishing. 2011
 Diccionario Oxford Pocket para estudiantes argentinos. 2014.

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WEBLIOGRAPHY
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9GvHSF0JYc
 http://www.doctordirt.org/teachingresources/erosion
 http://www.soils4teachers.org/soil-and-food
 http://www.doctordirt.org/

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