listening+5


 * Lluís Miquel**

Madagascar
 * Activity:**

English III for adults at CFA (A2 according to the CEFR)
 * Level:**

PROCEDURE I play sts an excerpt from the film Madagascar which presents the main characters of the film. Sts identify the characters (Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo) and I ask them what the movie was about (the four characters live a life of luxury in New York Central Zoo, in spite of this they escape and find themselves in Madagascar). If they don’t remember I tell them. I divide the class into two groups, group A and group B. Within the group I divide the sts in pairs. Everybody chooses a character from the film because they have to roleplay it. Group A comes up with as many reasons as possible for the characters of the film to escape the zoo. Group B comes up with as many reasons as possible for staying in the zoo. They have five minutes to do this. Next I pair up one student from group A with one student from group B. In their pairs they tell each other the reasons for escaping or staying in the zoo. They must try to convince their partner of their viewpoint. Throughout this stage sts must bear in mind the following (which will be reflected on the self-assessment grid): - They have to listen to their classmates and pay attention to what they say. - They have to express an opinion clearly, they have to take a stand on the issue. - If possible (for sts of high ability) they have to justify their opinion. - Can they foresee any consequences ensuing from the decision?
 * Short description:**

They must take notes of their partner’s arguments. When they finish they go back with the former partners and report back the other side’s arguments and explain if they managed to convince them, and why / why not. I get feedback on the arguments from both sides and make up two lists, one in favour and the other one against.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">FOLLOW-UP: writing a letter <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Afterwards, I ask sts to brainstorm: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- ways to express opinion on the issue of escaping or staying <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- justifications for staying or escaping <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- consequences that might arise from escaping or staying

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Next I show students an example of a letter from Gloria the Hippo, who decided to escape and describes her exhilarating experience in Africa “on the loose” and how it shifted her perspective on life. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I make sts focus on the layout of the letter (paragraphs, connectors, opening and ending). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I draw sts’ attention to these connectors and phrases: In my opinion, however, firstly, while, as a result, in addition, secondly, similarly, such as, in consequence, to sum up. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then I hand out sts a letter from Alex the Lion, who decided to stay and keeps indulging in all his creature comforts and loves living a life of luxury in the zoo. The letter is gapped. Sts have to complete the missing words. To make the activity easier sts are provided with the initial letter of the missing word. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When sts finish I get feedback and have a whole class correction. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now sts have to write a letter bearing in mind that they explain a first-hand, direct, personal, hands-on experience from the point of view of one of the characters (Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo) in the movie. They can either choose if they stayed or escaped from the zoo. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once they have a first draft I redistribute the drafts for sts to read and try to improve, either by pointing up additional contents or by correcting mistakes. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sts get back their drafts and improve them acting upon their peers’ advice. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I collect them for a preliminary correction. I highlight mistakes sts can correct and suggest changes or improvements or ways to enhance the contents. I hand out the corrected drafts in the next class and sts enhance them acting upon my advice for homework. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I also take advantage of the most common comments I have made and the most common mistakes sts have made in order to hold a language spot in the next class and have a look at the grammar and vocabulary in the letters.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It can be funny to read some of the best letters out loud once they have gone through several redrafts. The letters could also be posted on a blog or a wiki for everybody to read.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ADAPTATION <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sts of low ability will probably just repeat the arguments they have written down, whereas sts of high ability will probably bring in critical thinking and will try to convince their peers of their stand.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- To learn to listen to your partner <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- To report information <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- To reinforce or strengthen your arguments <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- To put yourself in somebody else’s shoes <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- To express an opinion and justify it <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- To be able to foresee consequences ensuing from a decision <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- To use connectors and paragraphs to organise your composition
 * Objectives:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sts have this grid to evaluate themselves at the end of the task:
 * Assessment:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Self-evaluation sheet

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now you’ve done the activity, evaluate how well you think you talked <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">about the problem. Give yourself a score for each and say why.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1: weak <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2: satisfactory <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3: good <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4: very good <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5: excellent

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">§ Did I listen to my classmates? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">§ Did I express an opinion clearly? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">§ Did I justify my opinion? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">§ Did I consider the consequences of the decision?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Besides these self-evaluation questions (which I think should account for 25% off the mark), I will assess sts according to the carrot. The CARROT stands for the following items: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C for content <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A for accuracy <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">R for range <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">R for register <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">O for organisation <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">T for task achievement

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0351283/?ref_=sr_2
 * Link:**

=Add your comments:= Hi, this is Lluís Miquel

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Before students read their partners’ paragraphs I explain to them which mistakes to look for. I get students to write down the mistakes and the way to correct them. I tell students what they need to rectify in order to reduce and eventually eliminate the more serious errors. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The number of unacceptable and other grave errors is also immediately obvious to me. I find this actually helps me in giving the work a grade. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I also apply this criteria when assessing my sts’ compositions: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Silly mistakes <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Translation problems <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Other problems: you understand <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the correction <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Other problems: you don't <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">understand the correction

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The CARROT just refers to the written assessment criteria grid in the CEFR (nothing new under the sun):

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Can write short simple imaginary biographies and simple poems about people. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A2 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Can write a series of simple phrases and sentences linked with simple connectors like “and”, “but” and “because”. Longer texts may contain expressions and show coherence problems which makes the text hard to understand. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Uses basic sentence patterns with memorized phrases, groups of a few words and formulae in order to communicate limited information mainly in everyday situations. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Can link groups of words with simple connectors like “and”, “but” and “because”. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Uses simple structures correctly, but still systematically makes basic mistakes. Errors may sometimes cause misunderstandings. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Can write very short, basic descriptions of events, past activities and personal experiences

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> This is an analytical grid in Catalan to assess sts’ written production:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Criteris analítics d’avaluació <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Expressió i interacció escrita (1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Banda 1 Acompliment de la tasca, contingut, organització i <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">intel·ligibilitat del text <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5 El text correspon perfectament a la tasca i és ric en continguts. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Està ben organitzat i és comprensible en una primera lectura. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4 Entre 3 i 5 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3 El text correspon a la tasca, el contingut és apropiat i està prou <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">organitzat. Pot haver-hi algun problema d’intel·ligibilitat que fa <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">necessari rellegir algun fragment del text. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2 Entre 1 i 3 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1 El text correspon parcialment a la tasca i el seu contingut és molt <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">limitat. El text no està organitzat i té problemes d’intel·ligibilitat. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">0 El text no correspon a la tasca o és massa breu per ser avaluat. Text <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">pràcticament inintel·ligible o il·legible. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">0 punts a la Banda 1 suposa també 0 punts a la Banda 2.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Criteris d’avaluació de l’expressió i interacció escrita. Nivell Bàsic (A2)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Criteris analítics d’avaluació <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Expressió i interacció escrita (2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Banda 2 Adequació i correcció del llenguatge <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5 El llenguatge és adequat i variat. Fa un ús correcte d’elements <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">de cohesió bàsics. Lèxic, estructures ortografia i puntuació <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">correctes, tot i que hi pot haver algun error propi del nivell. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4 Entre 3 i 5 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3 El llenguatge és en general adequat. Ús limitat dels elements de <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">cohesió bàsics. Lèxic, estructures, ortografia i puntuació força <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">correctes, però amb errors propis del nivell. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2 Entre 1 i 3 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1 El llenguatge és poc adequat. Ús molt limitat o incorrecte dels <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">elements de cohesió bàsics. Lèxic, estructures, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ortografiat i puntuació poc correctes, amb errors de tot tipus. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">0 Una puntuació de 0 punts a la banda 1, implica 0 punts en <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">aquesta banda.

Hi, Lluís Miquel, I am really eager to know more about the carrot.... Can you expand on that strategy?

Núria Thank you for taking your time to answer! I need to examine this in more detail [] Maybe you know it already, but if you don't I think you'll find it interesting.

_


 * MARISA**

Thanks to share with us the CARROT :) !!! I think it would be an interesting think to investigate these days!!

Hi Núria, this is Lluís Thank you for the link.