proff. Avellone e D’Agati Arable Farming in Medieval England

1. What we are speaking about and why. 2. Lexicon development on Arable Farming (first part). 3. Active and collaborative learning: what was the Open field system? 4. Lexicon development on farming (second part). 5. How did OFS work? (Active learning). 6. Open Field System’s advantages and disadvantages. 7. Revision activity after each stage and general revision at the end.

WALKING THROUGH THE COUNTRY: lexicon development

Introducing new lexicon about medieval and modern English arable farming. Improving reading, speaking, listening.

Methodology: Cooperative learning Eliciting A field is an area of grass, for example in a park or on a farm. A field is also an area of land on which a crop is grown STRIP: a long and narrow piece of land : A line of low trees or bushes planted to form a barrier or to mark the borders of an area Pasture is land with grass growing on it for farm animals to eat. LIVESTOCK: animals, such as cows and sheep, and pigs kept on a farm. TO GRAZE: to eat grass growing in a field . Boundary: line that marks a limit FENCE: a structure made of wood or wire that surrounds an area of land. SOIL: the substance on the surface of the Earth in which plants grow. A FIELD Revision activity: MATCHING B PASTURE • A C FENCE • B

D LIVESTOCKS • C • D E TO GRAZE • E F SOIL • F HEDGE G • G

H STRIPS • H

I • I BOUNDARY Revision activity

FIELD

PASTURE LIVESTOCKS

STRIPS TO GRAZE

HEDGE

FENCE BOUNDARY SOIL DRAWING ACTIVITY

Activity 1.Students are requested to draw a map using the information included in the following text. 2.Students ' drawings are compared with an image provided by the teacher. 3.Discussion and revision The Open field system: Listening and reading activity

In the open field system the land around a village was divided into three huge open fields. The fields were subdivided into strips. Each strip of land in each field was owned by an individual landowner (or rented), although the boundaries were not marked by or fences. The village was placed centrally from where farmers could access their strips more easily. In the open-field system, the peasants owned strips that were scattered among different fields. In addition to the three fields, there were large common lands where the animals could graze. Wood for burning and building could also be taken from the common land.

AN EXAMPLE

WALKING THROUGH THE COUNTRY: (second part): lexicon development Vegetables grown in large quantities for food WHEAT: a tall plant that produces grain for making bread and other foods Barley is a grain that is used to make food, beer, and whisky. Rye: a plant used for making a kind of dark bread PEA: a spherical green seed eaten as a vegetable BEAN: an edible kidney-shaped seed growing in long pods on certain leguminous plants. Fallow: land which has been dug or ploughed, but does not have crops growing on it. TO SOW: to plant seeds in the ground. The harvest is the gathering of a crop. CLOVER: a small plant with leaves that have three ro und parts Beans Revision activity

CLOVER

BARLEY

PEAS

WHEAT

HARVEST

CROPS

FALLOW RYE Finding out how the open field system worked

reading activity

In pairs complete task two: a) new lexicon b) reading a short text c) checking understanding: fill in a chart d) fill in a form

Methodology: Cooperative learning How OFS worked reading activity

Classic open field farming was characterized by the rotation of crops between three fields. Crops rotation was completed in three years. In each year, two fields were growing crops, while the third field was left empty, or 'fallow'. Rotation and fallow periods improved the fertility of the soil. The main crops were wheat and rye (sown in the winter), and barley, beans, peas (sown in the spring, and known as 'spring corn') and clover. Spring crops were also used to feed animals over the winter. Activity: decide which fields have to be cultivated and sow the right crop in the right season. Winter/ Winter/ winter/ SPring Spring spring

YEAR Field one Field two 1 Field three

YEAR Field one 2 Field two Field three

YEAR Field one Field two Field three 3

Complete the following chart: lexicon consolidation

Fields Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

1 Wheat (winter) Spring Field one ? ? 2 Fallow Field two ? ?

3 Field three ? ? ?

How Open fields worked (reading activity)

Read the following text:

Villagers farmed together and received a part of the harvest depending on how many strips they owned. Everybody was required to sow and harvest crops in a particular field within a specified period of time. Open field system was a communally managed system of farming but it was not a communist society (a society without private property). You are a peasant. Would you please mind filling in this information sheet for the forthcoming generation of students?

Name …...... Age...... Village...... Are you allowed to get more than one strip? …………… ……………… Do you farm alone?...... Why is your neighbour getting richer than you? ...... Are you free to sow what you like?...... Can you decide which field to farm?...... Are you allowed to use the common land?…………… What were the main advantages and disadvantages of the OFS?

1.Matching activity (in group of three) 2. Activity about advantages and disadvantages of OPF 3.Checking the answers 4.Final discussion with the teacher What were the main OPF advantages and disadvantages of the OFS? Reading, speaking, listening activity A. It allowed a fair share of good and Advantages Disadvantages poorer soils. B. Peasants were not motivated to increase the production C. Villagers supported each other D. Common land provided every member of the village with significant resources E. It was environmentally friendly – close to nature. F. The peasants could survive even though they owned a few strips G. It did not allow experimentation H. It was a waste of land – each year one field was left fallow. I. It was a co-operative system, encouraging sharing of oxen and ploughs. Revision activity

1. Final revision: individual (fill in the gaps in a text) 2. Final discussion with the teacher Revision activity: fill in the gaps using the following words. Look out for two intruders!

Wood Common land(x2) Soil Strips Graze Field(x2) Hedges Rented Wheat Crops

The Open ……….. system had survived for hundreds of years, perhaps longer, which is testimony to its success in many ways. In the Open ………system the land around a village was divided into three open fields, which were divided into ………; between each of them there were no……. or fences . Members of the village owned or ……several strips in each field. No matter how many or how few strips they had, they shared the good and poor ….. . Around the village and beyond the three main fields , there was also …………… , where could ………….. . ………. for burning and building could be taken from the ………………

Cosa è cambiato dalla nostra precedente sperimentazione?

• La lingua madre può essere utilizzata se aiuta l’apprendimento. • Maggiore attenzione al coinvolgimento intellettuale e motivazionale degli alunni (eliciting). • Maggiore attenzione alla gradualità con cui le informazioni sono presentate agli alunni (scaffolding). • Maggiore attenzione ai tempi di apprendimento degli alunni.(revision). • Maggiore spazio alla dimensione linguistica. • Maggiore attenzione alla progettazione di student centred oriented lessons. • Maggiore attenzione alla creazione di ambienti di apprendimento attivo (active learning).

Cosa è rimasto immutato

• L’assoluto scetticismo nei confronti dell’introduzione del CLIL soltanto all’ultimo anno della scuola s.s. • L’idea che il lavoro di gruppo consenta agli alunni di lavorare attivamente e con maggiore motivazione. • La certezza che solo una buona preparazione linguistica del docente e degli alunni consentono una seria e non superficiale trattazione degli argomenti storici. • Il dubbio che davvero “Less is more!.” • La certezza che la metodologia CLIL possa aiutarci a svecchiare alcuni aspetti della prassi didattica, indipendentemente dalla lingua utilizzata. • La certezza che la metodologia CLIL possa spingerci a collaborare maggiormente tra di noi. • La certezza che il CLIL rende più evidente il conflitto, tipicamente italiano, tra una scuola che continua a mirare alle conoscenze e una che vorrebbe lavorare sulle competenze. Thank you for the attention .