DIDACTICAL SEQUENCES AND FURTHER ACTIVITIES These didactical sequences and further activities have been designed to articulate English with other subjects such as History, Geography, Language, Art, etc.. Furthermore, this is a great opportunity to encourage school teachers to organize different activities so as to create bonds with the whole community (students, teachers and parents), to have a good time working together, and to take advantage of transmitting and instilling values.

DIDACTICAL SEQUENCES (For beginners, false beginners and elementary students)

TOPIC: LONDON 2012. OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES. SEQUENCE 1: Subtopic: Sports Objective: to exploit the background knowledge of English through sports terminology to learn vocabulary. Skills involved: reading comprehension and oral expression. Grammar: revision of “likes – dislikes”. Teaching: “but” and vocabulary of sports. Introduction to the sequence: Introducing the names of sports inviting the students to match the names of Olympic and Paralympic sports with visuals on the net (Google images). Marathon Gymnastics Canoeing Swimming Wheel-chair tennis Judo “What sports do you like?” Presentation of “but” with some examples. “ I like ...... but I don’t like ...... ” /weak form/ “I play ...... but I don’t play...... ”

“I love ..... … but I hate ...... ”

Check meaning and ask for repetition.

1 Practice using key words if necessary. Eg.: “In summer we play beach volley-ball but in winter we play football.” “At the club I play tennis but at school I don’t”. Discussion: Which sports are typical in the US? / In England? / In Argentina? Rugby is typical in England but it isn’t in the US. Writing: Students make a list of Olympic and Paralympic sports. Check them on http:// learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-for-the-games. Homework: add more sports to the list. To do this, use other resources: TV, newspaper, family.

SEQUENCE 2 Subtopic: London 2012. Objective: to learn about London today. Phonology: Weak form of “there”, contractions (there’s...../ isn’t ..../aren’t.....) Skills involved: understanding visual information about London on a video. Oral expression. Grammar: revision of “but”, “There’s a ..../ there isn’t a ..../ there are lots of …. / There aren’t any...... ” Before the video: students locate London on a map. The teacher elicits background knowledge of London. During the video: Teacher gives slips with vocabulary so that students tick what they can see. Eg.: a theatre some bridges old buildings beautiful parks a river airports taxis double-deckers lots of shops hotels mountains Olympic stadium Oral Production: Students use the list to describe the city. Teacher builds up further knowledge. Eg. There are two airports: Heathrow and Gatwick. London is on the Thames (river). How to say it: Teacher exploits rhythm: “What words sound loud?” “There’s a stadium”. “There are lots of pubs”. “There isn’t a beach”. “How many airports are there?”

2 Homework: Gallery of pictures: London 2012. Students bring visual images to class for them to contrast.

SEQUENCE 3 Subtopic: “A great Olympian” Objective: to learn and speak about a famous Olympian. Cross cultural knowledge. Skills involved: reading comprehension and oral expression. Make a poster. Grammar: revision of Wh - questions. Phonology: falling tone in Wh - questions. Oral Production: Teacher invites students to talk about Michael Phelps, a great swimmer Olympian. Fact-file: Michael Phelps Sport: swimming Age: 35 Country: the USA Height. 1.90 mts. Weight: 91kgs. Nickname: The Baltimore Bullet. Athens Olympics: six gold medals. Beijing Olympics: 8 gold medals.

Students ask questions using the fact-file. Teacher tells the class about the Olympic values: Respect – Friendship – Excellence. Group discussion can be carried out in Spanish. Group Work: They start making a poster of a great Olympian from Argentina. They finish it as homework.

SEQUENCE 4 Subtopic: The Games in London 2012.

3 Objective: to have fun playing on a board game and share knowledge with the community (parents, etc). Skills involved: reading comprehension, understanding new vocabulary and oral expression. Teacher uses the B. Council online material about the Games to make questions. Students play the board game the teacher has prepared. (Make

4 questions about the sports from the British Council CD).

5 FURTHER ACTIVITIES:

1. Choose a sport and in pairs do research and prepare a presentation for the rest of the class. 2. Then you can prepare an activity (interview to an athlete) related to the presentation. 3. You can also prepare oral questions to ask your classmates about the presentation. 4. You can organize a sports competition for the school and the community. 5. You can take photos of the different activities and then organize a put- up board to share the pictures. 6. Watching a Video: You-Tube – London 2012 – “IT’S TIME 7. Values of the Olympic Games: Respect, Friendhsip, Excellence. Discussion can be carried out in Spanish. 8. Listening to the song: “No one else can do” You-Tube – UK2012 Olympic games official song / Holice 9. Videos to watch: Choose a video from the official website: www.olympic.org/news to watch and comment in class. 10. The teacher can prepare a questionnaire about the video he/she chooses to check comprehension on. 11. Discussion about London. Comparing and contrasting London to other Capital Cities in the World (Buenos Aires – Madrid – Paris – etc.) 12. Video: “The Olympic Games through History” You-Tube. 13. Video: “Ancient and Modern Olympics” which is an educational movie about the ancient and modern Olympics” You-Tube. It discusses some of the history behind the Olympics, some similarities and some differences between the ancient and the modern Olympics. The students can make a presentation with posters. 14. The school can organize an exhibition and give prizes to the best posters. 15. The Athens Olympics (Printable page)

6 We hope our contribution is of help to busy teachers. We’d like to get some feedback on your experience with these activities. We’d be very thankful if you could send us photos. We attach a survey sheet, to learn about your class experience with these materials. Please, complete it and send it back to our Coordination. We appreciate your cooperation and thank you for your participation.

Coordinación de Inglés Ministerio de Educación

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