1.3 Communication Skills Across the Curriculum

8/2/2019 1.3 Communication Skills Across the Curriculum

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1.3 Communication skills across the curriculum Trainer notes

1.3 Communication skills across the curriculum Page 1 of 4 The British Council, 2010

The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.

LEARNINGOUTCOMES

By the end of this session participants will be able to:

o identify functional language needed to support learning and improveinteractivity in the classroom

o understand the principles of the lexical approach and how to put it intopractice when teaching content and language across the curriculum

o identify useful classroom language they can teach their learners

evaluating work working together language for learningKEY CONCEPTSasking questions process language functional language

Functional language in the CLIL classroom A, B, C + Answer sheet Functional language information swap A,B,C, D + Answer sheet The Butterfly life cycle lesson plan + Answer sheet The lexical approach + Answer sheet Reflection

MATERIALS

Sticky notes (optional activity)

Procedure

1 Learning Outcomes

Outline learning outcomes for session to participants and clarify any questions.

2 Functional language in the CLIL classroom. A, B,C Conduct some kind of review of the terminology from the last session 1.2

(e.g. content-obligatory language, chunks, process language, generalacademic, subject-specific etc.). Taboo or back to the board are somesuggestions.

Make sure the last term you review is Functional language. Tell participantsthat the success or failure of CLIL usually hinges on the provision offunctional language to learners.

Draw some speech bubbles on the board and elicit some examples offunctional language they frequently use in their classroom. (e.g. Pardon; Idont think so.; I think the answer isbecause.). Tell participants thatfunctional language can either be language for more natural, everydaypurposes (CALP), such as borrowing a pencil or can it apply to moreacademic purposes (BICS) such as expressing comparisons and contrast.

Examples include: agreeing or disagreeing; asking questions; clarifying whathas been said; comparing and contrasting; demonstrating etc. You mightfind it useful to label the examples they gave you above to the functions. E.g.I dont think so= disagreeing. Do not give too many examples though as thenext stage is a discovery task to get the learners to brainstorm functions to

classroom situations whilst involved in a collaborative activity.


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Divide the participants into 3 groups (A,B,C), and give each a copy of

Functional language with situations in their class (some general andsome academic). In their groups they must brainstorm and then agree onphrases their students may say in these situations.

Tell participants it is a competition and give them a time limit of 5 to 8minutes. The team that gets the most phrases down is the winner. Trainerscan adapt this activity to a running to the board or using flipchart paper.

Feedback - Briefly check answers and have a brief group discussion before

moving on. Give out answers Explain that the participants will work in pairs A-B or C-D. Hand out

Functional LanguageInformation swap ( ) tell them they must notshow their handouts to each other.

Participants A and C will start. They will have a list of things the studentsmight say. They should read out one item from their list. Participants B andD will have a list of functions. Participants B and D will listen to the examplegiven by participant A or C and match it to one of the functions in their list. IfA agrees they write down the function if they disagree B should try again ormove on. Sometimes their worksheet has an extra answer!

Participants should check their answers on the answer sheet ( ). Theywill also see the answers from the other group. They can ask questionsabout any of the functions they are not sure about.

During feedback, point out the purpose of the process language at the

bottom of the page to support building learners confidence to use thesecommon phrases when interacting in English.

The reason we have A-B and C-D here is to provide a longer list of functions and examplesin the feedback, but if this is too complicated just use the A-B worksheets and explain theanswer sheet has more examples for their notes.

Functions in the CLIL handbook include agreeing or disagreeing; asking questions;clarifying what has been said; comparing and contrasting; demonstrating,describing cause and effect; describing a process; explaining a point of view;evaluating work (self and others), expressing ideas; generalising; giving examples;giving information; hypothesising; instructing; interpreting data; persuading;predicting and justifying predictions; presenting solutions; presenting work;suggesting . You may wish to use these in a revision game such as taboo or bingo

in this session or a later session (e.g. Session 1.3 allows more time to think ofexamples of academic functional language and session 2.2 focuses on learningvocabulary).


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3 Functional language in a lesson plan Participants look through the Butterfly Life Cycle lesson plan ( ) and

identify which functional language will be needed at the stages markedFunctional Language.

In groups of 4, participants agree and write down some examples of thephrases (functional language) they would provide for their learners.

Participants change groups and share their suggested functional language.

Feedback

You can check the types of functional language with the answer sheet and ask participantsto share examples of the phrases they might teach their learners.

There are more life cycle lesson ideas available in Carol Reads Project: Amazing World ofAnimals http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?catid=100072&docid=550142

4 Theories behind functional language: the Lexical approach Tell participants now that we have identified the importance of functional

language, we need to look at how to apply it into the CLIL classroom. Whatapproaches should we use?

Ask participants to discuss in groups how they would teach/ encouragelearners to use some of the functional language from the previous task.

Ask participants to read the Introduction and the article on The lexical

approach and answer the true/false questions. Ask participants to match the phrases to the categories.

Feedback Ensure one person in each group has all the correct answersand do peer feedback in groups. Discuss any misunderstandings/comparisons that come up. Ask participants to discuss

1. How can the lexical approach help learners with using functionallanguage? And increase student talking time?

2. Whats the main difference between traditional forms of learningvocabulary and the lexical approach?

3. Can you think of times when you already use the lexical approach

(chunking)?

Feedback

1. Using chunks of language easily builds learners confidence and therefore builds studenttalking time. Learning vocabulary and chunking lexis is really important in CLIL.

2. The main differences would be that using the lexical approach learners should record thevocabulary in sentences or phrases rather than single words with examples from the contextand collocations highlighted.

3. Participants can probably think of some phrases that they already teach this way andshare with the whole class. This will help relieve any stress that they may be feeling aboutthe terminology and the article. (In session 1.2 we already looked at chunking somefunctional language for academic purposes such as comparing/ agreeing or disagreeingetc.)
http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?catid=100072&docid=550142http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?catid=100072&docid=550142


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Optional Activity on recording vocabulary

This activity is optional and depends on the time constraints and /or the needs

ell with their learners (if they want to

notes.

like to know more about to try with their learners. Everyone

d allow the participants tovote for three ideas to be explained by the trainer.

and abilities of your participants.

Give participants sticky notes and ask them to write a way of recordingvocabulary that they use and find works wthey can do more than one sticky note).

They should put their name at the bottom of their

Get participants to stick their notes on one wall.

Give the participants time to browse the wall of ideas and ask them to find oneidea that they wouldmust take one idea.

Participants should then find the person whose name is on the sticky note theychose and discuss their idea with them taking notes to help them remember.

If participants do not have any experience of recording vocabulary the trainermay have to provide a list of ideas that they use an

Feedback

This activity focuses the participants on ways of recording vocabulary and what to includeand helps them consolidate their understanding from the workshop that language should berecorded in chunks, used in sentences, recorded as frequent phrases followed by nouns,verbs etc.

5 Reflection

t be better givenas

ill you make any changes

n plans and introducing functional language

e back of their notebooks etc

Ask participants to reflect on the following question. This mighhomework as it entails observation of their own teaching.

Based on what you have learned in this session, wto the way you approach tasks in the classroom?

Think about: Analysing your lessowith at least one of your classes.

Different ways you can introduce your learners to functional language e.g.posters/speech bubbles around the room or on their handouts, drilling, getting

students to record the functional language in thMake notes on how your learners responded.

Present your findings to the group next class/ when feasible.

The participants document is very long. In order to save paper we have suggestedparticipants make notes on their own worksheet rather than provide all the handouts to allthe participants. You may wish to make another handout with the additional terms from theglossary but there are also benefits to participants copying them down in their ownnotebooks.


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1.3 Communication skills across the classroom Participant worksheet

1.3 Communication skills across the classroom Page 1 of 16 The British Council, 2010


Functional Language for general classroom situations - Group ALook at the situations under the speech bubbles and agree with your group on a suitable phrase you can teach

your learners to use regularly when doing activities in class.Add two more of your own ideas below.

To beginIf you cant pronounce or spellsomething

If you have or havent finished If you dont know what to do and need

help

If you need to borrow something If you are checking your answers

Clarifying what has been said

OK lets start!


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Functional language for general classroom situations Group BLook at the situations under the speech bubbles and agree with your group on a suitable phrase you can teachyour learners to use regularly with their friends in class.Add two more of your own ideas below.

At the start of the lesson /activity

If you want to work together or meet afterclass

If you want to give feedbackor make suggestions Turn-taking and asking for opinions

Agreeing and DisagreeingShowing preference and giving opinions


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Functional language for academic classroom situations Group CLook at the situations under the speech bubbles and agree with your group on a suitable phrase you can teachyour learners to use regularly in class.

Presenting work to the class Describing a process or giving instructions

Comparing and contrasting Making predictions and justifying

Interpreting data Describing cause and effect


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Functional language information swap - Participant A

You and your partner have different worksheets.1. Read out number 1 and your partner will suggest the function the student is completing.2. Discuss the answers they suggest until you agree on the function.3. Write the answer in the table.4. Your partner will then read out the second student quote and you should match it to one of the

functions below.5. Take turns to complete the worksheet.

Whats the function if the student says Function

1. I like the way you drew a graph with your results.

2.

3. What colour is your ?

4.

5. Do you mean ..

6.

7. First of all we put the sand in the bucket and then we push the pipeinto the sand and pour water in the pipe ..

Functionsexpressing

ideascomparing and contrasting cause and effect disagreeing

Language that can help you complete the task:

Yes, I think so! Im not sure, isthere anotherpossibleanswer?

No, that wouldbe somethinglike.

Lets moveonto the nextone.


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Functional language information swap Participant BYou and your partner have different worksheets.1. Your partner will read out a student quote and you should choose the function the student is completing

from the list below.2. Discuss the answer until you agree on the function.3. Tick that function.4. Read out number 2 below. Your partner will suggest the function the student is completing.5. Take turns to complete the worksheet.

Functionsclarifying whathas been said

describing aprocess/procedure

asking questions evaluating others


1.

2. Personally, I dont think its always .

3.

4. If everyone stopped using cars for one day we would save .. litres of oiland reduce C02 levels by..mm

3.

5.

6. The mountain in number 5 is bigger than the mountain in number 3.

7.


Yes, that

sounds correct.It might be Im not sure. Lets moveonto the nextone.

Is that


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Functional language information swap Participant CYou and your partner have different worksheets.

1. Read out number 1 and your partner will suggest the function the student is completing.2. Discuss the answers they suggest until you agree on the function.3. Write the answer in the table.4. Your partner will then read out the second student quote and you should match it to one of the

functions below.5. Take turns to complete the worksheet.

Whats the function if the student saysFunction

1. I read that blood is red but veins look blue because.

2.

3. I think there will be more floods because I heard that the icebergs aremelting.

4.

5. We found the yoghurt was ready after 4 hours when we kept it outside thefridge.

6.

Functionsexpressing ideas generalisation cause and effect interpreting data


Yes, I think so! Im not sure, isthere another

possibleanswer?

No, that wouldbe something

like.

Lets moveonto the next

one.


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Functional language information swap ParticipantDYou and your partner have different worksheets.1. Your partner will read out a student quote and you should choose the function the student is completing

from the list below.2. Discuss the answer until you agree on the function.3. Tick that function.4. Read out number 2 below. Your partner will suggest the function the student is completing.5. Take turns to complete the worksheet.

Functionspredicting and

justifying

predictions

evaluating others giving information presentingsolutions


1.

2. I think the river is straighter here because the rocks are soft.

3.

4. The Vikings ate fish everyday. The women cooked the food on a fire in the middle of the house.

5.

6. I can see from the table that there was more rain in London in October, but on average there ismore rain in winter in New York.


Yes, I think so! Im not sure, isthere another

possibleanswer?

No, that wouldbe something

like.

Lets moveonto the next

one.


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Functional language Answer sheetPair A & B Student says: Function:

1 I like the way you drew a graph with your results. evaluating others

2 Personally, I dont think its always . disagreeing

3 What colour is your ? asking questions

4 If everyone stopped using cars for one day we would save.. litres of oil and reduce C02 levels by..mm

3. cause and effect

5 Do you mean ..? clarifying what hasbeen said

6 The mountain in number 5 is bigger than the mountain innumber 3. comparing and

contrasting

7 First of all we put the sand in the bucket and then we pushthe pipe into the sand and pour water in the pipe ..

describing aprocess/procedure

Pair C & D Student says: Function:

1 I read that blood is red but veins look blue because. giving information

2 I think the river is straighter here because the rocks are soft. expressing ideas

3 I think there will be more floods because I heard that theicebergs are melting.

predicting andjustifying predictions

4 The Vikings ate fish everyday. The women cooked the foodon a fire in the middle of the house. generalisation

5 We found the yoghurt was ready after 4 hours when we keptit outside the fridge. presenting solutions

6 I can see from the table that there was more rain in London inOctober, but on average there is more rain in winter in NewYork.

interpreting data


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Butterfly life cycle Lesson planRead this lesson plan for a primary class and decide which functional language will be needed at the stagesmarkedFunctional Language. You can either make notes of the actual things theyd say or write down thecategory of language e.g. presenting solutions.

Only some stages were highlighted above to make this faster but if you finish before the others in your groupyou can continue to do the other stages.

Subject(s):Science/Entomology

Description:This activity can be used as part of a butterfly unit. Students make colourful butterfly models which display the

stages in a butterfly's life.

Goals:Students will be able to interpret factual information to identify stages in the life cycle of insects, animals andplants.Students will be able to describe common objects and events in both general and specific language.

Objectives:Students will be able to understand a text and identify the stages in a butterfly's life cycle.Students will be able to represent the text in a model, arranging the stages of a butterfly's life cycle in thecorrect order.

Materials: (for each student)A3 sheet of white paperpaintsscissorspipe cleanersglue27 x 5 cm strip of brown paperpencilfour large labels20cm piece of masking tapehandful of popcorn kernels

marker pens


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Procedure

1) Students read a short text describing the life cycle of a butterfly and orderthese four stages Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis & Butterfly.

2) Students work in pairs to follow written instructions to create a model of thelife cycle that represents the different shapes the butterfly takes. Firststudents will make the butterfly. Fold the piece of white paper in half. Openit back up and on half of the paper have a student drip different colours ofpaint -- starting by the fold. After colours have been dripped, fold the paperback together and starting at the centre of the fold, smooth the papertowards the two outer corners. Open the paper to see the butterfly design.Let the paint dry. Once the paint is dry the butterfly needs to be cut out.

Functional Language:

3) After the butterfly has been cut out, the student will glue the strip of brownpaper to the front of the butterfly in the centre to make the butterfly body.(The bottom part of the strip is where they will put the other stages of thelife cycle.) Have the students use the marker to draw a face on theirbutterfly.

4) While that dries, have students write the different stages of the butterfly'slife cycle on 4 coloured labels (Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis, Butterfly). Theteacher might need to write the words on the board or a place wherestudents may copy them down.

5) Next, students will decide what order to glue the stage words on the strip ofbrown paper. Starting at the bottom with the egg and working their way up

until they label the butterfly at the top. Check that the names of the stagesare in the correct order on their models.


6) Students will choose from the materials given (popcorn, pipe cleaner andmasking tape) how to show "examples" of each stage. If they want theymay add pipe cleaner antennae to the butterfly to finish it off.


7) Suggested answers: the popcorn = egg, a bent pipe cleaner = thecaterpillar, and the rolled up masking tape = the chrysalis. Howeverstudents may use their creativity to form a caterpillar from a number ofpieces of popcorn so assess their answers according to the shapes theyhave made to represent the stages.

8) Optional writing: students write a description of the life cycle.Functional Language:

Optional adaptations: different groups have different species such as fish, frogs or plants (dipterocarphelicopter seeds are very popular). They then present their groups life cycle to the other groups or studentscirculate and write down key words and phrases from the other life cycle presentations.

Adapted from:http://www.teacherplanet.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://butterflywebsite.com/educate/butterflylifecycle.cfm
http://www.teacherplanet.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://butterflywebsite.com/educate/butterflylifecycle.cfmhttp://www.teacherplanet.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://butterflywebsite.com/educate/butterflylifecycle.cfmhttp://www.teacherplanet.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://butterflywebsite.com/educate/butterflylifecycle.cfmhttp://www.teacherplanet.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://butterflywebsite.com/educate/butterflylifecycle.cfm


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Butterfly Life cycle lesson plan Answer sheet1. Students read a short text describing the life cycle of a butterfly and

order these four stages Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis & Butterfly.

2. Students work in pairs to follow written instructions to create a modelof the life cycle that represents the different shapes the butterflytakes. First students will make the butterfly. Fold the piece of whitepaper in half. Open it back up and on half of the paper have a studentdrip different colours of paint -- starting by the fold. After colours havebeen dripped, fold the paper back together and starting at the centreof the fold, smooth the paper towards the two outer corners. Open thepaper to see the butterfly design. Let the paint dry. Once the paint isdry the butterfly needs to be cut out.

Functional Language:Clarifying instructions e.g. Do youthink we should fold it then/ givinginstructions to each other e.g. Youhave to ./ agreeing and disagreeingon their interpretation of theinstructions e.g. youre right we

3. After the butterfly has been cut out, the student will glue the strip ofbrown paper to the front of the butterfly in the centre to make thebutterfly body. (The bottom part of the strip is where they will put theother stages of the life cycle.) Have the students use the marker todraw a face on their butterfly.

4. While that dries, have students write the different stages of thebutterfly's life cycle on 4 coloured labels (Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis,Butterfly). The teacher might need to write the words on the board ora place where students may copy them down.

5. Next, students will decide what order to glue the stage words on thestrip of brown paper. Starting at the bottom with the egg and workingtheir way up until they label the butterfly at the top. Check that thenames of the stages are in the correct order on their models.

Functional Language:Describing a process e.g. First of all..and then

6. Students will choose from the materials given (popcorn, pipe cleanerand masking tape) how to show "examples" of each stage. If theywant they may add pipe cleaner antennae to the butterfly to finish itoff.

Functional Language:Expressing ideas e.g. the popcorncould be the / suggestions e.g.why dont we use the / agreeingand disagreeing with their peers e.g. Idont think the popcorn looks likeantennae /presenting solutionse.g. I have chosen.

7. Suggested answers: the popcorn = egg, a bent pipe cleaner = thecaterpillar, and the rolled up masking tape = the chrysalis. Howeverstudents may use their creativity to form a caterpillar from a numberof pieces of popcorn so assess their answers according to the shapesthey have made to represent the stages.

8. Optional writing: students write a description of the life cycle.Functional Language:Describing a process

Discuss how you would teach/introduce some of the functional language above to your students.


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The lexical approachPart One

In order to help your learners understand the lesson content you will need to break down texts into interactivemanageable tasks and involve learners input in predicting, agreeing, disagreeing, asking questions, etc. andthe best way for that is to provide functional phrases to help your learners.

Teaching chunks of language to help your learners complete a task follows the beliefs of the lexical approach.

Read the following text and reflect how much of the lexical approach you use in class to help learners learnvocabulary or information.

Lexical Approach 1 - What does the lexical approach look like?

In recent years it has been recognised that native speakers have a large store of lexical chunks (ready madephrases of 3 - 5 words that are used together) and these help fluency more than having a set of grammar rulesand a separate list of vocabulary.

"It is our ability to use lexical phrases that helps us to speak with fluency. This prefabricated speech has boththe advantages of more efficient retrieval and of allowing speakers (and learners) to direct their attention tothe larger structure of the conversation, rather than keeping it narrowly focused on individual words as they areproduced" (Nattinger and DeCarrico 1992).

The basic principle of the lexical approach, then, is: "Language is grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised

grammar" (Lewis 1993). In other words, lexis is central in creating meaning, grammar plays a managerialrole, telling us what order to put the words and phrases in. If you accept this principle then the logicalsuggestion is that we should spend more time helping learners develop their collection of phrases, and lesstime on grammatical structures.

Schmitt (2000) adds that 'the mind stores and processes these [lexical] chunks as individual wholes.' The mindis able to store large amounts of information in long-term memory, so it is much more efficient for the brain torecall a chunk of language as if it were one piece of information. Raining cats and dogs is, therefore, recalledas one piece of information rather than four separate words.

In our view it is not desirable, to attempt to 'teach' an unlimited number of lexical chunks. But, it is beneficial forlanguage learners to gain exposure to lexical chunks and to gain experience in analyzing those chunks inorder to begin the process of internalisation. We believe, like Lewis, that encouraging learners to noticelanguage, specifically lexical chunks and collocations, is vital to help them acquire English more efficiently.

Adapted from :http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/lexical-approach-1-what-does-lexical-approach-look
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/lexical-approach-1-what-does-lexical-approach-lookhttp://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/lexical-approach-1-what-does-lexical-approach-look


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Part Two

Based on what you have just read answer the following questions:

a) The lexical approach focuses learners on individual words. True / Falseb) The lexical approach helps learners improve their fluency. True / Falsec) The lexical approach allows learners to remember functional phrases. True/ False

Some phrases are inbold. Which of the phrases a) introduces some new information b) rephrases informationor c) gives a condition

Introduces information: Rephrases information: Gives a condition:


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The lexical approach - Answer sheetBased on what you have just read answer the following questions:

a) The lexical approach focuses learners on individual words. True /Falseb) The lexical approach helps learners improve their fluency. True/ Falsec) The lexical approach allows learners to remember functional phrases. True/ False

Some phrases are inbold. Which of the phrases a) introduces some new information b) rephrases informationor c) gives a condition

Introduces information: Rephrases information: Gives a condition:

The basic principle of...

The advantages of ...

In other words... If you accept this...

Is / are vital for ....


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Based on what you have learned in this session, will you make any changes to the way youapproach tasks in the classroom?

Think about:

Analysing your lesson plans and introducing functional language with at least one ofyour classes.

Different ways you can introduce your learners to functional language e.g.posters/speech bubbles around the room or on their handouts, drilling, getting studentsto record the functional language in the back of their notebooks etc

Make notes on how your learners responded.

Present your findings to the group next class/ when feasible.

Reflection


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1 3 Communication skills across the classroom Page 16 of 16

Functional language for Academic & General classroom situations Answer sheet

If you dont know how topronounce or spell a word.

How do I spell / pronounce..?

If you have or havent finishedyet.

Ive finished.Sorry I havent finished yet.I need more time please.

If you dont know what to do.

Im sorry but Im not sure what todo.

If you need to borrowsomething.

Could I borrow your?

Could you lend me your.?

If you want to check youranswers.

Is this correct?

What do you put for #2?

If you want to clarify what hasbeen said.

Sorry, did you say?

Pardon?

Asking questions

How do you .?Can I?What/Where/When/Why.?

If you want to work withsomeone or meet after class.

Can we work together on this?Do you want to meet up after?

If you want to give feedbackor make suggestions.

You could / should Try X instead of YX might be better here.

Turn-taking or asking foropinions.

Its your go/turn.I think its my turn now.What do you think about?

Agreeing & disagreeing

Yes, thats true butExactly ! Definitely !Really? But remember thatI dont think so.

Showing preference andgiving opinions.

Id ratherId preferPersonally, I thinkTo my mind

If you want to know about thenext lesson

What are we doing for the nextlesson?

If you need to go to thebathroom

Can I please be excused?May I go to the toilet please?

If you dont understandsomething or need help

Sorry but I just dont understand.Could you help/show me?

Comparing & contrasting

The biggest difference ismuch higher than.much faster thanIts the most .in the world

Describing a

process/instructions

First of allTo begin with/ after thatYou need to ..You have to.

Presenting work

You can see thatToday we will be talkingOur results showed thatTo begin with

Interpreting data

The graph shows us thatincreases slowlydecreases rapidly

Predicting and justifying.

I thinkdue toIt looks as thoughIf.will happen.because

Documents

1.3 Communication Skills Across the Curriculum