ECOSYSTEMS

10 tips for learning success In this module you will…

• Learn content in a foreign language  • Achieve significant learning • Do activities that develop  thinking skills  • Explore a variety of multimodal and authentic materials  • Work collaboratively  • Demonstrate explicit, implicit and referential understanding of different types

of text  • Work in a safe learning environment  • Learn autonomously  • Assess you own work • Promote divergent thinking (instead of convergent thinking)  

 

PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE Discuss in groups: which are the differences and similarities between picture 1 and picture 2. Use the Venn diagram:

The text Coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, There are more kinds of marine life in and around coral reefs than in other places in the oceans. In addition to corals, we can also find seaweed, snails, starfish, sea anemones, clownfish, sea urchins, and many different kinds of fish. Although they look like plants, corals are really colonies of tiny sea animals. Certain conditions are needed for a coral reef to grow. There must be a lot of light. The water temperature must be above twenty degrees. The water must be enough salt, and it must be in constant motion. Many living things interact in the reefs. They depend on each other for food, and also for shelter. For example, clownfish hide in the tentacles of the sea anemone for protection, and they give the sea anemone pieces of food.      

 

Explicit questions 1.- What can you find in a coral reef? 2.- What are the conditions for a coral reef to grow? 3.- How do living things interact in the reefs? Implicit questions 1.- What type of ecosystem is a coral reef, a terrestrial ecosystem or an aquatic ecosystem? 2.- Could be there coral reefs in the Pole North? Why or why not? 3.- How could a tiny sea animal live with a shell of a snail? Could you explain this type of relationship between them? Reflective/evaluate questions 1.- Which are the ecosystems that you like the most? Have you ever been/seen them? 2.- Could you imagine a new ecosystem?. Which type of animals could live in there? What does the physical environment look like? 3.- What type of ecosystems are in your country?

Revision 1.- Could you remember what can you find in a coral reef? Find things in the word search puzzle. SEA ANEMONES CLOWNFISH SEAWEED SNAILS STARFISH SEA URCHINS

2.- What are the conditions that coral reef needs to grow? Fill out the text and rewrite it.

Certain conditions are needed for a coral reef to grow. There must be a lot of .

The must be above twenty degrees. The must be

enough , and it must be in constant motion. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ . Extension 1.- Here there are some living things with some ecosystems. a) Individually, match the living things with the ecosystem where they live. Living things Ecosystems

Chestnut tree Elephants Savannah

Owl Penguins Zebra Forest

Mushrooms Hyena

Pole North Bears Tiger b) In groups, choose one ecosystem with its living things. Add four more living things according to the ecosystem and name them.

____________ ___________ _____________ _____________ c) Make up a poster and draw the ecosystem the team has chosen with all living things. b) After you make it, teams rotate from project to project to leave feedback for other teams.

• Teams stand in front of their assigned projects. • Teams rotate clockwise to the next project

• For a specified time, teams discuss their reactions to the other team’s project, with no writing.

• Student 1 records feedback on feedback form. Students are encouraged to include positive comments.

• Teams rotate, observe, discuss and give feedback on next project. A new recorder is selected each round.

• Teams continue until each team rotates back to its own project. • Teams review the feedback they received from the other teams.

Project: collaborative problem solving After the poster, the group is going to create a RAP SONG! The topic of this song will be about the ecosystem you have created. How does it look like? Which types of animals and plants do they live there? What is the weather like in this ecosystem? You could explain it to the class using a rap song. Are you ready to start? 1. You can inspired by some raps songs you can watch at:  

-­‐ http://www.songsforteaching.com/chantsraps.htm  -­‐ http://www.songsforteaching.com/kinderman/colors.htm  

 2. Here there are some ideas to plan your rap song. We show you as a rap. 3. A rap is like a poem; each verse needs to rhyme with another below. Look at the rap song above:

Hey, everybody, let’s write a rap First there’s a rhythm you’ll need to clap

Keep that rhythm and stay in time, ‘cause a rap needs rhythm and a strong rhyme

4. You need to plan what are you going to describe your ecosystem, related to: - Animals - Plants - Landscape (mountains, rivers, seas, lakes, …) - Weather 5. Choose two of these topics and create one strophe for each one plus a chorus. Here there is and chorus example. Feel free to use it for your rap song or create a new one.

Hey, brother, in our ecosystem you could run, you could jump! Hey sister, in our ecosystem you could scream, you could climb!

There are so many animals: lions, zebras, owls, penguins… they are lovely! Living with them you won’t feel lonely!

The chorus has to come out minimum twice in the rap song following this structure:

Animals/plants/landscape/weather strophe Chorus

Animals/plants/landscape/weather strophe Chorus

Chorus (optional) 6. What can you explain about your ecosystem? These are some structures you can use:

Structure Examples You can see a _________________ You can see some ______________

You can see a lion You can see some penguins

There is a ___________________ There are some _______________

There is a mountain There are some mushrooms

Animals are__________ Plants are ___________

Lions are dangerous Roses are colourful

Monkeys can __________ Monkeys can climb trees

It’s hot/ warm/cold 6. Below, there are some word lists. These will help you to create the rhythms.

List of Adjectives

List of advebs

quickly slowly quietly loudly gently softly gracefully carefully neatly easily truthfully kindly bravely scarily sleepily excitedly energetically safely loosely cheerfully happily angrily lightly silently sweetly brightly rudely nervously anxiously cleverly healthily naturally deeply heavily correctly colourfully colorfully playfully fiercely lazily

yummy delicious tasty sweet bitter sour salty slippery slimy spiky prickly smooth rough sticky soft hard wet dry furry sad happy funny boring nasty naughty angry mean nice beautiful pretty lovely friendly grumpy scary lonely loud noisy quiet slow fast poor rich strong weak old new young lazy sleepy tired furry tall short round fat long skinny thin thick smelly big little tiny small huge enormous gigantic large yellow red orange blue purple brown black white green pink one two three four five six seven eight nine ten

List of nouns List of verbs

apples babies balls beds bears boys bells birds brothers boats giants dinosaurs cakes cars cats children corn chairs chickens cows dogs wind dolls frogs ducks eggs eyes snails waves lizards feet clouds fish trains flowers pets books girls snakes grass pies hands pizzas oranges bikes horses houses kittens legs letters ants men tomatoes money teeth mice friends spiders pigs rabbits rain rings clocks fairies planes songs sheep shoes sisters trees plants trucks sticks sun toys

creep crawl walk run jump skip hop slither climb dig squirm fly sit stalk stomp tiptoe gallop blow dance glide swim wash play throw drink eat chew sing shout growl bark buzz laugh smile cry go moo quack talk yell scream screech squawk squeal glow listen paint look read knit sleep draw shine watch kick dive find build work explore shop clean catch shake

Weather vocabulary

7. Here there are some links you could find some music of rap songs you could use for your rap version.

-­‐ http://audacity.sourceforge.net  -­‐ http://www.hhgroups.com/bases/  

8. Now let’s write your own rap song in your notebook and show each strophe to the teacher.

9. Memorize your music composition. 9. Practise your rap song. Show your rap song to your class as the same time as you show up your poster of your ecosystem.

Assessment Group work

5 Always… 4 Almost always… 3 Mostly… 2 Sometimes …

1 Occasionally…

-­‐ Starts work immediately and concentrates fully on task. -­‐ Cooperates with the work. -­‐ Finishes the work on time. -­‐ Contributes significantly to the project. -­‐ Has a positive and cooperative attitude among the

teammates Tips

Text

CATEGORY Text 3 2 1

Text

The content, vocabulary and the sentences are appropiate (English level and age)

The text is suitable in content but the English vocabulary and grammar are not.

In general, the content is not suitable and students don’t understand the text at all.

CATEGORY Tips 4 3 2 1

Tips The activities developement achieves the compliance of the whole tips

The activities developement achieves the compliance of the majority of the tips.

The activities developement achieves the compliance of few tips.

The activities developement doesn’t achieve the compliance of the main tips.

Questions

Revision activities

CATEGORY Revision activities 4 3 2 1

Revision activities Students know the whole vocabulary with no spelling mistakes

Students know the vocabulary with some spelling mistakes

Students know some vocabulary with lots of spelling mistakes

Students don’t know the vocabulary

CATEGORY Activities 4 3 2 1

Explicit questions Student answer the explicit questions without having the text in front of him/her.

The student answer all the explicit questions but uses the text for reference.

The student answer the questions but one of the main points, using the text for reference. S/he does not highlight any unimportant points.

The student cannot answer the questions with accuracy.

Implicit questions Student recalls several details for each implicit questions without referring to the text with accuracy

Student recalls several details for each implicit questions, but needs to refer to the text, occasionally with few grammar and vocabulary mistakes.

Student is able to answer some of the implicit questions with lots of mistakes.

Student is not able to answer the implicit questions

Reflective questions Student answer the reflective sentences with accuracy

Student uses several sentences to accurately answer the reflective questions

Student has some slight misunderstanding.

Student has great difficulty answering the reflective questions

Extension activities

CATEGORY Expansion activities 4 3 2 1

Required Elements The poster includes all required elements as well as additional information.

All required elements are included on the poster.

All but 1 of the required elements are included on the poster.

Several required elements were missing.

Attractiveness The poster is exceptionally attractive in terms of design, layout, and neatness.

The poster is attractive in terms of design, layout and neatness.

The poster is acceptably attractive though it may be a bit messy.

The poster is distractingly messy or very poorly designed. It is not attractive.

Use of Class Time Used time well during each class period. Focused on getting the project done. Never distracted others.

Used time well during each class period. Usually focused on getting the project done and never distracted others.

Used some of the time well during each class period. There was some focus on getting the project done but occasionally distracted others.

Did not use class time to focus on the project OR often distracted others.

Project (Rap song)

5 -­‐ Creatively organises ideas into a rhythm song. -­‐ Creates a strong, clear and complete image of the ecosystem for the listener -­‐ The group is completely prepared and well organized -­‐ They show confident singing without obvious reading

4 -­‐ Effectively organises ideas into a rhythm song -­‐ Creates an image of the ecosystem for the listener -­‐ The group is prepared and mostly well organized -­‐ Mostly confident and clear singing -­‐ Might need to stop in some parts. The audience might not understand all of it

3 -­‐ More or less organises ideas into a rhythm song -­‐ Describes the ecosystem for the listener -­‐ Singing ok. They might need more preparation/practice to do it with confidence. -­‐ Interesting rap song but might not be communicated and singing to audience very well

2 -­‐ Ideas organized a little -­‐ Sings some basic ideas to the audience -­‐ Rap song not finished and singing unprepared

1 -­‐ Ideas not organised -­‐ Some ideas but may be difficult to understand.

0 -­‐ Insufficient work completed Self- assessment At the end of this unit I can… Objectives Yes Sometimes Never My comment Teacher comment Understand the ecosystems have a specific environment and living things

Answer different types of comprehension questions about a text

Work well in a group Create a new ecosystem Describe this new ecosystem in a rap song

Evaluate how well I worked in my group

Honestly reflect on my learning, and identify strengths and areas for improvement

Checklist In this unit you have…

• Worked independently and agreed to be responsible for your own learning

• Worked collaboratively in groups

• Carried out activities that are challenging and require thinking

• Known how the ecosystem looks like depending on the environment and the weather

• Demonstrated explicit, implicit and referential understanding of different types of text

• Used appropriate language and vocabulary to carry out and make some rhythm sentences

• Played a performance related to your invented ecosystem

• Reflected on your own learning

• Worked in a safe learning environment

• Learnt autonomously

• Taken greater responsibility for learning by assessing your own work and that of others and indentify their strengths and areas for improvement.