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INTRODUCTION

DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE

Travelers has been specially written for teenagers in the eighth year of primary school. The English program for the level and the concepts and guidelines of the Chilean educational reform have been considered throughout its preparation. The course aims to: develop reading and listening comprehension skills, providing students with techniques that will allow them to understand oral and written texts not only in English, but also in other subjects and in their everyday life. allow students to communicate orally and in writing at very elementary levels. improve learning skills. help students realize English is an important tool for getting and exchanging information, knowledge and culture. educate in a broader sense by providing information about Chile, South America, the English-speaking countries and the world at large, encouraging students to think, analyze and question. Travelers consists of a Students Book, a Teachers Book and a CD. It also has other advantages, such as: To present language in a significative context. To allow students to internalize language patterns that they may use later on. To help develop critical thinking. To provide visual elements to improve students reading comprehension skills. The Students Book contains 4 units based on the the English program for the level and the concepts and guidelines of the Chilean educational reform. Unit 1: Unit 2: Unit 3: Unit 4: Cultural Elements Self - Care People and places All over the world

Unit Structure
Each unit begins with a two-page spread showing a diagram of the objectives of the unit, attractive illustrations to set the theme and motivate students, and a few short activities meant to introduce the topic, activate previous knowledge and raise students interest. The tasks in each unit are indicated with the following headings: Reading, Listening, Language Focus, Reflections, Test your knowledge and Self-Evaluation. The tasks to develop reading and listening skills help students learn strategies to improve their understanding of written and spoken messages. The methodology adopts a three-fase approach with before, while and after reading / listening tasks. The Before reading / listening activities provide a setting, motivation and linguistic preparation and activate previous knowledge; the While reading / listening activities focus students attention on specific tasks that guide their reading / listening, providing different points of view for the same text, and the After reading / listening activities connect the text with their own reality, give practice on a specific grammar structure, clarify points that may be useful later on and / or enlarge vocabulary areas. The Language Focus section includes some grammar and vocabulary points that the students need to carry out the tasks. It is designed to help students revise or discover a particular

Students Book
The course is topic-based and contains a conducting line: Conducting Line The text has a conducting line represented by children of the same age and level of the intendend readers. They are present in different situations according to the topics of the unit. These children include English native speakers related with Chile, and also Chilean children. They interact throughout the book among them and also with other people. Special emphasis has been put on presenting girls and boys participating in similar ways and occassions. At the end of each unit there is an illustrated cartoon whose main characters are the same of the book, but presented in totally different situations. However, each episode is connected to the general content of the unit. This kind of resource has been included mainly because children of all ages enjoy this material and also because the visual aspects effectively help the comprehension process.

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INTRODUCTION

grammar structure or any interesting item of vocabulary related to the text. The activities are meant to promote independent learning, and to make students find out grammar, word formation and vocabulary rules by themselves. Speaking and writing skills. All the lessons include speaking and writing activities which give students the opportunity to apply and consolidate the contents of the lesson, and also connect them with their own reality. These activities help students to see language as a necessary tool to carry out the tasks and give grammar and vocabulary a clear purpose. Vocabulary. The active vocabulary in each unit is what the students may need to understand the texts and carry out the different tasks . There is also development of students passive vocabulary by including a rich variety of lexis in the texts. Also in the pre- reading and pre-listening activities there are explicit suggestions to work with cognate words; the teacher should constantly remind students to make use of these words to help comprehension. Language focus. Travelers deals with grammar only after a certain structure has appeared in a reading or listening text and it is likely to be encountered again in other texts. Students are asked to find or revise the example(s) of the structure in the text and analyze how it works, going through a guided process of discovery. Synthesis is a section that plays an important role. It can be a useful tool for clarifying particular problems, and for creating a more comprehensive, overall perspective on a specific subject. It gives students a chance to revise what they have learnt and done in the unit, connecting the activities with the skills developed. Evaluation is an ongoing process in Travelers, and an integral part of learning. It takes the form of both student evaluation and teacher evaluation. This is done informally after lessons 2 and 4 in each unit, through the Minitest section. It helps students revise their performance in the reading, listening and language activities and also allows teachers to make further use of the reading and listening texts. Reflections is a special section that helps students think about their learning process and to raise their awareness of how they develop their own learning strategies to become more effective learners. It also enables students to become independent learners as well as independent thinkers. Teachers

are strongly reccomended to train and help students to reflect on their learning process and should encourage their students to keep tidy notes of the activities in class, of any extra work done, of tests, quizes, homework, handouts, vocabulary records, etc., so that they can have easy access to all this information any time they need to use it again, when they study at home or when they revise for tests. More formal evaluation is done at the end of each unit through the Test your Knowledge and Self-evaluation sections. In the Test your Knowledge section students revise contents and evaluate their performance in the whole unit. The Self-evaluation section allows students to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses. It provides feed-back on how much they have learnt, putting them in a position to make an assessment of their work. Learners, by getting involved in their evaluation, come face to face with their learning problems and consciously try to tackle them. Students are asked to evaluate their performance, their participation, their products, and the working arrangement. Learning styles. Travelers considers that there are different learning styles in a classroom, so different kinds of activities have been included. - Visual learners need visuals in the classroom, for example: posters, realia, flash cards, visual organizers, etc. - Auditory learners learn better by listening, and like working in pairs and small groups. - Kinesthetic learners learn through physical activities like competitions, board games, role plays, etc. - Tactile learners like board and card games, projects, etc. Values. Value-enhancing topics such as equality, health, respect, the environment, etc., appear explicitly throughout the course. Through guided questions and simple discussions, students are encouraged to reflect about and form opinions on broader social issues concerning their lives and the world around them. Cultural differences are also highlighted at relevant points in the course as well as particular aspects of English-speaking countries such as information related to historical and geographical facts, cultural heritage, teenage lifestyles, etc. in order to raise studentsawareness of the target culture, and develop a richer perspective of their own culture. Other small but interesting sections in the units are: Did you know that ? The aim of this section is to provide more information on the main topic of the lesson and interest

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INTRODUCTION

students in finding more information on their own. Throughout the book students and teachers will also find website-based resources to expand their knowledge of specific subjects. American v/s British English. Special notes show students the differences between American and British English both in writing and in pronunciation. Students are frequently confused with the different spelling or the distinct pronunciation and the idea of this explanation is to show them that both ways are perfectly acceptable. Teachers Book This component includes: The whole minimized version of the Studentsbook, together with instructions and orientations that will help teachers work with contents , resources and activities proposed throughout the book. An introduction with a description of the course, the methodology used, suggestions for classroom management, general methodological suggestions for the activities and to deal with big classes, description of the course components, etc. Detailed teaching notes for every unit. The cognitive abilities implied in every activity of the lessons Background notes for the teacher related to the information content of the different texts. Careful! A section that helps the teacher with information about the most common errors students can make. However, teachers must be very careful as to when and how to correct errors, always having in mind to avoid interrupting students while they are doing communicative activities. Idiomatic expressions. When idiomatic expressions appear in the texts or in the activities, they are explained, defined and an example is given. Idioms or idiomatic expressions are those that cannot be immediately understood by analyzing the literal meaning of their components; literal translation will sound odd. This section will help teachers to include them naturally in different exercises. Complementary activities. (photocopiable) that provide extra practice on the contents of the unit. Observation and evaluation sheets for the teacher and the students (photocopiable, in Appendix at the end of the book): - Beginners writing - Behaviour rubric - Extended response reading rubric - Project evaluation

Answers for all the tasks in the Students Book and in the tests. The transcription of the recording A complete bibliography for the teacher. A list of useful websites for the teacher and the students. Four extra tests. The activities included in the book are classified according to their level of difficulty. This is shown in The Teachers book with the following icons: Low= + Medium= ++ High= +++ CD The CD includes all the material for the listening tasks, including Pronunciation, Listening and Listening test material. The transcriptions of the recordings are included in the Appendix Transcriptions, pages XXXXX of the Teachers Book.

Methodology
Task-based learning Travelers helps students develop language and learning skills to carry out sequences of tasks. Some advantages of task-based learning: Increased motivation - learners become personally involved. All four skills, reading, writing, listening and speaking, are integrated. Autonomous learning is promoted as learners become more responsible for their own learning. There are learning outcomes: learners have an end product. Authentic tasks and therefore, more authentic language input. Interpersonal relations are developed through working as a group. A break from routine and the chance to do something different. Collaborative Work In project-based learning, students work in teams to explore realworld problems and create presentations to share what they have learned. This approach has many benefits for students, including: Deeper knowledge of subject matter; Increased self-direction and motivation; Improved research and problem-solving skills. Additionally, it gives the teacher the grounds for evaluating what students have learnt and how they apply that knowledge to reallife situations.

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INTRODUCTION

The book has 4 projects for students to complete. Each relates to the Unit and asks students to try and answer a question or solve a problem - one that has relevance for them and that they might have to do one day in real life. Let students choose their own group there is nothing worse than being stuck with someone you do not get along with. Give them enough time to prepare the project. Praise and reward good presentation and extra effort taken. Learner training This concept has to do with developing students awareness of how they learn and how they develop their learning strategies so that they become more effective and independent learners. Teachers should encourage students to analyze their learning process, making them think about their learning, what problems they have and how they could improve their performance, so that they can take the appropriate steps to optimize their learning. Special attention should be paid to the training of students in pair and group work, emphasizing the importance of everyones contribution and the respect for the ideas of classmates. Mixed ability Travelers caters for mixed-ability classes in a variety of ways. The teacher needs to develop techniques which allow students of all levels to benefit from the lesson. Individual feedback is advisable in any class, but in a mixed-ability class, this attention to detail can increase student satisfaction. The teacher should always try to make some mental, if not written, notes about each student in such classes. As the course progresses and opportunities arise, the teacher should congratulate individual students on their improvements and make tactful suggestions on areas to work on. A few sentences during general monitoring are better than nothing. These details show that the teacher is aware of individual needs of students. Additionally, each lesson in Global English offers at least one activity that can be done by fast learners, while the rest of the class is finishing a task. Games Games are important when learning a foreign language because they are motivating and help students to sustain the effort of learning. However, games are the means and not the end they are a way of making learning more entertaining and should not

be treated as time fillers. Each game in this book is there for a purpose and needs teacher supervision and sometimes prior preparation. Cognates Cognates are words in different languages related to the same root, eg, education (English), educacin (Spanish). The different lessons in Global English provide students with a question to help them notice and recognize cognates. The teacher should encourage students to find the cognates whenever they face a new text. False Cognates Students might get confused because there are several words in Spanish that are similar in English, but have a different meaning. Global English includes a list of false cognates that appear in the Students book. Here are a few examples of false cognates: Actually = really, not actualmente (at present, currently). Embarrassed = avergonzado/a, not embarazada (pregnant). Realize = darse cuenta, not realizar (carry out, fulfill). Approve = aprobar = agree with something, not aprobar un examen (pass an exam). Lecture = conferencia = a talk about a topic), not lectura (reading). Try = tratar de hacer algo, not tratarse de (be about) or tratar con (deal with). Politics = la poltica, not los politicos (politicians) Library = biblioteca, not librera (bookstore) Familiar = estar familiarizado con, not familiar (relative) Parents = padres, father and mother, not parientes (relatives). Evaluation and Assessment In Travelers, evaluation is ongoing and an integral part of the learning process. It takes the form of both student evaluation and teacher evaluation. Student evaluation As well as making students feel more responsible for their own learning, the process of evaluating themselves and evaluating classmates actually helps them to learn and remember. Students are asked to evaluate the following aspects: their performance, their participation, their products, the working arrangement.

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INTRODUCTION

This is done informally through the Reflections and the Minitests, and more formally at the end of each unit through the Test your knowledge and Self-evaluation section. The teacher must help by organizing correction of the activities, but students themselves must check their own performance and assign marks. At the end of this activity, students are asked to add up their marks and use a Progress chart to find out their level of achievement. Many students may be new to the process of selfevaluation and at the start teachers will need to give guidance. Informal evaluation should also take place on a regular basis at the end of lessons through short discussions about the lesson, carefully guided by the teacher. Teacher evaluation Teacher evaluation combines formative and summative instruments. The following suggestions could be considered to reach a final mark for each student. A mark should be given to each of the four components below. The final mark should be the average of these four marks: 1. Classwork: Taking into account: General attitude, participation, cooperation with classmates and work done. Two instruments are provided in the Teachers Book for this purpose: A class evaluation sheet (photocopiable) for evaluation of all the students unit by unit, and an observation sheet (photocopiable) for evaluation of different students at different moments. 2. Projects: A project evaluation sheet (photocopiable) is provided in the Appendix Evaluation Instrument, pages XXX 3. Tests. There are three tests per unit. These tests assess listening and reading comprehension, as well as specific language items studied and practised in the units. Further suggestions for evaluation As evaluation is an ongoing process, apart from the formal tests provided in the Students book, remember to evaluate students performance in every activity they carry out, making notes of their problems and achievements, keeping a record of their participation, giving them informal marks that you can put together and average at the end of a term, using the evaluation instruments provided in the Appendix Evaluation Instruments, at the end of book. You may also agree with them to consider their self-evaluation at the end of each unit, monitoring their performance and using the marks they give themselves as part of their official marks.

Additionally, here are a few suggestions that you can adapt for different contents and use at different moments of your lessons, and that you can mark according to the level of difficulty, time students spend preparing and presenting, etc. - Mini-presentations by small groups of students. Give them time to gather information, suggest they use patterns you provide or have appeared in the lesson, help them rehearse the presentation, correcting pronunciation, and invite two or three groups to present. This activity can be used in all the units in connection with projects and activities, or with contents the students find interesting in the lessons. - Roleplays. Choose any of the dialogues, give groups time to practise and invite two or three groups to present. - Questionnaires. Prepare a short questionnaire at the end of a unit on the content of the different texts. Assign it for homework or use it as an informal test, which they can answer looking at the texts they do not need to know the information by heart, but know how to find it! - Bulletin board displays. Ask students to collect photos, pictures, cut-outs on a chosen topic, add a short text about them following a model you can provide, and assign a place in the classroom or the school for them to display their work. - Written quizzes based on the written or oral texts used in class, that may include: fill in the blanks with or without words given, put words in order to form sentences, correct the mistake (grammar or information), etc. - Contests and games. Bingo with vocabulary words or verb tenses, find as many words as you can in x minutes under different categories, find information in the dictionary, how much do you know about ...?