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Expectations
By the end of the unit, most students will: recognise, understand and use a repertoire of words for this topic for listening, speaking, reading and writing; understand a range of common affixes and roots and use them to guess the meanings of unknown words; understand and respond to information in a monologue; talk about the hypothetical present and future; plan and participate in discussions, speak at length, develop ideas, give examples, ask and answer questions from the group; use meta-language to talk about learning English; independently plan and compose their own writing on a variety of topics; use the principal features of common word-processing software to independently plan, compose, edit and present their own writing. Students who progress further will: use a wide range of discourse markers to signal addition, contrast, reason, purpose, result, condition, concession; discuss possible scenarios in the future using conditional and hypothetical language and a range of future tenses. Students who make slower progress will: use discourse markers to signal addition, contrast, reason, purpose, result, condition, concession; use first and second conditional with if . and modal verbs to speculate about the future.
Vocabulary
Energy: solar power, nuclear energy, fossil fuels, renewable sources, natural resources, etc. Discourse markers: in spite of, despite the fact that, whereas, on the other hand, because (of), since, as, due to, caused by, as a result of, consequently, etc.
Unit 10A.4
CORE STANDARDS Grade 10A standards
10A.1.1 Recognise, understand and use of approximately 3500 or more words for listening, speaking, reading and writing, extending and consolidating the active vocabulary words from Grades K9. Students regularly use these words throughout the year across the four skills, using topics and lexical sets to group them in meaningful, memorable contexts. Regular recycling of active words should occur throughout the year across the four skills. Recycling should include words from earlier grades, together with new personal interest and topic words. Understand elements of morphology in order to be able to guess the meanings of unknown words. Consolidate from G69 and extend ability to recognise, investigate, and spell root words with a range of affixes; generate new words and guess the meaning of unknown words from affixes, to extend vocabulary and support spelling. 11A.3.3 Follow lectures and presentations of about 15 minutes on a range of abstract and/or technical subjects.
10A.3.2. Understand and respond to descriptions and explanations of people, places, events and processes: identify detail accurately; note detail with sufficient precision to re-use without error; note logical progression. 10A.3.4. Follow short (about 10 minute) lectures and presentations on a range of familiar but abstract and/or technical subjects: identify main and some subsidiary points; use notes to organise points into headings; select and note some relevant detail; formulate questions to seek clarification. 9.4.1 Speak accurately and at length to explain, present opinions, recount, describe and summarise events and plans, using a series of 68 clear, connected, utterances. 10A.4.1 Speak accurately, using a series of up to 10 connected, simple and complex utterances with: accurate and appropriate use of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, including appropriate stress and intonation; appropriate cohesive devices to link ideas within utterances and organise ideas at discourse level; a variety of subordinate clauses, linked with appropriate conjunctions; precise delivery of ideas backed by relevant examples and minimised use of redundancy; ability to deal with unexpected questions or comments.
11A.4.2
Speak accurately, using a series of up to 12 clear, connected, simple and complex utterances demonstrating: control of basic language structures with occasional use of advanced language structures, such as a variety of complex sentences with subordinate clauses, linked with appropriate conjunctions.
9 hours
10A.4.9
Use meta-language to talk about learning English: understand and use key concepts of language.
10A.4.7
Use a variety of interactive and language repair strategies to initiate, maintain and conclude a conversation of up to 15 minutes involving a variety of linguistic and paralinguistic communication strategies: approximation use of an L2 word, which shares the essential feature of the target word; rehearsing and organising utterances before speaking; stop and restart utterances that are not clear, pause to rephrase; paraphrase use of an L2 phrase to describe a property, function, characteristic, duty, purpose or an example; appeal for assistance (either implicit or explicit); comprehension check a use of a variety of expressions to check a partners understanding; clarification request a request for repetition or explanation; use of short utterances to show participation or understanding; self-repair self-correction of mistakes; confirmation check repetition of the interlocutors statement to check understanding; pausing use of pauses or pause-fillers, for taking time to think.
9.5.5
Discuss possible scenarios in the present and the future, based on hypothesis and supposition, using first and second conditionals with if, unless, could and might:
10A.5.3
Discuss possible scenarios in the present and future, based on hypothesis and supposition: Use conditional and hypothetical language including: first, second and third conditionals; modals will, can, could, may, might, be able to, and their negative forms; connectives if, when, unless, provided (that),otherwise, suppose/supposing.
11A.5.2
Consolidate and extend ability to describe possible choices, courses of action, in the past, present or future; and weigh up options and consequences. Use hypothetical language with conditionals and appropriate modals and connectives.
10A.6.1
9 hours
9 hours
10A.8.6
Activities
Objectives
2 hours Reading; text organisation Students are able to: recognise, understand and use a repertoire of words for this topic for listening, speaking, reading and writing; use of a range of subordinating conjunctions for addition, contrast, reason, purpose, result, condition, concession; use meta-language to talk about learning English; understand the purpose and typical organisational features of these texts; recognise and understand the use of typical language features.
Unit 10A.4
Possible teaching activities
Introduce the topic. In groups, brainstorm sources of energy. Students use dictionaries to find unknown words. List new words on the board. Groups discuss advantages and disadvantages of each and make notes in a table. Source of energy Solar power Advantages Clean, renewable Disadvantages Expensive to set up, ..
Notes
School resources
This column is blank for schools to note their own resources (e.g. textbooks, worksheets).
Feed in key vocabulary as necessary, for example: renewable sources, fossil fuels, natural resources Give students a text of approximately 500600 words about the advantages and problems associated with one source of energy (e.g. wind farms or wave power). The text should be divided into paragraphs with clear topic sentences. One supporting sentence should be removed from each sentence. However, a gap should not appear in the text. Students read the text quickly to identify and underline the topic sentence for each paragraph. Students read the text again and identify where the supporting sentences belong in the text. Students discuss the strategies they used to insert the supporting sentences into the text. Students complete true/false questions about the text to demonstrate comprehension. Students discuss the conclusion or recommendations presented by the writer and express agreement or disagreement. They refer to evidence in the text or use their own knowledge to justify their views. Students identify the structure of the text from a list of possible choices such as those outlined below. 1 The text starts with an introduction stating the question at hand, then presents the arguments on one side, with evidence and examples to support the case, followed by the arguments on the other side, with evidence or examples to support this case. It concludes by giving a summary of the arguments leading to a conclusion with a recommendation for further action. 2 The text starts with an introduction stating the question at hand, then presents alternating point-by-point arguments, with each point individually set against the opposing view. It concludes by giving a summary of the arguments leading to a conclusion with a recommendation for further action. 3 The text starts with the conclusion, then gives a summary of the arguments to support that conclusion. It concludes with a recommendation for further action. Websites belonging to green organisations (e.g. Friends of the Earth) are good sources of listening and reading texts about energy sources. Prepare a worksheet listing the supporting sentences that have been removed from the text. The sentences must not be listed in the sequence that they appear in the text.
Objectives
Notes
School resources
Argument for
Give each pair of students a set of cut up sentences. They read and match the sentence parts. Students identify the function of each conjunction, for example: to show contrast; to signal a reason; etc. Students complete an exercise to practise the use of subordinating conjunctions (e.g. selecting the correct conjunction to fill a gap).
Identify 78 sentences from the text that use discourse markers to signal addition, contrast, reason, purpose, result, condition, concession, etc. Copy the sentences onto card and cut in two. Examples of discourse markers include: in addition, moreover; however, although, even though, in spite of or despite the fact that, whereas, on the other hand; because (of), since, as, due to, caused by, as a result of, led to, brought about by; consequently, nevertheless, nonetheless.
Display the prepared sentences. Students discuss the relationship between the sentences using their own knowledge of the subject and their understanding of the text and join them to make compound sentences. Encourage students to use terms like cause, effect, result, etc. to explain the relationship between the sentences, When they have finished they compare their paragraph with the original text. Draw attention to words with roots and affixes: in the text from the discussion at the start of this unit. Examples include: renewable, exhaust, replenish, etc. Identify the root then discuss the meaning of prefixes and suffixes, for example: re- means again, -able means can, so renewable means something that can be made new again, or replaced. Encourage students to guess the meaning of unknown words and to make new words by investigating affixes.
Break one of the paragraphs from the reading text down into a series of simple sentences by removing all the coordinating conjunctions.
Objectives
1 hour Listening and note-taking Students are able to: follow short (about 10 minute) lectures and presentations on a range of familiar but abstract and/or technical subjects. 3 hours Listening and writing Students are able to: identify detail sufficient precision to re-use without error; use the organisational features typical of a discussion text to balance and weigh arguments, and draw a conclusion; use ICT to organise and present the text; use meta-language to talk about learning English. 2 hours Role-play Students are able to: discuss possible scenarios in the present and the future, based on hypothesis and supposition, using first and second conditionals and variations with unless, provided (that), can, could, may and might; participate in paired and group discussions on topics that interest and inform; [continued]
Notes
Prepare a recording of a lecture of approximately 10 minutes on a topic related to energy.
School resources
Prepare a text of 45 paragraphs each with a clearly identifiable topic. In each paragraph add a sentence that is relevant to the topic but does not belong in that paragraph. Prepare an audio or video recording of an interview about the project. The interviewee should discuss the advantages and disadvantages associated with the project, and end by drawing a clear conclusion.
Objectives
[continued] use a variety of interactive and language repair strategies to initiate, maintain and conclude a conversation.
Notes
School resources
Controversial projects might include development of a nuclear power plant, or the construction of a hydroelectric dam. Curriculum links with geography and science.
Role-play provides fluency practice. The teacher should not interrupt the role-play to correct students. Rather, he or she should record common mistakes or mistakes in areas of special focus (in this case, use of future tenses and modals to speculate about the future) and deal with them in a whole class situation after the role-play.
Objectives
1 hour Writing a discussion essay Students are able to: compose a short essay, drawing on work in another curriculum subject or an issue of topical interest. use the organisational features typical of a discussion text to balance and weigh arguments, and draw a conclusion
Notes
The teacher should monitor closely at the planning stage, providing extra support for weaker students.
School resources
Assessment
Examples of assessment tasks and questions
Listening Students listen to two people discussing an energy-related issue and answer multiple choice questions or true/false questions to demonstrate comprehension.
Unit 10A.4
Notes
Listening carries approximately 20% of the assessment weighting for this grade. Questions should be designed to assess the comprehension of gist and details. Speaking carries approximately 30% of the assessment weighting for this grade. Assessment scales should include both accuracy and fluency criteria. Reading carries approximately 20% of the assessment weighting for this grade. Writing carries approximately 30% of the assessment weighting for this grade.
School resources
Speaking
Students discuss advantages and disadvantages of a range of energy sources and make recommendations for providing electricity to a remote community (e.g. to an oasis community or a remote Alaskan settlement). Students read a text and demonstrate comprehension by identifying sentences that dont belong in the text. Students reorganise sentences adding subordinating conjunctions to produce a coherent paragraph presenting a balanced viewpoint on a topical issue.
Reading
Writing