188_ttm_revista_ar_Maquetación 1 15/01/16 09:45 Page 15

Unit on
Malvinas Islands
Main Linguistic Objectives: you want, you can ask comprehension questions on the
information provided by the videos. Tell students to comment
lTo work on different genres: encyclopaedia format; videos;
on the differences between what they have imagined or knew,
magazines.
and what the videos presented.
l To work on reading strategies: prediction; use of cognates;
Then, show the video about Port Stanley/Puerto Argentino and
reading to find specific information; guessing meaning from
ask students to tick the places the filmmaker visits. It is
context; global reading.
advisable to check the meaning of the different places before
l To practise answering questions. doing the activity. Watch the video at
l To work on listening strategies: listening and watching for http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7MDwLvpYfg.
specific information; inferring meaning from context.
Teenage life in Malvinas
Critical thinking skills: recognizing, listing, identifying, Divide the class into pairs or small groups. Each group has a
naming, retrieving, recalling, finding, comparing, interpreting, different text to read. Ask students to underline the ideas they
summarizing, discriminating, transferring. want to share with the rest of the class. Each group presents
their ideas. Print the texts from:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6718979.stm
The Islands
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/1782991
Ask students what they know about Malvinas Islands. They can
use L1 to do the brainstorming. Do activity A on page 16.

Tell students they are going to read an encyclopaedia entry for

Malvinas Islands. Brainstorm what information may be included
(for example: location, language, etc). Students read the text and
check their predictions. Remind them to pay special attention to
cognates, which make it easier to understand a text. Ask
comprehension questions, for example: Where are the Islands
located? Which is the language spoken? What animals can you
find? How many people live there? What are the main industries?
What’s the currency? Is there unemployment? Is education
compulsory? Where do students study? Is there a hospital? etc. Do an open discussion with your students: Would you like to
live in Malvinas? Why/why not? What’s the difference between
their lives and your lives?
Students read the text again and complete a chart. Then, they do
some activities on language. After students have drawn a sketch As a Final Task, students can make posters of the topic they
or described the scenery, show two videos for them to check found most interesting or investigate more about Malvinas
their predictions from Destination Unknown: New Island at Islands to present to the class.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZD2zpVijIY, and West Point Island Karina Uzeltinger
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex0K6n_wVG4&feature=related. If

Sources and References

Falklands Islands Government http://www.falklands.gov.fk
Discover Falkland Islands http://www.falklandislands.com
Culture of Falkland Islands – history, people, clothing, belief, food, life www.evreyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Falkland-Islands.html
BBC News - Regions and Territories: Falkland Islands http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/4087743.stm
Día del Veterano y los caídos en Malvinas – Chubut www.chubut.edu.ar/cpie/recu_aula_n2.pdf

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Level: Elementary Age: Teenagers/Adults

MALVINAS ISLANDS
A) Do you know the names of these places in Spanish?

1) Falkland Islands
2) East Falkland
3) West Falkland
4) Port Stanley
5) Falkland Sound

B) You are going to read an encyclopaedia entry for Malvinas Islands.

What information do you expect to find? Write it down.

C) Now, read the text and check if your predictions were true.

The Malvinas Islands (also known as Falkland Islands) are located 480 km east of Argentina and 1,400 km north of the
Antarctic Circle. The archipelago consists of two main Islands (Soledad and Gran Malvina, also known as East and West
Falkland) and 778 smaller islands, with a total land area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres. The terrain is
mainly hilly to mountainous grassland. Shrubs abound, but there are no native trees. The climate is cool, damp and
often windy. An impressive diversity of animal life includes elephant seals, sea lions, penguins and other birds.
There is a resident population of 2,478 of whom 2,115 live in the capital, Stanley. The majority are of British descent,
although there are a few immigrants from South America, Chile in particular. There are also about 2,000 military and
civilians based at Mount Pleasant Complex.
English is both the official language and the language of daily life. The vast majority of the population identify with
Anglican religion.
The currency is the Falkland Island Pound (FIP). There is no unemployment, but much of the work is seasonal, such
as peat cutting and sheep rearing, and many islanders supplement their incomes with small-scale mechanical or
agricultural projects. Apart from working with sheep by-products (wool, hides and meat), the settlers grow vegetables
such as cabbages, potatoes and cauliflower.
Until recently, sheep rearing and wool processing was the major industry. The fishing industry has grown rapidly and
so has tourism. Oil has been discovered near the islands lately. The primary products produced for export are wool,
hides and meat. The main imports are food, drink, building materials and clothing.
Except for defence, the islands are self-sufficient.
Education is free and compulsory from the age of six through fifteen. There is a primary school and a secondary school
in Stanley, as well as three settlement schools on farms in rural areas. Students who do not attend these schools are
home-schooled with the aid of travelling teachers, and radio and telephone lessons. There are not any institutes of
higher education, but citizens are eligible to receive funding for vocational and higher education classes in Great
Britain.
The King Edward VII Hospital in Stanley is the only hospital. It was destroyed by a fire in 1984 and rebuilt in 1987. The
care provided is free, with the exception of eyeglasses, dentures and cosmetic dentistry.

D) Read the text again and complete this chart.

Territory: Islas Malvinas. Also called Falkland Islands in English speaking countries.
Status: British overseas territory, claimed by Argentina.
Population: ............................................. Capital: .............................................
Area: ............................................. Major language: .............................................
Major religion: ............................................. Monetary unit: .............................................
Industries: ......................................................................................................................................................................
Main exports: .................................................................................................................................................................

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Level: Elementary Age: Teenagers/Adults

MALVINAS ISLANDS
E) Working with language.
1) Write a title for the text.
2) Read the first paragraph again and underline cognates (words that are similar in spelling and meaning in English and
your language).
3) Find examples of the following items in the text. Then, add two more (in each word list).
Plants

Animals

Climate words

Religion

Language

Industries

Vegetables

4) Match the two parts of the sentences.

a) The Islands are 1) is seasonal.

b) The archipielago consists 2) discovered near the Islands.
c) There is a resident 3) the Islands are self-sufficient.
d) Much of the work 4) of two main islands.
e) There are no 5) destroyed by a fire.
f) Oil has been 6) the official language and the language of daily life.
g) Education is 7) located 480 km east of Argentina.
h) It was 8) native trees.
i) Except for defence, 9) free and compulsory.
j) English is both 10) population.

F) How do you imagine the scenery?

Make a sketch or describe it.

G) Listen and watch the video about Port Stanley.

What places does the filmmaker visit? Tick them.

Airport Primary School Tavern (Pub)

Governor’s House Cemetery Port
Hotel Memorial Police Station

processing, fishing, tourism, g) cabbages, potatoes, cauliflower; 4) a) 7, b) 4, c) 10, d) 1, e) 8, f ) 2, g) 9, h) 5, i) 3 , j) 6; G) Governor’s House, Memorial, Tavern.
exports: wool, hides and meat. E) 3) a) shrubs, trees, b) elephant seals, sea lions, penguins, birds, c) cool, damp,windy, d) Anglican, e) English, f) sheep rearing, wool
area: 12,000 km2; language: English; religion: Anglican; monetary unit: FIP (Falkland Islands Pound); industries: sheep rearing, wool processing, fishing, tourism;
Key: A) 1) Islas Malvinas, 2) Isla Soledad, 3) Isla Gran Malvina, 4) Puerto Argentino, 5) Estrecho de San Carlos; D) population: 2,478 inhabitants; capital: Port Stanley;

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Malvinas:
A Bit of History
T his lesson plan can be
used on its own or as the
second part of the lesson
plan presented last year in
The Teacher’s Magazine N° 188,
March 2016: Malvinas Islands.
Objectives:
• To revise and practise Past Simple.
• To work on words related to war.
• To work on reading strategies:
prediction; use of cognates; skimming
and scanning.
• To work on speaking strategies:
expressing a particular meaning in
different grammatical forms.
Critical thinking skills: recognising,
listing, identifying, finding, defining,
comparing, explaining, recalling
information, generalising, synthesising,
understanding cause and effect,
integrating,
Start the class by asking students what
they know about Malvinas Islands.
Write on the board any information
given. Tell them they are going to read
a text about the history of the Islands.
Go through the questions in exercise A
on page 22 explaining any unknown
words. Let them work in pairs
predicting the answers if they do not
know them. Go through the answers
each group has given, but do not tell
them whether they are right or wrong.
Tell students to read the rubrics for
activity B, and ask what they imagine
the text would be about. Go through
provide the base form of the
irregular verbs. There is a list of
irregular verbs to download from
the three possible titles and tell www.ediba.com
students to predict what information
the text should present according to the Download another
photocopiable activity
different headings. Let them read the from www.ediba.com
text and choose the correct title.
Teach or revise how the years are said Go through the text in activity D on
in English. You may want to refer to the page 23, and check comprehension.
Students now can check their
explanation given in the Usage Box.
Tell students to write down all the years predictions to question 5, activity A.
mentioned in the text. You may also Read the rubric together with your
give them some other years if they need students and have them do activity D,
more practise. in which they have to complete the text
with the past form of the verbs in
Go back to the answers students gave
brackets.
in activity A. Ask them to compare
their predictions to the information Ask students to find out information
from the text, and then to answer the about the war to discuss in class. You
questions correctly. Question 5 cannot may also call a Malvinas War Veteran
Centre, so they can give a talk at school
be answered yet, because the text does
about their experience during the war.
not provide the information.
Teach or revise the time expressions in As a final task, students make posters
the text: at that year, a year later, etc. to display at school about what they
by asking students to what year they have learned.
refer to. Then, do activity C. Karina Uzeltinger
Depending on students’ level, you may
ask them to work in pairs or
individually. They can also present the
timeline in their computers if they are
available in class.
Teach or revise Simple Past. Use the
Grammar Box. Tell students to
underline all verbs in the past in the
text and to classify them into regular
and irregular verbs. Then, ask them to

Simple Past - Irregular verbs.

The verbs selected for the list of irregular verbs on page 31 are the most used ones according to the the BROWN corpus of
American English and the Lancaster-Oslo-Bergen corpus of British English. The verbs that have both a regular and
irregular spelling, and the regular one is widely used, are not included in the list. The verbs are ordered alphabetically, but
if they were ranked by usage, the top 10 list would include the following verbs: say, make, go, take, come, see,
know, get, give and find. Verbs be, have and do, though irregular, are often used as part of other tenses (past
continuous, passive voice, past perfect) and as auxiliary verbs in questions and negations. They are in fact the most
widely used irregular verbs.
Sources and References:
http://www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/we06/arbeitsbereiche/ Download another
didaktik_des_englischen/primary/buecher/ IrregVerbs/index.ht photocopiable activity
http://www.hd.uib.no/icame/ij19/mindt.pdf from www.ediba.com

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Level: A1+/A2 Age: Teenagers/Adults

MALVINAS: A BIT OF HISTORY
A) What do you know about the history of Malvinas Islands? Answer the following questions and, if you
don’t know the answer, predict it.
1) Who discovered the Islands? When?
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
2) Where do the names Malvinas and Falkland derive from?
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
3) Who was the first governor?
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
4) When were they invaded by the British?
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
5) When was the war between Argentina and Great Britain over the Islands?
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

B) Read the following text and choose a title.

1) British Invasion
2) Argentina and the Islands
3) History Timeline
The islands were probably first sighted by Amerigo
Vespucci in 1501, though Esteban Gomez, the captain
of one of Magellan’s ships, is said to be the first one
to sight them. Up to 1690, Spanish, English, Dutch
and French ships visited or wintered in the islands.
In that year, Captain John Strong entered the sound
between the islands and named it Falkland Sound in honour of Viscount Falkland, the Treasurer
of the Navy. In 1764, the French founded a colony on East Falkland. The sailors were from the
city of St Malo and were often referred to as the “Malouines” from where the Spanish name
Malvinas is derived. A year later, a British settlement was established on West Falkland. Two
years later, the Spanish bought the French settlement, Port Louis. From that moment, the colony
was named Puerto Soledad. In 1770, a Spanish force expelled the British, but a year later Spain
returned the colony to Britain. In 1774, the British departed from the colony for reasons of
economy, leaving a lead plaque claiming sovereignty. A year later, Captain Cook discovered
South Georgia.
After the Revolution of 1810, Spain evacuated the islands, and
in 1820 the Buenos Aires government proclaimed its sovereignty USAGE BOX
over the Falklands. A few years later, Juan Manuel de Rosas sent How do we say the
a governor, Mr. Vernet, with a garrison and settlers. In 1831, years in English?
there was an incident with three American ships because they
were hunting seals without permission. In reprisal, a warship 1810: eighteen ten
attacked and destroyed Puerto Soledad. Because of this, the 2000: two thousand
British invaded the islands in 1833, sending all Argentinians and 1703: seventeen oh three
Mr. Vernet back to the continent. Buenos Aires protested, but 2017: twenty seventeen
the British annexed the islands to Britain. From then on, despite
Argentina’s claims for sovereignty, the islands remained British.

C) Read the text again, and make a timeline. Add any information you may know and it is not presented
in the text.

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Level: A1+ / A2 Age: Teenagers / Adults

MALVINAS: A BIT OF HISTORY

GRAMMAR BOX SIMPLE PAST

Regular verbs add –ed: Irregular verbs do not follow the rule for regular verbs.
Some change only a letter: Some do not change:
VISIT VISITED
COME CAME SET SET
NAME NAMED MAKE MADE CUT CUT

TRY TRIED Some do not have many or any letters in common:

GO WENT
PLAY PLAYED
THINK THOUGHT

D) Read the following text, and put the verbs in brackets into the past form.

Events leading to the war

In March 1982, a group of Argentine scrap metal merchants _______________ (go) to the South Georgia
island to dismantle a whaling factory. With them, there _______________ (be) some soldiers. A few days
later, the military dictatorship _______________ (decide) to invade the islands.
Argentina _______________ (be) in deep economic trouble: the inflation _______________ (be) over 600%,
and the wages _______________ (go) down. There _______________ (be) mass disappearance of people
in the hands of the military juntas, which was causing significant unrest. The invasion was planned for
the 25th of May or 9th July. The main purpose _______________ (be) to divert public attention from the
distressing internal problems and restore the long lost popularity and
prestige of the dictatorship.
In late March, there _______________ (be) a
massive union demonstration, and the date of
the invasion was moved to 2nd April in an act
of desperation. On 2nd April, 1982, Argentina
_______________ (land) on the Falklands.

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