DIDACTIC UNIT 3: WHATS THE WEATHER LIKE TODAY?

3 CYCLE: 1st YEAR: 7 Nº STUDENTS: 25 SESSIONS: 5 TERM: 1st

LEVEL: 2º
KEY COMPETENCES DEALT WITH IN THIS UNIT
Linguistic competence by using verbal and non-verbal communication devices to transmit information
effectively. Mathematical and basic competence in Science and Technology by using charts, numbers and
diagrams. Social and civic competence by developing respectful and tolerant attitudes towards others. Sense
of initiative and entrepreneurship spirit competence by taking the lead in communication tasks.
Use technology interactively (understanding the potential of interest, limits, technology and identifying and
needs technological solutions to problems). Get involved in problem-solving tasks. Digital competence by
using the Internet to check previous knowledge.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES FOR THIS UNIT
- To know the seasons. - To identify the clothing of each weather station.
- To identify the weather and its elements. - Recognize and describe the meteorological
- To learn months of the year. phenomena (rain, wind, snow ...)
CONTENTS
Block 1: Comprehension of oral text.
o Comprehension strategies: Recognition and identification of essentials in messages and instructions.
o Communicative function: Common lexicon: greeting and farewells, invitations, apologies and thanks
description everyday use objects, ask for permission. Habits. Recognition of communicative expressions.
o Lingüístic function: Acquisition of frequently used vocabulary related to clothing and weather.
o Syntax-Discourse Strategies: Simple present: verb “to be”. Revision of the simple present: verb “to be”, I
am, you are...affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences. It is sunny, is it windy? Yes, it is, No it isn
´t... Prepositions: in, on, in front of, next to... and adverbs.
Sociocultural and sociolinguistic function: Valuation of the foreign language as an instrument to communicate
and make known the Andalusia culture.
o Block 2: Production of oral texts: expression and interaction.
o Production: Talking about the weather and clothing.
o Communicative function: Compare time in different seasons.
Linguistic function; Vocabulary: Seasons: winter, summer, autumn and spring.
Weather: What´s the weather like today? ; sunny ,rainy, cloudy, stormy, snowy, windy, hot, cold...
Months of the year: January, February, March...
Clothes: boots, coat, dress, gloves, hat, jacket, pants...
o Syntax-Discourse Strategies Structures: It´s (autumn). In winter. It´s cloudy and windy. I wear boots.
"what colour is my...?", "what is it?", "what is he/she wearing", "He/she is wearing..."
It’s (snowing, cold, wet, raining, windy…), What’s the weather like (at the beach, in the forest..)?, simple
present affirmative and negative (previous knowledge), expression of possession: It is my hat, It is your jacket.
Counting numbers: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Use of basic connectors to join sentences: and, also, next, then…
Sociocultural and sociolinguistic function: Receptive attitude towards people who speak another language and
have a different culture.
CROSS CURRICULAR ELEMENTS: Sustainable development and respect for the environment.

EVALUATION CRITERIA
- To be able to know the seasons.
- To be able to identify the weather and its elements.
- To be able to learn months of the year.
- To be able to identify the clothing of each weather station.
- To be able to recognize and describe the meteorological phenomena (rain, wind, snow ...)
1.- JUSTIFICATION OF THE DIDACTIC UNIT

The didactic unit that I am going to carry out is called “What´s the weather like today?”
is the third unit from my syllabus design and it is related to the weather and the
clothing. With this unit I pretend that the children know the vocabulary related to the
weather as well as the appropriate clothing for each season of the year.
 I have chosen this didactic unit because I think it that it will bring the pupils
different and new views of the world into the classroom and helping to create a relaxed
atmosphere where children develop their Autonomous Learning Strategies and where
the verbal and non-verbal Communication can be introduced.

2.- CONTEXT AND STUDENTS

We are going to work with a group of 25 students in the second year of the first
cycle of primary education. They are 7 or 8 years old. They are all different and they
have different level in the English language. They have also different features so we
will pay attention to this diversity.

3.- TIMING

Taking into account that the didactic unit we are going to develop is number 3, it
will be developed in the months of October (first term) by this time, we will revise
concepts such as colors, numbers, and we will introduce others that will be reinforced in
this topic. Having as a basis my planning, this unit will be developed in 6 sessions (in
two weeks) of 45 minutes each one.

4.- KEY COMPETENCES DEALT WITH THIS UNIT.

Linguistic competence by using verbal and non-verbal communication devices

to transmit information effectively. Mathematical and basic competence in Science
and Technology by using charts, numbers and diagrams. Social and civic competence
by developing respectful and tolerant attitudes towards others. Sense of initiative and
entrepreneurship spirit competence by taking the lead in communication tasks.
Digital competence by using the Internet to check previous knowledge.

5.- SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES FOR THIS UNIT.

Concerning the objectives, we must bear in mind that they are those we want our
pupils achieve. We must take into account they will contribute to the development of
pupils´ capacities. The division of these objectives will be: General Objectives of the
stage are those we want our pupils achieve at the end of the primary stage, English
General Objectives for first cycle of Primary Education and some English specific
objectives, which we want our pupils achieve at the end of this unit. These objectives
will be:
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES FOR THIS UNIT
- To know the seasons. - To identify the clothing of each weather seasons.
- To identify the weather and its elements. - Recognize and describe the meteorological
- To learn months of the year. phenomena (rain, wind, snow ...)
 As defined above, the foreign language curriculum for the Primary Education
stage is structured into four large blocks of contents, which cover the comprehension
and production of oral and written texts. In this first cycle we are not going to talk about
reading production and writing production. Regarding to the contents related with this
unit we have to talk about:
6.- CONTENTS
Block 1: Comprehension of oral text.
o Comprehension strategies: Recognition and identification of essentials in messages and instructions.
o Communicative function: Habitual lexicon, description everyday use objects, ask for permission. Habits.
o Recognition of basic communicative expressions.
o Lingüístic function: Acquisition of frequently used vocabulary related to clothing and weather.
o Syntax-Discourse Strategies:
- – Simple present: verb “to be”. Revision of the simple present: verb “to be”, I am, you are, he/she/it
is...affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences. It is sunny, is it windy? Yes, it is, No it isn´t...
o Full forms: am, are. Prepositions and adverbs.
Sociocultural and sociolinguistic function: Valuation of the foreign language as an instrument to communicate
and make known the Andalusia culture.
o Block 2: Production of oral texts: expression and interaction.
o Production: Know how to express yourself briefly and simply about basic information.
o Communicative function: Compare time in different seasons.
Linguistic function; Vocabulary: Seasons: winter, summer, autumn and spring.
Weather: What´s the weather like today? ; sunny ,rainy, cloudy, wet, snowy, windy, hot cold...
Months of the year: January, February, March...
Clothes: boots, coat, dress, gloves, hat, jacket, pants...
o Structures: It´s (autumn). In winter. It´s cloudy and windy. I wear boots.
"what colour is my...?", "what is it?", "put on some ...", "what is he/she wearing", "He/she is wearing..."
It’s (snowing, cold, wet, raining, windy…), What’s the weather like (at the beach, in the forest..), simple
present affirmative and negative (previous knowledge) and past affirmative and negative forms: was, wasn’t,
were, weren’t.
o Use of basic connectors to join sentences: and, also, next, then, because…
Sociocultural and sociolinguistic function: Receptive attitude towards people who speak another language and
have a different culture.

7.- METHODOLOGY: Concerning the methodology, we will follow a

communicative approach that is using the English Language to communicate among
themselves.

METHODOLOGY

The methodological principles we are going to take account are:

- Taking the students´ level as a starting point
- Encouraging students´ capacity for “learning to learn”.
- Fostering meaningful learning;
- Promoting the active participation of the students.
- Teach the language in a fun way through songs, stories, games ...
 8.- RESOURCES:

There exists a numerous quantity of material on hand to help teachers create

personalized classes. New technology, due its attractive format, helps stimulate the
student to look for information and develop their curiosity.
Concerning the materials we will use: TALES, SONGS, BOOKS, GRAMMAR-
BOOKS, TAPES, FLASHCARDS, DOMINO GAMES, VIDEO FILM,
WORKSHEETS, POSTER, COMPUTERS and DIGITAL BLACKBOARD…
Personal resources: teachers, speech therapist, physical education teacher, director…

9.- EVALUATION.

In the evaluation process, I will assess if the students reach the objectives and acquire
the contents set for the unit. Evaluation will be continuous, all along the learning
process, and the technique I am going to use to assess the students´performarnce is
observation.
The system of continuous evaluation makes it possible to adapt the work of
those students who show a faster process of acquisition than the rest of their classmates.
The information given by the continuous assessment of the students´ learning
processes will determine the aptness of this didactic unit, not only in general aspects but
also in more specific aspects, like the adaptation between:
The evaluation criteria and the selected contents.
The methodological stages and the contents.
The activities and contents to teach.

This continuous assessment of the teaching practice will enable the adaptation of
the didactic design to the conditions that are being noticed in the practice. This will also
positively influence the teaching practice. We can distinguish three types of evaluation
during the course:

1) Initial Evaluation: in which we will try to determine their degree of development,

the level of learning (previous ideas), focusing on the knowledge schemes relevant to
the new learning situation.
2) Evaluation during the process: We will develop it during the learning process; it
refers to the determination of information about how the learning is developing at each
moment. The information of the continuous evaluation will be transferred to the
families, at least, in a written quarterly report and of personal form the necessary times.
3) Final Evaluation: We intend to obtain the result of the evaluation in relation to a
determined phase of the teaching-learning process with a global character. We will have
to interpret the results achieved during the process depending on the initial situation.
10.- EVALUATION CRITERIA

.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
- To be able to know the seasons.
- To be able to identify the weather and its elements.
- To be able to learn months of the year.
- To be able to identify the clothing of each weather station.
- To be able to recognize and describe the meteorological phenomena (rain, wind, snow ...)

11.- DIVERSITY

SWSESN

For fast learners/slow learners, we will carry out activities of reinforcement and
extension of concepts, using the vocabulary learned in the unit. The use of the computer
is funny way for fast learners, because they will review and discover new sentences,
vocabulary...
Intercultural students.
As I pointed out in the context, in my class there is a Moroccan student who has been in
school since the age of 3, and has acquired the language. We will use this unit to meet
this student, who will tell us about his family, his culture, food, etc.

12.- ACTIVITIES.

As regards the Methodology to follow, around which the activities proposed must be
presented, all the Units are made up of different stages: Presentation (we present our
students with the new vocabulary and introduce items pupils have already seen in
previous units and years). Focused practice stage (in which the students manipulate the
vocabulary present) and Communicative practice stage (students do activities based
on a communicative perspective), feedback and correction stage (we check whether the
students have internalized the new input, and make the necessary adjustments,
modification and remedial work for the teaching-learning process to become successful-
significant learning).

12.- SESSIONS

● First session: In my first session I will start with my daily routine, it consists on
greetings, for this, we use songs such as Greeting song “Good morning”. I think that
to teach a new language through songs is funny and they are more motivated to learn
new vocabulary. Every day we request the help from a student’s called “teacher
helped”, every day, one of the students (by list order) can complete the Today’s Poster.
This activity is a good way to increase their motivation. So this student is in charge to
put the day, weather and ask for feelings to his/her classmates and other activities. For
this we use structures such as what day is today? What day was yesterday and what
day will be tomorrow? We use sentences is present, past and future. What´s is the
day today? With help from students we write the date on the blackboard. To talk about
feelings we sing and dance the song “hello, hello, hello how are you? So teacher´s
helped has to do to students questions mentioned above. For example: how are you
Maria? I´m sad because my dog is sick. We introduce new vocabulary about feelings
every day through emoticons. Students know the meaning from these pictures in
Spanish. Here, we will see their previous knowledge. Every day we revise the weather,
Firstly we introduce or revising vocabulary about the weather with flashcards. Then,
we encourage the students to look out the window and tell us what time they are doing.
What´s the weather like today? It is raining, it is sunny…Once or students know the
aim vocabulary about the weather, we sing and dramatized a song called “What´s the
weather like today? For this we prepare some new vocabulary which appear in this
chant, to facilitate their understanding.

● Second session: In our second session we will start with our daily routine, day,
weather, calendar…Later, we are going to sing “Months Of The Year Song”
We will have a card with the months of the year written which we will use to date the
date each day.
Actividad vestiremos a nuestros amigos cada día dependiendo de la estacion en la que
nos encontremos, creare la ropa y la plastifico.

GAME: It´s a good way to know the previous knowledge from our students.
Spin the bottle; sit students in a circle with a bottle in the middle. Teacher spins the
bottle. When it stops spinning the student it is pointing to has to answer a question. If
the answer is correct then that student can spin the bottle. This is a good class warm up
activity (e.g. How are you? What's your name? What is this? (Show an object or
flashcard) Do you like ___?, etc.). We can revise vocabulary about clothing and
weather.
Third session. In our third session we will start with our daily routine, day, weather,
calendar…

Guiñol theater: We start the lesson with a funny activity. “Create a friend”. We have
designed a Guiñol theater. In the last session, I have asked students to bring one sock,
buttons and wool, we are going to use recyclable material. Every pupil is going to
create a glove puppet, it will be a friend for them, so they have to put it a name, age,
best friend, favorite food, things… Our friend goes to a school in England and has come
to visit us to tell us what his school is like.

In pairs, they have to talk with a glove puppet´s classmate, so they have to ask them,
name…This activity is good for motivate them, to create their friend and talk with other
friend.
Fourth session: In our fourth session we will start with our daily routine, day, weather,
calendar…then we will introduce or revise vocabulary using flashcards. We can
introduce some new vocabulary about classroom, and adjectives to descriptions.
Colors: red, brown, pink, white, blue, black…
Numbers: one, two, three, four, five…
Vocabulary about school and classroom: color pencils, computer, classroom,
blackboard, book, chair, crayons, desk, eraser, door…classroom rules: listen when
someone is talking, use materials sensibly…numbers, colors.
Orders: stand up, listen, look, sit down, open your book, look at the teacher, point to the
board.

Flashcards are an incredibly useful and flexible resource for teaching vocabulary. We
will introduce adjectives with it opposites in a funny way. Before we begin we will
explain that an adjective is a word that says something about the name it describes.
1.- Flash: we will use the technique “flash”, get the children´s attention everyone
looking this way please are you ready and the show them the flashcards very fast,
children identify what´s on the flashcards. Are you ready? What´s this? Wonderful it is
a blackboard .
2.- Slowly, slowly. An alternative way of doing this is to use the technique “slowly,
slowly”, in this case I cover the flashcards that I am going to use and gradually reveal
the picture, and children identify what´s on the flash card as soon as they can recognize
it. It´s a pencil. , Yes very good.
3.- What´s missing?. Do an initial flash card activity with the children, stick the flash
cards on the board get the children to repeat the words. “Computer, classroom,
blackboard, book, chair, crayons”.

This activity is called What´s missing?, I ask the children to close their eyes and cover
the eyes with their hands demonstrate this, I remove one of the flashcards from the
board and hide it behind my back, ask the children open their eyes and say what´s
missing? It is a chair.
4.- Magic eyes; play magic eyes, I stick the flash cards that I am going to use in a row
on the board, four is a good number to use, this is the number that children can retain in
their short-time memory get the children to repeat the words with you in a rhythmic way
“Computer, classroom, blackboard, book, chair, crayons”.

When you think the children are doing this competently remove the first flash and
continue in the same way there-------now in a little simple activity like that you are
helping to train children memory, children you are encouraging children to have a
visual representation of the image and to associate it with the word.
5.- Flashcards riddles: make up little flash cards riddles using other language and
recovery that´s familiar to the children. For example: It is the place where you go to
learn and play.
6.- Next activity is Match the word cards with the flashcards. We put the flashcards
on the blackboard again and ask some child to go out to the blackboard, then we give
him/her a word card and encourage him/her to repeat with teacher, later he/she must
place it under the correct flashcard.

Fifth session
 We will start with our routine activity. Later, we sit students in a circle to create a
pleasant atmosphere. This activity aims to encourage the habit of reading.
I'm going to teach them a story they already know. The story is called the Ugly
Duckling and deals with the feelings of a duckling that is rejected by others but finally
reaches happiness. Before the reading, we will talk about the characters in the story and
the title of the story. I will show the story through images to facilitate the understanding
of it. Finally, we will use pictures about characters to dramatize the tale.

Sixth session. In this sixth session I’ll focus on using computers (TICs). With this
activity I’ll try revise the concepts learnt. I introduce the web page such for example:
http://www.eslgamesplus.com/school-supplies-esl-interactive-vocabulary-crocodile-
board-game/. First I´ll tell my pupils what we are going to do, I will use the digital
blackboard for a better comprehension during my explication. While children are
practicing the topics I will encourage them to use also the digital blackboard (in pairs).
Finally, I will ask my pupils to value if the activities have been funny, if they have
learnt the vocabulary, grammar…
The use and management of the computer will help the student to learn certain
skills that will be useful in everyday life. In addition to using web pages to review
concepts, each student can create a personal portfolio using the power point, where they
can store, photographs; work done that can be displayed at the end of the course.
The use of the electronic whiteboard is a very useful resource to introduce each subject,
since we can download images about it.

Seventh session: In this last session, students have to find pictures about them, their
families, favorite foods, toys, pets, friends…to create a lap book.

13.- CONCLUSION

As a conclusion I would like to recall the quotation from Albert Einstein: The supreme
art of the teacher is to awaken the pleasure of creative expression and knowledge.

14.- BIBLIOGRAPHY AND WEB PAGES:

General bibliography:
- ELLIS,G., y BREWSTER,J.(1991). The Storytelling Handbook for Primary
Teachers.
- GARCÍA GÓMEZ,A.(2005c): Prevention and remediation in the EFL class: the
two faces of discipline management”. En ESL Magazine, November/December.
Issue 48: 9-11. Reino Unido y Estados Unidos.
- HUNT,P(1994): An Introduction to Children´s Literature. Oxford. Oxford
University Press.
- LINSE, C.T.(2005): Practical English Language Teaching. Young learners.
McGraw-Hill.
- NUNAN,D (1989). Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. Cambrigde.
Cambridge University Press.
- NUNAN, D(1991). Language Teaching Methodology. London, Prentice Hall.
Audiovisual materials.
- www.infantilweb.com
- www.internenes.com
- http://www.clicatic.org/recursos/educacion-infantil/infantil_ingles/english-for-
little-children.

Computer based materials.

www.enredos.org
www.yupimsn.com/yupinitos
www.todokids.com

http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/educacion/webportal/web/escuela-de-familias.

http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/educacion/webportal/web/planes-y-programas.

SONGS
Wheels On The Bus
01:40 - Baa Baa Black Sheep
03:21 - Ten In The Bed
05:38 - Five Little Ducks
07:29 - One Two Buckle My Shoe
08:31 - Number Song 1 To 20
09:32 - Wheels On The Bus
11:13 - Itsy Bitsy Spider
12:26 - Five Little Piggies
14:36 - If You're Happy & You Know It
16:37 - Old Macdonald Had A Farm
18:41 - I Am A Little Teapot
20:07 - Finger Family Song
21:21 - Wheels On The Bus

Later I’ll present the topic with a sticker tale about weather and clothes with
different flashcards. VOCABULARY: SUNNY, RAINY, CLOUDY, SNOWY,
WINDY, STORMY, HOT, AND COLD.

Flashcards are an incredibly useful and flexible resource for teaching vocabulary. Here
some activities you can use:
1.- Flash: when introducing or revising a set of flashcards with the children use the
technique “flash”, get the children´s attention everyone looking this way please are you
ready and the show them the flashcards very fast, children identify what´s on the
flashcards.
2.- Slowly, slowly. an alternative way of doing this is to use the technique “slowly,
slowly”, in this case cover the flashcards that you´re going to use and gradually reveal
the picture, children identify what´s on the flash card as soon as they can recognize it. ,
Yes very good.
3.- What´s missing?. Do an initial flash card activity with the children, stick the flash
cards on the board get the children to repeat the words.

This activity is called What´s missing?, ask the children to close their eyes and cover the
eyes with their hands demonstrate this, remove one of the flashcards from the board and
hide it behind your back, ask the children open their eyes and say what´s missing? It´s
the …..
4.- Magic eyes; play magic eyes, stick the flash cards that you are going to use in a row
on the board, six is a good number to use, this is the number that children can retain in
their short-time memory get the children to repeat the words with you in a rhythmic way
When you think the children are doing this competently remove the first flash and
continue in the same way there-------now in a little simple activity like that you are
helping to train children memory, children you are encouraging children to have a visual
representation of the image and to associate it with the word
5.- Flashcards riddles: make up little flash cards riddles using other language and
recovery that´s familiar to the children. For example:

Buscar un mapa meteorológico del tiempo y colocarle cada imagen de lo que hace en
cada sitio.

SESSION 2: In our second session we will start with our routine activity: the “weather
window”, later, we will work with listening and speaking games.
We will show vocabulary about clothes; CLOTHES: BOOTS, COAT, DRESS,
GLOVES, HAT, JACKET, PANTS, SHIRT…

GAME: It´s a good way to know the previous knowledge from our students.

Spin the bottle; sit students in a circle with a bottle in the middle. Teacher spins the
bottle. When it stops spinning the student it is pointing to has to answer a question. If
the answer is correct then that student can spin the bottle. It is a good opportunity to
introduce or revising structures such as "what colour is my...?", "what is he/she
wearing", "He/she is wearing..." What are you wearing…?
Song: It´s sunny in summer.
It´s warm in spring.
I take off my coat.
And I go to the sea.
It´s windy in autumn
It´s rainy and cool
Because winter is coming
For me and for you.

Activity 1: My clothes It's your turn: Clothes and accessories in this activity you will
revise the vocabulary about clothes and the seasons in which they are worn. First of all,
look at yourself and your classmates. Then, you and your classmates should tell your
teacher the names of the clothes and the accessories you have seen.

JUEGO PASE DE MODELOS

PARA JUGAR A LAS PRENDAS DE VESTIR VAMOS A HACER UN PASE DE

MODELOS PARA ELLO PEDIREMOS LA COLABORACION DE LA FAMILIA,
NECSITAMOS PRENDAS DE VESTIR QUE NO UTILICEN LOS PADRES PARA
DISFRAZARNOS DE PAPAS Y MAMAS. A LOS NIÑOS LES ENCANTA
DISFRAZARSE. PARA ELLO UNA VEZ DISFRAZADOS TIENEN QUE PASEAR
POR LA CLASE Y LOS DEMÁS TENEMOS QUE DESCRIBIRLOS.
QUE LLEVAN PUESTO DE QUE COLOR ES Y EN QUE ESTACION DEL AÑO
NOS LO PONDRIAMOS.