Primary Plus 5.

01
Where we live.

Inquiry Question What can maps tell us?

My Project Your pen pals from another British Council are coming to stay for the Summer and your class are really excited to meet
them. Unfortunately, when they arrive you and your class still have one more day of school to finish before you can spend
time with them. Your class plan to help them find their way around on their first day. You know maps don’t always give you
all the information you need so you will make an audio guide to follow a route on google maps. With your team you are
going to plan a route and record your audio guide.

Portfolio: Write your challenge question on the lines. Decorate your front page. Add any information you already know
about maps and directions. Do you have any questions or things you wonder about maps that you would like to answer
during your project?

My Team Do you know what map makers are called? Cartographers – cartography is the study of maps and map-making so during
this project you will be a cartographer.

Find out about where your teammates live. Can you find where each of your team lives on google maps? Print the route
from your centre to each person’s home. Who lives the closest? Who lives the furthest? Can anyone walk to their home?
Would anyone like to be a cartographer when they are older?

© The British Council, 2020

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 Portfolio: Stick a google map from your TC to the homes of each of your teammates. Sho
My New Language What new words and phrases have you learnt to help you talk about maps and directions or to make your audio guide of
directions to give to your pen pals? You could look through the magazine and identify some new words or phrases or find
your own after you have completed your research.
 Map key
 symbols
 Scale
 Compass, directions
 Grid
 Satelitte, terrain, default
 Street view
 Location, destination

Portfolio: Write the new words and phrases you find in the speech bubble. Make sure an example sentence is provided
using the word in context. Write what part of speech any new words are.

Draw an example map in the empty space provided and label the map to show its different features.

At the end of the project choose your star word to write in the star.

© The British Council, 2020

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
My Questions What does a map tell us?
You can find maps everywhere: in the mall, classroom emergency evacuation board, a metro station, on GPS, on the back
of a flyer, in computer games. There are a lot of different types of maps and they can represent a lot of different things.
You might think of a flat paper map, but some maps are 3D, some are digital. Some show rooms, roads, buildings, public
transport, rivers, mountains, political boundaries, populations, natural resources, climates or elevation.

What can you find on a map key? How do map coordinates work? What do old maps look like? How were the first maps
drawn without satellites? How do you use a compass? Can you make a compass? How can you tell how high something is
on a map? What is a map scale? What did people do before google maps? How do the google maps people make the
maps? What other things can I find on a map? How can blind people use maps?

Draft your questions and check with your teacher that you have written the correctly.

Portfolio: Write your questions in the box provided.

Research your questions by asking an adult, looking online, or using and Atlas or other book of maps. Take notes of the
information you find.

Portfolio: Summarise the useful information you find out in the ‘I found out …’ box and write in the ‘My Sources’ circle any
websites, books or adults you asked.

© The British Council, 2020

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 After you have researched mark which of your questions were useful and helped you to find helpful information and which
weren’t.
My World When you provide a walking guide to for your pen pals it might be helpful to describe points of interest or landmarks that
stand out along the way. With your team find a map of the route you are going to describe to your pen pals. For example,
from their hotel to the British Council. Run your pencil along the route and think of places along the route that you know
they will spot and will help them find the way. Landmarks could be anything noticeable along the route. For example, is
there a brightly coloured house, a shop with an interesting window display, a striking public building such as a mosque or
library, an old fountain or a strange large tree.

Portfolio: Stick the map of the route you will describe into your portfolio. Circle the landmarks or points of interest. If you
can find pictures of the landmarks add them to your portfolio or draw them. Think of the details of each of the landmarks so
you can describe them clearly.

Do you know the names of the roads or is it easier to think of things because of the buildings you know are there?

Portfolio: Write in the ‘Things I’ve noticed…’ box whether it’s easier to remember the buildings on a route or the road
names.
My Design Your cartographer team are going to develop a walking audio guide for your pen pals to use on their first day in town. Your
guide will need to:

 Be very clear and easy to understand.

© The British Council, 2020

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
  Provide directions.
 Draw attention to landmarks.
 Make your guide interesting by providing any extra information about the route.

Plan what your audio guide will say and how you will record and test it.

Portfolio: In the box provided plan your audio guide and test.

Portfolio: Write the things you will need to create the audio guide in the ‘My materials’ box.

How will you and your team ensure you have produced high quality work?

Portfolio: Write at least three success criteria for your work. For example, ‘We will test our audio guide on two people to
check our directions work.’ ‘We will provide details of road names’ ‘We will practice giving our instructions before
recording’.

Ask your teacher how you could improve the information you have included.
My Best Work Show your audio guide in action. If you cannot leave the centre, test out your directions by asking someone to follow a map
as they listen to your instructions. Does it work?

© The British Council, 2020

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 Portfolio: Stick the photo of your audio guide in action or it being tested. Write about what you did on the lines provided.
Go back to your success targets on the previous page: tick the ones you achieved.
My Reflections Questions for reflection:
Think about your project. Read back through the magazine and your project book.
 What did you enjoy? What did you find out that was new? Did you try your hardest? Did your team come up with a
good response to the challenge? What have you learnt about doing a project that you will make sure you do next
time?
 What have you learnt about maps? What sorts of things can maps tell us? Is it difficult to give directions that people
can follow easily? Can you use google maps in English? What do you think about your voice recorded in English?
Do you think your English speaking is clear?

Portfolio: Write down your reflections in the box provided.

Ask your teacher to comment on whether you met the challenge.

Portfolio: Your teacher can write their comments in your book next to ‘My teacher says …’
My Work Stick any extra work you have completed during the project here.

© The British Council, 2020

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.