A. Students and Setting: The activity is designed for A’ or B’ graders of primary school with very little prior knowledge of English, especially in the written form. They may know some words of the target vocabulary and have developed some skills on gaming.
B. Lesson Background: In an EAEP state school, A and B graders are taught English two times a week for about 45 min. each time which is a very limited time span to fully complete a task that includes other aspects that just vocabulary or structures. It will probably need 5-6 teaching hours to be completed.
C. Learning Objectives/Expected Results: The lesson is aiming at expanding the PEAP material on animals for both grades but it can be easily integrated into the curriculum for 4th graders because it is about the Caretta-Caretta turtle (Unit 6: Animals, Lesson 2: A visit to the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre, p.p 74-77). 4th graders may have some experience on ecological issues such as the danger of extinction of specific animals.
Cognitive: Ss identify and select the appropriate colour and animal vocabulary to respond to the quizzes and they employ their prior technological literacy to play and handle the software.
Affective: They develop an ecological attitude towards animals and the environment through play and song, they judge and criticise behaviours and attitudes towards the environment and evaluate their performance.
Psychomotor: They experiment with the software and web 2.0 tools, select roles to play and interact and finally create their digital storytelling.
D. Materials and Sources: Flashcards, a flash animated digital game, a powerpoint presentation or a Youtube fairy-tale in Greek «Πού πας χελωνάκι;» (http://youtu.be/boJ3mEy2KnM), an educational song recorded on Youtube (http://youtu.be/WXe7Rx3w9ro) from http://www.thewhizpops.com/ (a website especially designed for the teaching of natural sciences).
_Καρέτα (ppt presentation)
E. Procedures / Timing:
| Teacher does/says . . . | Students do/say . . . | Approximate Time |
| T shows the ppt presentation or the visualized Greek fairy- tale «Πού πας χελωνάκι;» to make sure that Ss understand the context and the situation. | Ss respond to the message and express their opinions. | 1 teaching session |
| The teacher shows some flashcards on colours and animal vocabulary so that students can distinguish and use the new vocabulary. T introduces the song on sea turtles and explains it. | Ss repeat and respond to the material and dance and sing to the rhythm of the song. | 20 min. |
| Ss are taken into the computer lab, are divided into small groups and briefly instructed on how to use the software. | Ss use and interact with the software. | |
| T asks Ss to draw pictures and depict what they have learnt and understood about these sea animals. | Ss draw pictures about the sea creatures, life in the sea and particularly on the life and dangers of the sea turtle. | 20 min. |
| T asks Ss to evaluate their performance and judge the activity. T also asks them to imagine sea and animal sounds and assigns roles for a short theatrical play. | Ss evaluate their performance in the Biography section of their portfolios, insert their creations in the Dossier section and create a short play with sea or animal sounds and short phrases to play in the classroom. | 1 teaching session |
| T scans the pictures and uploads the audio files with the recordings of pupils to create their digital story- telling using the http://utellstory.com/ (web 2.0 tool). T finally proceeds to the Reflective Thinking on the digital diary http://penzu.com/. |
F. Alternative Assessment: An easy assessment is through the points and correct answers in the digital game but a more educational alternative assessment is by using Ss’ portfolios as described above.
G. Reflection: The specific activity is as demanding for the teacher as for the students because it employs various literacies and competences. Apart from its cognitive aspects, the technological literacy and the ecological education that aspires to cultivate are difficult to develop in the state schools as they are equipped and operate nowadays because they lack the digital infrastructure or the options to visit aquariums and attempt experiential activities.
Nevertheless, this activity is an attempt to overcome the obstacles and support learning in an amusing and educational context.
