Course Profile Beginning Communication in English, ESL Level 1, open, Public

Unit 4: The Balance of Nature

Activity 1 | Activity 2 | Activity 3 | Activity 4 | Activity 5 | Activity 6

Time: 25 hours

Unit Developers: Jane Campbell, Hazel Excell, Denise Gordon, Jane Hill, Paula Markus, Eleanor Minuk, Jane Sims, Betty Ann Taylor

Development Date: July 1999

Unit Description

Students study ecology as a vehicle for English language development and explain some simple scientific concepts as a first step in preparation for the study of other content courses. Students determine the meaning of unfamiliar words using pictures and illustrations. They continue to build their personal vocabulary lists and be introduced to expository writing of short, structured compositions.

Strand(s) and Expectations

Strand(s): Oral and Visual Communication; Reading; Writing; Social and Cultural Competence

Overall Expectations: AORV.O1X; AORV.O2X; AORV.O4X; AREV.01X; AREV.02X; AREV.03X; AREV.04X; AWRV.01X; AWRV.02X; ASCV.02X.

Specific Expectations: AOR1.01X, 1.02X, 1.04X, 1.05X, 1.06X, 2.01X, 2.02X, 2.03X, 2.04X, 4.01X, 4.03X; ARE1.02X, 1.04X, 1.05X, 1.06X, 2.02X, 2.03X, 2.04X, 3.04X, 4.02X; AWR1.01X, 1.02X, 1.03X, 1.04X, 2.02X, 2.03X; ASC2.01X, 2.05X, 2.07X, 2.08X.

Activity Titles (Time + Sequence)

Activity 1	Animals from Around the World	3 hours
Activity 2	Who Eats What?	5 hours
Activity 3	Food Webs	3 hours
Activity 4	Looking at Ecosystems	4 hours
Activity 5	Out of Balance	5 hours
Activity 6	Animals in their Habitats	5 hours

Unit Planning Notes

· This unit is based on the sample unit, The Balance of Nature, in the curriculum document: One Earth: English as a Second Language, Transition and Specialization Years. The Metropolitan Toronto School Board. 1993. The illustrations provided in the appendices are by Celia Godkin, the author of Wolf Island, who has given permission for use only in Ontario secondary schools.

· The purpose of this ecology unit is to teach language in a context that is intellectually engaging and develops the academic skills that students require in the study of Science and Geography. The expectations of Grades 7 and 10 Science and Grade 11 Geography include an understanding of ecosystems.

· For some students the scientific concepts of an ecosystem and food chains, particularly in the oceans, are familiar. Others need to learn both the concepts and the language. Students often have information about animals from their own region that is new to both you and their classmates. Teacher-librarians are to be consulted in advance. School Learning Resource Centres usually have an illustrated encyclopedia of animals, as well as atlases and picture books about animals. Some additional material for Learning Resource Centres is listed in the resource list for Activity 2.

· The final activity of this unit is a field trip which should be booked well in advance checking for staff/student ratios and special rates. The trip developed is based on a visit to The Toronto Zoo. Some alternatives are suggested in the planning notes for Activity 6. The videos and CD-ROM material could be used without the follow-up visit if necessary. Summative evaluations on oral language are included both at the end of Activities 5 and 6. More emphasis may be placed on the Activity 5 assessment if a field trip is not feasible.

· Outreach programs from the Royal Ontario Museum and the Toronto Zoo include cases of materials that may be borrowed for classroom use throughout the province. Further information is available at www.rom.ont.ca. and at www.torontozoo.com.

Prior Knowledge Required

· Understands some visual organizers such as Venn diagrams, charts and maps

· Is familiar with comparative and superlative of adjectives, simple present, and past tense

· Formulates simple questions and answers

Teaching/Learning Strategies

accessing prior knowledge, brainstorming, webbing, modelled writing, journal writing, written cloze, co-operative learning groups, teacher read-alouds, silent reading, field trips, language experience stories, classifying and categorizing, viewing a non-narrative video, first language writing,

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques

Activity	Type	Tool	Category
Activity 1-6 Activity 1	Diagnostic Formative	Self-Evaluation Logs Cloze Exercise	Communication Knowledge/ Application
Activity 2	Summative Formative	Quiz Retelling to Group	Knowledge/ Application Knowledge/Communication
Activity 3	Formative	Written Answers	Knowledge/Communication
Activity 4	Diagnostic	L1 Writing	Thinking
Activity 5	Formative Formative Summative	Tracking Sheet Individual Tests Retelling Experience story	Knowledge/Application Application Communication/ Knowledge
Activity 6	Summative	Dialogues	Application/Thinking

Resources

Godkin, Celia. Wolf Island. Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside.1989.
Wolf Island is a well-illustrated, relevant, easy-to-read, non fiction text. It introduces students to a Canadian environment and a Canadian author-illustrator who is a professor of Biomedical Communications at the University of Toronto. Celia Godkin has since written two other story books in which a top predator is removed from an ecosystem with disastrous consequences: Ladybug Garden and Sea Otter Inlet. Either book could be substituted for Wolf Island. Pamphlets of background information and suggestions for use in schools are available from the publisher for all of these books.

O’Malley, Michael and Lorraine Valdez Pierce. Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners. Addison-Wesley, 1996.
The re-telling technique used in Activities 2 and 5 is explained in considerable detail in pages 106-111.

One Earth: English as a Second Language, Transition and Specialization Years. Toronto: The Toronto School Board, 1993. This curriculum document is widely available in schools. It contains black-line masters and supplementary material for the unit.

The Toronto Zoo Education Department.
Education Comes Alive is a pamphlet outlining outreach presentations and arrangements for booking Touch Cases, suitcases full of touchable animal biofacts, pictures, and suggested activities. African Savannah Activities is a booklet of reproducible activities and notes designed for Grades 4 to 6.

Footprints at an African Waterhole, Whose Footprints are free posters which are useful for classroom displays and discussions. The address for ordering is The Toronto Zoo Education Department, 361A Old Finch Avenue, Scarborough, Ontario. M1B 5K7

Young, Caroline. The Great Animal Search. New York: Scholastic, 1998.
Only two copies of the book are needed. This book is distributed through the Scholastic Book Club and may be ordered using ISBN 0-590-18784-8, although it is not listed in the Scholastic catalogue.

Activity 1: Animals From Around the World

Time: 180 minutes

Description

In this activity students study animals from around the world. They use information generated in a game as a basis for asking which questions, and share knowledge of animals to write language experience stories. They consolidate skills in comparison and contrast and question asking. Students focus on the present and past tenses of verbs describing movement. An on-going assessment practice begun in this unit is a self-evaluation journal.

Strand(s) and Expectations

Strand(s): Oral and Visual Communication, Reading, Writing, Social and Cultural Competence

Overall Expectations: AORV.01X; .02X, .04X; AREV.03X; AWRV.01Xv; AWRV.02Xv, ASCV.02Xv.

Specific Expectations: A0R1.05X, 2.02X, 4.01X; ARE3.04X; AWR1.02Xv; AWR2.02Xv; ASC2.05X, 2.07Xv.

Planning Notes

· Some preparation time will be needed to assemble the appendix material.

· The Appendix 1 cards show animals and their foods from left to right, top to bottom - page 1: deer, zebra, lion, tiger, heron, cougar (puma, mountain lion), water buffalo, fish, llama. - page 2: fox, dingo, kangaroo, rabbit, jaguar, insects, wolf, capybara, plants.

· Animals have been chosen from each continent so that students can start with animals that they may know.

· Prepare a cloze exercise on verbs of movement based on How Animals Move.

Materials needed

· card-sized and enlarged copies of the animal pictures mounted on durable backings, Appendix 1; class sets of Find Someone Who Knows the Name, Appendix 2; an overhead transparency of a Venn diagram and an overhead projector; the video, Animals Move from Here to There and VCR; How Animals Move - copies for students to share.

Prior Knowledge Required

· Is familiar with a number of animals

· Understands same and different and the use of the Venn diagram as a graphic organizer

· Records information in a journal

· Answers “which” questions

Teaching/Learning Strategies

1. Explain that the class is studying English through science. The first lessons are about animals and the food they eat. Using flash-cards and pictures students learn the names of the animals in Appendix 1. Then students move around the room with copies of Find Someone Who Knows the Name recording the name of the animal and the name of a classmate who knows the animal. A classmate’s name should only be used once on each person’s questionnaire.

· From enlarged copies of the animal cards students take turns asking questions from Find Someone Who Knows the Name using this pattern: Which bird stands on one leg? Which animal has a pocket on its stomach? Using the language experience approach have students dictate brief descriptive sentences about the animals they know best; the teacher reinforces the use of the final ‘s’ in the third person singular of the simple present tense: A kangaroo hops...She has a pocket for her babies. Then students select three favourite animals and copy the descriptions in their notebooks.

· Choose two animals from the cards and model how to complete a Venn diagram on an overhead transparency or the board. Model patterns such as: “A tiger and a zebra both have stripes”. “ A tiger has stripes but a water buffalo doesn’t.” Then students choose other animals and work with a partner to complete a similar diagram and generate sentences of contrast and comparison.

· Students begin a daily log in their journals in which they record the work done each day. They refer to a series of evaluation questions such as these: What did you like? What work was new? What work was too easy? What work was too difficult? What work was fun? What new words did you learn? What new questions do you have? What can you do better? Post the questions and respond regularly to these journal entries, tailoring the responses to the level students can currently understand.

· Model riddles for the class e.g. I am very small. I have four legs. I have a long tail. What am I? Then, groups of four students use animal cards to write riddles. Two from each group will be typed and the next day the class solves each other’s riddles.

· Show the seven minute video, Animals Move from Here to There., which illustrates verbs of movement: running, jumping, crawling ... After the first viewing, use a chart to list the names of the animals and how they move. On a second viewing freeze frames, and add the past tense forms of regular and irregular verbs: ran, jumped, crawled. Have students copy the chart in their notebooks. From the chart students generate sentences describing how animals move.

· Read the book How Animals Move to the class. Students re-read the book with their partners. Then have them check the sentences they wrote, making additions and corrections. Use information from How Animals Move to design a cloze exercise omitting verbs. This may be used as an assessment.

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques

· Responding to students’ self-evaluation logs (Diagnostic)

· Assessing cloze exercise on verbs of movement. (Formative)

Accommodations

· Newer arrivals write animal riddles in first language to be translated by students in a more advanced class.

· Students with beginning literacy skills could alphabetize names of animals, match names to picture cards, build short sentences using word card and pocket charts, point to words in the language experience stories, or complete pattern sentences.

Resources

Animals Move From Here to There. Moody Institute of Science, 1983.

Byrne, David. How Animals Move. Crystal Lake, Illinois: Rigby, 1998.

Activity 2: Who Eats What?

Time: 300 minutes

Description

In this activity students work with material explaining food chains. Students add information to the classroom picture dictionary and construct three-step food chains using a world map. Students listen and read selected material about science and nature and report by re-telling information to a small group of students.

Strand(s) and Expectations

Strand(s): Oral and Visual Communication, Reading, Writing, Social and Cultural Competence

Overall Expectations: AORV.02Xv; AREV.01Xv; AREV.02X; AWRV.02Xv; ASCV.01X; ASCV.02X.

Specific Expectations: AOR2.01Xv; ARE1.04Xv, 1.05Xv, 1.06X, 2.03X; AWR2.02X, 2.03Xv; ASC1.02X; ASC2.08X.

Planning Notes

· Consult with the teacher-librarian about setting up a number of stations in the Learning Resource Centre. One way would be to have a seminar station with read-along audiotapes of two or three books, a table with a volunteer reader to read material aloud on request, a table with books for students who are already reading independently, a table of nature magazines such as Owl, and a table with picture books of animals and ecosystems such as Animal Hide and Seek.

· The books listed in Resources for this activity are brief factual texts with interesting information written in primary level English. The illustrations are photographs.

· One of the activities involves sorting animals by continents. Some confusion may occur because there is an overlap between North American and European animals. Of the animals pictured, only the cougar is not found in Europe. It lives in the wild in both North and South America.

· Make up a quiz such as the one outlined in Teaching/Learning Strategy 4.

Materials Needed

· copies of Herbivores, Carnivores and Omnivores, Appendix 3A; copies of Herbivores, Carnivores and Omnivores: Test Appendix 3B; a large map of the world; picture cards of animals and several copies of the plant card, Appendix 1; a content quiz

Prior Knowledge Required

· uses the simple present tense

· knows names of a number of animals

Teaching/Learning Strategies

2. Students demonstrate prior knowledge before attempting the reading: Herbivores, Carnivores, and Omnivores (Appendix 3A) by selecting cards of animals whose diets they know. The teacher records the names of the animals and the names of the foods eaten in random order on the board. Then the reading is distributed and the students listen to and follow the first three paragraphs read aloud; the class labels the animals as herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore and practises the pronunciation of the new terms. As the teacher’s reading continues, students take turns drawing lines between the animals and the foods they eat on the board.

Before a second reading the teacher points out and reviews the use and conjugation of the simple present tense in scientific description. Students fill in the simple present forms required in the cloze exercise (Appendix 3B) as a comprehension test.

· Divide the class into four groups. Have each group make one page for the classroom picture dictionary. They title the pages: herbivore, carnivore, omnivore and food chain. They construct definitions from the reading and give examples of each.

· Teach or review the names of the continents. Students sort the picture cards of animals according to which continent the animals come from and construct three-step food chains. They connect the food chains with arrows remembering that the scientific convention is that the arrow points toward the eater and away from the eaten. These food chains can be used with a world map for a bulletin board display. Use string to identify the habitats, the area in which a species lives. Students use the food chains to generate sentences such as: The jaguar lives in the rain forest of South America. The jaguar eats the capybara. The capybara eats plants.

· Prepare students for a quiz: categorize animals, give examples of herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores and illustrate one or two food chains. This quiz might consist of matching questions, a cloze exercise, sketching of food chains.

· Students visit the Learning Resource Centre to read and listen to a selection of books and magazines about animals and nature. (A possible set-up is suggested in the planning notes.) This strategy may be continued for two or three days. Students compile a log with dates, titles, and authors’ names. They then select a book they particularly like and prepare a re-telling. They may make a few notes in English or first language.

· In a small group (the teacher and up to four students) each student chooses three pages of photographs from their selected books to explain. The student tells as much as he or she can. There are no interruptions until the student stops. Other students and the teacher may probe for more information. All students make journal entries describing facts they learned both from their own texts and from their classmates’ reports.

The teacher assesses the student’s comprehension of the text as well as the student’s ability to communicate meaning through the retell. A scale is provided in Appendix 4.

· Students make suggestions about which of these books they would like the teacher to use for daily read-alouds for the rest of the unit.

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques

· evaluation of quiz ( Summative)

· retelling of factual information using Appendix 4. (Formative)

Accommodations

· Students not yet able to complete the cloze exercise could be given a copy of the original so they could find and copy the correct forms.

· Students not yet proficient enough to speak in English may choose to demonstrate their comprehension in the re-telling exercise by explaining the pictures to other students who speak the same language while the teacher observes.

Resources

Note: The selection of books in the first block below are recent publications available from Curriculum Plus (800-660-1244). Readers such as these are often sold in packages of 6. If more variety is required, Learning Resource Centres might consider sharing titles with neighbouring schools.

Print

Chandler, Clare. How to Choose a Pet. Crystal Lake, Illinois: Rigby, 1998.

Foster, Jim. Keeping Tadpoles (Alive!) Crystal Lake, Illinois: Rigby, 1998.

Gates, Phil. Animal Communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Gates, Phil. Animal Senses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Gates, Phil. Camouflage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Gates, Phil. The Scots Pine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Glover, David. Dictionary of Science Words. Crystal Lake, Illinois: Rigby, 1998.

Glover, David. Looking at Insects. Crystal Lake, Illinois: Rigby, 1998.

Hooper, Meredith. Coral Reef. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Hooper, Meredith. Desert. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Hooper, Meredith. Dinosaur. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Hooper, Meredith. Seal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Hooper, Meredith. Osprey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Theodore, Rod. Prehistoric Record Breakers. Crystal Lake, Illinois: Rigby.

Jenkins, Steve. Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.

Palazzo-Craig, Janet. Wolves. Troll Communications, 1999.

Riley, Linda Capus. Elephants Swim. Scholastic Inc., 1995.

Taylor, B. and J. Francis. Animal Hide and Seek. Markham: Scholastic Canada Ltd, 1998.

Activity 3: Food Webs

Time: 180 minutes

Description

Students use prediction to assist in the reading of diagrams illustrating food webs. They study an ocean food chain diagram, first speculating on the food eaten, and after a second reading on the relative sizes of the animals. They use The Guinness Book of Records to search for information. Students practise using the simple present tense for scientific description using a diagram of a lake food web. Students learn about decomposition, the last step in the food cycle through examining an illustration, a reading, and a diagram.

Strand(s) and Expectations

Strand(s): Oral and Visual Communication, Reading, Writing, Social and Cultural Competence

Overall Expectations: AORV.01X, AREV.02, AREV.04X, AWRV.01X, AWRV.02Xv, ASCV.02X.

Specific Expectations: AOR1.05X, ARE2.02X, 2.04X, 4.02X, AWR1.02X, .03X, .04Xv, 2.07X, ASC2.01X.

Planning Notes

· The pre-reading activity highlighted in Teaching/Learning Strategies 1 and 4 is prediction. Be sure to validate wrong predictions; the thought process of correcting a misconception often fosters learning.

· In the discussion and in the activity involving measurement, observe closely to note which students are familiar with measuring and with concepts of scale.

Materials Needed

· an overhead transparency of An Ocean Food Chain (Appendix 5) and of the illustration in Appendix 7; a set of teacher-prepared cards giving these measurements: Killer whale: 8.5m, Seal: 1.5m., Sea Lion: 2m., Cod fish: 1 m., Salmon: 85 cm., Herring 45 cm., Needlefish 60 cm., Plankton: .5-1mm or less; metre-sticks; string; copies of Appendix 6 A Lake Food Web and Appendix 7 Scavengers and Decomposers

Prior Knowledge Required

· uses of comparative and superlative forms of adjectives

· familiarity with measurement and numbers

· understanding of the concept of a food chain

Teaching/Learning Strategies

3. Use An Ocean Food Chain (Appendix 5) as an overhead. Cover all of the diagram except the title and ask students to list the names of the animals which might be included. Explain how a diagram and a photograph are different. Uncover the steps in the food chain one by one having students predict what each animal eats. Practise the simple present by asking questions such as: What does a whale eat? What do animal plankton eat? Have students answer questions such as these in writing.

· Look at the diagram again, this time having students focus on the sizes of the animals and the problems of the illustrator. Establish that this diagram is not to scale. Have students estimate the length of each animal and record their estimates. Assign each group several animals and distribute cards with the actual sizes. Either outside or in a long hallway near the classroom, students mark out with string the linear distances showing the relative sizes of ocean animals.

Back in the classroom, teach or review the past tense of the verb: to think. Have students summarize their results by dictating sentences using this pattern: The killer whale is longer than we thought. Plankton is smaller than we thought. Record the sentences on the board and have students copy them in their notebooks.

· Students look up the sizes of other animals in The Guinness Book of Records. The largest, tallest, heaviest, smallest birds, reptiles, and mammals are listed. This can be expanded into a daily activity in which students take turns announcing a record from this book as a warm-up activity.

· Using your own sketch on the board explain the literal and figurative meanings of the word web. Use A Lake Food Web (Appendix 6). Repeat the prediction steps used with An Ocean Food Chain. After students have demonstrated their comprehension orally, provide them with examples of questions to be answered in the simple present tense: What eats worms? What does a rock bass eat? Where do snails live? Which is the biggest fish? Which is the smallest plant? and have them make up additional questions of their own. Students then write answers to the questions in complete sentences; these are evaluated.

· Students view an overhead transparency of the illustration from Scavengers and Decomposers (Appendix 7) to predict what the reading is about. They identify the jackals, hyenas, vultures and dead lion in the picture. The students follow the words of Scavengers and Decomposers as it is read aloud by the teacher. They use the material to make a list of interesting facts in their notebooks. Students demonstrate their listening comprehension by sketching vocabulary items on the board. Include such items as: a worm, three flies, a hyena’s ears, a map of Africa, grassland, bacteria, a bone, one of the decomposers, one of the scavengers. Add new vocabulary to the classroom picture dictionary.

· With the students draft a paragraph on the board such as this: In nature, everything is a circle. The sun makes the plants grow. Zebras eat plants. Lions eat zebras. When plants and animals die, they decompose. New plants grow from the soil. This is called a cycle. Students copy the paragraph in their notebooks and demonstrate their understanding by making a diagram of the food cycle.

· Throughout the unit, students continue to write regularly in their self-evaluation journals using the questions posted during Activity 1, Strategy 4.

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques

· evaluate Lake Food Web answers to student-generated questions for accuracy in use of simple present tense (Formative)

Accommodations

· Students use the measurements given for the Ocean Food Chain and a scale of 1 centimetre to 1 square of graph paper, to sketch salmon, herring, etc. Students then calculate how many pages of graph paper would be required to draw a killer whale.

· The Book of Animal Records focuses on animal size and may be used for direct teaching with students who require more reinforcement or for independent reading for more advanced students.

Resources

Drew, David. The Book of Animal Records. South Melbourne: Thomas Nelson Australia. 1987 (distributed by Ginn Prentice Hall)

The Guinness Book of Records. Guinness Superlatives Limited. Published Annually.

Activity 4: Looking at Ecosystems

Time: 240 minutes

Description

In this activity students look at specific ecosystems and share their knowledge with their classmates. Using computers they write a booklet using information they have gleaned from an illustrated text. They view a video of an Ontario ecosystem during which they write in their first languages as a preparation for discussion and writing in English.

Strand(s) and Expectations

Strand(s): Oral and Visual Communication, Reading, Writing, Social and Cultural Competence.

Overall Expectations: AORV.01X; AORV.04X; AREV.03X; AREV.04Xv; AWRV.02X; ASCV.02X.

Specific Expectations: AOR1.05X, 4.01X, 4.03X; ARE3.04X, 4.02Xv; AWR2.02X; ASC2.05X.

Planning Notes

· Another reading activity is a jigsaw in which students work with a partner on a poster of animals in their habitats from The Great Animal Search. Ten of the eighteen pictures in this book illustrate ecosystems around the world. The last page is a map of the world showing where these biomes, areas with characteristic geographic and climatic patterns that support characteristic animal and plant populations, are located. To use this material economically, use two books to make a kit in which the double pages are mounted on a backing to create posters.

· The use of first language as a thinking tool is used when viewing a film for the first time. Students often demonstrate far greater understanding and include more detail when they have had an opportunity to process the material in their first language.

Materials Needed

· a copy of Loon Country By Canoe or another video of northern Ontario with very limited narration

Prior Knowledge Required

· reads simple texts and illustrations

· is familiar with word processing

Teaching/Learning Strategies

4. Begin a discussion of the habitat requirements of different animals by asking why polar bears live in the Arctic and elephants live in Africa. Ask students what animals live in the wild in their countries. Which of these could not survive in Canada? Why not? Introduce and define the term, ecosystem: a community of plants and animals living in one place.

· Distribute the posters of ecosystems from The Great Animal Search to student partners. They begin by reading the text inside the frame of the picture and finding the number of animals in the picture. Teach locating words for text: in the middle of the page, in the foreground, in the background, at the bottom, on the left hand side, near the water. Students copy six interesting facts from the margin notes about the animals in the region they are investigating.

· Explain that they now meet in groups of four to explain their posters to each other. Set time limits and make sure each pair has a chance to repeat the task several times. Work with each group to help them with pronunciation and understanding.

· In the computer lab, the students type the factual material they have found and make a group booklet. Reproduce enough copies for the class. Read the classroom booklet aloud to the students and encourage them to take it home to read to their families.

· Introduce the concept of an Ontario ecosystem by showing the video, Loon Country by Canoe. Students may write in their first languages as they watch, answering these questions: What did you see? What did you hear? What did you feel? The soundtrack of this video has no words, only the sounds of nature in Algonquin Park. Students view the video again. This time freeze frames and have students answering the same questions orally. Provide vocabulary on the board as it arises.

· Write a short language experience story incorporating their responses. Show the video again asking them to assess the completeness of their group story. Students copy this story in their notebooks.

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques

· Observe as they write in their own languages noting the volume of writing, the pleasure experienced by some writers, the fluidity of their penmanship. (Diagnostic)

Accommodations

· Note which students are consistently identifying material in their journals as too easy or too difficult and focus on individualizing material for them.

· Type for students who are just beginning to use word-processing programs

· Students, who are talented in art, may enjoy making posters illustrating ecosystems for use in science classes.

Resources

Young, Caroline. The Great Animal Search. New York: Scholastic, 1998.

Video

Loon Country by Canoe. Dan Gibson Productions. Solitudes 1131A Leslie Street, Suite 500, Toronto, M3C 3L8, (416) 510-2800

Activity 5: Out of Balance

Time: 300 minutes

Description

This activity is based on an illustrated text about an unbalanced ecosystem. This text is also used as a focus for a number of language development activities: singular and plural forms, present and past tense, and sentence order. Students read and listen to the text several times before preparing summaries demonstrating their understanding of the effects of removing a top predator from a food chain.

Strand(s) and Expectations

Strand(s): Oral and Visual Communication, Reading, Writing, Social and Cultural Competence

Overall Expectations: AORV.01X; AORV.02X; AREV.03Xv; AWRV.02X; ASCV.02Xv.

Specific Expectations: AOR1.02X; AOR2.03X, 2.04X; ARE3.04Xv; AWR2.03X; ASC2.05X; ASC2.08Xv.

Planning Notes

· The sample unit for ESL1 in One Earth demonstrates how to use a specific picture book to teach language; the book chosen was Wolf Island. The One Earth curriculum document contains many black-line masters for the activities listed in Teaching/Learning Strategy 4.

· Other books which could be used are Celia Godkin’s Ladybug Garden and Sea Otter Inlet. If none of these books is available, it is important to choose a text in which an unbalanced ecosystem is depicted.

· It is helpful to have two or three copies of the text; a full class-set is not required.

· One of the ways to organize activity centres, especially if you do not have a classroom of your own, is to use large brown envelopes with the student directions on the outside and the materials the students need inside.

· Decide how much freedom you wish to give students in choosing activities. When allowed choice, language learners tend to choose the activities they can already do well. Consider whether you want to set up compulsory activities or whether a few days of self-direction would be profitable. Listening to a tape of the book should be required of all students.

· Make individual test packages for students from the activity centre materials.

· Draw up a tracking grid on Bristol board listing student names and activity centre names.

Materials Needed

· either an activity centre or a set of exercises on Wolf Island from the list in Teaching/Learning Strategy 4; individual test packages

Prior Knowledge Required

· reads simple English texts

· understands some charts and diagrams

Teaching/Learning Strategies

5. Introduce Wolf Island by explaining that English words often have many meanings. Draw sketches and list examples on the board including web as a spider’s home and as a group of connected ideas or words. Explain that the book to be read next is about a community of plants and animals that live on a North American island. At first, the ecosystem of the island is in balance. Sketches of teeter-totters, market balances, and equal signs are helpful in explaining balance.

· Read Wolf Island to the class holding the book so the students can appreciate the illustrations.

· Use the following materials for activity centres for two or three class periods.

· a tape recording of Wolf Island to be used as a read-along

· a study list of the singular and plural forms of the animals mentioned in the text and an exercise providing only the singular

· a cloze exercise requiring the past tense of the verbs in a paragraph from the text

· a set of split sentences based on the text

· animal cards (Appendix 1) to be sorted into groups and explained

· a chart comparing the first picture of the island in Wolf Island to the last

· a recorded listening activity for students to draw what they hear

· a sentence sequencing exercise using the raft story from Wolf Island

· a preference chart about animals they like and dislike in which students support their preferences with reasons.

· Students write individual tests using packages prepared from the activity centre materials.

· Reread Wolf Island revisiting the theme of out of balance. Choose segments of the text for students to repeat orally, e.g., the falling intonation patterns of sentences such as: Rabbits were hungry. Foxes were hungry. ...The whole island was hungry. Use the language experience approach to prepare a group summary of Wolf Island. As students copy this into their notebooks, have students individually retell the story orally. Assess these retellings using the criteria in Appendix 4.

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques

· assess individual tests (Diagnostic)

· track on a grid the amount of material students cover (Formative)

· assess retellings using Appendix 4 (Summative)

Accommodations

· By this point in the course some students may be able to write summaries independently while the teacher works on the group summary.

Resources

Godkin, Celia. Background Information of Wolf Island and Suggestions for Use in Schools. Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside.

Godkin, Celia. Wolf Island. Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1989.

Godkin, Celia. Lady Bug Garden. Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1996.

Godkin, Celia. Sea Otter Inlet. Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1998.

Activity 6: Animals in their Habitats

Time: 300 minutes

Description

This activity is centred on a field trip to a zoo or a site where animals may be visited in an approximation of their natural habitat. Students write a letter explaining the trip; they write about personal safety and appropriate behaviour around animals. They write and perform dialogues integrating the themes studied in this unit.

Strand(s) and Expectations

Strand(s): Oral and Visual Communication, Reading, Writing, Social and Cultural Competence

Overall Expectations: AOR.02X; AORV.04X; AREV.01X; AWRV.01X; ASCV.02X.

Specific Expectations: AOR2.01v, 4.03X; ARE1.01X; AWR1.04X; ASC2.06X.

Planning Notes

· The trip developed is based on a visit to The Toronto Zoo. In other parts of the province visits to an agricultural fair or The Royal Winter Fair or The African Lion Safari might be feasible. Local conservation centres often have presentations. For example, The Halton Region Conservation Authority offers a presentation on birds of prey; The Wye Marsh on the ecosystem of a swamp, and Point Pelee on migratory birds. Also The Ontario Science Centre, Science North, The Museum of Nature and the Royal Ontario Museum have ecosystem displays.

· If the travelling cases from the ROM or the Toronto Zoo have been rented, very useful preparation and follow-up activities can be developed.

· If a field trip is impractical at this time, students could use the CD-ROM, The Animals! or videos such as Zoo Babies, or Behind the Scenes at the Zoo

· Prepare a rubric to assess the dialogues after the field trip.

Materials Needed

· a video from the resource list or from a school board film catalogue; suitable films are likely to be labelled primary or junior and require previewing

Prior Knowledge Required

· familiarity with the imperative voice

· writes guided paragraphs

· familiarity with interview skills

· maintains a career list

Teaching/Learning Strategies

6. Activate prior knowledge by discussing who has been to a zoo, seen an animal being born, or been hurt by an animal before they came to Canada. Record vocabulary the students use well and words they are searching for before showing one of the videos listed in the resources. On a second viewing freeze frames and discuss how the keepers and designers have tried to make the animals feel at home. Remind students of their discussion in Activity 4 about why elephants are suited to living in Africa and polar bears in the Arctic.

· Explain to students that they are going on a field trip. Use the language experience approach to write a co-operative letter to parents explaining the trip. Include information on travel plans, cost, luncheon arrangements, appropriate clothing, etc. Model the letter format. Students write a first language version as well as their copy of the co-operative letter for you to sign. Both are attached to the school’s standard form.

· Return to the list of experiences students recounted earlier. Have them identify dangerous animals and generate a list of rules for safety when near live animals. The teacher reviews the imperative sentence structure used for rules: Don’t walk between an animal and her baby. Don’t annoy a rhinoceros.

· The class visits the zoo. Try to schedule visits to animals at feeding time. Have students sketch or photograph animals in their present habitats or enclosures. Students also list the jobs they see people doing at the zoo and add these to their career lists for homework.

· Have pairs of students choose an animal to interview for a dialogue-writing activity. Students use their notebooks to draft questions in the second person singular such as these: What do you eat? Are you a herbivore or a carnivore? Who eats you? How many children do you have? What do you do in the winter? What do you do when it is too hot? Where were you born? Do you like a wet or a dry climate? They then imagine what their animal would answer and write appropriate answers. Some students may choose to interview a zookeeper about the animals. In this case the grammar focus shifts to third person singular. After the dialogues have been checked for accuracy, and edited using the Composition Checklist, Unit 2, Appendix 2, students rehearse and perform the dialogues for the class. These dialogues are assessed. Display the written versions of the dialogues with photographs taken at the zoo.

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques

· dialogues (Summative)

Accommodations

· Teacher helps script dialogues

Resources

Videos

Zoo Babies. TDF Pictures. 1990. 30 minutes.

Behind the Scenes at the Zoo.

CD-ROM

The Animals! San Diego Zoo. 1992-3

Appendix 3A: Herbivores and Carnivores

All living things need food. Plants can make their own food; animals cannot. Animals must eat plants or other animals.

Animals that eat plants are herbivores. Rabbits, mice, and kangaroos are herbivores. An animal that eats another animal is a carnivore. Carnivores are meat-eaters. Lions, tigers, and wolves are carnivores.

People eat both plants and animals. They are omnivores. Animals such as bears and monkeys are omnivores too. Some people choose to eat only plants. These people are vegetarians.

A chain is usually a set of metal rings. We use chains to fasten bicycles to trees. Scientists use the word chain to mean things that happen one after the other. An example is a food chain. A zebra eats plants. A lion eats a zebra. When scientists make diagrams, they use arrows. The arrow always points toward the animal that eats. In a diagram with a picture the arrow goes into the mouth of the lion just the way the zebra does.

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Appendix 3B: Herbivores and Carnivores: Test

Fill in the blanks with the simple present forms of these verbs: be, choose, eat, point, go, use, make

All living things need food. Plants can make their own food; animals cannot. Animals must eat plants or other animals.

Animals that_________ plants _________ herbivores. Rabbits, mice, and kangaroos_________herbivores. An animal that _________ another animal _________ a carnivore. Carnivores _________ meat-eaters. Lions, tigers, and wolves _________ carnivores.

People_________ both plants and animals. They _________ omnivores. Animals such as bears and monkeys _________ omnivores too. Some people _________ to eat only plants. These people _________ vegetarians.

A chain_________ usually a set of metal rings. We_________ chains to fasten bicycles to trees. Scientists _________ the word chain to mean things that happen one after the other. An example _________ a food chain. A zebra _________ plants. A lion_________ a zebra when scientists _________ diagrams, they _________ arrows. The arrow always _________ toward the animal that eats. In a diagram with a picture the arrow _________ into the mouth of the lion just the way the zebra does.

Appendix 4: Rubric for Assessing Retelling Reading

1.	Retells in first language	1----------------------------------4	Tells totally in English
2.	Derives information only from pictures	1----------------------------------4	Derives information from pictures and text
3.	Gives some information in response to probing questions from teacher and peers	1----------------------------------4	Speaks at length without questioning
4.	Confuses main ideas	1----------------------------------4	Understands main ideas.
5.	Does not connect reading life experiences	1 ---------------------------------4	Responds personally to with information in text
6.	Identifies pictures but cannot retell	1----------------------------------4	Retells ideas with many supporting details

Appendix 5

Appendix 6

Appendix 7: Scavengers and Decomposers

Jackals, hyenas, and vultures are Africa’s garbage collectors. They eat dead meat. We call them scavengers.

Vultures are big birds. They fly over the grassland. They can see dead meat from the air. Vultures are the biggest meat consumers in the African grassland.

Jackals are wild dogs. Hyenas are bigger than jackals. The spotted hyena is a yellowish-gray. Its ears are rounded. Hyenas have strong necks. They can pull dead zebras and lions with their teeth. Their teeth and jaws are very strong too. They can eat bones. Hyenas come out at night. Their sound is like a sharp laugh.

When an animal dies, flies and other insects lay eggs on the dead animals. Maggots come from the eggs. Maggots are like worms. They eat the dead lion. Microscopic life like bacteria and fungi feed on the meat. We call bacteria and fungi decomposers.

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