TOPIC
ALPHABETS
Alphabets are steps of signs to communicate in written form. Most European languages are written
using the roman alphabet. There may be tiny symbols over, under, and through some of the letters,
but they look like those used to write in English. “A nation without a language is a nation without a
heart”(Welsh proverb).
Content
objectives
Ss will be able to
 recognise differences between verbal, visual and sign language
 identify the variety and similarities between languages and Alphabets
 identify problems and possible solutions
 be aware of the need of a common language to communicate in an effective way
Language
objectives
Ss will be able to
 identify and describe elements of a situation through different types of communication (verbalvisual-sign)
 recognise the sounds of different languages
 identify the type of Alphabet from the shape of the letters or their sound
Key-vocabulary: the English and national alphabet; alphabets in the partner languages; I can/can’t; I think…;
We need; there is/isn’t; it has/hasn’t; the same/different/similar; How do you spell…in…?
Language support: scaffolding in the form of visuals, cloze, outlines, text adaptation
Learning
strategies
Thinking
skills
- K-W-L chart
- skimming and scanning for information
- note taking
- tables
-collecting – comparing – contrasting –discovering – explaining – finding resources
Links to the
outside
world
Exchange with the partner schools
Visit to an intercultural library
Invitation of people from the community/associations to speak about their language/alphabet
Curriculum
integration
Geography – Languages - Art –History
Materials
Alphabets_booklet
Microsoft word programme and Power Point/ Digital Camera
Video: “Pingu runs away” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpHDVEZlhE
STAGES
TUNING IN
ACTIVITIES
Notes
 Which language does Pingu speak? (class work)
1. Tell the Ss to sit with their back to the TV so that they can listen to one minute See–Annex 2
sequence of the cartoon “Pingu runs away “without images. Ask them: What
can you understand? What’s happening? Who is in the cartoon? Where do you
think Pingu is?;
2. ask Ss to watch the same sequence without the sound. Ask them: Can you
understand better or not? What do you understand now?;
3. get half of the class to watch another sequence of the cartoon (1mn) while the
other half is listening to it only. Ask the group who was listening only: What did
you understand? How can we understand what’s happening? Ask the group
who was watching: Did you remember the noises you heard? Can you tell
where Pingu is going after slamming the door?;
4. get he whole class to watch the remaining part of the video with images and
sound- except the final part. Ask them: Where are the penguins? How can we
say that? What are they eating? Why Mum is reading and Dad is knitting? Do
your Dads help Mums with house works?;
5. ask Ss to think of an ending for the story, to draw and write it;
6. Ss share their endings;
7. show the last part of the cartoon and ask Ss to compare their endings with the
one of the cartoon;
8. ask Ss which language Pingu speaks and discuss about the different languages
spoken by the partners and in the world: Is it easy to identify a language by
hearing ore reading it? Which elements can help us to identify it? Can we know
all the languages of the world? If not, how can we make ourselves understood
when speaking to a person with a different language? Do we need a “common
language” in order to be able to communicate? How do we communicate with
our European partner friends?
 Brainstorming (class work)
Write the word “communication” on the board and ask Ss to think of different ways
humans use to communicate: language (speaking, reading, writing…), symbols
(road signs, labels…), gestures (crying, smiling, clapping…), music, art, etc.
FINDING OUT
 What is an alphabet? (Individual work)
Use the K-W-L chart to activate students’ prior knowledge about the Alphabets (pag.1 booklet)
(What I know- What I would like to know –What I have learnt)
 History of the alphabet (class/group work)
By searching historical fonts (documents, books), Ss can discover they are using See Annex 2 –
History
of
the alphabet that was developed so long ago.
Alphabets
- Write the words “Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans” on the board and ask Ss if they
know who they were (ancient civilizations/great traders);
- use the PPT about the Alphabets to describe how first the Phoenicians, then the
Greeks, and finally the Romans passed down the alphabet;
- ask Ss to locate the Mediterranean area on a map and explain that the
Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans came from the Mediterranean area;
- make copies of the Alphabets these civilizations developed and tell the Ss- in
groups- to compare some letters from the earlier alphabets to our alphabet;
- talk about how the alphabet changed over time (Point out that A and S, for
instance, are nearly the same as they are now, except that they are lying
sideways; O looks just the same now as it did three thousand years ago, and so
does T).
 Alphabet soup (class/individual work)
In order to help Ss to realise that there are lots of alphabets in use around the
world, invite people from the community who come from other cultures to speak
about their language/alphabet or organise a visit to an intercultural library to read
(pag.3/9 booklet)
books in different languages or use resource books/the Internet (see fact-files in
the booklet);
- get the Ss to analyze/compare different alphabets: Do all the alphabets use
letters? Is the number of letters the same in all the alphabets? Which alphabets
use symbols or shapes? (Arabic, Buginese, Thai, Burmese, Tibetan, Chinese,
etc.) Are all the alphabets written from left to right?;
- Let the Ss write their names by using different alphabets
 The Alphabet we use (group work)
- Tell a group of Ss to open the slide with the Latin Alphabet from the cooperative
PPT on the website and to fill the grid in with the letters of the national alphabet:
letters that are not in the alphabet have to be deleted and a blank space left in the
grid – missing letters have to be added in red;
- Ss have to record the alphabet and include the sound into the slide;
- a second group of Ss handwrites the alphabet on a piece of paper, scans it and
inserts it into another slide;
- a third group draws or writes a poem/song used in class to learn the Alphabet and
makes another slide with pictures + sound
- if in the school there are SS from other nationalities who use different alphabets,
ask them to write and record them too.
SORTING OUT  Alphabet hunt (group work/individual work)
- Download the Alphabet PPT from the cooperative website;
- tell the Ss to observe and listen carefully to the Alphabets in use in the partner
countries;
- ask to repeat the unusual letters;
- print all the alphabets and hang them on the class walls;
- give each student an handout;
- tell the Ss to go around the class and to record data about each Alphabet: they
have to cross out the letters from the Latin Alphabet in the column correspondent
to the country whose alphabet hasn’t got certain letters or to add new/different
letters;
- ask Ss to compare the alphabets: Which alphabets are similar? Do similar
alphabets have the same pronunciation? Do all the alphabets have the same
number of letters? Which letters are missing or added? Which alphabets are
completely different?(Russian); Can you identify what kind of alphabet it
is?(Cyrillic); Why do you think it is different?
REFLECTING
L
See Annex 2_Arabian
alphabet
See PPT on the
web and DVD
(pag.10/11
booklet)
Ask Ss to reflect upon the fact that there are lots of ways of spelling out words that
don’t require paper or pencil: Can you think of any way to spell out a word without
using paper or pencil?
- deaf people all over the world communicate with the sign language by using hand
gestures and facial expression (invite a specialist to school to teach Ss some
basic signs)
- blind people use Braille alphabet, a relief script in which letters are represented by
dots. Give the Ss a copy of the alphabet; tell them they have to write a sentence (pag.12 booklet)
by using the point of a pen on thick paper to make the dots and to give the
message to a classmate who will have to read it by keeping the eyes closed.
- the Morse code was invented by Samuel Morse in 1832 for sending messages by
telegraph. Search for the code on the Internet and ask Ss to tap a word to a friend.
ASSESMENT
Teacher assessment of learning: all activities in the project give opportunities for
observation and evaluation of understanding, participation, cooperation, language
use, content acquisition.
Alphabets: Ss complete the sentences with the missing words (see handout)
booklet)
Comenius project Portfolio folder: Ss collect their works in the folder and fill in a (pag.13
(pag.14 booklet)
grid to go with them. Self-assessment grid.
Example of handwriting
Estonia
Arabian letters