ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE AT THE PRIMARY LEVEL
A new twist
to English
A COMPETENCY-BASED APPROACH
Pamela Cunning
Rachel Lalonde
Micheline Schinck
Wynanne Watts
CYCLE 3
Student’s Books1 and 2
LIDEC
Pedagogical Aspects
BALs, CCC and ESL Competencies
They are listed at the beginning of each book. Their
presentation is clear and adapted to the reader. They are
detailed in the TG. They are made visually
understandable for students. Each unit in the SB starts
with a presentation of the 3 of them in a visual way
(picture of a telephone).
BAL:
Task 1
Making a blah blah blah
bank
P
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8x
9
Learning contexts, variety of pedagogical
approaches and use of prior knowledge
Various resources are provided: references to
websites, books, maps, texts, drawings, CDs, help
boxes sustain cooperation and interaction
between students and between them and the
teacher.
An integrated competency and skill based
approach suggesting tasks targeting different
teaching and learning styles.
The tasks in each unit allow S. reinvest their
prior knowledge. Transfer of prior knowledge is
m promoted by having S reflect on their
also
learning process and apply what they have
learned in different context.
The units are LES.
Lots of guiding questions and projects with
examples. E.g. unit 6. This material is created
with a student centred approach.
Sts have lots of opportunities to participate
actively, to practice ESL C1, to fulfill cooperative
work, to develop strategies and to carry out
communication activities. The three steps of the
pedagogical act are present in every unit.
Evaluation
It supports learning. In the TG,
for grade six, at the end of each
unit, you can find the following
types of grids: observation grid,
peer evaluation grid, reflection on
our writing, self-evaluation.
E.g. The observation grid (pg. 48)
The key features of the
competencies, the cross curricular
competencies and also the
evaluation criteria are mentioned
on this grid.
-observation grid
-self evaluation
-peer evaluation
h
Evaluation (cont.)
Another type of grid “Peer’ evaluation” (p. 48) is meant for the
students to evaluate their peers, thus identifying their strengths and
weaknesses. In our example, students evaluate their peers during the
presentation of a fashion show.
In the TG, we also find the “Self-evaluation grid” (p. 68). It is divided
in three parts:
A- The intention (I cooperated actively during my project on fashion),
B- The competencies (that were targeted through the unit).
C- My effort. This grid allows students to see what they did while
working on a project, what they did not do, or what mistakes they
made and what they should do during a future project to improve their
results.
Table of contents
Getting Started
Task No 1. Making a Blah Blah Bank
Task No 2: Making a Stategy Whell
Mascot Mania
Task No 1: Playing the Game, Who's Who?
Task No 2: Creating a Class Mascot
Day by Day
Task No 1: Playing the Game. Match and Conquer
Task No 2: Doing the Play, A News Bulletin
T.V. Game Shows
Task No 1: Writing Recipes for Game Shows
Task No 2: Putting on a Game Show Day
Things that Make Me Feel Good
Task No 1: Interviewing Friends
Task No 2: Putting on a Caricature Rally
Glad to Be Me
Task No 1: Presenting My Poster, Glad To Be Me
Task No 2: Making a Class Book of Our Intelligences
Holiday Kit
Strategy Files
Differentiation and interaction
The activities target different types of learning styles (global,
aural, kinaesthetic, analytic and visual) , personalities
(introvert and extrovert) and intelligences (naturalist,
interpersonal, musical): see table p32 in TG1.
Interaction is facilitated through oral activities, problem
solving tasks, cooperative activities ,etc.
There are possibilities of interdisciplinary activities or
projects, for example: the story telling event could be
connected to the French course.
Sociocultural Aspects
This material takes into account the interests, age and development
of boys and girls. E.g. In book 1, we find topics that interest both
boys and girls: hobbies/games, mascots, celebrating events, weather,
food, body parts/feelings, occupations.
Diversity of Quebec society: It could be better illustrated. There are
only 3 Black people and some Chinese on student’s book 2. There
are some Natives’ and Arab tales. A fair presentation would be 25%
from ethnic groups.
There are no traces of discrimination nor sexism.
English Culture
-Present in tales, pictures, rhymes, and units about traditional
celebrations such as Christmas and Halloween. E.g. ST2 Unit 6
Holiday Kit.
-It could be considered a timeless material due to some famous
people that are presented who will remain famous. Different themes
are also presented that will always be part of a language course for
beginners. e.g. clothing and accessories, activities (hobbies, sports,
games), occupations, feelings, etc.
-Recent data and theories: Tiger Woods’s biography and J.K.
Rowling’s vs Lucille Teasdale’s, and Bill Gates’s
Material Aspects
(durability, legibility, accessibility of
information)
-Hard book cover, excellent quality of book paper for durability.
-Legible font (appropriate type and right size)
-A lot of attractive colourful comic pictures but a very limited
number of photos of real people: SB1 pp 45,125,126 &129
-Children friendly .
-Strategies are presented in The Strategy Wheel –p17 then
indicated at the beginning of some activities, e.g. PREDICT SB1
pp21.
Accessibility of Information (cont.)
-At the end of SB, students will find two useful resources:
a Holiday Kit pp133-140 (that is a culture capsule including
different events celebrated in Quebec) and a Strategy File pp 141143 (to help them choose which strategy they need for a particular
task).
-For the accessibility of information, it could be useful to mention
the unit numbers on each page.
Quality of the Audio and Video Recordings &
User Friendly Material
-Clear recording. Good sound quality. Pacing appropriate to
primary students but not always challenging bilingual students
except in listening activities (e.g. riddles).
-User friendly material: The TG is presented in a binder, well
organized, huge but still easy to consult.
-For SB, each unit is attributed a different colour for a better
accessibility.
-Each activity is represented with an icon that indicates whether it is
for listening p3, reading p21, writing p11,singing p12, speaking
p13, etc.
Components of the Material, Instructions and
Suggested Time:
- Some grids on SB and on the TG. E.g. SB2 p 63.
-Pictures: lots of them, they are nice and helpful.
-Concise instructions: e.g. Listen, read, match. Instructions could be
more explicative on SB although they are clear on the TG.
-A project with excellent instructions on SB 2 pp 85, 96, & 138-9
(On SB 2 some units have better instructions than others. e.g. pp
94-95).
-Suggested time is indicated on the TG for every activity e.g. TG1,
fascicle 1 , p5.
ICT’s
-Suggestion for ICTs: The Internet (websites (TG 2 p. 71,
p. 66 – unit 3 , e-mail), CDs, and computer projects for
some of the units.
-Needed material is suggested on the TG. E.g. SB, tape or
CD, handout number, strategy wheel, teacher’s handout, or
website.
Advertising Aspects and Web Sites
-Free of all forms of advertising: Absence of brand names,
of company logos that might promote and encourage
consuming.
-Absence of editorial promotion too.
-Web sites: Provide ready-made lesson plans and activities
such as web quests and on-line stories.
-There are lists of theme-related websites in TG.
-Only one website is mentioned in SB for the students to
consult in order to find more about Winnie.
Conventional Aspects
-The language used is appropriate even in informal
situations, no slang.
- Toponymy respected (The place names of a region or
language).
-Linguistic revision carried out by the consultant Gélyne.
-International System of units: Doesn’t apply (no size nor
measuring reference...)
Complimentary material
Strategy kit and flash cards of very good quality (cards, plasticized).
Final Reflection and Advice:
Students at this level need to widen their vocabulary. The target
vocabulary is reinvested most of the time through oral activities or
matching activities. The materials could include more variety
concerning vocabulary activities. It would be useful to recycle some
target words from the readings in each unit and have the students
use them in other activities such as games, ranking and sequencing
activities, writing personalized sentences with the new words etc.
Final Reflection and Advice (cont.)
-Most of the time the listening material is presented in the students’
books for them to build morpho-phonemic connections. Thus gap filling
activities could ensure that students are building them while reading. It
could also be more challenging for students to have comprehension
questions, or activities to verify or support their understanding. e.g. To
complete mind maps or graphic organizer based on the listening,
brainstorming activities using the vocabulary they have learned.
-It would be useful to add a glossary or a word bank at the end of the
book for the students to consult before using a dictionary.
-Another suggestion would be to give names to the characters that appear
throughout the book, this would make the situations dealt with in the
different units look more realistic especially during the characters’
interactions.