Lesson Plan 

Course: 4to 5ta

Number of students: 16

Topic: Talking about famous people’s lives and marvel/dc characters they have played.

Objectives:  Hypothesising and making connections between different pop culture actors, inferring the usage of for and since to indicate duration in a sentence in present perfect simple, building both a collaborative and solo timeline described in sentences/a short paragraph. 

Function: Expressing past experiences emphasising on duration with FOR and SINCE. 

Texts: Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth

Final Task: Students will do some research about another famous Marvel or DC character and use Rendora to create a video including all the information they found. They will choose a TV Studio template and write a script for a 'TV host' to present the information as if it was a TV program. Students will have to include sentences written in present perfect using FOR and SINCE.

Activation 5’: 

Game : Students will play a  Kahoot Game  about the three most famous characters that Ryan Reynolds plays based on the information provided in the previous class. The sentences will have instances of FOR and SINCE so SS are exposed to more input and are challenged to see the correlation between the two of them. (e.g. Detective Pikachu games have been produced for 8 years. Students will have to decide if it's true or false) 

Systematisation 5’ to 10’:

Revising last class’ topic using sentences from the game on a PowerPoint and systematise the structure of for and since.

T will ask: 

• What do  the sentences express?

• What do you think they are used for/describing?

• What elements in these sentences can you identify? The SS build the structure (subj + V + for/since + a period of time)

• In what texts can you find these types of sentences?

We give them some examples for them to complete the formula and then time to take notes. (We included it in this plan since the lesson ended 5’ before and we only were able to focus on the function of the tense)

Pre task 5’: Brainstorming session

Tapping into SS’ prior knowledge T will write “Marvel” on the board and ask the SS if they know any other actors besides Ryan Reynolds who have appeared in the cinematic universe and what character they played.

Reading 10’:

SS will be given three mini bios (found in the original plan) on Zoe Saldaña, Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans. SS will be asked to identify in what order the information provided is and afterwards, to highlight what they consider to be the most important pieces of information.

In the original plan, the very same timeline was supposed to be made by students using analog tools. However, we chose to enhance the activity by using a digital tool. Miro is a suitable tool for those who need extra support as it is a collaborative website. Students can benefit from working together even if they are not in the same place at the same time. According to the DigCompuEdu framework, this kind of task empowers learners and facilitates their digital competence by enabling learners to creatively and responsibly use digital technologies for information, collaboration, communication, content creation, enhancing inclusion, personalisation and learners’ active engagement. 

Final task (improved activity) 

 Students will do some research about another famous Marvel or DC character and use Rendora to create a video including all the information they found. They will choose a TV Studio template and write a script for a 'TV host' to present the information as if it was a TV program. Students will have to include sentences written in present perfect using FOR and SINCE.

After looking at an example from the teacher on another character (DC Harley Quimm found at the end) students will have to research a chosen character and individually or in pairs create a script with concrete information which they’ll have to later write in the form of a short text. Once the SS have finished, they will upload their productions on a collaborative padlet. T will show the final product on the board using a projector.

TASK INSTRUCTIONS: Choose a character of your liking, do research on interesting facts and put them in the script of your 'TV host/presenter'. Then, use this information to write a short paragraph. SS can use the different texts provided (actor’s mini bios) as examples to follow.

⚠️Teacher will show students a sample of what the video should look like and indicate the different tutorials they can find on the website in order to create the video properly.

Possible guide questions to be elicited from the students (go back to the information found on the mini bios they read):

Which franchise does this character belong to?

Who played this character?

What important actions has this character done?

When did they first appear?

What do they do? (power/job)

What has this character achieved?

Do they have any important relationships? To whom?

EXAMPLE: Harley Quinn (Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel) is DC Comics character, created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. While intended to appear in one episode, Quinn became a recurring character within the DC Universe as the Joker's sidekick and love interest. Quinn is a former psychologist at Gotham City's Arkham Asylum who was manipulated by and fell in love with the Joker. In 1999, Harley Quinn became the sidekick and lover of the Joker as well as the criminal associate and best friend of Poison Ivy.

Since 2013, Harley has been an antihero independent of the Joker and a recurring member of the Suicide Squad, with Poison Ivy becoming her primary romantic interest. She has been played by Tara Strong, Margot Robbie, and Lady Gaga to name a few.

In the original plan, students were supposed to create another timeline from scratch based on another character from the Marvel or DC universe. In order to reach the redefinition level of SAMR Model, we decided to incorporate Rendora as students will have to analyse the information they searched and put it together to create a script and a video. In addition to this, Rendora is a very complete and innovative AI tool for all students, especially for those with reading challenges, such as visual impairment or dyslexia. The tool could be very useful for learners who struggle when reading, as any text or dialogue can be turned into audio. Subtitles are included in the videos once they are done, in the case they need to associate audio with words. 

Closure 5’:

Thinking routine. Students will think about what they have learned in these 2 lessons (might include use of for and since, information on biographies, etc) we have been studying and complete the following sentence stems: 

I used to think... 

Now I think…

Homework activity (new activity)

Students will create a fallen phrase with Puzzle Maker using one of their characte'rs iconic phrases. Next class, these phrases will be shuffled for students to play with them. They will solve their classmates' puzzle and guess what character said the phrase.

With this new task, according to the PLANIED  framework, we are working with some of the core dimensions of the plan, as we are involving play, active community and computer knowledge. The students are having fun by challenging each other, as well as sharing their work that they've done independently. We are also encouraging students to develop their digital competences as they will have to figure out how to do this activity without constant support from the teacher. We are also increasing inclusivity by catering to the student’s personal interests and using technology, which can be useful for students with motor impairments on problems with reading and writing. By working from home, we are also “providing” personalized time for the student who might need more or might get bored if they had to wait for the rest of the class.