Star Link 2 - See the World out of Reach

Author names:  Jung, Preston, Sasan

For Teachers

Short Description

This app allows the user to explore the various wonders of outer space, including our solar system and the Earth's moon, in up to a dozen languages and contains a wealth of content regarding the positions of celestial bodies and astronomy-related topics (e.g., astronomical news and history, quiz options, real-time locations of stars) including satellites. 

Outer space, and the universe in general, are extemely fascinating subjects in spite of the lack of relevant astronomy-related vocabulary being taught in the overwhelming majority of L2 classroom settings, regardless of level and now teachers can easily create classroom activities targeting a wide range of language proficiency levels regardless of students' age group. 

For once the sky is not the limit! To infinity and beyond!

Contextualization

Target age : College Freshman (18-19 years of age)

Target Language Level (CEFR) : B2

Location : Indoors (classroom), but outdoors is possible (weather/atmospheric conditions permitting)

Lesson Aims

. Production: Students will engage in the written, of a report concerning the celestial body that they chose to investigate.  They will compose a written summary of the appearance and properties of their chosen celestial body in the target language and will subsequently present and share their summary findings with their classmates in small groups.  Once presentations have ended, other students will pose questions to the presenter.  According to the B2-level standards for written production provided by the CEFR, this will indicate that students will be able to do the following: Can write clear, detailed texts on a variety of subjects related to his/her field of interest, synthesising and evaluating information and arguments from a number of sources (68, 74-75).  With respect to spoken production, the following expectations from the CERF's guidelines will also be of great importance for the assignment at hand.  The intended results will demonstrate that students will become potent in the following manner: Can give a clear, systematically developed presentation, with highlighting of significant points, and relevant supporting detail.  Can take a series of follow up questions with a degree of fluency and spontaneity which poses no strain for either him/herself or the audience (74).  This latter part will also be strongly linked with the second form of competency which this activity will promote.

. Interaction: Students will pose questions to an individual presenter, once the written summary's contents about a specific celestial bidy have been shared with other students in a small group.  The form of interaction most promoted in this activity will be an Information Exchange.  In accordance with the CERF's guidelines concerning the expectations of the B2 level for Informational Exchanges the following criteria will be expected to be met: Can understand and exchange complex information and advice on the full range of matters related to his/her occupational role. Can use appropriate technical terminology, when exchanging information or discussing his/her area of specialisation with other specialists. Can pass on detailed information reliably (82-83, 90).  Students may pose such questions as concern the motivation as to why their classmates chose a particular celestial body to investigate and report on, or perhaps what they found to be the most interesting characteristic of said celestial body, or even if they might have ever viewed it from a telescope on some occasion in the past, etc.  This aspect of the interactive competency promoted by the activity strongly complements the competency area of production.       

Main Learning Objectives:

• SWBAT (Students Will Be Able To) :

1. Locate information from an astronomy-oriented app and take notes and doing so in the target language 

2. Create a written summary with information located in the app and to later share and present to the whole class

3. Ask and answer questions in the target language related to their choice of celestial body

4. Utilize newly-acquired vocabulary along with previous language knowledge, to develop an appreciation for the scientific discipline of astronomy 

How this fits into a larger lesson or unit:

When discussing source analysis, paraphrasing and summarizing, this app could be quite advantageous to use. It contains a wealth of astronomical information which students can use to analyze, paraphrase, and create a summery describing a chosen celestial body and its characteristics.  Furthermore, this activity can serve as an excellent implimentation of acquired language inasmuch as it relates to the study of science.  Additionally, such an activity is highly suited to the needs of a bilingual immersion school, where science and math are taught in one language, and social studies in another.    

Preparation

1. Download app (2 min)

2. Students familiarize themselves with the app's content (5 min)

Materials Needed: 

1. A smartphone with a camera

2. A Google Doc for writing and sharing summaries

Activity Instructions

Pre-Task (5 minutes)

1. Share the relevant app with students 

2. Show or provide instructions to students on how to properly use the app for instructional purposes

3. It is assumed, for the purposes of this activity, that students will have already learned some amount of astronomy-related vocabulary in the target language (words for star, moon, etc.).

Main Task ( 30 minutes)

1. Students will explore the app and choose a celestial body (planet, star, satellite) to research and then write some facts about the chosen celestial body in the target language

2. Using information given on the app, students will take notes in the target language

3. Students will create a summary in the target language of the chosen celestial body using notes 

4. Students will utilize paraphrasing and summarizing skills, and not merely copy and paste information to their summaries

Post-Task ( 15 minutes)

1. Students will present/share their summaries and answer classmates' questions within small groups

Additional scaffolding instructions

1. Search and choose a specific topic 

2. Read, analyze, take notes about the topic

3. Create a summary using paraphrases about the topic

Assessment Ideas (criteria) 

1. Summary includes a wide variety of information relevant to the topic

2. Student used summarizing skills to create a short report on their findings (without using quotes)