SHORT DESCRIPTION

Through the app Catchy Words, students will have to find the missing words of a letter sent to them by an alien called Gru in order to decode the message and be able to answer it by the end of the project.

CONTEXTUALIZATION

• Target Age:  2nd grade 

• Target Language Level (based on CEFR):  A1 Beginner  

• Location (indoors, outdoors, gym, classroom, etc.): Outdoors

LESSON AIMS

RECEPTION:

• Spoken Reception: Can understand instructions addressed carefully and slowly to him/her and follow short, simple directions.

• Written Reception:

  • Can understand very short, simple texts a single phrase at a time, picking up familiar names, words and basic phrases and rereading as required.

  • Can understand short, simple messages on postcards.

  • Can get an idea of the content of simpler informational material and short simple descriptions, especially if there is visual support.

INTERACTION:

• Spoken interaction: Can interact in a simple way but communication is totally dependent on repetition at a slower rate of speech, rephrasing and repair. Can ask and answer simple questions, initiate and respond to simple statements in areas of immediate need or on very familiar topics.

• • Understanding an interlocutor: Can understand questions and instructions addressed carefully and slowly to him/her and follow short, simple directions

  • Informal Discussion: Can agree and disagree with others.

  • Goal-oriented co-operation: Can act on basic instructions that involve times, locations, numbers etc.

  • Information Exchange: Can understand questions and instructions addressed carefully and slowly to him/her and follow short, simple directions.

• Interaction strategies:

  • Taking the floor (Turntaking):  Can ask for attention.

  • Asking for clarification:

    • Can indicate with words, intonation and gestures that he/she does not understand. 

    • Can express in a simple way that he/she does not understand.

MEDIATION: 

• General mediation range: Can use simple words and non-verbal signals to show interest in an idea. Can convey simple, predictable information of immediate interest given in short, simple signs and notices, posters and programmes.

• Processing text in writing: Can copy out single words and short texts presented in standard printed format

• Collaborating in group:

  • Facilitating collaborative interaction with peers: Can invite others’ contributions to very simple tasks using short, simple phrases. Can indicate that he/she understands and ask whether others understand.

  • Collaborating to construct meaning: Can express an idea with very simple words and ask what others think.

• Leading group work:

  • Encouraging conceptual task: Can use simple isolated words and non-verbal signals to show interest in an idea

LINGUISTIC:

• General linguistic range: Has a very basic range of simple expressions about personal details and needs of a concrete type.

• Vocabulary range: Has a basic vocabulary repertoire of words and phrases related to particular concrete situations

• Orthographic control: Can copy familiar words and short phrases e.g. simple signs or instructions, names of everyday objects, names of shops and set phrases used regularly

LEARNING OBJECTIVES (SWBATs)

• Students will be able to collaborate in order to complete the letters.

• Students will be able to work spelling through an interactive and engaging game.

• Students will be able to learn vocabulary related to the solar system.

PREPARATION FOR THE APP TASK CYCLE (BEFORE THE LESSON), INCLUDE AN ESTIMATE OF TIME NEEDED FOR PREP, AND WHETHER IN-CLASS BEFORE

To prepare the activity, the teacher is going to download the app Catchy Words on the technological devices (tablets or phones) and introduce on each device the words the students will have to find. Moreover, to prepare the students to use the app, they will have time to explore the app by searching the letters and building their own name.

MATERIALS

The students will need smartphones or tablets (one for each group of three) to use the app Catchy Words. In addition, they will need the printed letter and a pencil or pen to write down the missing words and be able to complete the text.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EACH PHASE OF THE TASK CYCLE

• Pre-task: activities needed so that the learner can complete the task cycle 

We are in a 2nd grade science class, and the students have been studying the universe for the previous lessons. One day, they receive a letter from an alien called Gru, asking for help because his planet has been destroyed, and he is searching for a new home. Unfortunately, the message has been damaged during the journey, and some words are missing. The students are going to look for the missing words using the AR app called Catchy Words to decode the message and be able to answer the letter. This message will be the introduction to a project about the universe, which will give them the necessary knowledge to answer the letter at the end of it.

The students have already had time in class to explore the AR app, searching the letters of their own names.

Prior to carrying out the task in class, the teacher prepares the devices to be used. In this case, the tablets are the ones chosen, so the teacher inserts the words to be found in the app in each of them.

• Main task: what students do with the app

The students are divided into small groups of six, and they will split them, so the students will work in trios during the AR activity. Each group of three will have the same letter but different missing words, so the words they are going to find are not the same. 

We will provide the students with one digital device per group of three.  With the AR app Catchy Words, students will have to search the letters in an outdoor space (the playground) to put them in order and build three different words. Once they have found the missing words, the students will have to fill in the gaps in the letter. 

By giving each trio different blanks to fill in, that is, using the jigsaw puzzle method, we promote self-correcting. It also adds autonomy and time efficiency to the activity.

• Post-task: can be several things: assessing - have the students achieved the objectives; creation of final output, etc.

This activity is the introduction to a project about the universe. The content of the letter will tell students that an alien is searching for a planet to live on because his own has been destroyed. When the kids discover the message, they will have to investigate the different planets of the solar system and their characteristics through multiple activities that won’t be mentioned here because they are not language-related.

The final output of the activity is decoding the letter from Gru and also helping him by giving an answer to which planet is better for him to live on.

EXAMPLES OF MATERIALS AND APP IN USE