Who are we going to be on Halloween?

Authors: Maria Chico, Lucía Martínez, Irene Sandín, Meritxell Lillo and Júlia Zúñiga

DESCRIPTION

Our activity is based on discovering which costume the classroom will wear during a Halloween party that the school is going to have. The students will carry out different missions that will lead them to discard possible costumes until they are left with only one, the winner. To achieve this they will use the Goosechase application.

This activity will be part of a larger intervention. 

CONTEXTUALIZATION

• Target Age: Upper grade (10-12 years old)

• Target Language: Level A2

• Locations: Mostly inside the classroom with the exception of mission two where students must explore the hallways near the classroom to find an object. 

LESSON AIMS

• RECEPTION:

  • • • Can recognize when speakers agree and disagree in a conversation conducted slowly and clearly.

      • Can understand short, simple texts containing the highest frequency vocabulary, including a proportion of shared international vocabulary items

      • Can understand simple, brief instructions provided that they are illustrated and not written in continuous text.

• PRODUCTION:

  • • • Can give short, basic descriptions of events and activities.

      • Can present his/her opinion in simple terms, provided listeners are patient.

      • Can write a series of simple phrases and sentences linked with simple connectors like ‘and,’ ‘but’ and ‘because’

• INTERACTION:

  • • • Can generally understand clear, standard speech on familiar matters directed at him/her, provided he/she can ask for repetition or reformulation from time to time

      • Can communicate in simple and routine tasks using simple phrases to ask for and provide things, to get simple information and to discuss what to do next.

• MEDIATION:

  • • • Can collaborate in simple, practical tasks, asking what others think, making suggestions and understanding responses, provided he/she can ask for repetition or reformulation from time to time. 

• COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE COMPETENCES: 

  • • • Has a sufficient vocabulary for the expression of basic communicative needs. 

      • Can perform and respond to basic language functions, such as information exchange and requests, and express opinions and attitudes in a simple way.

      • Can make him/herself understood in short contributions, even though pauses, false starts and reformulation are very evident.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES (SWBATs)

• To implement the vocabulary acquired in order to compose oral and written outputs. 

• To improve cooperation by using language as a communicative social tool in order to value cultural knowledge.

• To experiment with technological resources in order to manage them competently.

PREPARATION FOR THE APP TASK CYCLE (BEFORE THE LESSON)

The preparation of the students for the activity will only be the installation of the Goosechase application, at least one person per group, to later join the experience and develop the entire activity from there.

Even so, if it has not been done previously, some time should be spent for the students to discover how the application works, if possible with a tutorial/test. These two things can last a minimum of approximately 15 minutes.

Referring to the educators, once they have already designed and carried out all the preparations, for the day that takes place they should bring the educational materials to be used and to bring their computer to fix possible incidents. 

MATERIALS

Below we will present the materials necessary to carry out this project.

• Websites: Goosechase (https://www.goosechase.com/) and Google Docs for one of the missions.

• Equipment: Students can use the electronic devices the school has available as long as they have an internet connection, a camera and are portable. Those can be smartphones or tablets. At least one per group. 

• Additional materials: 

For the first activity we created a drawing of a pumpkin for the students to find by following the instructions given in the app.

Also, it was necessary the creation of a word search. We created it with Canva and Educima with the vocabulary we were working on. A decodification text was created too in which students had to discover the meaning of a message by decodifying the symbols into letters. 

We needed extra materials for the final mission so students could have a sensorial and experimental experience.  The activity consisted of reading aloud a spell that they had to personalize with the preconstructed outline, which we personally elaborated. The students have to record themselves reading it with the ingredients they have chosen.  In order that students could manipulate and have a deeper understanding of the vocabulary used for the spell we tried to recreate the ingredients, see them below. Also, using free illustrations of Canva we created a vocabulary sheet with all the ingredients as some of them could be new to them. 

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EACH PHASE OF TASK CYCLE

• Pre-task: This activity would be one of the last of a bigger intervention. Therefore, as a pre-tasks we would have sessions where the students have learned about the vocabulary that appears, an example of an activity that they would do is playing "Guess who." This phase could last 

• Main task:  It will be done with the Goosechase app, which they will have to use throughout the game to see what they have to do in the different missions. They will have to work as a team, communicating with each other to be able to complete all the missions. In case they need help, they can ask the teacher, since the educator role will be to guide them if they need it. 

We hope that during the development of the activity the students will debate among themselves about whether they are correct and that, together, they will discover and correctly execute the instructions given to them. This phase will last one session. 

• Post task: A group discussion would be held where the students could evaluate the experience and express their opinions. In addition, an activity would be held where the students would deepen in the character that will be used for the school Halloween party, witches and warlocks in this case, and in posteriors sessions they could begin to elaborate their costumes. The evaluation of the activity can be done in less than an hour while the other activities can last more than one session, at least two additional hours. 

MATERIALS II

MISSIONS EXPLAINED