THINGLINK

Brief description of the tool

It is an interactive tool where you can create learning materials, virtual tours, immersive experience using images, videos, and 360° media. You can also add links to other websites, upload your own audio files and images for creating a 360º of them. This resource let you do many activities about diverse topics due to its wide 360º library with different scenarios. 

• Advantages: 

  • You have many possibilities to create activities, it has a lot of resources and it is an engaging tool. It has multiple inputs, videos, images or audio which can support language learning. 

  • Thinglink can include additional explanations, visual aids, or links to external resources, so this web can be connected to AI resources. 

  • Thinglink enhances collaboration and team work, because students have to develop their interaction competence for solving the problem exposed. Besides, with the fact of learning how this app works, they also need to know how to talk to peers with assertiveness.

  • With 360° tours, students can virtually visit museums, historical sites, or explore real-world scenarios like ecosystems, due to the wide library of images. 

• Disadvantages: 

  • You have to pay if you want to use it for more than one month, also, if you want your students to create a scenery or if there are more teachers who want to use the template, you have to pay too. 

  • Moreover, you can’t see what the students do or their answers. You cannot work or edit more than two devices at the time.

  • Thinglink relies on internet access, so in case it does not work, as a teacher you must have a plan B activity.

  • It has too many interactive elements (hotspots, videos, links) in a single project can overwhelm students, making it harder to focus on the core learning objectives.

CONTEXTUALIZATION

• This activity has been thought for 4th grade students (about 8/9 years old). 

• Target Language Level (based on CEFR): A1-A2

• Context: In class, students have been working on the physical description, about the different parts of the face, the hair, etc. and they have learned different adjectives such as blonde, black or brown hair, big or little nose, green, blue or brown eyes… Also, they have been practising some sentence structures to describe as for example, “she/he is…” or “she/he has got…”.

INSTRUCTIONS: 

The activity will be based on a scavenger hunt. It will start in a hair salon, in which the hairdresser has a problem. He has lost his scissors, so he can’t work. He will explain that his boss, Julia, has locked them in a box, and they need to find her in order to get the key to open the box. To find her, he gives the students a description of Julia. With this description, students will be asked to follow the clues in order to find the boss and get the scissors for the hairdresser.

SWBATs

• Use the vocabulary learnt through the project in order to complete a scavenger hunt.

SCAFFOLDING

ASSESSMENT

The assessment will mainly be the teacher's observation.

LESSON AIMS BASED ON CEFR:

RECEPTION

Oral comprehension

• A1→ Can follow language which is very slow and carefully articulated, with long pauses for them to assimilate meaning. Can recognise concrete information (e.g. places and times) on familiar topics encountered in everyday life, provided it is delivered slowly and clearly

• A2 → Can understand enough to be able to meet needs of a concrete type, provided people articulate clearly and slowly. Can understand phrases and expressions related to areas of most immediate priority (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment), provided people articulate clearly and slowly.

Understanding audio (or signed) media and recordings

• A1 → Can pick out concrete information (e.g. places and times) from short recordings on familiar everyday topics, provided they are delivered very slowly and clearly

• A2 → Can understand and extract the essential information from short, recorded passages dealing with predictable everyday matters which are delivered slowly and clearly. Can extract important information from short broadcasts (e.g. the weather forecast, concert announcements, sports results), provided people talk clearly. Can understand the important points of a story and manage to follow the plot, provided the story is told slowly and clearly.

Reading comprehension:

Reading for orientation → Can recognise familiar names, words/signs and very basic phrases on simple notices in the most common everyday situations.

Can understand store guides (information on which floors departments are on) and directions (e.g. where to find lifts).Can understand basic hotel information (e.g. times when meals are served).Can find and understand simple, important information in advertisements, programmes for special events, leaflets and brochures (e.g. what is proposed, costs, the date and place of the event, departure times).

Reading for information and argument

• A1 → Can get an idea of the content of simpler informational material and short, simple descriptions, especially if there is visual support.Can understand short texts on subjects of personal interest (e.g. news flashes about sports, music, travel or stories) composed in very simple language and supported by illustrations and pictures

• A2 → Can identify specific information in simpler material they encounter such as letters, brochures and short news articles describing events.Can follow the general outline of a news report on a familiar type of event, provided the contents are familiar and predictable.Can pick out the main information in short news reports or simple articles in which figures, names, illustrations and titles play a prominent role and support the meaning of the text.Can understand the main points of short texts dealing with everyday topics (e.g. lifestyle, hobbies, sports, weather).Can understand texts describing people, places, everyday life and culture, etc., provided they use simple language. Can understand information given in illustrated brochures and maps (e.g. the principal attractions of a city). Can understand the main points in short news items on subjects of personal interest (e.g. sport, celebrities). Can understand a short factual description or report within their own field, provided simple language is used and that it does not contain unpredictable detail. Can understand most of what people say about themselves in a personal ad or post and what they say they like in other people.

Writing:

Overall written production

• A1 → Can give information about matters of personal relevance (e.g. likes and dislikes, family, pets) using simple words/signs and basic expressions.Can produce simple isolated phrases and sentences.

• A2 → Can produce a series of simple phrases and sentences linked with simple connectors like “and”, “but” and “because”

Creative writing

• A1 → Can produce simple phrases and sentences about themselves and imaginary people, where they live and what they do. Can describe in very simple language what a room looks like. Can use simple words/signs and phrases to describe certain everyday objects (e.g. the colour of a car, whether it is big or small).

• A2 → Can describe everyday aspects of their environment e.g. people, places, a job or study experience in linked sentences. Can give very short, basic descriptions of events, past activities and personal experiences. Can tell a simple story (e.g. about events on a holiday or about life in the distant future). Can produce a series of simple phrases and sentences about their family, living conditions, educational background, or present or most recent job. Can create short, simple imaginary biographies and simple poems about people. Can create diary entries that describe activities (e.g. daily routine, outings, sports, hobbies), people and places, using basic, concrete vocabulary and simple phrases and sentences with simple connectives like “and”, “but” and “because”. Can compose an introduction to a story or continue a story, provided they can consult a dictionary and references (e.g. tables of verb tenses in a course book).

Listening comprehension:

INTERACTION

Overall oral interaction

A1 → Can interact in a simple, but communication is totally dependent on repetition at a slower rate, 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

A2 →  Can interact with reasonable ease in structured situations and short conversations, provided the other person helps if necessary. Can manage simple, routine exchanges without undue effort; can ask and answer questions and exchange ideas and information on familiar topics in predictable everyday situations. Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters to do with work and free time. Can handle very short social exchange, but is rarely able to understand enough to keep conversation going of their own accord.

Formal discussion

A2 → Can generally follow changes of topic in formal discussion related to theifield,ld which is conducted slowly and clearly. Can exchange relevant information and give their opinion on practical problems when asked directly, provided they receive some help with formulation and can ask for repetition of key points if necessary. Can express what they think about things when addressed directly in a formal meeting, provided they can ask for repetition of key points if necessary.

Information exchange

A1 → Can understand questions and instructions addressed carefully and slowly to them and follow short, simple directions. Can ask and answer simple questions, initiate and respond to simple statements in areas of immediate need or on very familiar topics. Can ask and answer questions about themselves and other people, where they live, people they know, things they have. Can indicate time by lexicalised phrases like “next week”, “last Friday”, “in November”, “3 o’clock”. Can express numbers, quantities and cost in a limited way. Can name the colour of clothes or other familiar objects and can ask the colour of such objects.

Turntaking 

A2 → Can use simple techniques to start, maintain or end a short conversation. Can initiate, maintain and close simple, face-to-face conversation. Can ask for attention.

Asking for clarification

A1 →  Can indicate with simple words/signs, intonation and gestures that they do not understand. Can express in a simple way that they do not understand.

A2 → Can ask very simply for repetition when they do not understand. Can ask for clarification about keywords/signs or phrases not understood, using stock phrases. Can indicate that they did not follow. Can signal non-understanding and ask for a word/sign to be spelt out.