Ancestors communication

SHORT DESCRIPTION:

Students explore how people communicated in the past by reading two informational texts in English about Prehistory cave paintings and Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Using the digital platform Spatial, students read, extract key information, and organise it into handwritten mind maps. The learning process develops reading comprehension, historical understanding and visual organisation of information, ending with a short oral comparison of both historical periods.

CONTEXTUALIZATION:

• Target Age: 5th grade (10–11 years old)

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

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

LESSON AIMS:

• Reception: Reading for information

• Spoken production: Addressing audiences

• Overall written production

• Spoken interaction: conversation and exchanging information

LEARNING OBJECTIVES (SWBATs):

Students will be able to:

• Identify the main idea and key details in a short informational text about Prehistory and Ancient Egypt.

• Organise information from a reading text into a clear handwritten mind map.

• Compare two historical forms of communication using basic comparative language.

PREPARATION:

• Upload the two readings (Prehistory and Ancient Egypt) to Spatial.

• Prepare guiding comprehension questions for each text.

• Ensure all digital devices and internet connection are working.

• Prepare sentence starters for oral explanations and comparisons.

• Print one copy per group of the model mind map

WEBSITES:

• Spatial (reading platform)

MATERIALS:

• Tablets or computers (one per student or per pair)

• Spatial platform with uploaded readings

• Printed paper (A4 or A3) for mind maps

• Sentence starters questions

• Guided comprehension questions

• Coloured pencils or markers

• Digital board

DESCRIPTION OF THE SESSIONS:

Pre- Task: 

Session 1

The first session focuses on introducing the topic and preparing students for the following reading tasks. The teacher introduces basic vocabulary related to communication in the past using visual support (images of cave paintings and Egyptian hieroglyphics). Students are encouraged to predict meanings and make connections with prior knowledge. Afterwards, the class creates a shared vocabulary list on the board, including key historical and communicative terms. This session helps activate background knowledge and provides the linguistic support needed for the following tasks.

Main Task: 

Session 2 

In the second session, the teacher will begin by explaining Spatial and showing how it works on the digital screen. Then, students are divided into expert groups, following the jigsaw technique. Each group enters Spatial, using their own laptop,  and works with one informational text: either Prehistoric cave paintings or Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The teacher will make sure that each group knows which texts they have to read to avoid confusion, using colours as a distinguishing feature. Students use bilingual English dictionaries to clarify new vocabulary and improve comprehension of those terms they don’t understand. They read the text collaboratively, identify the main idea and key details, and discuss the content within their group. After reading, each expert group answers a small set of simple comprehension questions based on their text, focusing on essential information, using a scaffolding sheet (e.g. Where did people communicate? Why did they use pictures or symbols?). This activity promotes deeper understanding and prepares students to share information with others.

Session 3

During session three, students reorganize into mixed groups so that each group includes experts from both historical periods. Students take turns sharing the information they retrieved in the previous session, orally explaining their text using simple English sentences. With guidance from the teacher, students access the digital platform Spatial to review the texts and confirm information. Working collaboratively, each group completes two handwritten mind maps, one for Prehistory and one for Ancient Egypt, organizing key ideas such as who, where, how, and why people communicated. These sessions emphasize information sharing, visual organization, and oral communication, and they prepare students for a final comparison of the two historical forms of communication.

Post-Task: 

Session 4

In the final session, students consolidate and demonstrate what they have learned throughout the unit. Using their completed handwritten mind maps as visual support, students prepare a short oral explanation comparing how people communicated in Prehistory and Ancient Egypt. The teacher provides sentence starters and basic comparative language on the board (e.g. In Prehistory, people used…, In Ancient Egypt, people used…, Both are…, But…). Students present their comparison orally in pairs or small groups, focusing on clarity rather than accuracy. While listening, classmates are encouraged to identify one similarity and one difference between the two historical periods. The teacher observes and provides positive feedback on students’ use of vocabulary, organization of information, and oral communication.

EXAMPLES OF MATERIALS: