Mission: Find the Cake!

Paula Barrientos, Femke van Schie, Marina Sáez, Alba Reverte and Min Cabello

Short description

Students use the digital platform Spatial to practise giving and receiving instructions in English by moving around a virtual room. Working in pairs, one student gives directions while the other follows them to reach a secret final destination, using a physical map to orient themselves. Along the way, learners complete small missions and then swap roles, developing oral communication, listening skills and spatial awareness through scaffolded language.

Contextualization

Target group: 5th grade: 10 years old
Target Language Level (based on CEFR) → A2
Location → Indoors

Lesson Aims

Reception:

LISTENING TO ANNOUNCEMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS: Can understand simple directions relating to how to get from X to Y, by foot or public transport.

Production:

SUSTAINED MONOLOGUE: GIVING INFORMATION: Can give simple directions from place to place, using basic expressions such as ‘turn right’ and ‘go straight’ along with sequential connectors such as ‘first,’ ‘then,’ and ‘next.’

Interaction:

GOAL-ORIENTED CO-OPERATION: Can discuss what to do next, making and responding to suggestions, asking for and giving directions.
INFORMATION EXCHANGE: Can give and follow simple directions and instructions e.g. explain how to get somewhere.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

Give and follow simple directions in English using prepositions of place and movement (go straight, turn left/right, next to, in front of) to navigate a virtual environment.
Sequence instructions using transition words (first, then, next, finally) to describe a route or process both orally and in written form.

Before the session

It will be necessary to prepare for the task approximately 25 minutes before the lesson. Students will need to create an account on Spatial prior to starting the task. In addition, it is important that they become familiar with the basic features of the technology beforehand to ensure they can do the activity without problems.

Task cycle

Pre task: exploring the map (10 minutes)

Student are introduced to the map of our Spatial environment in order to become familiar with the locations of the key objects. The teacher presents the map to the whole class and briefly points to the objects on the map, such as the magic wands and the heart. Next, students work in pairs to explore the map more actively. The teacher names different objects and students locate and point to these objects on the map. This activity helps students learn where the objects are located, ensuring that they all understand the layout of the environment before moving on to the main task.

Main task: giving and following directions (40 minutes: 20 minutes each round)

Students will make pairs to enter the Spatial environment. One student in each pair receives five mission cards. This student act as the guide and will give instructions to their partner to perform the missions. The final mission of each pair is to find one of the cakes (strawberry, blueberry, lemon). Above the cakes, there is a poster and the colour of the poster shows the flavour of the cakes: pink is strawberry, orange is lemon and blue is blueberry. The missions could be for example:

1. Guiding the partner to sit on a chair

2. Finding the magic wands

3. Finding a poster with a dog

4. Turning right three times

5. Finding the strawberry cake

After they have performed all of the missions, the students switch roles and receive five new missions. The main expected outcomes are that the students can understand simple directions and give clear instructions.

Post task: writing directions (20 minutes)

Students receive a worksheet with the prompt: “How did your partner find the cake?” individually students write down the instructions they gave to their partner during the main task. They are encouraged to use sequencing words, such as first, then, next and finally. This activity allow students to reflect on the oral directions and transfer them into a written form.

A litte tour around the virtual space