Main aim – developing students’ crosscultural competence
Objectives :
- To raise students’ awareness of some unusual languages
- To develop listening, reading and speaking skills
- To revise the names of countries and the languages people speak there
- To develop students’ motivation in learning foreign languages
- To encourage students to learn English as a universal means of international communication
1. Brainstorm. Ways of communicating a message
- Speech
- Body language
- Sign language
- _________________
- _________________ (to be completed later with whistle and drum language)
Why do we use so many ways to communicate? (to understand and be understood)
2. Listening/ Video.
You are going to learn something about a very unusual language called Silbo La Gomero. You will see a short movie. [Link1] Say what kind of language that is and whether it is a very popular language in the world or if it can disappear.
*(You may want to introduce some key words – landscape, mountainous, valley, steep mountains, compulsory lessons, to launch, to fade)
Match the words and their definitions.
| Lanscape | A beautiful area of land that artists often paint |
| Mountainous | Covered with mountains |
| Valley | Low area of land between two mountains |
| Steep mountains | The ones that rise quickly and are difficult to climb |
| Compulsory lessons | The ones you must go to |
| to launch | To start a new project |
| to fade | To lose strength, to start to die |
- “The whistle”
- It can disappear
- Watch the movie again and do the task. Choose the correct answer A/B or C.
Choose the correct answer Name _______________________________________
Silbo is spoken in _____.
| A. | The Canary Islands | B. | The Bahamas | C. | Canada |
Silbo contains ___.
| A. | whistles and words | B. | only whistles | C. | whistles and gestures |
People use this language _____.
| A. | to enjoy themselves | B. | to communicate | C. | to entertain tourists |
There are ____ words in Silbo.
| A. | 400 | B. | 400,000 | C. | 4,000 |
This language appeared ______.
| A. | before the fifteenth century | B. | last century | C. | in the 1950s |
It’s an ideal way of communication because _____.
| A. | it can pass a message over a long distance | B. | it’s fun | C. | it is dangerous |
To protect this language ______.
| A. | the government must whistle | B. | tourists must learn the language | C. | children must study Silbo at school |
A special Festival takes place
| A. | once every nine years | B. | once every five years | C. | every year |
3. Let’s check. ABBCAACB
4. Let’s pretend you have just been to the Canary Islands and heard the unusual language. Now you are back and a journalist would like to interview you about your experience.
- What’s the name of the language?
- Where is it spoken?
- How many words does it have?
- How old is it?
- Why is it used?
- How far can the message be carried?
- Is the language developing or dying?
- How can it be protected?
- How often is the Festival?
5. Reading.
A/B students. Students A read the text, Students B make questions and ask them to Students A. [Link 2]
Student A - Drum Language
In the southern part of Ghana, the tonal language of Twi is spoken. When Twi is drummed, the resulting drum language is called ayan. We are going to learn more about an ayan drummer who goes to school in the town of Akropong. His name is Frederick and he studies drum art at school. He has two atumpan drums - one plays the high tone and the other plays the low tone. He plays his high and low drums to match the high and low tonal patterns of his language, Twi.
In Ghana, many schools no longer use bells to signal the beginning and ending of class periods and recess, instead they drum phrases in their language. Everyone at Frederick's school understands the words he is drumming because he plays the words in the context of well known phrases.
Student B
-What/ the boy’s name?
- Where/ he/ live?
- What/ he/ study at school?
- How/ drums/ used at school?
6. Check understanding. Ask Students B
7. Let’s look at the world maap. There are so many countries and people speak different languages. Let’s revise the name of countires and the languages people speak there. (You may like to sing a song about the coutnries – [Link 3])
8. Do we have to know all these languages to understand other people? Which language helps us a lot? (English) First brainstorm, then show the world map which shows the countries where English is an official language.
9. Let’s see how we can communicate and understand each other using English.
Students B - Draw a simple picture of a landscape – it can be the sea or the forest or the mountains. Then add four simple objects that are nice to look at.
Students A – Are not allowed to look into their partner’s picture. Thye sit back to back (A and B students) and after Student B finishes the picture, let them describe the picture so that Student A could draw their own one. Let the students compare the pictures.
10. Homework.
Search for some interesting facts about English.
The Links:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFPY60UceJQ&feature=fvwrel Silbo
- http://www.philtulga.com/Drum%20Language.html Drum Language
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhu72BvgPIk Countries around the world Song