European explorers - understanding

This lesson is fitting for the 7^th grade of ESL learners in the Norwegian school, and the content area is Social Studies and English. This lesson is planned for a 90 minute lesson.

Language objectives

- Make a mind map where you summarize about one European explorer.

- Define what is relevant and useful information to include in the mind map.

- Retell and describe your chosen explorer to the rest of the class by using your mind map.

Content objectives from the Norwegian curriculum:

This lesson focuses on European explorers, their lives and their travels. A relevant competence aim from the Social Studies subject Curriculum after year 7 is to enable pupils to “use historical maps and present trips of discovery and exploration made by Europeans, describe cultural encounters and how the different cultures perceived these encounters” (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2013a). From the English subject curriculum after year 7, the relevant aims are to enable students to “understand and use a vocabulary related to familiar topics, understand the main content of texts one has chosen, read and understand different types of texts of varying length from different sources, and to take notes to create different types of texts” (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2013b).

Relevant websites: 

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nx0oR4XkPk

2. http://europeanexplorers.weebly.com/

3. http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/european-explorers.htm

4. https://bubbl.us/

Lesson plan

The students will sit in groups of three and discuss questions that the teacher presents, before the discussion starts with the whole class. This is a good strategy to activate prior knowledge, and while the students sit in groups the ideas may be seen as the groups ideas and not just one’s own ideas. This might make it easier to share ideas when discussing with the class. Some of the statements can be as follows:

- What is an explorer?

- What defines an explorer?

- Do we know any Norwegian explorers? If so, who where they, and where/what did they explore
- Where the Vikings explorers?

When the questions have been discussed, the focus shifts over to European explorers. As a transition over to the main part of the session, the teacher will show a short YouTube-video (3,5 minutes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nx0oR4XkPk). This first part of the lesson should take approximately 15-20 minutes.

In the main part of the lesson, the students will work on creating a mind map on the website https://bubbl.us/. Each student has a computer available, and is told to visit websites 2 and 3 for information/texts, and website 4 for the mind map tool (see Relevant websites). Website 2 has shorter texts about six different explorers, while website 3 has more information about these 8and other) explorers. The task is for the students to find the relevant information on one European explorer of their own choice, and make a mind map about him. The students may sit in pairs and work together. The students will read the texts, make their mind maps, and prepare what they will say to the rest of the class. If they have time they may also rehearse so they can be more confident when standing in front of the class. The teacher will be available for guidance and help during the process. The teacher should show this list on the SmartBoard so the students know what should be included. Even though they have this list, they still have to define what to include in their mind map.

Bubbl.us mind map should include these points, feel free to include other points as well:

- Where the explorer is from

- Where the explorer traveled/explored

- Why he became an explorer

- What he accomplished

The presentation should not be too long; a brief summary of the explorer is sufficient. The estimation is for the presentation to take about 1-2 minutes per person/group. The teacher will watch and assess the groups, and they should get a short written response on their presentations. This main part of the lesson, with both making the mind map and the presentations is estimated to take about 45-50 minutes, a little bit depending on the group size. The preparation of the mind map and reading is set to take around 20-25 minutes, and the presentations around 25 minutes. 

In the final part of the lesson, when the presentations are done, the students will once again sit in their groups of three. They will discuss if they have any new insights or thoughts about the material. Did they learn anything particular interesting or shocking? They will discuss in their groups, and then in plural in the class. The teacher should listen/guide in the groups in the discussion. The final part should take approximately 10-15 minutes.

Assessment and reflection

During the preparation and the presentations, the teacher will be able to see whether the students are able to work individually/in pairs, whether they engage in the activity or not, and if they understand what they are working on and presenting. This can both be seen on their product, their sentences during the presentation and when working on the mind map. These pointers will help to assess the success of the main activity in this lesson.

During such an activity where the students have to take responsibility for their own progress and the end product, making sure all the students work and focus on the activity might be difficult for the teacher. While one student asks for help and the teacher focuses on this student, other students might lose focus and/or be distracted from their work. This will probably show in the end result, students who have problems concentrating might not be as efficient as those who work well individually or in pairs with this type of task. The English competence of the students might also become a challenge, in the different schools that I have been in either in teacher practice or working this has varied a lot. There might also be great variations in one single class at one school. This is something that the teacher has to be aware of when putting the students into groups and pairs.

I chose these websites (2 and 3) because they have a sufficient amout of information, without the information being to advanced or there being too much information. This is important as the students look for relevant information to include in their mind maps. Both of these websites (2 and 3) include the same explorers, website 2 has six explorers who are all on website 3. This makes the choice of an explorer fairly easy since they have to choose from six explorers, and not all of the ones on website 3. Also, the mind mapping tool, https://bubbl.us/, is a good tool to use since it is very user friendly and easy to use. It is also easy to print the mind maps, and the tool is free to use. 

References:

Utdanningsdirektoratet. (2013a). Social Studies subject curriculum (SAF1-03). Retrieved from http://www.udir.no/kl06/SAF1-03?lplang=eng

Utdanningsdirektoratet. (2013b). English subject curriculum (ENG1-03). Retrieved from http://www.udir.no/kl06/ENG1-03?lplang=eng