View Content #25161

By Ngan Vu, CASLS Fellow

This activity is designed to promote increased learner relevance within an existing curriculum. This activity exemplifies how current events could be used as an evaluation tool in lieu of a chapter test to promote deep understanding of a targeted language function. In this case, the language function is making predictions. This activity is most appropriate for Intermediate Mid to Intermediate High learners.

Learning Objective: Students will be able to:

• Make predictions based on their self-selected current events within a shared theme.  

Mode: Interpretive

Materials Needed: Supplementary Vocabulary Handout, Inquiry Instructions Handout, Project Guidelines Handout

Procedures:

1. Identify the chapter in your textbook in which students learn to make predictions.  
2. In accordance with the tenets of backwards design, conceptualize a project in which learners would use investigation of current events to promote their understanding and performance of the ability to make predictions. This Project Guidelines Handout provides a good example of one such activity. In addition to conceptualizing the project, it would be good to identify 5-6 current events that the learners might explore as part of the project in this step.
3. Create questions to guide students in their inquiry of the current events. The Inquiry Instructions Handout provides an example of what a handout with these questions might look like.
4. Next, consider whether or not to supplement the chapter’s preexisting vocabulary list to promote the acquisition of more specific vocabulary related to the current events you have chosen. Create the list of vocabulary if you need it and any handouts to supplement the vocabulary instruction.
5. Finally, write your daily lesson plans. These plans will include direct instruction and contextual analysis of relevant vocabulary (see the Supplementary Vocabulary Handout for some ideas) and the future tense, activities that will scaffold the learners through their research of the current events as well as their presentation of the events, and will likely involve both text book resources and resources you have created.

Notes/Modifications:

This activity is easily adaptable provided that the final project matches the targeted language function(s). For example, while our examples involve using current events related to technological innovation to make predictions of what will happen in the future, historical events could be used to promote understanding and performance of the ability to narrate in the past.