Of all the things that COULD be taught, what MUST be taught?

 

     Some schools have teachers who are going outside the UNOi book, which is good. The book is your guide, your tool. An UNO teacher stimulates and inspires his/her students! The teacher uses questions which encourage critical thinking. Students often work in pairs or small teams. Someday, very soon, paper books will be obsolete. Texts, readings, written work, projections will be completed and submitted via iPads or other generic tablets.

If you are moving ahead in the 21st century, developing some of your own work, here are some ideas for topics and for content. All are compatible with UNO.

It goes without saying that in a CLIL-based language-learning situation, ORAL FLUENCY is the #1 objective. In the 21st Century, if you don’t speak the language, you don’t know the language. A corollary to this statement is that if you only know ONE language, you don’t really know it well.

 

Language Arts: 7th – 12th GRADES:

1. LITERATURE

The teacher with students’ input will select texts.

Teachers will work with a Google SYNOPSIS of each book/novel.

Most of these books have accompanying movies available, which I highly recommend for better student comprehension.

Titles include, but are not limited to, the following books:

• * Park’s Quest                                           * Cricket in Times Square
• * Bridge to Terabithia                              * Journey Home
• * The Cat Ate My Gym Suit                    * My Side of the Mountain
• * I Heard the Owl Call My Name           * Call It Courage
• * A Wrinkle in Time                                 * I, Juan de Pareja
• * Where the Red Fern Grows                 * Holes
• * To Kill A Mockingbird                          * Parvana’s Journey
• * Romeo and Juliet                                  * A Christmas Carol
• * Green Grass of Wyoming                    * The Orient Express
• * White Fang                                            * For Whom The Bell Tolls
• * Frankenstein                                         * The Old Man and the Sea
• * The Fountainhead                                * The Time Machine
• * The Giver                                               * A Short History of Time (S. Hawking)
•  * 1984                                                       * Einstein’s Biography
•  * Poetry of Robert Frost                       * The Epic of Gilgamesh
• * Lassie, Come Home                             * Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
• * The Secret Garden                               * Tangerine
• * Poetry of ee cummings (He spelled his name with small letters.)
• Others, depending on teachers’ interests and students’ abilities

 

 

SPECIFIC TOPICS AND OBJECTIVES TO BE MASTERED:

 

Students will be able to (SWBAT)

• Recognize the major differences among the different genres.
• Identify the plot line in all reading selections.
• Recognize a point of view in any selection.
• Recognize cultural attitudes and customs shown in the readings.
• Recognize, define, and use basic literary terminology.
• Discuss a variety of literary selections and the authors of such.
• Compare incidents from personal experiences to incidents in the readings.
• Use literary models of writing to discuss basic language principles.
• Recognize the development of an overall theme in a literary work.

 

 

2. WRITING SKILLS 7 – 12: Language Arts

Texts: Open….Teachers can choose if they prefer to use a specific text, or not.

General Objective:

Students will advance in fundamentals of English through instruction in spelling, basic grammar, usage, punctuation, vocabulary development, and creative writing.

 

TOPICS AND OBJECTIVES TO BE COVERED:

Students will be able to (SWBAT):

Learn, identify, use correctly, and exhibit adequate knowledge about these topics:

1. The Sentence

• Kinds of sentences
• Complete subject and complete predicate
• Simple subjects and simple predicates
• Finding the subject
• Conjunctions
• Sentence fragments and run-ons

 

2. Nouns

• Kinds of nouns
• Collective and compound nouns
• Singular and plural nouns
• Possessive nouns

 

3. Verbs

• Kinds of verbs
• Verb phrases
• Simple verb tenses
• To be, to have, to do
• Perfect tenses (at B-2 level)
• Irregular verbs
• Progressive forms
• Transitive and Intransitive (at B-2 level)
• Direct and indirect objects
• Subject verb agreement
• Word order in sentences
• Rise, raise; lie, lay; sir, set (at B-2 level)
• Bring, take; let, leave; lend, loan (at B-2 level)

 

4. Modifiers

• Adjective
• Adverbs
• Negatives

 

5. Capitalization and Punctuation

• Correct sentences
• Proper nouns and proper adjectives
• Interjections
• Uses for commas
• Dates, Addresses, and Letters
• Direct Quotations
• Titles
• Semicolons and colons
• Abbreviations
• Apostrophes
• Hyphens, dashes, and parenthesis

 

6. Pronouns

• Pronouns and antecedents
• Personal pronouns
• Subject and object pronouns
• Pronouns in compound subjects and objects (at B-2 level)
• Possessive pronouns
• Interrogative pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Indefinite pronouns
• Reflexive and intensive pronouns (at B-2 level)

 

7: Prepositional phrases

• Prepositional phrases
• Pronouns after prepositions (at B-2 level)
• Adjective phrases
• Adverb phrases
• Placing phrases correctly
• Choosing correct prepositions (at B-2 level)

 

8. Complex Sentences

• Clauses (at B-2 level)
• Compound and complex sentences (at B-2 level)

 

9. Writing a research report (Begin at B-1 level)

10. Creative expression and factual information (Begin at B-1 level)

 

 

    

        3. LISTENING & SPEAKING

General Objective

Students will study formal and informal methods of communication.  Listening skills and speaking skills will be developed, leading to improved fluency, ability to discriminate sounds, and increase the speaking vocabulary.  Speeches, speaking techniques, and listening to appraise and learn will be studied.

 

Major topics and objectives to be practiced

Students will be able to (SWBAT) participate in and demonstrate:

• Expressing and influencing
• Listening to an opinion
• Writing an outline to show planning of an opinion paragraph
• Speaking to express an opinion
• Communication link
• Speaking to persuade, after having read examples of persuasive writing, and after having made an outline of the speech.
• Explaining and informing
• Listening for information
• Speaking: expository / writing an expository paragraph
• Comparing and contrasting
• Use of idioms and recognition of their meanings

 

 

                          Research Skills:

 

Objectives:

Students will develop and apply library and technology skills so they can complete a thorough, original research paper.

 

Topics and objectives to be covered:

 

Student will be able to learn about, develop and complete: (SWBAT)

• Planning for the project, with a suitable title
• Building vocabulary
• Research and study strategies
• Test-taking strategies
• Using technology terms
• Using writer’s tools and tips
• Create a bibliography and use footnotes
• Comparing and contrasting
• Exploring cause and effect
• Expressing valid opinions
• Create a position paper

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This is the end of suggested English expectations to be mastered during Middle School and by the end of 12th grade (high school), IF the student has been in a bilingual program since the first grade of primary school. «BILINGUAL» (to me) means 1/2 day of English, 1/2 day of Spanish or Portuguese, or other first language.

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REFERENCE TEXTS: E-mail me for a FREE copy…                                            juniorbarney1@yahoo.com

1. Grammar for English Teachers by Elaine Gallagher (2nd Edition: 2012) Secretaria de Educacieon y Cultura, Coahuila, Mexico.
2. Grammar Summary by Elaine Gallagher (2015) Secretaria de Educación Pública, Coahuila, Mexico.

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