The activity that I present here would be included in the section of “Active participation/learning” and would be a part of a didactic unit called “CONSUMERISM: How to go low waste”.
All along such a didactic
unit both, teacher and students, will have already
presented enough relevant
vocabulary and general
information to the class, by means of brainstorming, general
analysis of graphics/statistics, TV adverts (where the
teacher elicit from students the main elements, for example, present
in advertising and where students
will be asked to look for an online advert they like and prepare a little presentation about it in class, among other short tasks). All this as part within the “ANTICIPATION/WARMING
UP” AND “MINI LESSON” sections.
So, I have just said, this activity would be included
in the “ACTIVE PARTICIPATION”
unit, taking into account the 3 basics in UDL (Universal Design of Learning). UDL principals include:
1. MULTIPLE MEANS OF
ENGAGEMENT, where we, teachers, should stimulate
motivation and sustained enthusiasm for learning by promoting various ways of engaging with material.
Here I will start by presenting a video which seems to be curious, interesting or at least, talking about helping the environment in such a way students are not so much used to.
Because our students are already quite used to listening about this topic since they were very little. “Recycling, reusing, reducing”, they are told about the 3 r’s since very little. They know they should, but they are getting bored of hearing about it once and again. Now they have the chance of watching and listening to a girl who gives, somehow, a different perspective about why doing it and how.
The video is short, appealing and easy to understand. By giving the students a few questions before they watch the video, we try to make them focused on certain details. We might ask them to try to answer in advance and, then, see if their expectations were right or wrong.
It would be great if the
students work in groups so that they
will be fulfilling the cooperation principle, which is perfect for our
CLIL lessons.
This is the link of the video:
And these are the questions:
Watch
the video and answer
the questions:
1. When did she
decide to become zero waste?
2. Why?
3. What homemade
product does she talk about?
What are the ingredients?
4. What are the
three first steps to keep in mind if you want to start being zero waste?
5. What type of business/shop/job do you think
Lauren Singer is involved in? Have and guess and then watch the following video to find out.
The video presents a girl talking about how and when she
decided to become “ZERO WASTE”.
Obviously, at that point, we will
have already presented in class the concept
of “low and zero waste” and have some opinions about such a concept
(including pros and cons).
This is a real activity that I have worked with my students
and my students seemed
to be quite interested on it.
After question
number 5, we will play a second
video, where we will see what this “Zero waste girl” is doing to make her living. We will focus on the different products
and ideas that she
presents and how her business is becoming so successful and why.
After having talked in depth about the two videos and concepts presented in the videos, we will move onto the second basic of UDL “MULTIPLE MEANS OF REPRESENTATION”, where information and concepts should be offered through a variety of ways.
Apart from the videos already mentioned, the students will be asked (either in pairs or little groups) to look for some other sustainable business online, paying attention on the products they sell, their prices, physical settlements, earnings, expenses, raw material they might be needing, number of employees, etc.
Each group will then present their findings to the rest of the class with a couple of personal conclusions/opinions about such businesses (if they consider, for instance, if those businesses would be financially worthy and why). By doing this research, students will feel part of their own leaning process and probable also more confident when talking, as they will have chosen their businesses, not the teacher.
The information may be found in written texts online, listening, videos, online magazines or even their own experience in their everyday lives.
By the third UDL principle, “THE MULTIPLE MEANS OF ACTION/EXPRESSION”, students will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their learning in various ways. They will be asked to undertake two different tasks.
The first one, a PRELIMINARY PROJECT (in other words, a draft) upon a hypothetical sustainable business of their own where these sections
should be completed:
1. NAME OF
THE COMPANY AND PRODUCTS YOU SELL (say if you sell one type of product or more, for example, goods, classes,
workshops, courses or outdoor activities, among others).
2. Reasons
why you have chosen this business. What makes you different from other similar
companies within the area
where your business will be
located?
3. Why do you think this business
will work?
3.Physical space that you will need and possible
remodelling that may be
needed.
4.Number of employees
5.TARGET PUBLIC:
characteristics.
6.
LOGO and SLOGAN
and reason why you chose them.
Students will be asked to present a preliminary project as a written draft and, then, they will be working on their “real hypothetical” project and present a powerpoint and their corresponding oral presentation to the rest of the class.
The teacher will be available at any time as “counsellor” or guide for them, trying to minimise his/her input and maximising students’ output. Those students who might have some difficulties or who may feel ashamed about presenting in front of the class could be given the chance to do it either in a different physical space, maybe alone, or even defending their work on a video/audio, depending on their specific needs.
The goal if to empower our students and help them feel comfortable enough to
share their work and findings as a key element in the learning process by interesting and appealing activities.
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