Faculty of education department of english language and literature

II Practical Part

Unfortunately, the activities designed in the practical part were not piloted in a classroom even though that had been the author’s original intention. Most of the music teachers are still unwilling to take the “risk” of speaking English in their classes.

1. Musical Instruments

Note: the numbers of chapters and subchapters in the practical part correspond with the numbers of chapters and subchapters in the Appendix (e.g. the following chapter “1.1. Activating” matches the chapter “1.1. Activating” in the Appendix etc.).

1. Activating

Before every competition students can think of a special task for the team(s) that lost. These tasks are written on pieces of paper and after the activity the losing team draws a task which they must fulfil. These tasks could be music-related (e.g. mime an orchestra, sing any song by Rolling Stones, act out a scene from Grease, etc.) or general (mime an animal, do 10 press-ups, etc.). If a teacher does not like the idea of special task for the losing team, it might be dropped out or replaced with a reward for winning team.

Learners work in small groups and try to think of as many English names for musical instruments as they can. The time limit is set and students are encouraged to use English only while working in the groups. Afterwards, learners should write all the musical instruments on the board so that the spelling can be checked and corrected. Also the right pronunciation should be checked and practiced. The teacher makes sure that learners understand all the words written on the board in order to avoid any confusion. The new vocabulary should be also supplemented by pictures. Many students might know the names of musical instruments but they should be also able to match the name with the right visual form.

If the students know around 10 musical instruments or more, it is a sufficient amount for the next step. If however the class cannot come up with more than five musical instruments, then the teacher can provide some words which are similar to Czech (e.g. clarinet, harmonica, tambourine, tuba etc.). The right pronunciation should be practiced carefully because students will be influenced by Czech pronunciation.

In the next part of the activity learners practice the thinking skills of comparing and contrasting. They try to find some similarities and differences among all the instruments written on the board and sort them out into categories of their own choice. The maximum number of categories can be agreed on (depending on the total number of instruments). The teacher encourages learners to think of similarities and differences of the musical instruments they know. It can be demonstrated on some instruments available in the music room or some videos can be played to help students brainstorm the criteria.

Each group organizes their musical instruments in a graphic organizer according to the chosen criteria. If students are not used to working with graphic organizers, a short introduction will be necessary. The teacher can show students some examples of different graphic organizers and ask them why they might be beneficial and what their purpose might be. Students can discuss some advantages and disadvantages of graphic organizers. Some points can be written on the board and after the task has been finished, the class can discuss the points again. Students think of a type of graphic organizer which might be best for completing their task – they can work with a template or create a graphic organizer of their own.

After completing the task, each group should present their final product to the rest of the class. Some rules for the presentation can be set beforehand (time limit, number of students presenting, use of mother tongue, etc.).

There is a short assessment time after all the groups have presented their work. First, student discuss which presentation they liked most and why. They can also comment on anything else they found interesting or inspiring. And then students also discuss whether they liked working with graphic organizers or not (what was easy, what was difficult, what could be done better next time, etc.). This could be also done as a quick classroom survey – the teacher asks questions (e.g. who finds working with graphic organizers easy, who wants to work with graphic organizers more often, etc.) and students vote.

These short reflections can be done during or after any activity. Students learn to express their impressions or likes and dislikes, they practice formulating their thoughts and stating them out loud and they also learn to reflect on their own work.

1. Guiding understanding

1. 
   Jigsaw learning
   

For this particular activity students are divided into 5 groups of 5 students. If there are more learners in the class, some groups need to consist of more than 5 learners. If there are less than 25 learners in the class, students work in four groups and the fifth part of the text (table 1.E. in the Appendix) is discussed later on with the whole class (the teacher explains that the original classification comprised 4 groups of musical instruments and the fifth group was added in the 20^th century).

First, students are divided into groups. Each group studies their part of the text (tables 1.A. to 1.E. in the Appendix). Learners discuss the unknown words and are encouraged to guess the meaning from the context. If they cannot decode the meaning and it is a key word, the teacher can help by miming or by providing a synonym or an English explanation. Students sometimes get upset if they do not understand every single word in a text. However, the teacher explains that it is not necessary to translate every word into Czech in order to understand the main points. The teacher also helps with the right pronunciation of the unknown words.

This part of the activity works with thinking skills of understanding and remembering above all. Students should try to remember as much information as they can because in the next phase they will not be allowed to work with the texts. Within their group students can also practice presenting the information from the text in a comprehensible way – they should not learn the long sentences by heart but use rather short and clear utterances so that their classmates understand them.

Then students work with the list of musical instruments below the text and decide which instruments belong to their group (using the thinking skills of comparing, contrasting and categorizing). At this point, the teacher checks pronunciation of the musical instruments. It is important to drill the correct pronunciation before students start to work with the list. This way, the danger of acquiring mispronounced versions of new words can be avoided. Learners should not have much trouble understanding the musical instruments vocabulary as many names in English are similar to their Czech equivalents. Learners write down the musical instruments which they think belong to their category; they will need these answers later on. The main goal of this task is that students need to analyze the information from the text and apply the theoretical knowledge in a practical activity.

Learners then form new groups – in each new group there is one member from all five former groups (i.e. there is one member from group A, one from B, one from C, one from D and one from E). All students share what they learnt from their texts. Here, learners practice their speaking skills above all but they should also make sure that their audience understands what they are saying. They might need to reformulate or simplify some parts of their speech which their classmates do not understand. During this activity, learners should use English only.

After all the learners within a group have spoken, they look at the list of musical instruments again and discuss which instrument belongs to which category. They might use their notes from earlier and compare their answers but in the end they have to decide on one category for each musical instrument. Only English is allowed during this discussion. This part of the task is designed to practice students’ speaking skills as well as their thinking skills of comparing, contrasting and categorizing. The group should also be able to justify their answers. The final product of this activity can be a graphic organizer or a simple table (whichever the learners are more comfortable with). The tables or graphic organizers are then displayed for other learners to see and compare their answers. Students might be asked to explain why they placed the particular instrument into the particular category. The teacher reveals the right answers and clarifies any doubts students can have.

The reflection is done in small groups which are the same as the original groups for the jigsaw activity. In these groups students discuss some aspects of their oral presentations when they were supposed to present their part of the texts to their classmates. The teacher writes some questions on the board – this is the outline for the discussion (there are some examples in the chapter 1.2. point 5 of the Appendix). This reflection activity should help students think of their speaking skills and their ability to make their speaking understandable.

The last part of all this jigsaw learning is done in the original groups as well. Students try to fill in the gapped text (table 1.G. in the Appendix). For completing this task learners need the information they learnt from their group mates during the sharing part. It tests how attentive they were while listening to their peers. If the task is too difficult, the teacher can provide the words which should be filled in and students match them with the right sentences. Finally, students get all the texts (tables 1.A to 1.E. in the Appendix) and they can check the right answers.

After finishing the last task, students might be assigned homework (e.g. they have to study all the texts carefully and practice the right pronunciation of the unknown words or they have to make sure that they will be able to match the names of the musical instruments with the right pictures, etc.).

2. 
   Posters
   

At the beginning, students are shown the evaluation grid (table 1.H. in the Appendix). The teacher explains that the posters will be assessed by the classmates according to this evaluation rubric. The teacher makes sure that students understand all the points in the rubric. This way, students know what will be assessed and what they should concentrate on while working on the posters. Students might also add more criteria to the assessment rubric if they can think of any.

Before the group work begins, the teacher can inform students that their participation and cooperation with their group mates will be assessed after the activity. The classroom is divided into 5 groups and each group works on one category of musical instruments. Each group can agree on which category they want to work with but if this causes some disputes among learners, they might be made to pick a category randomly. Learners take the information from the texts they worked with in the previous activity (tables 1.A. to 1.E. in the Appendix). If they want to add more information or some interesting facts they can use other resources as well (books, web pages, encyclopaedias, etc.). However, learners should be reminded that if there is too much text on the poster, nobody wants to read it. The teacher walks around, supports the group cooperation and reminds students to use English as much as possible. The main goal of this activity is not only to create a poster but also to encourage cooperation and group working.

When students finish, all the posters are displayed on a visible place in the classroom. Each student is given four assessment rubrics. Learners assess all the posters except the one they worked on. The assessment is done by assigning points (three, two or one) for each item in the rubric. The poster which gets the maximum number of points is the winner, the group with the minimum points can be assigned a “special task” (see chapter 1.1. Activating). Students can also shortly discuss the posters in detail – which one they like best and why or what was the most challenging part while creating the posters, etc.

After this activity, every student gets a self-assessment grid (table 1.I. in the Appendix). This grid is designed to help students reflect on their own work while creating the posters. Students should realize that besides reaching the common goal (the poster) there are other important aspects of group work they have to keep in mind (respecting others, cooperating with everyone, praising and supporting group mates, etc.). This rubric is general and therefore can be used for assessment after every group activity. Students can check their progress in time and see whether they are good team players or whether they need to work on their cooperative skills.

1. Focus on language

1. 
   Vocabulary from the text
   

Then, learners try to fill in the right words from the previous part of this activity into a gapped text (table 1.K. in the Appendix). They check their answers in pairs.

A short reflection follows. The class is divided into small groups where learners discuss the previous activity in terms of vocabulary (which words are easy/difficult to remember). Learners also discuss what helps them remember a particular word better than the other and how they study the vocabulary (as single words, in phrases, in context, etc.). After the discussion in groups, students share their ideas with the whole class. The ideas can be written on the board and the teacher explains that these are called learning strategies. The teacher can also suggest some other learning strategies which students might want to try out. Learners can also take tests (online or printed out by the teacher) which help them identify their learning styles. There are usually different strategies suggested for each learning styles which might be inspiring for learners.

Learners might be assigned homework to choose one of the learning strategies which was discussed in the lesson and which they do not normally use to study the new vocabulary.

2. 
   Musical instruments vocabulary
   

Quite a few names of musical instruments were listed in the jigsaw learning (see chapter 1.2. Guiding understanding) so learners might remember at least some of them. For this activity, the teacher prepares flashcard with pictures of musical instruments (the name could be written on the other side or on separate flashcards). If there is a computer and a screen available in the classroom, the pictures can be also projected on the screen. The class is divided into two competing groups. A picture of one musical instrument is shown or projected and the first group provides the name in English or Czech or both. If the answer is wrong, the other group gets a chance to answer. The teacher makes sure that any mispronounced words are corrected. The written form of the word is eventually revealed as well.

In the next phase, the pictures are shown again one by one and students get points individually for every right answer. The best competitor can assign a short task for the rest of the class. This activity can be also done in a written form – students work individually but write their answers into their notebooks. Then they switch the notebooks with one of the classmates who checks the right answers. Each learner then chooses one word which he or she finds the most difficult to remember and practices its pronunciation and spelling individually.

The class is divided into two groups again (this division might be different from the previous one). All names of the musical instruments are written separately on slips of paper. This time, no visual support is available – learners practice their ability to recall the right picture for the particular name. One student from the first group draws a slip of paper from the pile and he or she has a 1-minute time limit to draw it on the board. His or her group mates guess the name of the instrument. If their guess is right, they get a point; if their guess is wrong, the other group can guess. Students take turns drawing and the winning group can assign a music task for the losers.

Note that the grammar which repeats a lot in this topic is the passive voice (the sound is made, the instrument is played, etc.). This is something which can be explained by the language teacher and practiced in language lessons.

4. Focus on speaking

The teacher asks students which words and phrases they would use while describing a musical instrument. Students brainstorm the vocabulary in small groups. Then, the teacher explains that all the single-word vocabulary will be written on the board in an organized way – according to words classes. The teacher asks students what word classes are and which they know. Students can provide answers in Czech and the teacher translate the key words (nouns, adjectives, verbs) into English and write them on the board. Students think of their lists of vocabulary and try to sort it out according to the given categories. The words are written on the board. If the word belongs to more categories it is written in all of them. The phrases and longer expressions are written into separate columns.

If some students do not understand an expression on the board, the student who provided it explains its meaning. The teacher then adds some more expressions which students will probably not be familiar with and provides an explanation. The list of vocabulary could be found in table 1.L. in the Appendix. The vocabulary can be organized into similar table or into any other suitable form. It should be visible on the board during the game so that students can actually use the vocabulary while speaking.

Students split into two groups (can be also three) who compete against each other. All the musical instruments are written on separate slips of paper, folded and put into a container (e.g. a basket). Students toss a coin to see which group will go first. One student from the first groups draws a strip of paper and reads it. He or she can think for a few seconds how to describe the word on it; when they are ready, the one-minute time limit starts. The student describes the word to his or her group mates. If they guess the right word, the student can draw another word and describe that too. One student can draw as many words as he or she manages in the time limit, provided their group mates’ guess is right. The pantomime should be avoided because the main task in this game is speaking. And students are not allowed to use Czech either (the penalization for using Czech might be agreed on before the game).

When all the words have been guessed, the groups count their point. Then, all the slips of paper are folded again and returned to the container. The losing group starts the second round, where students can only use two words to describe the musical instrument written on the paper. There is also the third round, where students mime the musical instruments without using any words. As this activity focuses primarily on speaking, the second and third rounds of the game do not have to be played in the lesson.

As a quick review of this game, the teacher can ask each student to name one thing they learnt while playing this game. It could be language related, content related or anything else (e.g. I learnt to play a new game today.).

Students are assigned homework to study the vocabulary which was used for the game (students can be given the table 1.L. from the Appendix) and be ready to use it in the next session.

5. Focus on writing

Each student gets three or four cards on which they write words related to the topic. Each student should write one noun, one verb or adjective and one phrase. The forth card can be a wild card where students can write any other word they like (related to the topic or not). The teacher can also prepare his or her own cards with names of popular singers or musicians or the names of students and throw them in.

Students pair up and each pair gets 5 cards which they choose at random. They need to write the longest sentence possible using all five words. Before this task, students might need to be reminded the basic structure of an English sentence (subject, verb, object). The sentence structure could be taught and practiced in the language lessons as well.

Before the following task, the teacher can quickly remind students of the word order of English questions. The question formation can be also practiced in language lessons. In this activity, students are assigned to create mock tests for their classmates. There should be at least five items in each test. Student can create open questions or unfinished sentences based on the texts on five categories of musical instruments (tables 1.A. to 1.E. in the Appendix). The teacher walks around the classroom and helps students when necessary. When the tests are ready, students swap them in pairs and try to answer the questions individually. They are given some time to do so. Then, students are allowed to mingle and ask their classmates to help them with some questions or sentences which they were not able to answer on their own (they are not allowed to ask the creator of the test). Then, the most tricky or unclear questions can be discussed with the whole class. The teacher asks students what marks they would probably get for the mock test they just took and whether they would be happy with this mark.

The next activity serves as a writing exercise as well as a preparation for the final exam. Each student is given a picture of musical instrument and the teacher explains that students should write as much information as they can about the instrument. In fact, the same picture is always given to two students in the class so that they can compare their writing later. The outline of the writing should be displayed on the board. Each point in the outline can represent a paragraph. The more specific the outline is, the easier it is for students to write the information. So if the outline says “description” students will probably provide less information than for the same item labelled “material, shape and colour”. The teacher emphasizes that a description should be written in present simple and remind students that the third person singular verb ends with an “-s”. After they finish writing, students are told to find a partner who has the same picture. Students compare their description and discuss what they have written differently or what they forgot to describe.

The teacher emphasizes that a similar task will most probably occur in the final exam and encourages students to study again if they are uncertain about some points.

6. Assessment, review and feedback

Learners should be aware of what will be tested and assessed so they are given a chance to study the assessment rubric in advance (table 1.M. in the Appendix). Learners read the items in the rubric and try to asses themselves. The teacher encourages them to write a sincere self-assessment because it might help them define the strengths and weaknesses and thus they know what to work on.

Students then work in small groups. They can share their self-assessment rubrics with the group if they are willing. If they do not want to share, they discuss how they study for a final test and what helps them learn the most difficult points. The ideas can be also shared in a whole-class discussion. The teacher can also suggest some tips for studying, reminding students of different learning styles and strategies.

Learners are given appropriate time to revise and study the topic before they are tested. The teacher should inform learners what the test will look like (e.g. by creating some example questions).

The final test can consist of written part and spoken part. For the written part, the teacher can get inspiration in some questions and unfinished sentences students were supposed to create in one of the previous activities (chapter 1.5. Focus on writing). If the open questions are too difficult for the learners, they can be replaced by multiple choice questions. For the speaking part, students can get a picture of a musical instrument and describe it in as much detail as possible. This activity was already practiced in writing (chapter 1.5. Focus on writing) so students should be familiar with it.

The self-assessment rubric (table 1.M. in the Appendix) can be used for the teacher’s assessment as well (with the first person sentences changed into the third person). The first section (“Collaborative learning”) cannot be assessed during the final exam unless there is a group work assigned to students. The group work could be carefully monitored by the teacher throughout the whole topic and the assessment provided continuously for individual learners. While assessing, the teacher should always start with the positive points and with praising. The week points should be presented carefully and with respect to the learner’s feelings. Students could be also asked to bring their self-assessment rubric. The teacher and the student can compare their rubrics and discuss some parts where their assessment differs.

7. Additional activities

There are three activities described below. These are designed as separate activities which are not connected with one another. Teachers might want to choose just one of them for their lessons.

The first activity focuses mainly on speaking. Half of the learners gets the cards with facts on them and the other half gets the pictures of the instruments. The task is to find which picture belongs to which text. Students are not allowed to show the pictures and texts to each other, they can only ask yes/no questions in English. Before the activity, students should be reminded what yes/no questions are and how they are formed. This first step of the activity focuses on speaking skills and it activates the thinking skills of understanding, deducing and analyzing the information.

When learners find the right pair, the teacher plays the recording of an instrument (without the visual part) and students try to decide whether it is their instrument or not. After a while, the video is shown and students can confirm whether their guess was right or wrong. This activity aims to develop students’ listening competence and their perception of sounds of different musical instruments.

In the second activity students can demonstrate how creative and original they can be. Learners can work in pairs or small groups. Each group randomly chooses a card with the information about an instrument and learns the facts about it. Then, they think of a creative way to present the instrument to their classmates. Simple stating of the facts should be avoided. Learners can act out a performance, sing and dance or use any other attractive way to present the instrument. This activity can also be turned into a longer project (e.g. students can create a video if a camera is available at school). It can develop basically any kind of skills depending on the type of performance students choose to do.

Learners should also agree in advance on the aspects of presentations which will be assessed (originality, facts included, length, using correct language, etc.). This can be discussed at the very beginning and a simple assessment rubric can be created based on the discussion. Then, students may assess the presentations of their peers according to the rubric.

Before the last activity, the pictures of the musical instruments are placed on visible spots around the classroom. Students walk around and watch all the pictures. Each student then chooses one picture. On the other side of each picture there can be numbers or instructions how to find partners for the following work. Students form small groups or pairs (depending on the number of students in the class). In the groups, each student talks about his or her picture – why they chose it, the description of the instrument, etc. Each group then decides which single instrument they want to work with in the next step. They are given the card with the facts about the chosen instrument and carefully read it.

The main task of this activity is to take the facts from the card and transform them into a graphic organizer or a poster. It should be informative as well as appealing. The unknown words from the cards should be replaced by synonyms which are comprehensible for other students. Each group also think of at least two statements which they write on separate cards. The statements can be true or false and the answer must be found in the poster. The finished posters are displayed visibly around the classroom and the statements collected by the teacher. Students carefully read all the posters and try to remember as much facts as possible.

Each student is given two cardboard circles (one is red and one is green, or there is a YES on one and NO on the other). The teacher reads the statements one by one and students answer whether it is true or false using the cardboard circles. If there is a voting software available in the classroom it can be used instead of the circles. Although students are supposed to remember some facts from the posters, this activity focuses on short-term memory only. Learners are not expected to learn the information. This activity is mostly for fun.

8. Designed activities in the context of RVP ZV

The learning competency is developed through activities where students are asked to classify or systematise the information; especially working with graphic organizers helps students identify the important information and organize it in a systematic way. All the “reflection activities” described above are a crucial tool in developing learning competency. Through self-assessment rubrics students learn to think about their own learning, assess it critically and learn to take responsibility for their own learning. In fact, all the parts where students are asked to reflect on their own work (classroom discussions, group discussions, sharing learning strategies, etc.) aim to develop learning competency.

When reflecting on their own work, students learn to identify problems and work on solutions. When sharing learning strategies, students learn to help one another find better ways to solve a problem. The self-assessment rubrics are very effective tools of problem-solving. Students learn to think of their own work or results, identify problems and think of possible solutions in future, thus developing the problem-solving competency.

Communicative competency is built in group-work above all. While working on a poster or sharing information in a jigsaw activity, students learn to listen to each other, cooperate and argue appropriately. While participating in classroom discussions, students also learn to respect some communication rules (taking turns, listen to their peers, express themselves coherently and in a cultivated manner, etc.) and express their ideas and opinions in a clear way. While presenting their work (graphic organizers, posters) or sharing information (jigsaw activity), students learn to perceive the reactions of their audience.

The group-work activities are also a great tool to enhance social and personal competency. Students practice effective cooperation in group, they try to create a friendly atmosphere in the team and they all work towards the common goal. The group discussions and classroom discussions work towards social and personal competency as well.

Since the activities are designed for music lessons, they help students get a positive attitude towards works of art, thus aiming to develop one aspect of the civic competency.

The professional competency is enhanced especially through self-assessment rubrics and evaluation grids. Students learn to evaluate their own results as well as the results of their classmates. When participating on designing the evaluation rubrics, students learn to identify, evaluate and assess the important parts of one’s work.