THIS MARKET IS MUTE!

YOU CAN ONLY BUY GROCERIES AND STUFFS BY WRTING WHAT YOU WANT

FROM THE MERCHANT.

WRITE SENTENCES TO COMPLETE YOUR

PURCHASES FROM THIS MARKET.

HI! WELCOME TO THE MUTE MERMAID MARKET. ALL THE MERCHANTS HERE

DON’T TALK SO YOU HAVE TO WRITE IN FULL SENTENCES TO BUY THINGS!

HAVE FUN SHOPPING!

ACTIVITY INTRODUCTION

Mute Mermaid Market is a task-based activity for students to use the subject-verb-object structure of sentence. These sentences are simple so bear in mind that students are constructing these sentences with the minimal knowledge of the said sentence structure. Each student will be given tasks which are detailed in the examples below and to complete these tasks, they have to write their way in the market to reach certain goals.

Example of task card:

The task cards are divided into colours to denote which category of groceries they belong to.

TASKYOUR MUM NEEDS A BUNCH OF CELERIES AND TOMATOES FOR SALAD. YOUR MUM

ALSO FORGETS HER USUAL HER THOUSAND ISLAND SAUCE SO MAKE SURE TO BUY IT!

CLUE: YOU CAN FIND CELERIES AND TOMATOES AT THE FRESH VEGETABLES

CORNER!

TASKYOUR MUM NEEDS SOME CURRY POWDER AND POTATOES FOR HER CURRY DISH. BUY

SOME COCONUT MILK TOO!HERE’S HOW CURRY POWDER LOOKS LIKE:

GREEN

VEGETABLESAND FRUITS

ORANGE

HERBS AND SPICES

SILVER

FISH AND SEAFOODS

RED

MEAT AND CHICKEN

BROWN

GROCERIES (RICE, SUGAR, SALT)

BLUE

FROZEN FOODSTUFFS (ICE CREAM,

NUGGETS, HOT DOGS)

TASK CARD 1 TASK CARD 2

As you can see from the task card example, Task Card 1 is meant for intermediate students where the clue given are just the needed information to complete the task while Task Card 2 which contains more info is specially meant for low-proficiency students who’s vocabulary might be limited. For above average students, they will perform their task with minimal hint.

The classroom setting:

Take an example of the mermaid market like below:

Teacher can create a market-like setting by dividing the class into sections. For a more student-centered approach, teacher can elect a committee to handle the market decoration and each section will have a manager. To make the activity livelier, the teacher can encourage students to bring dishes suitable for each section and it will be like a potluck!

The Teacher’s Role:

The teacher should act as a facilitator to help students while constructing the sentences during their ‘purchase’. The teacher should also be an enforcer and constantly remind the students that they are to write down in complete sentences. However, the teacher should also clearly state that the activity only restricts verbal communication with the merchants and not their friends. Therefore, students can ask their friend for help when needed.

Learning standard

These are the proposed learning standards:

3.1.1 Able to write in neat legible print words, phrases and simple sentences.

3.2.2 Able to write simple sentences with guidance.

3.2.3 Able to punctuate correctly capital letters, full stop and question mark.

Learning outcomes

These are the proposed learning outcomes for this activity

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to

1. Write correct simple sentences to purchase items in the mute market activity

2. Complete 5 task cards during the activity

3. Buy the correct items without any mistakes

Justification

This activity leans towards the philosophy of Communicative Language Teaching

where communication with the language provides the best practice in language learning.

Although the activity limits the communication to only written communication, peer to peer

interaction still occurs. I am expecting students to ask their friends on how to spell certain

vegetables and fruits and also ask their friends to check their sentences first before giving it

to the ‘merchant’. This activity takes into account the authenticity of the language presented.

Therefore, by undergoing this activity, students will be able to use simple sentences to

demonstrate the information they want to convey. Thus this activity is suitable for any

integration of reading, listening and speaking and ultimately writing lesson.

This activity is meant for intermediate students as generally all the task cards contain

hints to help students in accomplishing the tasks. However, the activity can be adjusted to

suit the low proficient as well as the advanced learners. An example of this tweak is addition and reduction. For an addition, the task cards are provided with more information to help

weaker students to complete the task. By doing so, they are more motivated to carry on with

the activity because they can accomplish the task. The teacher here will at first guide these

weak students to understand the task and undergo the procedure so that the students can

familiarise with the content. After the students are able to complete the tasks with ‘added’

hints, the teacher can provide task cards with lesser hints which are meant for intermediate

students. This gradual increase in difficulty will help weaker students to participate in this

activity.

Reduction is needed when the class is formed mostly of advanced learners. The

hints on the tasks cards are reduced to add challenge to the activity. They will have to use

their HOTS (high order thinking skills) to complete the task which includes identifying where

the items needed are sold, buying in the quantity that the provided money allows and many

more. This will add on to the difficulty so that students will be able to use their cognitive

thinking skills during the activity.

For the remedial version of this activity, the teacher can create specific task cards

that contain either a cloze sentence or a skeleton outline of the writing. This will guide

weaker students to complete their task with guide. For instance of the card,

TASKYOUR MUM NEEDS A BUNCH OF CELERIES AND TOMATOES FOR SALAD. YOUR MUM

ALSO FORGETS HER USUAL HER THOUSAND ISLAND SAUCE SO MAKE SURE TO BUY IT!

CLUE: YOU CAN FIND CELERIES AND TOMATOES AT THE FRESH VEGETABLES

CORNER!

TASKYOUR MUM NEEDS A BUNCH OF CELERIES AND TOMATOES FOR SALAD. GO TO THE FRESH VEGETABLES CORNER TO GET YOUR

CELERIES AND TOMATOES.

REMEMBER:

YOU CAN WRITE:

1. DO YOU HAVE ______?

2. I WANT___ TOMATOES/CELERIES, PLEASE.

3. HOW MUCH IS THE ____? (TOMATOES OR CELERIES)

INTERMEDIATE TASK CARDS

REMEDIAL TASK CARDS

For enrichment, the teachers can add in more challenges such as adding in time

limit, giving limited money to buy things and even the teacher can ask students to write

about their experience during the activity. As enrichment is usually for advanced learners,

they can criticize on the activity so the teacher can have them writing down the benefits they

get from the activity as well as the weakness of the activity besides providing suggestions for

improvement.

This activity integrates with other language skills such as reading, listening and

speaking which is ideal for a holistic learning experience. The activity is considered fun so

the task is not to dry for the students but rather a pleasant challenge for them. It also has

cross-curricular elements where they need to calculate the price of the items they bought so

that the money given is enough. This brings in the Mathematics into English Language so

students are not only required to write in English but to speak and listen as well as to count.

Therefore, it must not be forgotten that this is a contextualized lesson. So on the

topic of ‘Myths’, the market can be done in the context of mermaid-market where the

students will have to imagine if mystical creatures such as the mermaid were to shop for

daily groceries. Well, it is fun to think that mermaid also cooked curry and fried noodles, isn’t

it? This activity will certainly grasp the attention and interest of the class because they have

a character to indulge which is a mermaid and a context to explore which is to shop for

groceries at the mermaid market.

All in all, this activity is my own epitome of fun in learning English especially in a

writing lesson. Writing usually sucks dry all the interest of students because the traditional

methods are so focused on the structure that a real expression of idea could not happen.

But with this kind of fun learning, I do hope that the connotation of writing being a boring

lesson can be wiped off.