• What is topic work?

• How topics can be used as a basis forplanning and organizing languagelearning.

• How to organize topic work.

• The problems and benefits of using topic work.

Topic work is a way of organizingchildren’s learning and languagelearning around topics or themesof interest to the children.

ENGLISH Ats 1-5Adress- What is

it?How are adresses

worked out?

ENGLISH Ats 1-5Colors of front

door, roof, walls, path. Shade, hue

color mixing.ART

ARTDraw, paint

what the houselooks like.

ALL CORE SUBJECTSObserve and

report. Looking in what can be seenthrough a window.

SCIENCE AT 6Construction.

What is it builtfrom- walls, roof.

ENGLISH Ats 1-5Describe orally

and writing, what

the house looks like

MATHS AT 10Shapes- observe

roof, walls, bricks. Name shapes, look

for patterns in buildings, draw.

ART/DESIGN

YOUR

HOUSE

How topics can be used

as a basis for planning

and organizing

language learning.

In the next part , we will see an example of how toplan for topic work. It is not the only way toproceed but it gives you a framework to startfrom, which you can try out in your ownsituation.

Planning for topic work.

• How would you choose a topic and what factorswould influence your choice of topic and activities?

• Which age and language level do you think thetopic would be suitable for?

• Which language-learning activities based on thetopic web would be suitable for the learners youhave in mind?

• Do all the activities in the web involve children in using languaje?

Topic web: Wild animals

Maths

Environmentalscience

Geography

Expressivearts

You can choose a topic by:

Here are some of the factors whichmay influence your choice of

activities:• Pupil’s interests.

• Pupil’s conceptual level.

• Time available to do the topic work.

• Level of language needed for the topic or to do theactivity.

• Level of cognitive challenge.

• Potential for encouraging pupil involvementand participation.

• Pupil’s language needs.

• Resources available to do the activity.

• Syllabus.

• Potential for linking with other activities.

Analysing language/skills/attitudesin learning activities.

Here you have a list of

things you can do once

you have selected a range

of activities. You can:

TASK 2 Sequencing activities.Objectives and activity

Language focus: vocabulary and structures

Skills and functions

Pronunciation Notes

To find and interpretinformation onanimals’ sizesfrom books

Receptive(recycled)Vocabularyrelated to sizeheight, length, numbers in meters and cm deer, wolf

Reading skillsFindingappropiate books.Finding keyinformation aboutanimals’ sizes/heights in library books

Final consonantclusters, eg in length

Links with maths-estimating and measuring skills.Organization: in pairs and thencompare answers.

Activity: Make and describe animaginary animal.

Objectives and activity

Language focus: vocabulary and structures

Skills and functions

Pronunciation Notes

To make animaginaryanimal fromgiven bodyparts.

Productive(recycled)Names of animals: deer, tiger, eagle,

ManipulationskillsDecision makingOral skillsListening skillsCollaboratingwith other pupils.

Pronuntiationof possessive‘s, eg deer’s, elephant’s.

Art work, eg makean animal bysticking togetherdifferent parts of different animals.Organization: work in smallgroups.

-Cat’s head-Camel’s body-Scorpion’s tail

Imaginary Animal

Guidelines for sequencing

TASK 3 Identifying outcomes foractivities.

• In topic work, pupils learn how to worktogether, how to find out information, how tomanage their work and present it.

• The emphasis is on the process of learning and so we could say that one outcome is the developmentof process skills.

Starting points for topic work

Here are three starting points for thetopic work.

• Consider the advantageand disadvantage of each one.

How to organize topic work.• There can be a lot of

work involved in organizing topic work. So it is best to startsmall. Begin with a small project that takesonly two or threelessons, perhaps linkedto your coursebook.

• If it is successful, thiswill give youconfidence to try a slightly longer project.

• In the following partswe will consider youneed to decide ororganize in planning fortopic work.

• What materials do I need?Decide what materials you need to

carry out the activities.

To reduce the burden of making

materials, think about how the children

can help. What can they bring to class?

• Monitoring and recordingchildrens’ progress.

Keep records of how children work

(learning process) as well as of the

outcomes of their work during. If

time is limited, just monitor a few

activities closely and keep brief

notes on each child.

• Classroom organization.Decide how you will organize pupils

foreach activity, remembering to varyways of working in a lesson, eg wholeclass pair-group-individual wholeclass.

• How to group children?For group work you need to think about howto group children. This can be according to:

-friendship

-ability

-mixed ability

-shared interest.

Change your groupings from time to time so children get a chance to work with differentchildren and are not labelled as belonging toa weak or a strong group.

The problems and benefits of using topic work.

Lets see which conditions are particularlysupported by topic work and let us also look at some of the problems which may prevent topicwork from creating these conditions.

• Create a real need and desire to use english

• Provide exposure to varied and meaningful input with a focus on communication

• Create a friendly atmosphere in which pupils can take risks and enjoy their learning

• Provide opportunities for children to experiment with their new lenguage

• Provide plenty of oppotunities to practiseand use the language in different contexs

• Help children notice the underlying pattern in language

Problems: