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| 3/11/2010 |  | |||||
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Underwater World
This unit should take 3-6 hours, depending on time, interest, and extension activities. It is designed for intermediate level students age 12 and above. Objectives Students will: Materials to Print Activities Activity I: Creating an Underwater World (20 minutes) Ask students to imagine and draw an underwater world. They should give the scene a title and label the picture with the English word for each object. Students can use the dictionary or Internet to help them label the things they put in their picture. Have students presente their drawings to the class. Put the pictures on display. If they do not want to draw, simply ask them to describe their imagined underwater scenes. Activity II: Pre-reading (15 minutes) Hand out copies of Printout I. Divide students into four groups and ask them to go through the list, underlining words they do not know. Give the class 10 minutes to find the definitions, using any resources they think of using (dictionary, each other, Internet). Once the time limit has passed, read out definitions for each word and ask students to call out which word you are defining. The group to call out the correct word first gets a point. The group with the most points at the end wins. For example, for "atmospheric pressure" say, "how we measure the weight of our surroundings that are constantly pushing on us." For "decompression sickness" say, "an illness you can get while SCUBA diving when you come up to the surface too quickly." Activity III: Reading: Bottom Exploration (20 minutes) Put students in small groups and hand out copies of Printout II. Ask students to read aloud to each other, stopping at the end of each paragraph, if necessary, to ask questions about the text. Then have students answer the comprehension questions in small groups. Activity IV: Diving Deeper (30 minutes) Have the same groups choose a submersible mentioned in the text that they would like to know more about. The following website should provide them with information and links to other sites: Ocean Planet. Make sure that each group researches different submersibles so that they have different information to share with the class. Bring the groups together and ask them to explain the advantages of their submersibles. (Lists can include: time underwater, submersion depth, number of people it can carry, where it has gone recently, and who has used it) Activity V: Grammar (20-30 minutes) Stand behind your desk and ask students to tell you where you are. Then stand in front of your desk and ask again. Repeat this as many times as you like, getting the students to call out different prepositions (behind, in front of, next to, above, under). Write the prepositions they call out on the board. Then ask what all the words have in common (they are all prepositions). Review prepositional phrases, explaining that they act as adjectives or adverbs and describe locations in time and space. Point out that they often answer the questions when and where. Hand out copies of Printout III. Ask students to fill in the blanks with the prepositions provided. They should then write a sentence with the remaining prepositions, adding to the paragraph about a family vacation. Once they finish, play preposition charades. Students take turns to act out a preposition while other students guess what it is. If they are enjoying this game, add in vocabulary words as well. (Answers: in, about, on, in, across, to, on, at, at, near, into, with, in, Since) Activity VI: Reading: SCUBA (20 minutes) Hand out copies of Printout IV. Have students read the creative passage to themselves or in pairs. As they read, ask them to underline the prepositional phrases they run across. When they finish, have them count the phrases. Any student who finds over 50 wins! Activity VI: Acronyms (20 minutes) Hand out copies of Printout V. Using the example SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), explain what an acronym is. Divide students into pairs and have them make up the words for the letters in the acronyms on the sheet. Then, students should look the acronyms up in the dictionary to see what they really stand for. Ask students to create their own acronyms for things they frequently say. Have them read their favorite acronym aloud to the class and see if the rest of the class can guess what it means. Answers: SNAFU Situation Normal All Fouled Up NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration ASAP As Soon As Possible AIDS Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome NATO North Atlantic Treaty Operation SWAT Special Weapons And Tactics LASER Light Amplification By Stimulated Emission of Radiation ACRONYM Abbreviated Coded Rendition Of Name Yielding Meaning Activity VIII: Creative Writing (45 minutes) Ask students to write a short essay about what they would most like to find under the ocean if they had a submarine or submersible. How deep would they go? Where? What would they look for? Why? Ask them to be as specific as they can, giving details about their journey, their discoveries, and their motives for going. Ask for volunteers to read one or two aloud. This assignment can also be given for homework. Activity XIX: Underwater exploration (45 minutes - 2 days) This activity is optional. Choose a subject matter, either marine life or wreckage. Teacher must approve subject. Then research this topic on the Internet (or at the library). Prepare a written presentation on the topic with a visual component. |