Bats and birds: Pop-up notes

All the pop-up screens from this PrimeTeach file have been copied here so that you can print them out easily. 

Overview

Note: The PrimeTeach packages Bats and birds, Real and toy animals and Bats, birds, fish and dolphins share the same focus on descriptions as a text type and use the same kind of scientific vocabulary and sentence patterns. Students can do the sets of activities separately or as a whole package.
Example:

Common vocabulary
eat  sleep
fly wings
insects

Birds

Bats
beak babies
day fur
feathers hang upside down
nests mouth 
stand up night
Example:
Birds are animals.
Birds have feathers.
Bats have fur.
Birds search for food during the day.
Bats search for food at night.
Birds eat insects.
Bats eat insects.
Glossary:
Connectives are words that show the relationships between ideas within sentences and between sentences:
And links similar ideas and adds information.
But links contrasting ideas.
Example:
Birds and bats are animals.
Birds and bats fly.
Birds and bats eat insects.
Birds have feathers but bats have fur.
Birds have a beak but bats have a mouth.
Glossary: General descriptions organise and display information about a whole group, a whole category, or whole class of things. They are also used to describe the way things always are, or the way things are always done.
Example:

Common vocabulary
eat  sleep
fly wings
insects

Birds

Bats
beak babies
day fur
feathers hang upside down
nests mouth 
stand up night
Example:
Birds are animals.
Birds have feathers.
Bats have fur.
Birds search for food during the day.
Bats search for food at night.
Birds eat insects.
Bats eat insects.
Example:
Birds and bats are animals.
Birds and bats fly.
Birds and bats eat insects.
Example:
Birds have feathers but bats have fur.
Birds have a beak but bats have a mouth.

Materials

Note: Make one A3 colour copy of both the Bat and Bird pictures to display to the whole class. If you wish to re-use these pictures, you may like to make them more durable by sticking them onto cardboard before the lesson, or by laminating them.
Note: You will need to make one A3 size copy of the Vocabulary and Compare and contrast worksheets and one A4 copy of the Picture cards for every pair of students.
Note: You will need to prepare one copy of the Compare and contrast worksheet enlarged to A3 and a colour copy of Picture cards to display on the board. You may want to stick the materials onto card or laminate them to make them more durable.

Steps

Glossary: Brainstorming is an activity whereby students are expected to come up with as many ideas as possible within a time limit. The time limit is usually between one and five minutes. The activity gives teachers the opportunity to find out what students already know about the topic. Such information helps the teacher to assess what needs to be taught in order for students to achieve the outcome of the task (ie comparing and contrasting bats and birds). Brainstorming is also a good activity for helping students to gather ideas.
1. Note: It is important that the board is organised well for this lesson. Designate one side of the board for bats and the other for birds. Place the pictures at the top of the board and make sure you have room to add information underneath.
1. Example: Make sure that you emphasise the contrasting final sounds in the words bats: and birds: . 

Some final consonant sounds can be problematic for students. This is because in Cantonese the sounds are not usually released, but in English they do need to be released. If students do not articulate the sounds fully in English, they may have difficulty in being understood by other speakers of English. 

The following features of English pronunciation are significant when pronouncing the words bats and birds.

The contrast between , which is voiceless and which is voiced. To produce , place the tip of your tongue behind the top teeth. Then push the air forward and move your tongue away. If you place a piece of paper in front of your mouth when you produce , you can feel the paper move. To produce , first practise , then use your voice to make .
The contrast between , which is voiceless and which is voiced. To produce , place your tongue forward to touch the side teeth and blow out. To produce , first practise , then use your voice to make .
The blending of and in bats.
The blending of and in birds, in which the voiced sound follows the voiced sound.
1. Theory: In a pronunciation drill the teacher models the pronunciation of a word or words and students repeat the words several times. The teacher should use hand gestures to direct the drill, so that the only sounds students hear are the ones they are practising. If the speed and pattern of the drill are varied, students will stay focused on the activity.

Here are the steps of a very simple drill:

1. Model the word or words slowly and clearly several times. Pronounce the feature you are teaching very clearly but do not distort it.
2. Get students to repeat the words together. Do this several times. Listen carefully to hear if their pronunciation is becoming more accurate.
3. If necessary help students in ways such as the following (using Cantonese if necessary): 
Show students how to blend and in bats and and in birds.
Explain that are voiceless and are voiced. If students put their hand on their throat as they say these sounds, they should be able to feel the difference.
Tell students to put their hand in front of their mouth to feel their breath when they say and . If they cannot feel their breath, they are not saying them properly.
4. When students are saying the words confidently, gesture to individual students to say the word/s on their own. Do not over correct individual students. If students need more practice, return to step 1.
1. Theory: The purpose of this activity is to find out what students already know about the topic and to activate their existing language knowledge.
1. Adaptation: If this activity is too difficult for your students miss out Steps 1and 2 and start at Step 3.
2 Example:
Birds are animals.
Birds have feathers.
Bats have fur.
Birds search for food during the day.
Bats search for food at night.
3. Note:

During pair work activities it is important to encourage students to talk to each other in English about the activity and about the decisions they are making. You may need to teach your students the language they need to discuss classroom activities with their classmates. Here are some examples which may be useful here:

What is this? 
Which word/phrase matches this picture?
Do you think it's ... or ... ?
This one I think. / No I don't think so.
Do you agree? 
Yes I do. / No I don't.
What do you think?
I don't know.
3. Theory: Monitoring helps the teacher to identify problems that need to be dealt with on an individual basis. It also enables the teacher to make a note of problems that are common to many students. These problems can then be focused on during whole-class feedback.
3. Key:

There may be several different ways to match the Picture cards with the Vocabulary cards. It is not necessary to insist that students match them in this way:
4. Example:

What are birds?

Birds are
What are bats?
Bats are

What do birds have?

Birds have
What do bats have?
Bats have

What do birds do?

Birds
What do bats do?
Bats
5. Example:



5. Example:

Note: For this step you will need a display copy of the Compare and contrast worksheet enlarged to A3 size, as well as one set of picture cards which have been cut out for students to stick on the display.
7. Example:



9. Example: 

9. Example:

9. Example:

                                                   
Birds have feathers but bats have fur.

                                                           
Birds have a beak but bats have a mouth. 

                                                       
Birds lay eggs but bats have live babies.

                                                                                                         
Birds search for food during the day but bats search for food at night. 
10. Key:



10. Note: There may be more than one way of ordering the pictures. If a pair of students can demonstrate that their layout answers the questions effectively, do not insist that they lay their pictures out according to the key.
11. Theory: You can give students a feeling of pride and satisfaction in what they have achieved in English by displaying their work in the classroom or in other places in the school, or by asking them to read out their work to the class. This can enhance students' motivation to learn English.

Web ideas

Glossary:

A graphic organiser is used to help students to record and organise information they are gathering as they listen or read. The pattern of a graphic organiser is determined by the student's purpose for collecting the information. It may often be in the form of a grid or table, but can also be a timeline, a story line, a flowchart, a tree diagram or a mind map.

Here is a table students can use to organise vocabulary about an animal:

Here is a table students can use to organise vocabulary for comparing and contrasting different topics:

Grammar notes

For more information on using the present simple, look at the following in PrimeGram:

  Grammar: Groups & phrases: Verb group: Time & tense: Present simple

For more information on using connectives, look at the following in PrimeGram:

  Grammar: Word classes: Conjunctions: Overview

For more information on using communicative functions for making comparisons, look at the following in PrimeGram:

  Communicative functions: Talking about experience: Who or what is involved?: Making comparisons

For more information on using communicative functions for making connections, look at the following in PrimeGram:

  Communicative functions: Talking about experience: Making connections

For more information on general descriptions as a text type, look at the following in PrimeGram:

  Text types: General descriptions: Overview