Description of lesson – Exploitation of Children and
Child Labour
Teacher – Magdalena Pickton
This series of video clips below show the first half of an
A2 Spanish lesson, where students revisit last week’s lesson
discussing ‘Los Gitanos’ and are then introduced to the new theme
of ‘Los Ninos Explotados’. The lesson follows a logical progression
as can be seen from the lesson
plan (doc, 89KB). The teacher starts the lesson as she means to
go on, with instant and continued use of the target language and
with good use of ICT with varied and differentiated activities.
Students are able to practise all four language skills throughout
the course of the lesson and are given the opportunity to discuss
an involved and engaging topic in a variety of ways and at a high
level. After the break (see lesson plan) the topic is further
exploited by using a different set of activities which culminates
in the students being asked to prepare a campaign and write a
letter to their embassy.
Starting well and revisiting last week’s theme using a
game
The teacher introduces the themes for the lesson
clearly in the target language, her oral use of the language being
backed up by a written presentation of the objectives. She gets the
students interested instantly by her promise of introducing a new
mystery topic, then reinforces the previous week’s learning by
using a ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ quiz to revise and check
students’ understanding of the topic of gypsies, an activity they
clearly enjoy!
View video »
Introducing a new theme in an interesting
way
The teacher shows the students an object and asks
them to guess what the new theme might be. The students come up
with some good answers, but not necessarily the right ones. With
good use of ICT and images, the teacher helps them to reach the
right answer and the students are instantly interested in what they
will be discussing next. The teacher exploits the theme to get the
students to practise formulating questions, something which
learners often struggle with.
View video »
Engaging students in a new
theme
Students are told that by the end of the lesson, they
will be able to see if the questions they have formulated (see
previous clip) will be answered. This encourages students to pay
attention and look out for the answers. A range of language skills
are exploited in the task as students have to listen carefully,
read the information on the board, and compile their own written
list of children’s rights. Students are engaged and participate
well.
View video »
Provoking a genuine discussion
Students are asked in small groups to list the most
important children’s rights in order of priority and are then asked
to defend their views to each other. This results in a quite
polemical discussion, with the teacher skillfully managing the
discussion to ensure that the less confident students have their
say.
View Video »
Learning vocabulary in an interesting
way
Students have to write their own definitions of
particular children’s rights and then ask their fellow learners to
guess which right they are referring to. An interactive
mix-and-match exercise with key vocabulary helps students to absorb
new words through ‘doing’, rather than having to memorise long
lists of vocabulary
View video »
Interview with the teacher:
How do you encourage students to speak Spanish in your A
level classes?
Hear the teacher describe how she builds the
confidence of the students of all levels and encourages everyone to
participate.
View Video »
How do you deal with the presence of native speakers in the
lessons?
Listen as the teacher describes how she deals with a
class which contains some bilingual students.
View video »
Also view the AS Italian clips and the
AS French clips from City and
Islington Sixth Form College.