TALKING ABOUT NATURAL DISASTERS

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays it is more common to watch news about natural disasters around the world. To talk about natural disasters with the children I've planned two sessions for 6th grade of Primary in which students have to practise reading, writing, listening and speaking. The first session will take place in the classroom and the second one in the computer room.  

AIMS

The main objectives are:
- To Learn what a natural disater is.
- To be able to write about a natural disaster
- To learn why a natural disaster takes place

CONTENTS

- The name of the main natural disasters: volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and avalanches.
- Past simple

COMPETENCES

- Competence in linguistic and audiovisual communication
- Competence in knowledge of  and interaction with the physical world
- Competence in using ICT
- Learning to learn
- Autonomy and personal initiative

METHODOLOGY

As I explained in the introduction  two sessions have been planned.
The first session takes place in the class. The teacher projects four short videos to the whole class. Each video corresponds to one of the natural disasters mention before. After the watching the group discusses about what they have seen. The idea is to list all the different information and arrange it in one. Here the students are practising listening and speaking.

The second session is in the computer room. There, they have to choose a natural disaster. Find some news. Read it. Summarise it and rewrite it. To do all these the teacher will suggest them some interesting web pages. When they finish their short news they have to print it and maybe in another session they can explain it to the rest of the class.

ACTIVITIES

• LISTENING: In this activity the students are going to watch 4 different videos related to four different natural disasters. These videos are: 

          AVALANCHE: <div id="neovid" style="width:485px"><b>Avalanches 101</b><div style="margin:7px 0px 7px 0px"><object width="480" height="385" id="neoply809" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://www.neok12.com/plyem.swf?yi=yX42514a026a591f6c0a6a05"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="loop" value="false"><param name="menu" value="false"><embed width="480" height="385" src="http://www.neok12.com/plyem.swf?yi=yX42514a026a591f6c0a6a05" quality="high" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" loop="false" menu="false"></embed></object></div><div style="font-size:12px;text-align:right">More <a href="http://www.neok12.com%22%3escience/ videos</a> on <a href="http://www.neok12.com/Natural-Disasters.htm%22%3ENatural Disasters</a> at NeoK12.com &nbsp;</div></div>
          VOLCANO: <div id="neovid" style="width:485px"><b>Volcano 101 </b><div style="margin:7px 0px 7px 0px"><object width="480" height="385" id="neoply199" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://www.neok12.com/plyem.swf?yi=yX406848025d7b4b5a545f56"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="loop" value="false"><param name="menu" value="false"><embed width="480" height="385" src="http://www.neok12.com/plyem.swf?yi=yX406848025d7b4b5a545f56" quality="high" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" loop="false" menu="false"></embed></object></div><div style="font-size:12px;text-align:right">More <a href="http://www.neok12.com%22%3eeducational/ videos</a> on <a href="http://www.neok12.com/Natural-Disasters.htm%22%3ENatural Disasters</a> at NeoK12.com &nbsp;</div></div>
          TSUNAMI: <div id="neovid" style="width:485px"><b>Tsunami 101 </b><div style="margin:7px 0px 7px 0px"><object width="480" height="385" id="neoply383" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://www.neok12.com/plyem.swf?yi=yX54035440756070500a700d"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="loop" value="false"><param name="menu" value="false"><embed width="480" height="385" src="http://www.neok12.com/plyem.swf?yi=yX54035440756070500a700d" quality="high" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" loop="false" menu="false"></embed></object></div><div style="font-size:12px;text-align:right">More <a href="http://www.neok12.com%22%3escience/ lessons</a> on <a href="http://www.neok12.com/Natural-Disasters.htm%22%3ENatural Disasters</a> at NeoK12.com &nbsp;</div></div>
           EARTHQUAKE: <div id="neovid" style="width:485px"><b>Earthquake Destruction </b><div style="margin:7px 0px 7px 0px"><object width="480" height="385" id="neoply183" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://www.neok12.com/plyem.swf?yi=yX016b15050b615b0d6c0f46"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="loop" value="false"><param name="menu" value="false"><embed width="480" height="385" src="http://www.neok12.com/plyem.swf?yi=yX016b15050b615b0d6c0f46" quality="high" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" loop="false" menu="false"></embed></object></div><div style="font-size:12px;text-align:right">More <a href="http://www.neok12.com%22%3eeducational/ lessons</a> on <a href="http://www.neok12.com/Natural-Disasters.htm%22%3ENatural Disasters</a> at NeoK12.com &nbsp;</div></div>

• SPEAKING: The student will discuss and will share what they already know. they will do it in English. The structures they will use are: I think..., In my opinion..., I agree..., I don't agree...
• READING: They have to read some news. They can find some in http://www.bbc.co.uk/, http://www.nytimes.com/, http://www.guardian.co.uk/, http://www.washingtonpost.com/
• WRITING: They have to write their news using this program: http://www.fodey.com/

Show Me Science - States of Matter: Solid, Liquid and Gas

WEBS TO PLAY AND LEARN

• http://pbskids.org/: This web is good for practising listening. Children hear traditional songs and it's easy for them to follow the lyrics and complete the blank spaces. If I have to use it in my class I will choose 2nd of Primary or CM because it's basic that the children can read. First of all I will do it as a whole class projecting the activity on the whiteboard and afterwards I will take the class to the computer room to do more activities in pairs.
• http://www.starfall.com/: If you want to practise reading this is your website. There are different types of activities related to Reading skills. Children can choose depending on their level which activity do they want to do. I will use in two different ways. In CI I will do the activities as a whole class and in CM I will do it in the computer room and individual work. And I will ask my students to learn one of the stories and tell it to the class with the right pronunciation.