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Subject: eDictionary of proverbs

Age of the students: 12-13 years old

Study discipline: Mother tongue

Lesson title: Fable, as a literary species (2 lessons)

Topics: Mother tongue, English, ICT, Counseling, Arts

Description of activity:

This is a lesson according to Romanian National Curriculum, but it can be adapted to any European Curriculum.

Actually, this plan is referring at two lessons in a row. It starts with the first contact with a fable, as literary species of epic genre, it continues with the

theoretical understanding and then with the practice of knowledge. This way, pupils will create summarization, argumentative and motivating the own opinion

texts (as their intellectual and understanding abilities); they will check on internet or in different books other fables; they will recognize the type of human

personalities that the characters represent; they will find the moral of the different fables and associate it with a teaching for future, or a life lesson; they will

make a drawing or a picture related with the chosen fables; they will find other proverbs that switch with the moral of the fable and they will illustrate the

proverbs. Also, as an integrated vision, the teacher will lead the students to resolve morphological and syntactic grammatical analysis based on proverbs. In

association with ICT, English and Arts teachers, pupils will produce also acrostics, new stories, new fables, short movies and PPt or Prezi presentations.

Aims of the activity:

Through an interdisciplinary approach, pupils will: - develop the competency of recognizing a fable, as literary epic species (Mother tongue curriculum); - develop the competency of writing an argumentative text (Mother tongue curriculum); - develop the civic and social competencies (Counseling curriculum); - develop the competency of motivating the own opinion (Mother tongue curriculum); - develop the creative competency of producing short texts (Mother tongue curriculum); - develop the competency of morphological and syntactic grammatical analysis (Mother tongue curriculum); - develop the Artistic and aesthetic skills (Arts curriculum); - develop the Communication skills in English (English curriculum – listening and understanding); - develop the digital skills: using an educational platform, searching on internet, text and images editing, creating digital products as PPt and Prezi

presentations, creating and editing a short movie (ICT curriculum).

European Classroom

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Time Phase / Aims Planned course of action Media / resources Method of teaching Comments

5 minutes

Introduction

* Teacher presents an acrostic to pupils. It is made from proverbs. * Pupils have to discover the words obtained by reading the acrostic (Dog and puppy). * Teacher announce that this is the title of the new text-support, created by Romanian writer Grigore Alexandrescu: (“Dog and puppy”)

* An acrostic created by teacher:

Dogs of the same street bark alike.

Old habits die hard.

Go in one ear and out the other informal.

&

Play with fire.

Union is strength.

Pride goes before a fall.

Practice makes perfect.

Young idler, an old beggar.

- Didactic game * The didactic game allows the interaction between participants.

20

minutes

Activity 1:

Theoretical understanding

1. Teacher announces the subject of lesson: “Fable”. 2. Teacher will use a deductive strategy in order to familiarize the pupils with this literary species: - reading the fable from the manual (“Dog and puppy” by Grigore Alexandrescu) - identifying the structure of the fable, as a literary species of the epic genre - recognizing the fable’s characteristics, on the studied text - making up the scheme of the lesson

* Manual

- Explaining - Observing - Demonstrating - Learning by doing

* Teacher will use a deductive strategy. * Frontal activities

20 minutes

Activity 2:

Application of theoretical

understanding (Mother tongue)

1. Teacher announces that pupils will have to write a summary of the narrative part of fable, or an argumentative text, or at their choice (it depend on each pupil’s level of understanding). 2. Pupils will be invited to work in pairs in order to obtain the activity product: summarizing text, argumentative text or motivation of opinion text. 3. Each pair will cooperate in scriptwriting and the pupils will decide who will present the text in front of the class. 4. Presenting the results of pair work.

* Lesson scheme * Notebooks and pencils * Work sheets

- Exercising - Think – Pair – Share - Learning by doing

* Strategies of differentially work * Collaborative learning (pair working)

3

20

minutes

15 minutes

15 minutes

Activity 3:

Integrated

activity (Grammar; Fables and proverbs)

Activity 4:

Integrated activity

(ICT, Arts)

Activity 5:

Integrated activity

(ICT and English)

Activity 6:

Homework

1. Starting from the proverbs found by students, teacher will choose some of them and he will propose to pupils to practice grammar. 2. Pupils will resolve a grammatical analysis of nouns, adjectives and verbs from their preferred proverbs. 3. Teacher ask pupils to use different proverbs in order to create acrostics highlighting the morphological categories previously analyzed, bringing an example. 1. Teacher brings back the previous acrostic about NOUN. 2. Pupils are asked to explain the first proverb (“Never say Never!”) 3. Teacher invited pupils to check on internet other English proverbs including the word “Never”. 4. Pupils are asked to illustrate different found proverbs. 1. Teacher proposes to students to watch a movie about Aesop’s fable “The eagle and the turtle”, in English. 2. Pupils listen the fable and then they will narrate its content in Mother tongue. 3. Pupils find and write the moral / life lesson of the given fable. * Teacher will ask to pupils to change the course of the story. They could choose between “Dog and puppy” and “The eagle and the turtle”.

* Blackboard * Notebooks and pencils * Acrostic – model:

Never say Never.

One swallow does not make a summer.

Unity is power.

No pain, no gain. - Internet connection - Mobile phones - PCs - drawing sheets - drawing tools https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcBpNssIZgI - Romanian – English dictionaries (books and / or online) - Fables: “Dog and puppy” by Grigore Alexandrescu and “The eagle and the turtle” by Aesop

- Exercising - Problematization - Heuristic conversation - Collaborative learning (Group work) - ICT based learning - Exercising - Watching - Listening - Heuristic conversation - Brainstorming

* Integrated teaching * Frontal activity * Individual activity * Interevaluation * Integrated teaching * Group work * Integrated teaching

Results

1. Summarizing texts 2. Argumentative texts 3. Texts to motivate the own opinion 4. Acrostics 5. Life lessons (Short texts) 6. A part of “eDictionary of proverbs”: Letter “N” 7. Illustrated proverbs (“Never” category)

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Extension

As the main extension (and homework for the next 2 weeks), pupils have to make a portfolio: Fables and proverbs. This portfolio will contain: a. New texts with changed stories of different fables; b. Short movies illustrating different fables; c. New fables, created by pupils; d. A short Prezi presentation of the fable “The eagle and the turtle” by Aesop; e. Illustrated proverbs.

* USB device for data transfer * laptops / tablets / PCs * printers * copiers * The Prezi program * Moviemaker program

- Collaborative learning (group work) - ICT based learning

* Some of these extension will be in partnership with the English, Arts and ICT teachers. This extension will be developed in these next classes (Arts, ICT and English lessons).

NOTE: This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission

cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

ANNEX – Class working and products

1. Activity 1: Theoretical understanding: The structure of fable, as a literary species of epic genre; characteristics of fable

2. Activity 2: Application of theoretical understanding (Mother tongue)

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3. Activity 3: Integrated activity (Grammar; Fables and proverbs)

4. Activity 4: Integrated activity (ICT, Arts)

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5. Activity 5: Integrated activity (ICT and English)

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5. Products (obtained as extensions):

a. New texts with changed stories of different fables:

b. Short movies illustrating different fables (https://vimeo.com/215226486?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-

201504&utm_campaign=28749):

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c. New fables, created by pupils (and published in the School newspaper):

d. Prezi presentation of the fable “The eagle and the turtle” by Aesop:

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e. Illustrated proverbs (some examples; the entire collection is included in the “Illustrated album of Proverbs”):