Agenda 2030 - 7th goal - classroom material

To create this interactive image I have used Genial.ly, an online tool to generate amazing presentations, games, interactive images, infographics and reports.

Are you a cell phone addict?

😨 Are you a cell phone addict? 😨

With the development of technologies and a wide variety of the latest mobile devices available in stores, the new form of obsession appears within a recent decade. It is a mobile phone addiction, and its symptoms can be found among people almost in any part of the world. Especially, it is a problem for the younger generation.

Lost In The Web – Mobile phone addiction symptoms

Cell phone addiction in teenagers shows up in various forms and different everyday life situations. Kids are using their mobile devices like a drug – when they are bored, tired and lazy, when feeling angry or lonely.

Most common mobile phone addiction symptoms are:

• A constant need to use a cell phone more often.
• Loss of sense of time while surfing online.
• Failed attempts to use a mobile device less.
• Feelings of anxiety or being depressed.
• Preferring using a cell phone instead of spending time with family and friends.
• Feeling restless or irritable when a mobile phone or network is unreachable.
• Craving for the latest models of mobile devices and the newest applications.

There is also a number of physical effects caused by teenage cell phone addiction, such as fingers, neck and back tension, itchy eyes, insomnia, weight change, changes in diet, fatigue, difficulties in focusing on one subject, distracted attention, etc.

Overall, teen cell phone addiction often leads to problems and failures in studies as well as loss of interest in hobbies, sports, and outdoor activities. In some cases, it can also cause social loneliness, loss of friends, staying isolated.”                     

(source: pumpic.com)

Click on the link below to read some information about teens cell phone addiction:
http://www.psychguides.com/guides/teen-cell-phone-addiction/

Watch the video!

You should learn how to use your cell phone properly.

Surf the following website to learn what Cell Phone Etiquette is:
http://www.wikihow.com/Practice-Cell-Phone-Etiquette

And now some tests!

Mobile phones and teens: read and do some exercises.
http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/uk-now/read-uk/mobile-phones

VIDEO + QUIZ
http://www.eslvideo.com/eslvideo_quiz_int.php?id=23266

The Middle Ages and its castles

People use the phrase “Middle Ages” to describe Europe between the fall of Rome in 476 AD and the beginning of the Reinassance in the 14^th century. Many scholars call this era the “medieval period” instead. “Middle Ages, they say, incorrectly implies that the period is an insignificant blip sandwiched between two much more important epochs.

The phrase “Middle Ages” tells us more about the Renaissance that followed it than it does about the era itself. Starting around the 14th century, European thinkers, writers and artists began to look back and celebrate the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. Accordingly, they dismissed the period after the fall of Rome as a “Middle” or even “Dark” age in which no scientific accomplishments had been made, no great art produced, no great leaders born. This way of thinking about the era in the “middle” of the fall of Rome and the rise of the Renaissance prevailed until relatively recently. However, today’s scholars note that the era was as complex and vibrant as any other.

(History.com)

During the Middle Ages many castles were built in Europe and in the Middle East. A medieval castle was the fortified home of an important person, a lord or king. They ranged from simple wooden enclosures to vast stone palaces. From the castle the lord could control his land and keep his family and treasure safe from rivals while he was at war.

Now surf the following interactive map I made by Cacoo and Thinglink. Move your cursor over the image and some links will appear. Click on the image to enlarge.

The European Union

The European Union is a unique economic and political union between 28 European countries that together cover much of the continent.

The EU was created in the aftermath of the Second World War. The first steps were to foster economic cooperation: the idea being that countries that trade with one another become economically interdependent and so more likely to avoid conflict.

The result was the European Economic Community (EEC), created in 1958, and initially increasing economic cooperation between six countries: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Since then, a huge single market has been created and continues to develop towards its full potential. 

(from https://europa.eu)

Surf the following interactive image I made using Cacoo and Thinglink. Clic on the imag to enlarge.

BREXIT UPDATES

Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her 90th birthday this year. She celebrates two birthdays each year: her actual birthday, on April 21st, and her official birthday, on the second Saturday in June.

Surf the following sites to get more information.

Queen Elizabeth II
https://www.royal.uk/her-majesty-the-queen


The Queen' s birthday
https://www.royal.uk/queens-birthday







The Queen in 90 images. One picture from every year of her life.
http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-36013958






Birthday' s celebrations:
http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/the-queen-s-90th-how-elizabeth-iis-official-birthday-will-be-celebrated-in-london-a3264811.html

Videos

The Queen at 90

Trooping the Colour 2016

Some information about the UK form of government

Surf my mindmap. You can also click here to open the image.

Hotel Transylvania

Hotel Transylvania is a 2012 American 3D computer animated fantasy comedy film.

It tells the story of count Dracula, the owner of the Hotel Transylvania where only monsters can go. 

On the occasion of the 118^th birthday of his daughter Mavis, Dracula invites some monsters for a party, but the hotel is unexpectedly visited by a “human” young boy, Jonathan. Dracula must protect Mavis from falling in love with him.

Hotel Transylvania 2 was released in 2015 and the story takes place seven years later. The hotel is now open to human guests, too. In the meanwhile, count Dracula had a grandson who is not a pure-blood vampire…

     Hotel Transylvania - Trailer

"The Zing" song

Hotel Transylvania soundtrack 

Let' s meet the main characters

I made this Piktochart poster for you

STUDENTS' TASK

Answer the following questions after watching the film

1. Did you enjoy the film? Why/why not?
2. Which is your favourite character? Why?
3. What is your favourite scene? Why?
4. Would you like to be Jonathan? Would you like to have an experience like his own?
5. What would you do if you were Mavis, would you always obey your overprotective father or would you try to win more freedom?

Answer the questions related to the clip

Migration in Europe and multiculturalism in Britain

Europe is struggling to cope with a growing migrants flow. More and more migrants and asylum seekers are coming to Europe from Africa and the Middle East.

First of all, we are going to try to understand what migration is and what it means today. Then, we are going to talk about multiculturalism and, of course, about multicultural society in Britain.

Read the following articles, watch the video and answer the questions.

READING

HISTORY OF MIGRATION

History of migration:




http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=bbv

Migration from the colonies to Western Europe since 1800:




http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/europe-on-the-road/economic-migration/pieter-c-emmer-leo-lucassen-migration-from-the-colonies-to-western-europe-since-1800

Migration to Britain:




http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/next_steps/int_05_europe_01.shtml

MIGRATION TODAY

Some articles explain what is happening in Europe today 

Migration in Europe today: 
The following article try to answer these questions:

Why is EU struggling with migrants and asylum seekers? 

What has caused migrant numbers to rise?

What is the EU doing about it? 

Are all the EU countries sharing the burden?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24583286

These 5 Facts Explain Europe’s Deadly Migrants Crisis:

http://time.com/3833333/ian-bremmer-europe-migrants-deaths/

Multicultural societies in an historic perspective:

http://ndla.no/en/node/89615

LISTENING

MULTICULTURALISM

Multicultural Britain

WRITING
Answer the following questions

Unfortunately, because of the migrants crisis, xenophobia and anti-immigrant attitudes have recently risen across the continent. 

• What do you think about that?
• Do you live in a multicultural place? 
• Is there migration from or immigration to your country? 
• What is your opinion about multiculturalism? What are the pros and cons of a multicultural society?
• Watch the video above about multicultural Britain and write a summary.

SPEAKING

Role-play

If we are travelling to a foreign country, we are all immigrants although we are going to stay there for short periods. In fact, as soon as we set foot in a foreign airport, we have to pass trough the Customs Office, show our documents and answer some questions.

Watch the following video.  Imagine you are in a British airport, you and your class mate are respectively a customs officer and and a traveller. Invent dialogues like the one in the video, ask and answer questions like: 

• What is your final destination?
• How long will you be staying in the UK?
• What is the purpose of your visit?
• Where will you be staying?
• Do you have anything to declare?

English communication - Airport Immigration and Customs

Martin Luther King - 47 years ago, on April 4th the civil rights leader was assassinated

Martin Luther King Jr. was the most important representative of the American Civil Rights Movement, which fought for equal rights for all. He used nonviolent resistance against segregation laws. He truly believed  that "all men are created equal" as he said in the famous speech he delivered during the march on Washinghton on August, 28 1963. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April, 4 1968 when he was just 39 years old. 

Move the cursor on the image below and some links will appear. Open them to get some information about M. L. King.

STUDENTS' TASK

Read the above information and watch the videos about M. L. King, then use Projeqt to prepare a presentation. You can add documents, links, images and videos.

You can see an example of a Projeqt presentation of mine at the following link: https://projeqt.com/robertamartino/the-ant-and-the-grasshopper/aesops-life/g

What can we do to save our planet?

To talk about the Environment to my students, this time I have created a simple Emaze online presentation. 

Emaze is a very interesting web tool, you can select a pre-designed template (or make your own slides from scratch) and easily create your presentation (slideshow, video and even a 3D presentation) by adding text, images, charts and videos. 

You can also save the presentation to view it offline.

This work is just a starting point to talk about many topics related to the environment. Students will learn:

• the meaning of the word environment
• to consider that we belong to a global community which shares resources
• to become more responsible and care about the planet Earth
• to think critically about the impact of people on their planet
• to take some real actions for the environment
• to understand the importance of reducing, reusing, recycling

Click on the image below and watch the presentation:

Let's save our planet!

How to write a letter: formal or informal style?

Knowing how to write a letter is a very important skill (at school, in business, for general personal relationships).

I have created two simple Glogster interactive posters to show  formal and informal letter layouts. By moving your cursor over the images, some links will appear. Click on them to get more information.

You will learn:

• the structure of a letter
• the difference between a formal and an informal style
• the conventions of formal letter writing

Informal letter

Formal letter

Some useful resources about letter writing:

http://www.letterwritingguide.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/writing-a-letter
http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/letter-writing.php
http://www.studyenglishtoday.net/business-letter-parts.html
http://esl.about.com/od/businessenglishwriting/a/Formal-Letter-Structure.htm
http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/letter-writing.php

Some exercises:
http://www.tolearnenglish.com/english_lessons/writing-letters-exercises

Carnival and Pancake Day in the UK: a webquest

It's carnival time!

Surf the following websites and have your own (virtual) 
pancakes race!

First of all let' s take a look at some Carnival glossary: 
http://www.carnivalarts.org.uk/Portals/0/Carnival%20Glossary.pdf


Now let's see UK carnivals by region:
http://www.carnivalarts.org.uk/Carnivals/UKCarnivalsbyregion.aspx

Carnival festival culminates on Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday,  is the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. 'Shrove' derives from an old English word 'shrive', meaning 'confess all sins'. In the UK it is also called Pancake Day because on this day people traditionally eat pancakes.

Surf the following site for more information about Shrove Tuesday in the UK:
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/uk/shrove-tuesday

Pancake day in London:

http://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/pancake-day-in-london

Basic Pancake recipes:

http://www.bordbia.ie/aboutfood/recipes/eggs/pages/basicpancakes.aspx

Some videos:

Pancake Day

The great pancake race

WEBQUEST

Your own pancakes race...

Click on my Thinglink image below (I made the mindmap with Spiderscribe), follow the route, open the Word documents, answer the questions about the websites you have just visited... and win the pancakes race!