Expectations
By the end of the unit, most students will: apply understanding of word parts, relationships, and context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, to extend and generate new vocabulary; understand and respond to discussions in monologues or dialogues with two or more participants; actively participate in informal and more formal discussions; describe possible scenarios in the future; report what people say or believe; understand the purposes, organisation and typical language features of discussion texts; independently plan and compose their own writing on a variety of topics; plan and compose information texts of at least 15 sentences in three or more paragraphs, weighing arguments for and against an idea or issue; use common word-processing software to independently plan, compose, edit, present and save their own writing. Students who progress further will: compose information texts using complex sentences and a wide range of conjunctions; summarise a text about future scenarios using a range of reporting verbs. Students who make slower progress will: compose a text using varied sentence structure and common cohesive devices.
Vocabulary
Life expectancy: longevity, demographics, etc. Statistics: increase, rise, decrease, decline, steadily, sharply, reach, accelerate, double, widen/narrow a gap, diverge, converge, etc. Connectives to express reasons and consequences: because of, due to, as a result of, owing to, therefore, as a consequence, consequently, for this reason, etc.
235 | Qatar English scheme of work | Grade 11A | Unit 11A.8 | Life expectancy
Unit 11A.8
CORE STANDARDS Grade 11A standards
11A.1.4 Use an advanced learners EnglishEnglish dictionary and a thesaurus in paper-based format and online. Use these resources to: find word meanings and alternative words and phrases to enhance speech and writing; define new vocabulary in simple English with alternative English phrases or expressions; check pronunciation of words and the part of speech. Consolidate understanding of affixes and word roots from Grades 710, and extend ability to recognise, investigate, and spell root words with a wider range of affixes; generate new words and guess the meaning of unknown words from affixes, to extend vocabulary and support spelling. Interact in group, paired and more formal discussion: actively participate, contributing relevant opinions, examples and suggestions to the discussion; challenge ideas and get the interlocutor to justify their point of view where appropriate; show independence by initiating new ideas and taking responsibility for keeping the discussion going; ability to deal with unexpected questions or comments. 12A.1.8 Extend use of an advanced learners EnglishEnglish dictionary and a thesaurus in paper-based format and online 12A.1.8
11A.1.1
Recognise, understand and use approximately 4000 words for listening, speaking, reading and writing, extending and consolidating the active vocabulary words from Grades K9. Students regularly use these words throughout the year across the four skills, using topics and lexical sets to group them in meaningful, memorable contexts.
11A.4.3
11A.5.1
Consolidate the ability to talk about situations and events in the future, fixed, planned, spontaneous, predictable, probable or possible, using the full range of present and future tenses and time phrases as appropriate. Recognise a wide range of features of formal written English through reading a variety of genres. Note particularly: purpose and intended audience; language features use of discourse markers for explicit logical organisation, frequent use of modal verbs to express possibility, condition, and to stress the distance of the speaker; wider use of passive voice and indirect forms. 12A.6.3 Identify and interpret a wide range of features of formal written English through reading a variety of genres.
10A.6.3
Recognise a range of features of formal written English through reading a variety of genres.
11A.6.3
236 | Qatar English scheme of work | Grade 11A | Unit 11A.8 | Life expectancy
10 hours
10A.7.8
11A.9.1
Independently compose texts of at least 20 sentences in a coherent structure using: connected paragraphs, as appropriate to the text; varied sentence structure, and choice of words and phrases for precision and effect; cohesion markers, such as lexical repetition, reference, ellipsis and substitution and use of pronouns for reference and cohesion.
11A.9.3
Drawing on experience of reading, compose information texts which present information based on personal knowledge or research,
237 | Qatar English scheme of work | Grade 11A | Unit 11A.8 | Life expectancy
Activities
Objectives
5 hours Life expectancy around the world Students are able to: interact in paired and group discussions and more formal discussion, actively participating and contributing relevant opinions, examples and suggestions to the discussion and initiating new ideas; use English monolingual dictionaries to find word meanings, define new vocabulary in simple English and check pronunciation of words and the part of speech; use a range of connectives to express reasons and consequences; show comprehension by orally summarising a written text. Students work in groups and add to the lists. Discuss. Students complete a questionnaire to calculate their life expectancy. Before answering the questions, students scan the questionnaire to see if any of the questions match the list of factors developed in the previous activity. Students complete the questionnaire and discuss their scores, the validity of the questions. Students use dictionaries to find the meaning, pronunciation and use of words related to life expectancy that appear in listening and reading texts later in the unit, for example: longevity, demographics, LEDC and MEDC Questionnaires can be found online at: www.hksrch.com.hk/life.html www.bbc.co.uk/health/interactivearea/ living_100.shtml LEDC = less economically developed country MEDC = more economically developed country
Unit 11A.8
Possible teaching activities
Introduce the topic of life expectancy by asking students to guess the life expectancy of the average Qatari. Write answers on the board. Tick the correct answer. Highlight the root expect and discuss related words, for example: to expect, expecting, unexpected. Revise modals for expressing uncertainty, and connectives to express reasons and consequences for example: it could/might be thats why, because of, due to, as a result of, owing to, therefore, as a consequence, consequently, for this reason. In groups of 45, students discuss the following questions: Which country do you think has the highest life expectancy? Why? Which country do you think has the lowest life expectancy? Why? Do you think life expectancy for men and women is the same or different? If different, in what way and why are they different? Agree on a time limit for the discussion. When the time is up, elicit and discuss the answers. The UNDP HDR 2004, shows Japan has the highest life expectancy (81.5 years). The lowest life expectancies are in Africa because of famine, war, disease (HIV/AIDS) and general poor health (e.g. Malawi, 37.8 years; Sierra Leone, 34.3 years; Zimbabwe, 33.9 years; Zambia, 32.7 years). Women have higher life expectancies than men. Currently, worldwide life expectancy for all people is 63 years (males, 61 years; females, 65 years). Reasons for the difference between male and female life expectancy are not fully understood but may include: men tend to be in more dangerous occupations (e.g. mining, construction); men generally drink and smoke more than women. When students are working in groups encourage them to use language repair strategies to initiate, maintain and conclude conversations.
Notes
According to the UNDP Human Development Report (HDR) 2004, the life expectancy in Qatar is 72 years.
School resources
This column is blank for schools to note their own resources (e.g. textbooks, worksheets).
Enter the factors effecting life expectancy (from question 3 in the previous activity) into a table, depending on whether they increase or decrease life expectancy: Increase life expectancy gender (for females) Decrease life expectancy dangerous occupations alcohol smoking HIV/AIDS
238 | Qatar English scheme of work | Grade 11A | Unit 11A.8 | Life expectancy
Objectives
Notes
School resources
Make notes of common errors and address them in a whole-class situation after the role-plays have finished.
Prepare three texts from different sources about the health benefits of drinking tea.
4 hours Statistics Students are able to: make predictions, describe continuous or long-term actions in the future and contrast with specific actions and future states, using the future continuous, the will future and appropriate time phrases; [continued]
Students read a news report about the decrease in life expectancy in some parts of Africa. They respond to true/false statements that focus on the reporting of statistics in the text. Students complete exercises focusing on the use of present perfect to describe actions starting in the past and continuing until the present, and actions in the past with an effect in the present (e.g. The AIDS crisis has slashed the life expectancy in some parts of Africa to less than 33 years). Students complete vocabulary activities focusing on the use of powerful and expressive vocabulary to capture degrees or shades of meaning. For example, in the sentences given below, they discuss the use of the underlined words and contrast the effect with the use of more common words such as falling, hurts/damages, cut/reduced. The tumbling life expectancy in some African countries is a direct result of the HIV/AIDS crisis, the report says. The AIDS crisis cripples states at all levels because the disease attacks people in their most productive years. The AIDS crisis has slashed life expectancy.
A text on the fall in life expectancy in some African countries can be found at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/ -/2/hi/in_depth/3894733.stm
239 | Qatar English scheme of work | Grade 11A | Unit 11A.8 | Life expectancy
Objectives
[continued] discuss possible scenarios in the future, based on hypothesis and supposition; use common wordprocessing software such as Microsoft Word to plan, compose, edit and present own writing; compose information texts.
Notes
Population pyramids and supporting text can be found at: www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ geography/population/popchangestructurerev1. shtml
School resources
An interesting discussion on possible reasons for the narrowing gap between women and mens life expectancy can be found at: www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/ 2004_42_fri_01.shtml
240 | Qatar English scheme of work | Grade 11A | Unit 11A.8 | Life expectancy
Objectives
1 hour Extensive reading Students are able to: read extensively from appropriately levelled texts, in a variety of genres in the text range identified for Grade 11 Advanced.
Notes
School resources
241 | Qatar English scheme of work | Grade 11A | Unit 11A.8 | Life expectancy
Assessment
Examples of assessment tasks and questions
Listening Students listen to a discussion on some aspect of life expectancy or population trends and respond to true/false statements or multiple-choice questions. In small groups, students interpret a graph and give possible reasons for the trends shown.
Unit 11A.8
Notes
Listening carries approximately 20% of the assessment weighting for this grade. Speaking carries approximately 30% of the assessment weighting for this grade.
School resources
Speaking
Reading Writing
Students read a gapped text about health and longevity and fill in the missing words. Students write a paragraph to explain the rise in life expectancy over the past 50 years.
Reading carries approximately 20% of the assessment weighting for this grade. Writing carries approximately 30% of the assessment weighting for this grade.
242 | Qatar English scheme of work | Grade 11A | Unit 11A.8 | Life expectancy