Memo Penta-pie theory This curriculum has been desiged while bearing in mind the "Penta Pie" theory

of G.J. Westhoff. According to this theory several steps have to be taken into account in order to make language acquistion a success. The first step consists of the input that students receive from their teacher. Without input in the target language no or little language learning takes place. Therefore, input has to be abundant, lifelike, informative and divers. The level of the input has to be i+1 which means that the input has to be one step beyond the current stage of the linguistic competence of the learner. Input is only effective if learners are required to do something with the content in order to understand it. This is the second step to be made. Learners have to make some sort of a product that is lifelike or they have to do exercises. They should proces on the content. What follows is processing on the form, the third step. This step is also content orientated, but now more directed to form. This can be working on vocabulary or working on grammar. This last aspect remains important because Canadian research has shown that learners learn fastest when the input is accompanied by grammatical instruction. The last step is the output. In order to be meaningful there always has to be a reason to produce output. Learners can produce either chunks or creative speech. Output will be even more meaningful if it raises awareness of gaps in the knowledge of learners. This way they will focus more on the gaps with new input in order to fill them. While working on these steps learners also have to be aware of receptive and productive strategies. Receptive strategies can consist for example of guessing words or activating knowledge while productive strategies can consist of fillers or compensating strategies. These strategies will contribute to a meaningful interaction in the target language in which the speaker concentrates on the communicative action itself. FLIRT The activities throughout the penta-pie steps should FLIRT. This means that they should be Functional (they should lead to something), Lifelike (current), Informative (learner would like to know more), Rich variety ( not only reading, but also listening etc) and Tempting. Inductive Grammar As already mentioned grammar is still important, but not the way we learned it. Students should learn grammar inductively. The teacher provides samples of language and the students study these examples and derive from them the concerning grammar rule and how it works. In fact this is teaching grammar without naming it. An example is the Passive Voice which is being taught in lesson 15. First several sentences containing a Passive voice form are presented. Then the students discover the form with the help of guiding questions. Only at the end is explained that they have discovered something called the Passive Voice and when it is used. Another short example is the working on the difference between the Past Simple and the Present Perfect. This is done by presenting minimal pair

sentences which offer the possibility to contrast the two tenses and to work out when they should be used. Task based Our site is task based because the lesson series is based around the completion of a central task. In our case this is the magazine. The lesson series itself is divided in 4 groups of 4 lessons. In the last lesson of each group students start to work on a part of the final product. The language studied is determined by what happens as the students complete it. The task is completed as far as possible in pairs our groups. The presentation or the input of sources can be considered as the pre-task. The input introduces each time the topic and recalls or introduces language/grammar forms that are useful for the task. Before starting with the input however, consciousness is raised by making a word web, watching a video fragment or discussing questions. In lesson 7 different chunks are proposed to express an opinion, to agree or disagree with it. This is an example of language that is useful for the completion of the task because these chunks can be used in lesson 8 in the debate and in the poster that the students have to make for the magazine. The task itself or the doing of the task consists of the writing/making of the four products which have to become part of the magazine. The planning of the task is clarified in the presentation of the students in lesson 18. During this lesson students tell the class what happened during their activities and what their outcome is. Cooperative learning We have used elements of cooperative learning in our lesson series. First of all there is the development and the maintenance of positive interdependence among the group members. As is mentioned in the introduction students have to form groups of 4 in order to work in any case on their final product. Through different activities like for example speaking and debating they learn to depend on each other as they ask and receive help or feedback. The cooperation of students while they are for example processing the content of a reading text like the Maynard one is another example because they check in pairs each others work. These kind of interactive activities also stimulate and develop the students cognitive, linguistic and social abilities. The subjects introduced in our lesson series become this way even more reel. Its always interesting to hear or to read about values, stereotypes, heroes and antiheroes, but if students work on these subjects interactively they become meaningful and help the students in their process of becoming adults. ICT sources www.billboardmaker.com www.you-tube.com www.edublog.com http://myhero.com/go/guestbook