Teacher(s) Ms Aimi, Ms Jay, Ms Wawa Subject group and Language Acquisition (English)

discipline
Unit title Environment: Natural Disasters MYP year 2-3 Unit duration 5
(weeks)

Inquiry: Establishing the purpose of the unit

Key concept Related concept(s) Global context

Context
Creativity Point of view Globalization and sustainability

Statement of inquiry

Natural disasters are the consequences of the combination of natural hazards and human activities.

Inquiry questions

Factual What are natural disasters?

Conceptual How can you identify man-made disasters and natural disasters ?

Debatable To what extend are natural disasters preventable?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQMcJ1-yeW4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2WJ4MqXgJM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-_EHKDMm4s
Objectives Summative assessment

Objective A: Comprehending spoken and visual Outline of summative assessment task(s) Relationship between summative assessment
text including assessment criteria: task(s) and statement of inquiry:
i. Show understanding of messages,
main ideas and supporting details.
In groups: Students will be assigned in groups to Natural disasters are the consequences of the
ii. Recognize basic conventions. present on environmental issues and awareness combination of natural hazards and human
activities.
iii. Engage with the spoken and visual
text by identifying ideas, opinions
and attitudes and by making a
Students are expected to share information and
personal response to the text.
ideas about environmental issues and awareness
Objective C: Communicating in response to among society
spoken, written and visual text (Phase 2)
i. Respond appropriately to spoken,
written and visual text.
ii. Interact in rehearsed and
unrehearsed exchanges
iii. Express ideas and feelings and
communicate information in familiar
situation and some unfamiliar
situations
iv. Communicate with a sense of
audience.

Objective D : Using language in spoken and/or

written form (Phase 2)
i. Write and speak using a range of
vocabulary, grammatical structures
and conventions, when speaking,
use clear pronunciation and
intonation
ii. Organize information and ideas and
use a range of basic cohesive
 devices
iii. Use language to suit the context

Approaches to learning (ATL)

Communication skills communication exchanging thoughts and information effectively through interaction
Research skills (information literacy) finding and interpreting information
Thinking skills (critical thinking)

Action: Teaching and learning through inquiry

Content Learning process

Learning experiences and teaching strategies
Week 1
Week 1 1. Teacher shows a video entitled World's Worst Disasters in 2016. Students find all the disasters
What are natural disasters? seen in the video on a crossword puzzle.
2. Teacher then hands over a table where students are required to categorize the disasters into three
columns: man-made or natural or unsure.
3. Once completed, teacher goes through the list and focuses on the ones in the Unsure column.
Students are required to stand on different sides of the class, left: man-made and right: natural.
They would debate on whether their assumptions are correct.
4. Teacher then reveals the SOI before dividing students into groups of three where they would go on
a research of the causes of a particular disaster and present the findings using SWAY.
5. Teacher allows the use of smartphones and laptops for this unit.
Exercises: Natural Disasters 1 Handout
Week 2 & 3 1. Teacher lists down 12 items on the board:
To what extend are natural disasters preventable i. Gun (10 bullets) vii. 5 bottles of Mineral water
ii. Packs of instant noodles viii. Compass
iii. A Swiss-army knife ix. Rope (3 metres)
iv. Tent x. A box of matches
v. Plasters xi. Torchlight
vi. Blanket xii. Radio (for listening)

1. Then, teacher shows the trailer for the movie The Impossible.
2. Students are then required to work in three stages: individually, then negotiating in pairs before
deciding as a class which 5 items to bring in case a disaster strike and they are asked to evacuate.
3. Next, teacher shows a PSA video on evacuation plans for earthquakes & tsunamis as well as
preventive measures if such disasters strike.
4. Based on the disaster that each group has been assigned to, they will do another research on
preventive measures for such disaster.
5. Students will then present their findings in a 1-2 minutes PSA video (Assessment C)

1. Teacher shows a series of pictures that represent POISON : Snow White / Gossip Mongers /
Poison Sign The Skull / Poison The Band and Qu Puteh whitening brand.
2. Once Ss managed to guess the similarity POISON, teacher reveals the final picture: a polluted
island with dead animals.
3. Teacher explains that Ss will be discussing a new poem: POISONED TALK. Each table is assigned
Week 4 to a Stanza (without exposing the stanza to other groups) as these groups are required to do a
visual representation (comic / poster / symbol) of the stanza and explain how the stanza
Environmental awareness
connects to the title.
4. Teacher allows the use of smartphones to find out meanings of difficult words.
5. A gallery walk is conducted after the discussion.
Exercise: CROSSWORD PUZZLE: Find synonyms of words from the poem

THE DAY THE BULLDOZERS CAME

6. T shows dear future generation spoken word poetry.
 7. S writes a reply to poem entitled Dear Fox (D)
8. Human representation of animals (D)
9. KAHOOT to check understanding of poems.

Beauty after every ruin.

aftermath:
MERAPI , TSUNAMI, earthquakes, etc
Week 5
Fashion show that is a reflection of disasters.
Reflection
A report on the event

Week 2 (Assessment 1 Objective A)

10. Students listen to the audio-visual text entitled Our Future (Assessment 1)
11. Teacher repeats the text several times for students understanding before submitting their
answer sheets.
12. In the next lesson, as a recap, teacher provides Ss with a mini map of Penang Island where
students again identified environmental threats in the area before discussing it with their friends.
13. After that, in groups of 3 4, students will choose an area on the map that they believe is facing
the biggest environmental threats as they will organise a campaign to improve the condition of
that area.
14. Teacher assigns different managerial roles for the students in each group.
15. Students need to detail their campaigns objectives, target audience and modus operandi before
presenting their campaign idea to the teacher (1st draft).
Week 3
16. In their groups, students will do a research on successful and creative environmental campaigns
around the world to get some inspiration for their own campaign.
17. Students will present their findings to teacher (2nd draft)
18. Molecule split
19. Group discussion

Week 4 (Assessment 2 & 3 : Objective C & D)

20. Students present their campaign briefly and their proposals are pasted around before everyone
embarks on a Gallery Walk (Assessment 2).
21. Students leave comments as they also learn and research on new environmental awareness
projects done by their classmates.
22. They then proceed to do their write ups (Assessment 3) on having a greener country with
reference to two chosen articles by the teacher.

23. Round Robin

24. Wonder Wall
Week 5
25. Teacher engages students in a debate of the kinds of human actions that destroy our world.
26. Students discuss how they foresee a greener future.

Formative assessment
- Wonder wall
- Flat chat
- Group discussion
 Differentiation
Depending on the topic of the day, students will be grouped according to their proficiency level for ease of
activity

Resources

i) Japan- Eco Friendly Country : Web Japan> Niponica_07_digest_En

ii) The top 9 green habits to cultivate this Earth Day (and beyond) :
Inhabitat.com
iii) Our Future | Narrated by Morgan Freeman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=8YQIaOldDU8
iv) Dear Future Generations: Sorry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRLJscAlk1M

Reflection: Considering the planning, process and impact of the inquiry

Prior to teaching the unit During teaching After teaching the unit