Reforestation+in+the+EFL+classroom

Reforestation in the EFL classroom
 With the following lesson plan, our students will practise the four skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing and, at the same time, they will focus on the intended topic: reforestation.

In order to deal with reforestation in the EFL classroom, a warming up activity was prepared for them. Using the ICTs, in groups of four, they have to look for information regarding the following questions:
 * //__ Warming up __//

1. What is reforestation? 2. What is deforestation? 3. What are autochton species? 4. Discussion: according to your group, what is the relationship between autochton species and reforestation?

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 * For this activity, we can provide the students with different websites: an enciclopaedia and a dictionary on line:


 * [|Wikipedia]: An enciclopaedia where you may find definitions, concepts, ideas so as to fill your questionary.
 * [|On line dictionary]: An on line dictionary you may find useful so as to develop your ideas.


 * After that, the students would share their findings and would give their opinions on this, if any.


 * //__Main activity: Video. The man who planted trees (by Jean Giono). __//

This video will be the main activity in our lesson. Our students will watch this film, based on the story by Jean Giono, but we will divide the activity into three parts: media.venturacountystar.com
 * Firstly, the students will be distributed in two lines. One of them is facing the front, looking at the television. On the contrary, the other line is not looking at it.
 * Without any sound, we will play a minute of the video. After stopping it, the students who were watching the video will have to tell one of the students in the other line what s/he has seen.
 * Next, we swap. The same will be done but with the other line.
 * Finally, the video will be played for all the students, now with volume, and it will be stopped in order to check whether they were right and accurate in their explanations.

The next step would be playing the whole film, although pausing three times. Our students will be provided with the following questionary, and before playing each part we will discuss with them if they have any problem with the vocabulary, questions, etc.

** THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES **
 * (By Jean Giono) **

kxci.org ** 1. The arrival. ** set up walking tour hiking make camp remove camp supply vanished roofless come upon catch my eye shepherd bare land scattered oak harsh struggled relief resentment close rest upset pretend reproach fill in own care desolate search solitude grant engaged breathe once more mist occupation hays bees remind task witness natural cycle cisterns seeds despair taken for granted astonished forester naively soil drop astonishing touching restore bit by bit settle willing  If we have time, we can organise a debate. Half of the students will be for and the other half against reforestation. After dividing the class into four groups, they will have to look for reasons for or against, in five or ten minutes. This brainstorming will help them for the activity that will be developed afterwards: the debate and the individual writing activity. To conclude, we can ask our students to create a piece of writing (100-150 words), that could be handed in after the reforestation activity in the countryside, if we finally do it, so as to get the most of their creativity. Furthermore, our students were enormously encouraged to write, since the best pieces of writing would be published in the school newspaper.
 * 1) Where was the traveller going to?
 * 2) How many hours was the traveller looking for water?
 * 3) Who was the strange man? Where did he live?
 * 4) What was the village like?
 * 5) What did the man do with the acorns? How many did he take?
 * 6) Where did they go the next morning?
 * 7) What did the shepherd do?
 * 8) Who was the owner of the land?
 * 9) How many plants grew there?
 * 10) What did the shepherd think about the land?
 * 2. When the traveller goes back again. **
 * 1) What happened during the next five years?
 * 2) What did the traveller need and where he decided to go?
 * 3) What was the shepherd’s new occupation?
 * 4) What had happened with the oaks?
 * 5) What did the traveller find when he was back in the village?
 * 6) Did he visit the shepherd again?
 * 7) What happened in 1933?
 * 8) What did the forester say?
 * 9) With whom did the traveller go to visit the shepherd?
 * 3. The result. **
 * 1) What was the only serious danger for the forest? Why?
 * 2) When did he see the place again?
 * 3) How old was the shepherd when he went back?
 * 4) Can you describe the new place?
 * 5) When and where did the shepherd die?
 * //__ Time for debate __//
 * __ //Time for writing// __