PACE Model Lesson Plan: La Gallina dalle Uova D’oro
Target Age: 11th Grade Italian
Lesson Goals: Using the “Passato remoto” in place of the “Passato Prossimo” in telling fables, fairytales, and stories in Italian.
Standards Addressed:
•1.2: Students will be able to distinguish between the use of the Passato Remoto and Passato Prossimo in the context of a fable by answering questions from the teacher concerning the use of each tense.
•3.1: Students will be able to use what they have learned in classes such as English to help them understand the switching of tenses in the fable to distinguish dialogue from narration, for example.
•4.1: Students will be able to compare the use of the Passato Remoto in the Italian version of the fable to the use of the simple past in the English version of the fable when they infer the rules of the tense in the co-construction phase.
•5.1: Students as a final extension activity will create their own fable to be presented to a group of Kindergarten Students using puppets and other props.
Student Performance Objectives:
•Students will be able to use listening comprehension to indentify unfamiliar verbs in the initial Presentational phase of the PACE model by listing them for the teacher to write on the board.
•Students will recognize the differences and similarities between the new tense of the Passato Remoto and the tenses they already know and discuss them with the teacher during the Attention phase by discussing what the tense is trying to express and how it is different from the tense they already know in structure.
•Students will answer questions prompted by the teacher about the use and intended meaning of the verbs in the story to apply meaning to the Passato Remoto during the Co-Construction phase.
•Students will identify the pros and cons of killing the hen in the fable whendiscussing their findings in an interpersonal activity within the Co-Construction phase.
•Students will create their own fable in groups to be presented to a Kindergarten class in the Extension phase.
Activities:
Presentation
•Students will listen to “La Gallina Dalle Uova D’oro” without any attention paid to the new verb form presented. They will be asked to listen to what happened to the farmer and his wife to get them to recognize that the story is expressing actions in the past. Students will be asked to listen for and write any familiar sounding verbs that they hear in order to review what they know. (5 minutes)
•Students will present their findings and observations to the teacher. The teacher will write any verbs the students recall on the board, and will ask the students if the verbs seem to be similar in meaning or in form to any other tense they have already been exposed to. Students will hypothesize about what they think and write down any ideas that they have. (4 minutes)
Attention
•Students will be presented the fable a second time, this time with the new verb tense highlighted so it can be more easily identified. (5 minutes)
•Students will be shown original sentences asking about the fable using the different conjugations of a verb in the Passato Remoto to clarify what the verb is trying to express. (1 minute)
Co-Construction
•Using probing questions the teacher and students will co-construct the meaning and usage of the Passato Remoto using what the students already know and have deduced from the story. The teacher should let the students lead the discussion, only moving ahead with questions when students can confidently answer them. Probing questions should include “When does the story take place?” “How are these verbs different from what you have seen?” “Do they express the same meaning as any other verb tense?” “How is reading this literature different than reading a newspaper or a magazine?” (15 minutes)
•Students will get into small groups of four and complete a Discussion Web Activity based on what happened in the story. They will have to decide whether or not the farmers should have killed the goose in order to become richer more quickly. They will talk about the pros and cons as stated in the story, and will come together as a class to make an ultimate decision about if what the farmers did was best. (9 minutes)
Extension:
•Students will be asked to write their own short fable in groups of four. The students will receive a rubric before they begin writing their fables. Their story must contain at least one animal character, two additional characters, and the story must have a moral at the end. Fables must be at least eight sentences, but should be no longer than a page (typed, 12 font Times New Roman).Students will bring their drafts in for a writing workshop in which they will peer edit and then meet with the teacher for further clarification. A final draft will then be submitted for a grade. Later in the school year, the fables will be presented to a class of Kindergarteners. (The writing of the fable will occur within two fifteen minute periods at the beginning of two class days, and the typing of the story will occur as homework. The writing workshops and peer editing will occur over a 15 minute time span in class. As groups meet with the teacher, other groups will peer edit each other’s work. The final draft will be assigned as that night’s homework. The presentation of the fables will occur at a later point in the year.)