Rocky and the Rollers

Junior A

Components

Rocky and the Rollers Junior A Pupils’ Book
Rocky and the Rollers Junior A Activity Book
Rocky and the Rollers Junior A Companion Grammar
Rocky and the Rollers Junior A e-Book

Also:

Teacher’s Guide
Teacher’s e-Book
Class Audio CDs
Alphabet & Vocabulary Flashcards

Teaching Notes

Teaching Methodology

· The Rocky and the Rollers series is a new, fun and exciting course for young learners and teachers. The course has been designed with young learners’ needs and interests in mind. As well as lovable and engaging characters, illustrated by excellent art work, the course accommodates the shift in ELT towards increased use of technology. Thus an e-Book and Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) component places the course very much in the modern classroom.

· Lessons have been carefully planned so as to maximise the learning process. The progression in the early stages is slow and incremental, taking into account the fact that many young learners do not have well-developed reading and writing skills.

· An innovative feature of this course is that it tells a story, which starts at the beginning of Pupil’s Book A and finishes at the end of Pupil’s Book B. In this way, learners are engaged throughout the course, and are highly motivated to progress from one lesson to the next. The characters include Rocky the Robot, an intelligent and amusing robot, Bella the cat, the family pet, Max and Kelly Roller, the family twins, and their parents, Lynne and Bruce Roller. The story follows their adventures, and also Rocky’s quest to find his robot family.

· As well as the story, there are fun songs and raps throughout the books.

· The material is divided into 5 cycles and comprises a total of 30 Lessons. There are regular review opportunities in the form of Rocky’s Check and Do, and Rocky’s Fun Review. Each cycle places strong emphasis on developing learners’ skills, and includes writing activities, listening activities, speaking tasks, pairwork activities and games, as well as the ongoing story. Context-related grammar is presented on every story spread, and is illustrated with Learn with Rocky! boxes.

· Other special features include Rocky’s Fun Facts (which cater for cross-curricular activities and include art and crafts work or projects), Rocky’s Story Time (which provides five stories – one per cycle), Special Days (Environment Day and Mothers’/Father’s Day). Also, the Pupils’ book includes vocabulary stickers (one per lesson) and there is also a Rocky poster which is completed gradually by each child as they progress through the book and collect their Rocky stickers.

Pearson Education Hellas COURSE: Rocky and the Rollers Junior A Year planner

Organization of this syllabus

· Pupils’ book: The learners are introduced to the alphabet, colours and numbers before being moving on to the story. Each lesson is on a double page spread, contains the illustrated story, which presents new vocabulary and incorporates natural use of various grammar structures. Also, it is followed by a grammar presentation feature with an interactive activity, to gently introduce the structure to the pupil, then consolidation exercises. There is a writing activity, a song or a game in every third lesson, each one incorporating the language and the structures they have been presented in the lessons. There is a review (in the form of a Check and Do spread or a Fun Review) every three lessons.

· Activity book: The Activity Book follows the same structure as the pupils’ book. Through the use of motivating and fun activities, it will help learners expand and consolidate the language presented in each lesson.

· Companion Grammar: The Companion Grammar is a new component, which provides clear presentation of all the grammar structures presented in the Pupil’s Book and also consolidates new language. There are grammar presentations, word lists and a picture dictionary, as well as a variety of activities and regular Say it with Rocky! boxes, which present common functional phrases from the story.

· e-Book: The e-book includes all the Pupil’s Book spreads, audio files and vocabulary strips. There are also extra activities (2 per lesson spread; 1 per Check and Do / Fun Review spread), which are for the IWB only and which provide extra practice in a fun, interactive way.

· Quizzes, Progress Reviews and Tests: There are five Quizzes (one per cycle), five Progress Reviews (one per cycle) and two End-of-Term tests and one End-of-Year Test.

· Teacher’s Guide: The Teacher’s Guide has been specifically written so as to provide clear and useful teaching notes for all aspects of the course. It includes: detailed teaching notes, clear lesson objectives, extra ideas for warm up and cool down activities, and all texts. In addition, the Teacher’s Guide has photocopiable activities (one page per cycle), and a Survival Kit, with a variety of activities for young learners, which can all be done with little or no prior preparation.

Suggestions

· Before beginning the course, it is recommended that you read the introductory section of the Teacher’s Guide. It gives you a clear overview of the course, as well as providing more detail about some of the standard classroom procedures which will prove useful in teaching Rocky and the Rollers to your class of young learners.

· It is advisable before each lesson to read the corresponding pages in the Teacher’s Guide and collect all the appropriate material needed for the lesson.

Pearson Education Hellas COURSE: Rocky and the Rollers Junior A Year planner

WEEK 1

Coursebook / Activity Book / Companion Grammar / 4
Tests/
Photocopiable Material / IWB Material
Rocky and the Roller family
Pages 4-5
Introduce main characters / Rocky and the Roller Family
Page 6
Rocky’s Alphabet Time
Pages 6-7
Introduce Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd
Notes
- Remember to allow plenty of time for learning the alphabet – it is time well spent!