ESL (English as a Second Laguage) Bugs Alive! Pre-visit. On-site. Post-visit

Transcription

1 These materials have been designed to be easily downloaded as PDF files and give adult learners the opportunity to be involved in pre-visit, on-site and post-visit activities about this exhibition. Pre-visit Designed for the teacher to download. Contains suggestions for the students before their visit to the museum. On-site is in the 'Science and Life' gallery. It is recommended that teachers visit the Melbourne Museum website to get an overview of the gallery content. Post-visit Designed for the teacher to download. Contains suggestions for follow up activities after the museum visit. These materials are the result of a collaborative project between adult education staff at NMIT and museum educators. By calling on the skills of teacher practitioners it is intended that they bring their expertise of students and curriculum that compliments museum educators who are experts in gallery content and interpretation. What teachers will find in these PDFs is a non prescriptive approach. Practically this means that students will not be expected to answer many specific questions as they visit. Rather they will be encouraged to observe and be hands on, to be guided by what they see and how they respond. This will foster both general educational development and classroom application (tasks, projects) on their return. Note taking is encouraged. Although a stand alone visit will have value to adult learners, a combination of using pre-visit activities, the on-site visit and post-visit activities will be a more stimulating and ongoing educational experience. This unit includes activities for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels, with:,, and skill/learning outcome focus. Melbourne Museum Adult Education 1

2 Pre-visit Activities Beginner ESL Select one or more activities from the following to prepare your students. Find a picture of an insect * Could try the website at Use descriptive adjectives to describe its body parts (head, antennae, nose, wings, legs) Discuss what big means in describing (compared to long, heavy, tall) Look at the names of the bugs they will see (go to on site activities) and talk them through. Write the descriptive words and understand their meaning (Refer to CGEA Bugs Alive unit for self expression LO1) below What do you think of when you hear the word bugs? Write about an experience with a bug Write an imaginary story/poem about a bug Write a story from a bugs perspective about living among humans exhibition, Bugs website Beginners might be better able to discuss their experiences of bugs (rather than classifying). Ask what they thought of the new bugs they met when they got to Australia or bugs in their former countries OR Brainstorm the names, descriptions and ways of classifying Vocabulary to learn for on-site activities exhibits, habitat, feeding, activity, description As above Melbourne Museum Adult Education 2

3 Pre-visit Activities Intermediate Factual reading cards/books Download from bug catcher Everyone has a story about a bug or pest from their life experience. Write that story. Look at superlatives and comparatives (adjectives) - how big, how long (Hercules beetle), how hairy Practice use of the superlatives Look at a copy of The Guinness Book of Records. Copy relevant photos/information about bugs. Ask students to discuss some of the bug facts the teacher presents Why do bugs get such negative press? Discuss this and the general perception about bugs and why some people hate them and are frightened by them and why they know so little about them Melbourne Museum Adult Education 3

4 Pre-visit Activities Advanced Key words: species, diversity, biodiversity Do you know: How many insect species there are? How many insects there are for every human? Which type of cockroach can produce 20,000 babies a year? How many European wasps can be found in a colony? Key words: detective, forensic, crime, quarantine, declare Write down their meaning and learn them Bugs Good or bad? Discuss all the reasons bugs are bad and then all the reasons why they are good What good do they do? Discuss any issues relating to quarantine perhaps drawing on own experiences or well known stories. For a historical perspective try: - click on People and Stories > Smuggling Fauna 1950s and 60s. Melbourne Museum Adult Education 4

5 On-site Activities Beginner ESL Find the biggest living bug in the exhibition (or the longest, hairiest, heaviest). This could be a cockroach, stick insect, tarantula etc? Biggest bug Longest bug Heaviest bug Find all the living bugs and fruit flies. Tick the name (below) when you find them. There are: water worms, green tree ants, black ants, big ants, bull ants, jumping jack ants, velvet ants, redback spiders, northern whistling spiders, sac spider, funnel web spiders (4 types), tarantulas (4 types), scorpions, centipedes, Australian cockroaches, rainforest snail, garden snail, crickets (5 types), Australian sheep blowfly, fruit fly pie dish beetle, tiger beetle, giant grasshopper, gumleaf grasshopper, lesser mountain spotted grasshopper, praying mantis, blistered pyrgmorph, and stick insects (various). Choose one of the live exhibits. Ask the teacher/museum expert to talk about the characteristics of the bug (including habitat, feeding, activity of bug, description of bug) As above Melbourne Museum Adult Education 5

6 On-site Activities Intermediate Look at Meet your housemates. Find out who else might be living in your house (social huntsmen, whitetail, brown house, black house and wolf spiders) Read the myths of the Daddy Long Legs and White Tailed spiders. Find Alien Invaders and read about cockroaches, snails, European wasps, fire ants and elm leaf beetles. Look at the Bugs Hall of Fame Discuss some of the names and why these were chosen. Eg longest beetle (Hercules) loudest insect (double drummer) fastest flying insect (desert locust) greatest people killer (mosquito) Use some of the superlatives from the Bugs Hall of Fame eg world s largest, best defensive strategy, world s greatest people biter. Melbourne Museum Adult Education 6

7 On-site Activities Advanced Look for the answers to the questions below in Bugs Alive under Enormous Numbers Amazing Insect facts How many insect species there are? How many insects there are for every human? Which type of cockroach can produce 20,000 babies a year? How many European wasps can be found in a colony? Unusual uses of bugs See: - Bugs that work for the museum - Bug detectives (How is the collection used?) - Bugs in crime solving - Bugs in forensic science - Bugs at the bottom of the garden Melbourne Museum Adult Education 7

8 On-site Activities Find the Quarantine exhibit. Listen to the quarantine multi media (2 minutes 20 seconds). Discuss the key message from the multi media presentation with your classmates. What does quarantine mean and why are Australia s quarantine laws very strict? As above Melbourne Museum Adult Education 8

9 ESL Floor plan of the exhibition Melbourne Museum Adult Education 9

10 Post-Visit Activities Beginner ESL Students are to: Find out more about one of the bugs you looked at while at the museum. Is the bug you chose an Arthropod (insect, myriapod, arachnid or crustacean) or a Non Arthropod Try the website: Write something that is special about one or two of these bugs It might be about its size, shape, what it does, how it moves Do a presentation/drawing/model Group discussion about Bugs Alive Go over the language used (descriptors especially in terms of size, shape, colour) Questions that may lead to further understanding or research As above Melbourne Museum Adult Education 10

11 Post-visit Activities Intermediate Have a look at cans of fly spray or other bug killing sprays Read the labels on them Are there alternative ways of dealing with bugs apart from killing them? Compare what students thought (perhaps the myth) with what was learned by visiting the exhibition A short report, a poster, a drawing with text support Find out about one of these great bugs (from the Hall of Fame) and be the expert by explaining about it in more detail to a small group or the class. Create a panel of experts who tell us about a particular great bug. As above Melbourne Museum Adult Education 11

12 Post-visit Activities Advanced Research/learn about more related information eg, Why we aren t overrun by cockroaches? Go to the Bugs web site and see the resources section at: then click on education, classification.glossary or further reading (where there are more web links) Guinness Book of Records (for related or other topic area) Create a Bugs Hall of Fame (or original title) for a powerpoint presentation or for a presentation to another class Presentation delivery (as above) or a debate on Bugs Good or Bad (using new knowledge learned from visiting Melbourne Museum or go to the website at Listen to the presentations and participate in follow up discussion by - asking questions - seeking more information - inviting a guest speaker Melbourne Museum Adult Education 12