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Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment

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Mediation
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Mediation tasks

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Teaching materials database

The METLA task database contains sample (cross)linguistic mediation tasks in different languages for different contexts. Materials are available for these languages: Arabic, Croatian, Danish, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Maltese, Portuguese and Spanish.

15 teaching materials on 1 page

page: 1

A Londoner in Greece! (Task 15)

This lesson focuses on written mediation. The main tasks included aim at developing learners’ skills in selecting information from source texts of different genres, summarising messages into a target language and developing the mediation strategies of paraphrasing, providing synonyms, distinguishing major from minor information.

Reasons to learn Spanish (Task 38)

This activity aims at providing practice to students into gathering information from a specific text in Language A (Greek) by identifying the main points in order to give a presentation on the reasons why someone should learn Spanish.

Transition Year work experience (Task 46)

The aim of the task is to compile a class Padlet (in Irish) comprising a series of video and text summaries of information students gather online about work experience placements. Students firstly watch a video in which other students share ideas in English for work experience placements, then they use a specific web resource in English to learn about various work experience possibilities for their Transition Year placements. They choose an experience which interests them, and they learn relevant vocabulary in Irish related to careers to help them complete a task in Irish which involves contributing a video recording and short text to a class Padlet.

Filmmaking competition (Task 7)

Students will perform a number of mediation activities as they go through the process of getting to know about a language film design competition and actually writing the script for the competition. The tasks aim at developing learners’ skills in selecting information from source texts and relaying it into a target text in another language.

A visitor from Mexico (Task 14)

Students learn how to describe places through the use of adjectives, and at the same time become familiar with different text types. They practise their skills in comprehending texts in Language A and producing meaning in Language B. The lesson plan consists of five parts, each containing several steps. Communicating touristic information to people in another language is a common practise which can be taught in the classroom with steps 1-3 in the first part of the lesson plan. The second part (step 4) involves intercultural aspects and uses a text format that students are familiar with: a social media message. In the third part (step 5), students can reflect on their multilingual practises. In the final two parts (steps 6 and 7), students are exposed to multimodal texts (song, video and text) and are asked to transfer information from one language to another on a relevant topic, i.e., learning foreign languages.

Hot topics and digital media (Task 16)

Engaging students in the crisscrossing of information available in several media in different languages, this task aims at developing their critical thinking and skills of relating and interpreting. Because young people consume information in several languages, this task intends to bring their multiliteracy skills to the foreign language classroom. The tasks, even if classroom-specific, are oriented towards students’ authentic, every day needs as consumers and producers of media.

Healthy diet! (Task 17)

This lesson focuses on written mediation. The main tasks included aim at developing learners’ skills in selecting information from source texts and relaying it into a target text in another language.

Student-teacher e-communication (Task 18)

This is a project activity that focuses on email communication between students and teachers. The duration of the project is two lessons. There are eight distinct steps in this project. The aim of this activity is to familiarise the students with the style of email communication in general, and raise awareness of intercultural communication in particular.

First-aid poster (Task 22)

This is a project activity that focuses on first-aid instructions. Students will create informative posters and present them in front of a small group of students.

First-aid instructions (Task 24)

The aim of this activity is to practise student’s reception and production skills in an authentic situation. Students first read a short text tin Language A about fainting, and then role play a phone call scenario in pairs.

European Day of Languages (Task 33)

Students in groups prepare one product: a short video, a poster, or a leaflet promoting multilingualism for the European Day of Languages (26th September) at the secondary school. Students prepare their video/poster/leaflet about the advantages of multilingualism, and then present their products to the class.

Organising a school trip to Germany (Task 35)

The activity is based on the visit of the Maltese students to Leipzig, Germany. First, the German-speaking students read a brochure about the main sights in Leipzig and relay the information (in English) from the brochure (on Activity Worksheet; text 1) briefly in the forum discussion with the Maltese. After that, the Maltese-speaking students agree on a specific area of interest (in Maltese) and report back to the German-speaking students in an email (in English). The German-speaking students then read the part of the brochure (online; text 2) regarding the chosen topic and report information about the topic (in English) to the Maltese-speaking students, orally, in a virtual meeting. Potentially, as a follow-up activity, the Maltese-speaking students present and discuss (in Maltese) the options they heard about in the previous step.

A visitor from Scotland (Task 39)

Students learn how to describe places through the use of adjectives and at the same time they become familiar with different text types. They practise their skills in comprehending texts in Language A and producing in Language B. Communicating touristic information to people in another language is a common practise which can be developed in the classroom with the first task. The second part involves intercultural aspects and uses a text format that students are accustomed to: a social media message. In the third part students can reflect on their multilingual practises. In the final two parts, students are exposed to multimodal texts (song and text) and are asked to transfer information from one language to another on a relevant topic: Learning foreign languages.

Social media and teenage life (Task 42)

This lesson focuses on written mediation. The main tasks aim at: a) developing learners’ skills in selecting information from a source text (a blog entry), b) summarising messages into a target language, and c) developing the mediation strategies of paraphrasing, providing synonyms, distinguishing major from minor information.

Volunteering (Task 44)

Through this lesson, students will have the opportunity to practise their cross-linguistic mediation skills in a variety of ways. But it is not only the different languages that are involved, but also the different genres across languages.

CEFR levels

ISCED levels

Mediation strategy

Linking to previous knowledge

Breaking down complicated information

Adapting language

Amplifying a dense text

Streamlining a text