Motion in the ocean

Introductory Information

Author
Martine KERVRAN
E-mail
Institute
IUFM de Bretagne, France
Target Group
9-14
Subjects
Geography & Physical Sciences
Aims
  • Learn about the location and names of the main oceans in the world
  • Identify the main causes for water movement in the ocean.
  • Explore the relationships between wind and ocean waves.
  • Learn about storms at sea

Key competences

Communication in languages
  • improve reading competencies in English as a foreign language
  • learn English vocabulary related to the topic of oceans and ocean water movement
  • learn about the etymology of some English words
  • learn about borrowings and exchanges between languages
Learning to learn
Look for information and share it with others
Digital competences
Looking for information on the Internet and being able to sort it out
Social and civic competences
Cooperate with peers
Timing of the overall activities
Approximately 6 hours

Worksheets

The oceans in the world

Notes for the teacher

This first set of tasks aims at introducing the topic by learning the names of the five oceans and localizing them.

  1. Learner worksheet 1:
    • discuss the contents of the chart (worksheet 1.1)with the whole class
    • ask the pupils to complete the chart individually
    • discuss the question of worksheet 1.2 collectively and ask the pupils to answer it individually
  2. Learner worksheet 2:
    is to be done individually and self-corrected
  3. Hand out learner worksheet 3
    • ask the pupils to fill in the chart and answer the questions individually
    • discuss the questions collectively and ask the pupils to complete the answers
Timing
90 minutes
Material required
Worksheets 1, 2, 3
Grouping
; ;
Focus on content
Localisation of the five oceans
Focus on languages
names of the oceans; name of the continents; geographical terminology; etymology of the word ocean; language families
Worksheet 1
Material for Teachers
Material for Students
Worksheet 2
Material for Teachers
Material for Students
Worksheet 3
Multilingual Ocean!
Material for Teachers
Material for Students

Waves and wind

Notes for the teacher
  • Learner worksheet 1:
    the correction of part 2 is made through collective agreement. To confirm the answers, the pupils can be asked to look up the words in a dictionary
  • Learner worksheet 2:
    the work is basically individual but pupils can help each other. The teacher can give complementary explanations about the diagram
Timing
2 hours
Material required
worksheets1&2
Resources
photographs, pictures or paintings of waves
Focus on content
(physical sciences): formation and measurement of waves
Focus on languages
vocabulary of wave components (crest; troughs; foam…)
Worksheet 1
How can waves be described?
Material for Teachers
Material for Students
Worksheet 2
How are waves measured?
Material for Teachers
Material for Students

When the waves grow bigger and bigger…

Notes for the teacher
  • Learner worksheet 1:
    additional information about Beaufort and his scale can be given to the pupils, if the teacher finds it necessary.
  • Learner worksheets 2 and 3:
    the correction can be done collectively. The teacher can give all the information needed to the understanding of the process of word exchanges between languages. The interest of etymology to better understand concepts (here: physical phenomena and geographical terminology) should be underlined.
Timing
90 minutes
Material required
Worksheets 1, 2, 3
Focus on content
(physical sciences): wind as the main cause for storms; the Beaufort wind scale
Focus on languages
storms words and their etymology; borrowings
Language skill
reading comprehension
Worksheet 1
The beaufort wind scale
Material for Teachers
Material for Students
Worksheet 2
All kinds of storms at sea
Material for Teachers
Material for Students
Worksheet 3
Find out about borrowings in the english language
Material for Teachers
Material for Students

Assessment

Worksheet 1
Material for Teachers
Material for Students

References

A few websites about the ocean: