Strange Bedfellows: Emerging relationships between geography and English.

1. Geography Teacher Educators’ ConferenceBrighton, 27th-29th January 2006Mark Jones, University of the West of England Strange Bedfellows: Emerging relationships between geography and English. • Geography and English in Year 9 • English and geography trainee teachers • English and geography Tutors

2. Re-constructing connections across the curriculum • English and Geography • Sequence of 5 collaboratively planned lessons • Year 9 post SATs English lessons • Tourism through a range of media and genres Landscapes of Language

3. Extract from Scheme of Work

4. Lesson 1 Learning objectives • explain through talk, your thinking giving reasons • demonstrate an awareness of the reliability of different texts • understand differing perceptions of a country’s tourism potential • What topics have you covered in geography and English this year? • Can you see any links between how and what you learn in these two subjects?

5. Odd one out • What is the relationship between these flags?

6. What do you think this country is like? Write down what you know about Kenya? Write down any questions you have about Kenya? EXIT strategy: Wray and Lewis

7. Kenya is in East Africa.

8. Where can we get sources of information on Kenya? • internet, travel brochures, travel guide books, TV holiday programmes, films, photographs, postcards, people who have been, diaries, autobiographies, news reports, newspapers, radio, atlas, school text and reference books, people from Kenya

9. Questioning reliability of sources • Unreliable • Reliable • What issues and questions were raised by doing this activity?

11. Image and title of a book cover E.g. Living on the Edge – Life in Sao Paulo Opening page of a chapter Image of model Book Cover and opening chapter format

12. Homework: Fiction writing • Write the opening of a story which is set in Kenya. In this you should: • introduce a main character -write in first person narrative style • include reference to factual geographical information which you have researched, using technical vocabulary • encourage the reader to want to read on • design a front cover & title • Word processed or handwritten on landscape A4

13. Image of pupils’ original creative writing by a Year 9 student • Book Cover word-processed and opening chapter to story set in Kenya

14. When the Tourists Flew in • Task • 1. Put a ‘+’ by lines which include positive features of tourism • 2. Put a ‘-’ by lines which include negative features of tourism • 3. Use a key to show which lines talk about: • Economic (Ec) - Cultural (C) and Environmental (En) aspects of tourism

15. What impression do you get of this place? Where do you think we might find a photograph like this? What’s my title ?

16. Task: Holiday Brochure images Red, tropical plants Poolside Paradise Tall, green palms Indigo- blue sky Clean swimming pool Problems in Paradise Water supply needed – where from ? Who loses out?

17. Task to be completed for Friday • Produce a code: How to be a responsible tourist • Either : 1 – Storyboard for an in-flight video 2 – Instruction sheet to be located in the seat pocket 3 – Version aimed at younger travellers e.g. informative cartoons, poster

18. Original Image of pupil A’s finished poster – responsible tourism

19. Original Image of pupil B’s finished poster – responsible tourism

20. Lesson 1 Flags as text, reliability of information, initial perceptions research Different perspectives on Kenya. Homework task – Opening page Lesson 2 Holiday brochure - positive/negative aspects of tourism Lesson 3 Poetry – cartoons – Homework task What is responsible tourism? Lesson 4 Video captions, talking heads, role play Lesson 5 research

21. Question -What have these 5 lessons felt like? Geography More Geography than English English & Geography More pupil quotes on working together English Pupil quotes on views about English and geography Mote quotes from data % students’ responses

22. Rocks Mountains Industry Urban Migration Caribbean Ice Disasters Weather Rivers Sea Biomes Environmental issues Rural Range of genres and media Trainees’ Collaboration Creative use of facts Critical Thinking Speaking and listening, reading and writing

23. Rocks Who am I? An oral exploration of characteristics of different rock types and minerals e.g. Limestone, mudstone, chalk and diamond to produce creative definitionsof different rocks using personification Mountains What are mountains like? Paired research into different mountain ranges in relation to climate, flora, fauna, aspect, human activities with emphasis on using synonyms and antonyms. Creative writing outcome of a ’Recipe for becoming a mountaineer’. MigrationWhat is it like to live in a favella? Use of text ‘Beyond all pity’ extracts to introduce life in a Brazilian Favella. Outcome of diary entry to develop emotive and figurative writing in response to a chosen scenario. CaribbeanHow do hurricanes affect us? Use of poem ‘Hurricane hits England’ by Grace Nichols and autobiographical account ‘Twenty-five years ago on Ambergris Caye’. Write poem on ‘Hattie hits the Caribbean’; using personification.

24. Example of trainee work – 1 • Mountaineer recipe

25. Example of trainee work – 2 • Personification of mineral - Diamond

26. Photograph of UWE Trainees at Gallery style Presentation of work

27. Trainees’ perceptions after collaboration Quotes of English and geography trainees after the Collaborative experience

28. Re-constructing connections across the curriculum What are the constraining factors ( systemic, pedagogical, ideological ) to your creative collaboration with colleagues who have differing subject /age phase expertise?  What support would help you to overcome these barriers? How does collaborating creatively with colleagues, in the interests of promoting your students' learning, contribute to knowledge transfer within your HEI and the wider educational community which we serve? Landscapes of Language