Teaching language skills using biology as the content subject.

1. Content-Based Language Learning
Sample Materials
(Biology)
Junnie Armel T. Salud
University of Santo Tomas
August 3, 2012

2. Content-Based Instruction:
A Brief History
School systems in Europe, Canada and other countries
within America in the 1960s.
Due to globalization and Europe's involvement in it, many European
countries saw the need to be proficient in foreign languages,
especially in English (Wildhage & Otten 2003: 19).
an approach to second language acquisition.
CBI is centered on the subject matter. The approach aims to
develop the students' language and academic skills. These
skills are developed unconsciously through the content dealt
with (Richards & Rodgers 2001).
Ite if the information delivered through the content is interesting
and useful, learners should acquire the language faster. In
m5 addition, the language acquisition process may be more
efficient and the language learners more motivated.

3. Tomlinson (2007):
“…materials for learners at all levels must
provide exposure to authentic use of
English through spoken and written texts with
the potential to engage the learners cognitively
and affectively.”
Materials should also include activities which help
learners to notice for themselves salient features of
the text.
Kolb(1984):
“Materials should follow the principles of the experiential
approach in which apprehension is followed by
comprehension.

4. Materials should achieve impact
(Tomlinson, 2007)
Materials can achieve impact through:
a.) Novelty (e.g. unusual topics, illustrations, and
activities)
b.)Variety (e.g. breaking up the monotony of a unit
routine with an unexpected activity; using many
different text types taken from many different types of
sources)
c. ) Attractive presentation
d.) Appealing content (e.g. topics of interest to the
target learners; topics which offer the possibility of
learning something new; engaging stories, etc.)

5. Content-Based
Language Learning
(Biology)
Sample
Materials

6. Specific Objectives:
• Compare and contrast
two elements of
photosynthesis;
• Compare and contrast
two articles on
photosynthesis;
• Learn about compound
adjectives in English;
• Practice summarizing
information from two
reading passages; and
• Practice online reading
skills and identify how
online-reading strategies
compare with print-
reading strategies

7. PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Prereading Activities
Describe the following equation:
Light+6CO2+6H20 C6H12O6+6O2
Write your explanation below:
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Share your description with a partner.
In preparation for reading the passage on photosynthesis, look at
the following graphic. Can you fill in the ovals? We will return to
this graphic following the reading.
H2O CO2
Light
Energy
Carrier
Molecule
Glucose

8. Language focus:
Compound Adjectives
Adjectives are words that modify or describe a noun. One special
type of adjective, a compound adjective, is formed by joining
two or more words together with a hyphen. A compound
adjective typically consists of words that are not normally used
together. Here are some examples of compound adjectives: rain-
soaked, fast-growing, electron-charged, light-driven, and
temperature-dependent.
Make a list of all the compound adjectives you find in the
photosynthesis article.
Specialized vocabulary
Rate your knowledge of each of the vocabulary words below
according to the following scale: 1= I can use this word correctly;
2= I know the meaning of this word but can‟t use it; 3= I think I
know the meaning of this word but I‟m not sure; 4= I don‟t know
this word.
You can find the following specialized vocabulary on the line
number indicated before each word. Read the word in the
context. Write a definition of the word in the space provided.
15 Photosynthesis 1 2 3 4 _______________________________
18 Biological 1 2 3 4 _______________________________
20 Greek 1 2 3 4 _______________________________
27 Glucose 1 2 3 4 ________________________________
33 Carbon Dioxide 1 2 3 4 ________________________________
33 H2O 1 2 3 4_________________________________
33 Molecule 1 2 3 4_________________________________

9. Reading activities
Fluency development: Repeated reading
To develop your reading fluency, we will practice using an exercise called Repeated
Reading. Read Section 1 (the first two paragraphs) three times in four minutes. If you
are able to do this, you will be reading 196 words per minute.
Photosynthesis—Section 1
How would you respond if someone asked,
“What is the most valuable commodity on
earth?” Though we could identify various
things that are highly valued by society,
5 many biologists would probably answer,
“Water.” Water is essential to sustaining life.
Virtually every internal process in the human
body depends on water to function; with-
out it, life could not continue. Most of us
10 know that we need to drink plenty of water
everyday to maintain good health. How-
ever , some of us may not realize the crit-
ical role of water in helping produce the
food that we need. Water is an essential
15 part of the most important chemical pro-
cess on earth, and without it there would be
no food. This vital chemical process takes
place inside most green plants and is called
photosynthesis.

10. 20 Virtually all life on earth relies on photo-
synthesis, directly or indirectly, for the pro-
duction of food. Like so many other bio-
logical processes, however, photosynthesis
could not occur without water. The word
25 photosynthesis comes from Greek and has
two parts: photo, which means “light,” and
synthesis, which means “to bring things
together.” In other words, photosynthesis
means to put something together using
30 light. But what does photosynthesis put
together and why is it so important? Just
as all living things need water, all living
things need food. Photosynthesis is impor –
tant because it makes glucose, a special
35 sugar that is used by living things as the pri-
mary source of energy. Without the energy
stored in glucose, plants could not grow,
and animals could not move, breathe, or
eve think.
TURN TO A PARTNER AND IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEAS
FROM WHAT YOU READ ABOVE.

11. Postreading activities
Comprehension check
Respond to the following reading comprehension questions without
referring to the passage.
1. The article suggests that the reader may not know that water is:
a. essential for good health.
b. necessary for food production.
c. useful to biologists.
d. important to all living things.
2. What is the most likely meaning of the word phototropism?
a. the process by which plats drop seeds onto the soil.
b. the practice of eating leafy green plants to gain energy.
c. the tendency for plants to grow toward a source of light.
d. the act of a carnivorous plant feeding off flies or other insects.
*Note: Though 8-10 questions may be ideal for a passage this size,
due to space constraints, the authors have only included the first
two questions.

12. Concept Mapping
Based on what you have read, write the missing information in the three
ovals I the graph below:

13. Practice summarizing
Summarize the passage on photosynthesis, using the following guidelines:
1. Comprehensive- Make sure your summary conveys all the important information
in the reading.
2. Brief- Make sure your summary conveys the information concisely.
3. Accurate- Make sure your summary correctly coveys the author‟s ideas, findings,
or arguments.
4. Neutral- Make sure your summary avoids judgments concerning the topic or style.
5. Independent- Make sure your summary makes sense to someone who has not
read the source text.
COMPARE YOUR SUMMARY WITH A CLASSMATE.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Online reading
Read more about photosynthesis online at this address:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis#Overview
Compound adjectives
Identify each of the compound adjectives in the Wikipedia article. Can you define
them? Are any of them also found in the article you read? If so, identify them.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Language focus: Organizational pattern
What similarities and differences do you see between the passage on photosynthesis
and the Wikipedia entry? Use the table below to compare and contrast the two
articles you have read on photosynthesis.
Similarities Differences

14. Reading print materials versus reading online
How was reading the printed material difficult from reading online? Identify specific
reading strategies that might help you become successful when reading online.
Share these with a classmate.
Summarizing
Summarize the passage on photosynthesis from Wikipedia, following the same
process with „practice summarizing.‟ Compare your summary with a classmate.
Content focus
Based on what you have read in the two articles, draw a table like the one used for
„organizational pattern‟ to compare and contrast the light-dependent and light-
independent reactions. Compare your table with a classmate‟s table.
Content focus: Applying photosynthesis principles
As you read the following situations, consider how photosynthesis is related to each.
Respond to the questions at the end of each passage.
A. Volcanoes and photosynthesis
Corn is an essential crop in many parts of the world because it is an important source
of both food and fuel. It is a fast-growing plant usually needing only 75 days to go
from seed to harvest. Because corn …
1. Discuss this situation in terms of light-dependent and light-independent reactions
in photosynthesis.
2. What will probably happen to the corn crop? Be sure to include the
photosynthesis processes in your answer.
*Note: Additional content-based activities could be included here depending on the
available time and the objectives of the specific lesson.

15. REFLECTION
Stability, cohesion, and responsiveness are key curriculum
principles outlined in this chapter. How are these elements
applicable to the development of materials for a reading class?
What is a principled curriculum?

16. Try these at home!
<If you’re not that busy ;) >
1. Look at some reading texts with
which you are familiar. In light
of this chapter, what changes
would you make to these materials
now? Why?
2. Think about the experiences you have had
reading content-area texts. What were they? Think
about a time when you read a book in a content-area
you didn’t know well. What would have helped you
to more easily read it?

17. Summing it up…
 An effective reading curriculum and its accompanying materials must be responsive.
Learners benefit from materials and activities that are linked together in cohesive
curriculum.
 An effective reading curriculum is one that is stable.
The content area teacher must have adequate understanding of complex reading
processes and must have mastery in the content-area.
 “Every teacher is a teacher of reading” – William Gray
 Language acquisition process may be more efficient and the language learners more
motivated if the information delivered through the content is useful and relevant to them.

18. Some more…
Why content area literacy?

19. Dear Mr. Johnsen,
I know you were not expecting me to be writing you this letter about my favorite teacher. I could have
easily written the letter to the teacher that let me slack off in class and never assigned much work. But I
decided to write to a teacher who made most of an impact on my life and changed many of views.
I liked your class a lot because of the way you taught. It was not like an ordinary history class where
students read a book on subjects that did not interest them at all. The subjects we studied were interesting and
your ways of teaching changed, so it did not get boring. I especially enjoyed our class discussion on the topic
we were studying because it gave us a chance to listen from another person’s point of view. Our views were
always challenged.A thing I appreciated the most was how you gave us a foundation on each topic before we
studied it so we would not be lost.
I am not just writing you this letter because of your style of teaching, but because of the impact you
make on the ways I view others.You helped me discover the bits and pieces of racism, sexism, and
homophobia in my personality that I had never noticed because no one has ever challenged my way of
thinking. This might have gone unnoticed my whole life if I had not taken your class.
I also learned a lot of useful information from your class about the government, about corporations,
about sweat shops, and mostly about how my peers and I can change it for the future.
These are some of the reasons why you are my favorite teacher, not because you are cool, but because you
are a great teacher.
Randy

20. References
• Lapp, Diane et al. (2008). Content Area Reading and Learning. NY: Erlbaum
• Harwood, Nigel (2007). English Language Teaching Materials: Theory and
Practice. UK: Cambridge