Assignment page

This exercise deals with animal experiments, animal rights activists and fur farming; and the various consequences they have had. Apart from the reading comprehension exercise there are a few others. All the assignments have been constructed so that we can utilize some of the ideas of co-operative learning. This means that you are not going to work on your own but, in this project, in groups of three. You should work as a tightly-knit team so that your efforts benefit the whole group. The results will be evaluated as those of the team, not as those of the individual members. So, follow the instructions most carefully!

Step 1: We need two different groups: specialist groups and home groups. Each of you also has to assume a special role:

- Some of you work as recorders. Once we get into Step 6, your job will be to record the best answers on a piece of paper and edit the final version of the essay.
- Some work as materials handlers. Your job is to make sure all the material you need for Step 6 is neatly at hand. You are also responsible for typing and saving the essay.
- Some work as probers. Your job in Step 6 is to ensure the team does not produce any superficial, easy-way-out, solutions. You also check the final text for grammar and spelling.

When you work together with those that have the same job as you, we call it a specialist group. When you work together with those that have different jobs from yours, we call it a home group.

Let's work in home groups at first:

Step 2: Work out the reading comprehension text in the following way:

- Read through the text in the left hand frame. You can find help from the vocabulary in the right hand frame.
- Make a list of the words that were new to you, and write them on a piece of paper. Study the words and memorize them.
- Exchange the word lists with the members of the team, and make sure your partners have learnt the words in their lists.
- Click HERE to get into the exercise.

Step 3: Click the "Multiple choice questions" -link at the bottom of the left hand frame. You get eleven questions you should answer. The instructions are on the top of the frame. Take as many rounds as necessary, but the whole group must get all the answers correctly.

And now it is time to work in specialist groups for a while:

Step 4: Each specialist groups gets a sheet that is different from those of the two other groups. Work in the following way:

- Read through the text in the left hand frame. You can find help from the vocabulary in the right hand frame.
- Make a list of the words that were new to you, and write them on a piece of paper. Study the words and memorize them.
- To get to your own sheet the recorders click HERE,the materials handlers HERE, and the probers HERE.
- When everyone is familiar with the newspaper clippings the group has, try to think together of more examples of similar sort of incidents. Take notes of them on a piece of paper or in your copy book.
- Let's then see if we can find more information on the subject in the Internet: Click HERE for the Altavista search robot. Type for instance "animal liberation front", "animals rights" and "fur farming" in the field. Try to find information that supports the ideas in your assignment sheet (whether you agree with it or not). Try search words of your own, too.

And now back to your home groups:

Step 5: Read aloud your newspaper clippings to the others. Having done that make a group conversation on the subject. Take roles so that the recorder supports the animals' rights activists, the materials handler represents the fur farmers' views , and the prober suggests compromises between the two different views.

Step 6: In the home groups write essays - one per team - of about 500 words on "The conflict between animals' rights activists and fur farmers - a threat to peace in our society". Use a word processing tool to type your essay and save it on a disc. Your teacher will print it and mark the paper. After that you can produce the final version on the Nebed with your comments on the project.

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