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Learning area: Languages
Levels: Years 5 and 6
Clothe a character
1 Nature of the assessment task
In the context of preparing a performance of a previously read and studied target language narrative text, students will design, annotate and orally describe a play costume to peers.
The completed assessment task is expected to demonstrate the following qualities:
- ability to describe a costume design in writing in the target language
- ability to orally describe a costume design in the target language
- ability to respond orally to simple, well-rehearsed questions in the target language, giving reasons for choices in relation to the costume design.
2 Links with State and Territory curriculum
3 Prior teaching and learning
For this task, students need to have an understanding of:
- a simple traditional story from the target country. Students should be familiar with all the characters and the outline plot at a level sufficient to develop simple character profiles in the target language
- the necessary preparation for a performance (design of sets, costumes etc).
In addition, students should be able to:
- use written and oral target language to describe
- discuss some basic influences on costume design
- respond to modelled questions in the target language.
4 Teacher preparation
Student resources
- Sample game cards*
These are based on the character Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings films. They can be photocopied and cut up to practise matching clothing to textual detail or used as a model for the creation of cards based on other characters appropriate or relevant to the class. (The character of Gandalf is used because it is recognisable to Western legend genre, but if the teacher feels that this is culturally inappropriate, another film character can be used throughout.)
*This resource is provided in French and English.
- An example of a costume sketch
This sketch, again of the character Gandalf, is labelled in English, but teachers might like to include target language labels instead. Because this sketch is a PDF file, the program, Adobe Acrobat, is needed in order to make any changes. If this program is not available, labels in the target language could be pasted over the English ones before photocopying.
- Student rubric for clothe a character task
| The student rubric can be used: |
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to make certain that students are aware of the criteria against which they will be assessed by the teacher |
| (b) | |
to provide a focus for student self assessment. |
Teacher resources
5 Scaffolding: Preparing students for the task
Before beginning this task, students should already have studied a simple traditional narrative in the target language – a fairy story or a legend, for example. They will have studied the text and worked on it to enhance comprehension using class, pair, group and individual activities.
The task is part of the preparation for a performance of the text, or something very close to it, for an audience of parents and/or other students. This could take the form of:
- a teacher-developed script
- a re-tell by groups of students while others mime the story
- a reconstruction of the story by the students.
Students will have discussed what preparations (sets, costumes, props for example) are necessary for dramatic performances in general – plays, films, operas – and understand that this assessment task focuses on designing the costumes that characters will wear in their own performance. If students go on either to make the costumes or to find close approximations, this task will have been authentically used.
Perhaps the class could decide which three or four characters from the target language narrative will need specially designed costumes, and then each student could choose one of these on which to work.
The class could later vote which costume designs are most appropriate for each of the selected characters.
Alternatively, if the teacher wishes to avoid the competitive element, then each student could design the costume for the character they are to represent.
The scaffolding activities that follow will offer informal opportunities to assess for learning as well as providing opportunities to provide students with feedback on their progress.
Teachers can select from the scaffolding activities according to the language experience of their students and the time available. The asterisked activities are suggested as being necessary for the students to be sufficiently prepared to do the assessment task.
Activity One*
It is likely that students will already have encountered target language to describe clothing (colours, numbers, shape and size descriptors), but revisionary activities could be undertaken as required. For example:
- choose a character known to students (from a modern television show or film) and brainstorm with the class, in the target language, the items of clothing worn by that character.
- ask students to describe, in the target language, what a classmate is wearing.
- play a clothing, colour and/or style bingo game.
Use the above activities to create vocabulary lists which can be displayed for later reference by the students.
(NB Many students will need a couple of extra words specific to their personal design; these can be gradually added to the displayed lists, but with no expectation that others learn them.
However, any more than a couple of 'personal' words each, on top of the class 'pool', can mean students will not synthesise modelled and rehearsed language effectively.)
Activity Two*
Provide students with examples of costume sketches and assist them to identify the main features and purposes. (One example of a costume sketch is provided in the resources, and the websites with pictures of costumes resource provides other examples.)
Discuss some of the following features:
- drawings of costumes are often coloured, or the colours are described
- in many cases detailed labels provide extra information
- the drawing is not necessarily realistic
- the costume may be on or off a body.
This discussion can take place in English and the target language.
There might be a need to reassure students at this point that their drawing or sketching ability will not be assessed. Introduce them to the student rubric for clothe a character task.
Ask students to use an illustration of a minor character from the narrative text (teacher provided) to label a sample 'costume'.
Activity Three
Use posters or pictures of television or film characters well known to the students to discuss how costume reflects and symbolises character. (See the suggestions for discussing the use of costuming for a performance resource to guide discussion.)
The initial discussion could be in English, and then the teacher could gradually start to model comments in the target language, for example:
- Bart Simpson is a young boy. He wears shorts and a T-shirt.
- Harry Potter wears glasses. He is a serious character.
- The wicked stepmother wears a crown because she is the queen.
- Hiroko wears a kimono. The story is set in old Japan.
Students are gradually encouraged to switch to the target language. This is an opportunity to model the question and answers that will be needed in the task.
For more advanced students in some target languages it may be appropriate to provide a drill or practice activity for the use of 'because' as a conjunction. However, as modelled above, this is not necessary to complete the task.
Activity Four
In pairs, students use game cards* to match descriptions of what a character is wearing with suggested explanations. (The provided game cards relate to Gandalf, as does the supplied costume sketch. If teachers are using other characters – from films or stories known to the students – they will need to supply their own resource.)
(NB Two levels of this scaffolding activity are offered in recognition of:
- the different exposure backgrounds of students in languages
- the fact that, even with the same exposure, after several years' learning, different students are ready for different input.)
Activity Five
To extend the description and connections students develop, encourage them to describe what articles are made of. Student and teacher school clothing can be used, but a 'dress-up box' is more engaging. The box could contain, for example:
- clogs – made out of wood
- gumboots – made out of rubber
- a shawl – made out of lace
- a jacket – made out of wool
- a dress – made out of cotton
- a scarf or tie – made out of silk
- a hat – made out of paper
(then more items using the same fabrics).
Students take it in turns to put on an article of clothing and the class brainstorms the fabric while the teacher compiles a target language list on the board and models the 'x is made of y' sentence.
Students could also feel fabrics and experiment with adjectives such as harsh, soft, smooth, cool etc.
Activity Six*
As a class, students now choose three or four key characters from the target language narrative for whom the class will design costumes.
Each student selects one of these to work on and forms a group with others who have chosen the same character.
Show students sample concept maps which they can use as models to develop a concept map for their chosen character. This activity will help students to focus on the aspects of character that they can try to capture in the costume design. If Activity 3 was not undertaken, there might be a need to discuss with the students how aspects of the character can be made evident in their clothing.
See examples above.
6 The task
- Individually students now begin their design, linking it to the aspects of character that they have identified in their concept map.
Prepare students for the questions and answers that will be part of the oral presentation, by moving around the room as the students work, asking questions in the target language.
For example, at different levels:
(pointing to student's drawing) 'Why is he wearing a big hat?'
'Summer.'
'Why is the dress so short?'
'She is a teenager.'
'Why is the coat long and thick?'
'The story is set in China in winter.'
(This is an example of use of familiar language – the modelled phrase from Activity 3.)
'Why is he wearing a suit?'
'He is an important man.'
'The skirt has green leaves. Why is that?'
'Because she is a woodland elf. She is a good elf. But the evil characters wear dark colours.' - Encourage students to devise a question for their partner so they practise giving reasons for their choices. (Some students might volunteer to model this exchange for the class.)
- Students then present their costume design to the class, using target language. Teachers assess students against the teacher rubric during the presentations. (Students could be encouraged to mask the labels on their costume design so that the clues they use are pictorial rather than written ones. This prevents simple reading of the labels.)
- During the oral presentations, ask at least two questions similar to those modelled above to assist students to show how they linked the costume to the text.
- Students assess each other, using the student rubric.
After all the presentations, class discussion (mostly in English for some classes) can decide which are the most effective costume designs for the performance.
If desired, all costume designs could be used as posters to advertise the performance round the school.
7 Professional advice
The following diagnostic grid could be used by teachers to record student performance on each of the expected qualities identified in the rubric, thus obtaining a snapshot of those areas in which students will need further instruction. The teaching and learning activities that follow below are also related to each of the expected qualities and suggest some ways in which teachers could consolidate or extend performance. Click here to view how the grid might be completed.
Teaching and learning activities linked to the expected qualities listed in the rubrics, and in the diagnostic grid, can be found at the following links:
Teaching and learning activities: Ability to describe a costume design in writing in the target language
Teaching and learning activities: Ability to orally describe a costume design in the target language
Teaching and learning activities: Ability to respond orally to simple, well-rehearsed questions in the target language giving reasons for choices.
Teaching and learning activities
Ability to describe a costume design in writing in the target language
If students performed at a low level on this aspect of the task, offer more exposure to modelled language with a limited focus. Devise other opportunities which encourage use of simple descriptive language in an imaginative context. For example:
- reforming texts such as changing a familiar song. An English example could be 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes', or the 'rainbow' song from the ABC's Playschool
- expressing feelings using colours in the context of eg target language stories or a student's daily routine
- responding to music from the target country with a word sequence
- script practice opportunities could involve the use of playdough, sand, textas
- spelling game: Play on the floor. Students in groups receive elements of the script characters or letters of the alphabet games (Scrabble® in the target language gives the likely proportions of different letters in non-scripted languages). The teacher calls out a word in use in the current class context and students race to combine character elements/spell the word. First group calls the word out when ready. If it's right, all copy; if wrong, carry on until a group gets it right (encourages reflective self-correction).
If students performed at a high level in this aspect of the task, ensure future tasks allow for more complex responses. Encourage students to describe in more detail, to compare and to combine sentences to justify statements, eg:
- a letter format or an email contact overseas could involve more descriptive work using linked sentences
- texts can be rewritten eg in a modern context, in a teenage context, using personal cultural knowledge etc.
The above tasks for low performance would also be relevant but with more substantial language used to scaffold, for example:
- students could write a short story or descriptive paragraph in response to music from the target country
- the students could use multiple descriptions to make comparisons, for example in a unit on life in the target country, the landscape around two destinations could be described and compared with that around the home town and related to a description of climate and lifestyle.
Teaching and learning activities
Ability to orally describe a costume design in the target language
If students performed at a low level on this aspect of the task, it could be that they find imaginative and creative work complicated or lack confidence speaking in front of large groups.
- Offer the opportunity to practise and present in front of just one or two competent, friendly peers
- Model the use of text as a stimulus for creative activity (see above suggestions also here), eg students could develop a mime or freeze frames based on a target language story or poem
- Encourage students, in small groups, to describe places they have visited or to imagine places they would like to visit.
- If students performed at a high level on this aspect of the task, future tasks should encourage them to extend descriptions by giving reasons and comparing.
A wider audience could be targeted for public speaking such as another class or parents.
Teaching and learning activities
Ability to respond orally to simple, well-rehearsed questions in the target language giving reasons for choices
- If students performed at a low level in this aspect of the task, devise opportunities linked to tasks to practise role-play using modelled questions and answers in different contexts, eg a television interview with someone, perhaps in a sporting context or a film star.
- If students performed at a high level in this aspect of the task, they could devise questions to interview a native speaker (grandmother, visitor, exchange student) about their life and develop a simple descriptive magazine article from the answers.
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