Title: A linguistic world of numbers

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

Language world of numbers, or how to express numerical values?

Target group

7th‑grade students of an eight‑year elementary school.

Core curriculum

II. Language education

2. Differentiation of language. Student:

1) recognises the diversity of vocabulary, including recognizing national vocabulary and limited vocabulary (eg scientific terms, archaisms, colloquialisms); recognizes native and borrowed words, knows types of abbreviations and abbreviations – defines their functions in the text;

2) recognises personal and local names, types of local names, uses correct grammatical forms of names, surnames, local names and names of residents;

3) knows ways to enrich vocabulary.

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1) reliably, with respect for copyrights, uses information;

6) develops skills of independent presentation of the results of his work;

7) develops habits of systematic learning;

8) develops the ability to think critically and formulate opinions.

The general aim of education

The student develops knowledge about expressing numerical values.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• social and civic competences;

• mathematical competences and basic scientific and technical competences.

Operational objectives

Student:

• defines the functions of the numeral in a language;

• distinguishes countable and uncountable nouns;

• expresses numerical values in various ways.

Teaching methods / techniques

• problematic: directed conversation, discussion;

• programmed: using a computer and e‑textbook;

• practical: subject exercises, games.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• collective activity;

• group activity.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher defines the purpose of the lesson, which is to deepen the knowledge of numerals and the ability to express numerical values. Together with students, he/she composes success criteria.

2. The teacher introduces students to the subject, telling them about the world of numbers and their connections with language. The lecturer conducts a conversation to sum up the students' current knowledge of numerals and create a base for further information and skills.

Realization

1. As a warm‑up before the exercises, the teacher offers students mathematical riddles on time (it will be a good language exercise as well). He/she divides the class into 5 groups. The teacher reads the riddle and gives voice to the group that will be the first to appear (eg by raising hand). Here are examples of riddles:

• Mom and dad have four daughters, and each daughter has one brother. How many people are in the family? (answer: 7)

• Four years ago, Olek was twice as old as Jan. Four years from now, Jan will be 3/4 of Olek's age. How old is Olek? (12)

• Ela is 54 years old and her mother is 80, how many years ago was Ela's mother three times her age? (41)

• One brick is one kilogram and half a brick heavy. What is the weight of one brick? (2 kg)

• HHow many days are there in 4 years? ((365 x 4) + 1 = 1461. One year is a leap year)

• What number do you get when you multiply all of the numbers on a telephone's number pad? (0, because all digits multiplied by zero give zero)

• There are 12 kids in a classroom. 6 kids are wearing socks and 4 are wearing shoes. 3 kids are wearing both. How many are bare feet? (5)

2. Students do the exercise 2 from e‑textbook, using knowledge from other subjects (physics, mathematics).

3. The teacher asks the question: What difficulties does a tourist in England or the United States face when dealing with measurement and weight units? Students talk about their experiences, and then they solve the crossword in exercise 3.

4. The teacher asks students which parts of speech in Polish decline by numbers (this is a repetition of earlier knowledge). If the students do not remember, he/she refers them to the information provided in the abstract.

5. Students do exercise 4 – they consolidate the information about countable and uncountable nouns. Then they read the information provided under the exercise.

6. Students perform exercise 5 – they fix messages about the nouns pluralia tantum and singularia tantum (Latin terms are not necessary, but they may be interesting for students). Then they read the curiosity.

7. On the basis of the information provided in the abstract, the students discuss ways of impressing numerical values in Polish. Then they do exercises 7 and 8.

Summary

1. The teacher asks students what they have learned today, whether the lesson was interesting for them. He asks them to evaluate their own work during the lesson. For this purpose, he/she can use a questionnaire prepared earlier or carry out an oral evaluation.

2. Summary questions:

• What does the category of numbers say about?

• Give three examples of countable and uncountable nouns.

• What is the double number? Give an example.

Homework

Find English sayings, phrases, proverbs or quotes in which words refer to the world of numbers. Write them in your notebook. Choose three of them and compose sentences with them.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

A linguistic world of numbers

Thanks to language, we not only describe the world, but also indicate numbers, measures and quantities. Specific mathematical values – written with numbers – are expressed by different numerals. These are words that define a set of things, objects, phenomena („pięć”, “pięcioro”), order („piąty”), and even portions written using traditional fractions („ćwierć”, “pół”, “półtora”). However, we are not always able to give specific figures for certain phenomena. Then we use approximate descriptive data, or more precisely, we use words that speak of the greatness or smallness, intensity or weakness of something.

Number is one of the most important categories that can be found in the variety of different parts of speech. In the Polish language, the following parts of speech inflect by number:

• nouns,

• adjectives,

• some pronouns,

• verbs.

Nouns that define sets consisting of one or more elements are countable. This is the majority of specific words:

• one house – two houses,

• one cat – one hundred cats.

However, it is not always possible to accurately indicate the numerical values of groups or sets. Those nouns, for which we are unable to indicate a numeral replacing a number, but only an approximate value, are uncountable: “concrete”, “air”, “furniture”.

Their size is often expressed in words: “mało”, “wiele”, “dużo” – which, although referring to the world of numbers, are adverbs and not numbers.

There is one more phenomenon connected with countability. Namely, in the Polish language we can find words that appear only in the singular („powietrze”, “magnez”, “radość”, “romantyzm”). These are usually nouns that name substances, indivisible forms or abstract concepts (mental, intellectual, artistic).

In the old Polish language, objects that appeared in pairs were described using the so‑called dual. It does not appear in contemporary language, but its traces can be found in expressions: “dwoje oczu”, “dwoje uszu” (’organs of vision and hearing’) or in the saying: “Mądrej głowie dość dwie słowie”. The history of the language has thus left its mark on grammar – because there are a few words that name objects that are only plural: “nożyce”, “skrzypce”, “spodnie”, “okulary”, also – “bakalie”. Some names also have only a plural form: “Karkonosze”, “Tatry”, “Himalaje”, “Ateny”, “Złotniki” etc.