Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia

Vicerrectoría Académica y de Investigación

Course: English 3
Code: 90121

Activity Guide and Evaluation Rubric – Task 4 Speaking task

1. Activity Description

Type of activity: Individual

Evaluation moment: Intermediate Unit 2
Highest score of the activity: 95 points
The activity starts on: Monday, October The activity ends on: Sunday, November
3, 2022 13, 2022

With this activity, you are expected to achieve the following learning
outcomes:
The student will be able to talk about environmental issues by describing situations
and giving points of view about the topic.

To develop this activity, you must follow these stages:

1. Setting up stage: in this stage, you must practice all the terminology that has
to do with the main topic on the task, environmental issues. For that, you
must do the following:

• Focus on Vocabulary: Match the expressions with their meanings. After doing
it, share it on the forum.

Table 1. Environmental problems

1. Environment (___) a. Birds/plants/species animals or plants which

may soon not exist because there are very few
2. Carbon dioxide (___)
now alive.
3. Flood (___) b. Variety of plant and animal species that exist in
4. Natural resources (___) a particular environmental area.

5. Global warming (___)

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 6. Greenhouse effect (___) c. The poisonous gas formed by the burning of
7. Deforestation (___) carbon, especially in the form of car fuel.
d. The cutting down of trees in a large area; the
8. Oil slick (___)
destruction of forests.
9. Endangered species (__) e. Air, water and land in or on which people,
10. Pollution (___) animals and plants live.
f. Increase in world temperatures caused by
11. Drought (___)
polluting gases.
12. Fumes (___) g. A layer of oil that is floating over a large area of
13. waste (___) the surface of the sea.
h. Damage caused to water, air... by harmful
14. Carbon monoxide (___)
substances or waste.
15. Biodiversity (___) i. The gas formed when carbon is burned, or when
people or animals breathe out.
j. A long period when there is little or no rain
k. A large amount of water covering an area that
is usually dry.
l. An increase in the amount of carbon dioxide and
other gases in the atmosphere.
m. Strong, unpleasant and sometimes dangerous
gas or smoke.
n. Things such as minerals, forests, coal, etc.
which exist in a place and can be used by people.
o. Unwanted matter or material of any type, often
that which is left after useful substances or parts
have been removed.

• Listening: listen to these items about environmental issues and complete the
sentences with the words in the box. You can find the recording by clicking here:
environmental issues. After doing it, share it on the forum.

oil spill - poor air quality - extreme weather - water scarcity - sustainable
environment - Pollution - Flooding - Oil spills - carbon footprint - melting
ice cap - wind power - drought - Fracking - forest fires

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Item a: There is a global water crisis, _______________ and drought have left to 844
million people lacking access to clean water
Item b: Oil accidents at sea can cause ______________ which contaminate the ocean
water resulting in the death of sea birds and other forms of marine life
Item c: growing trees, plants and your own vegetables help contribute to a
______________ _________

Item d: __________ or drilling on the ground for oil and gas, often contaminates the
water supplies.
Item e: Increase _______________ is a consequence of deforestation which is the
cutting down of too many trees.
Item f: One of the most common forms of renewable energy is ____________
_________ which is electricity generated by wind turbines
Item g: Air pollution and ___________ _______ _____________ is a big problem in
many cities around the world
Item h: ___________ _______________ includes tornados, cyclones and extremely
high or low temperatures.
Item i: Cars and planes burn fuel, when you travel by plane or car, you contribute to
the burning of fuel; this is your _______________ _______________
Item j: Polar bears living in the artic are impacted by the ____________ _____
__________
Item k: ____________ ____________ seem to be hotter and worst every summer.

2. Pronunciation practice stage: choose 5 of the items above, practice the

pronunciations and record them in a .MP3 format, then share your recording in
the forum. You can use the sound recorder from your computer, or an online
resource as http://vocaroo.com/. After doing it, share it on the forum.

NOTE: The stages 1 and 2 are for setting and practicing all the aspects
involve in the task, these are part of the final grading.

3. Speaking production stage: during this stage, you will interact with your tutor
an e-mates in a synchronous meeting, where you will play a game which consists
in spinning a wheel that allows you to get a question at random to be answered
(see example).

NOTE: You need to register your participation in the drive provided by your
tutor.

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 Some of the questions that may appear on the game are:

a. Tell me about yourself. (Personal information)

b. What do you do to help the environment?
c. For you, what are some consequences of consumerism? How can you help
to reduce it?
d. How can you lower your carbon footprint?
e. What is the difference between carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide?
f. What is the greenhouse effect?
g. What is the worst environmental problem in your region? What causes it?
h. In your opinion, why are the rainforest disappearing in our country? How
could it be solved?
i. What is the global warming?
j. In your opinion, why is water shortage happening in some parts of
Colombia? How could it be solved?

NOTE: teacher can add more questions related to the topic.

IMPORTANT: In case you cannot participate in the speaking game, you can record
a video with the following conditions:

1. The video must have between 4 and 5 minutes of length.

2. Introduce yourself (name, city, profession/ job, current studies or career).

3. Start your topic with an introduction (how the problematic started and
place).

4. Develop the idea (description of the problem, how the community is being
affected).

5. Conclude the video by giving some solutions to the problem you chose
(what recommendations or advice you can give to solve the problem).

6. It is not allowed to read aloud a script on the video. This must be a

conscious speaking exercise.

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 As a suggestion, you can use some of these topics:

➢ Deforestation and forest fires in Amazonas as strategy to expand

agricultural frontiers and pastures to feed livestock.
➢ Poaching and illegal trafficking of flora and fauna in Colombia, illegal
timber trade.
➢ Illegal minery and overexploitation of natural resources.
➢ Defense and protection of social, environmental and indigenous leaders.
➢ Environmental problems associated with the use of pesticides and
fertilizers.

7. You must appear in the video, if not, your video will not be taken for
grading.

8. Upload your video on YouTube or Google Drive (set the link for viewing)
and share the link in the Speaking forum.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

You can create a script for your video and share it in the forum, so you can
get feedback from your tutor or group mates.

You can practice your pronunciation on tools like:

http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/ or https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/

For the development of the activity consider that:

In the Initial Information Environment, you must:

➢ Revise the agenda of the course to be informed about the starting and closing
dates of the activity.

In the Learning Environment, you must:

➢ Go over the grammar topics and activities in modules 7 to 12 of the e-book.
➢ Take part in the speaking forum by posting your contributions on time.
➢ Read the activity guide carefully.

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In the Evaluation Environment, you must:
➢ submit your final document to the evaluation environment

Evidence of individual work:

The individual evidence to be submitted is:

A document with the following information:

➢ Cover.
➢ Development of the vocabulary activity “focus on vocabulary”
➢ Development of the listening practice “Listening”
➢ Development of the “Pronunciation practice”
➢ A screenshot If you take part in the “speaking game” (option 1)
➢ The script and the link if you record the video. (Option 2)

Evidence of collaborative work:

No collaborative evidence is required in this activity.

2. General Guidelines for the Development of evidence to Submit

For Individual evidence, consider the following:

• Each student must take part in the forum within the dates stablished in the agenda.

• Before submitting the final paper, each student should check that it meets all the
requirements mentioned in this activity guide.

• Each student must submit their own document.

• To valid the full grade of the activity is necessary to do all the stages suggested in
the worksheet, including the “speaking game” or the video.

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Please keep in mind that all individual or collaborative written products must comply
with the spelling rules and presentation conditions defined in this activity guide.
Regarding the use of references, consider that the product of this activity must comply
with APA style.

In any case, make sure you comply with the rules and avoid academic plagiarism. You
can review your written products using the Turnitin tool found in the virtual campus.

Under the Academic Code of Conduct, the actions that infringe the academic order,
among others, are the following: paragraph e) Plagiarism is to present as your own
work all or part of a written report, task or document of invention carried out by
another person. It also implies the use of citations or lack of references, or it includes
citations where there is no match between these and the reference and paragraph f)
To reproduce, or copy for profit, educational resources or results of research products,
which have rights reserved for the University. (Acuerdo 029 - 13 de diciembre de
2013, artículo 99)

The academic penalties students will face are:

a) In case of academic fraud demonstrated in the academic work or evaluation, the

score obtained will be zero (0.0) without any disciplinary measures being derived.
b) In case of proven plagiarism in academic work of any nature, the score obtained
will be zero (0.0), without any disciplinary measures being derived.

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3. Evaluation Rubric Template

Type of activity: Individual

Evaluation moment: Intermediate Unit 2
The highest score in this activity is 95 points

First evaluation High level:

criterion:
The speech is carried out with normal pauses and few
Fluency & hesitations, the ideas convey clearly the target topic.
coherence If your work is at this level, you can get between 15 points
and 25 points
This criterion
represents 25 Average level:
points of the total
of 95 points of The speech is carried out with frequent pauses and some
the activity. hesitation, the ideas are somewhat clear.

If your work is at this level, you can get between 5 points

and 14 points

Low level:

The speech is carried out with long pauses and hesitation, the
ideas are uneven and incomprehensible.
The student doesn’t take part in the activity

If your work is at this level, you can get between 0 points

and 4 points

High level:

Pronunciation and intonation are always good which makes the

speech sounds natural most of the time.

Second evaluation If your work is at this level, you can get between 15 points
criterion: and 25 points

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Pronunciation Average level:

This criterion Some pronunciation and intonation problems that sometimes

represents 25 interfere with the speech comprehension.
points of the total
of 95 points of If your work is at this level, you can get between 5 points
the activity. and 14 points

Low level:

Multiple pronunciation and intonation problems which makes the

speech hard to understand.
The student doesn’t take part in the activity

If your work is at this level, you can get between 0

points and 4 points

Third evaluation High level:

criterion:
Grammatical and lexical elements according to the level are used
Grammar and accurately what makes the conversation smooth and clear.
vocabulary
If your work is at this level, you can get between 15 points
and 25 points
This criterion
represents 25 Average level:
points of the total
of 95 points of Some grammatical and lexical errors that do not interfere with
the activity. the comprehension of the speech.

If your work is at this level, you can get between 5 points

and 14 points

Low level:

Frequent grammatical and lexical errors that significantly affects

the communication
The student doesn’t take part in the activity

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 If your work is at this level, you can get between 0 points
and 4 points

Fourth evaluation High level:

criterion:
All the practice activities are carried out and submitted correctly
Practice according to the guidelines (Vocabulary, listening, pronunciation
activities. and video script (only the ones who record the video)).

This criterion If your work is at this level, you can get between 11 points
represents 20 and 20 points
points of the total
of 95 points of
the activity.

Average level:

Some practice activities are developed and submitted according

to the guidelines, or they present some mistakes.

If your work is at this level, you can get between 5 points

and 10 points

Low level:

Practice activities are not carried out or they are all incorrect.

If your work is at this level, you can get between 0

points and 4 points

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