Implementation of ‘Having Fun with Levi‘ (SOI-HR-451)
Introduction
The chosen learning scenario, Having fun with Levi, fitted perfectly into the topic of fashion, which this particular group of students had been working on for several weeks. Students had covered the topics of fashion and its numerous changing trends, and fast fashion. The topic was further expanded to include the term fashion icons (meaning both people who set trends and clothes which have been in fashion for decades). In the adaptation of this learning scenario, additional topics were introduced – sustainability and consumer habits.
Discussions with students reveal that they prefer fast fashion brands and do not think too much about how their consumer behaviour affects the environment. Therefore, reading and talking about iconic items of clothing has made them more aware of the fact that these items should be kept in their wardrobe for a long time, and not be disposed of after only a few months of usage.
The learning scenario is also in line with the learning outcomes set in the national English as a Foreign Language curriculum for the second grade of vocational school, as it deals with the topics of personal interest for students and also covers the following cross-curricular topics – sustainable development, entrepreneurship, ICT skills, and health. Regarding the topic of sustainable development, it is of utmost importance that students acquire and maintain sustainable and responsible consumer habits in their everyday lives. The chosen learning scenario was an excellent way to introduce the topic of an iconic item of clothing and its development and adaptability over the years. It served as a model for creating presentations on some other well-know iconic items of clothing.
The group of students participating in this activity comprised 16 students aged 15-16. They have already used resources from Europeana, which was the experience that facilitated their work process this year. As the chosen learning scenario was designed for younger students, I adapted it according to my students’ age and added some more complex and serious topics.
Stages of Implementation
The learning scenario was adapted and implemented in the classroom context. The time students needed for the tasks in school was 3 lessons (45 minutes each), with an additional task assigned as homework (flipped learning).
I divided the activities into 3 lessons. During the first lesson, some of the original activities were used, and some were adapted/added. In the second lesson students were discussing important aspects of the topics covered and started working on their group task. In the third lesson they completed the final task – interactive posters.
Students followed the tasks on the handout given to them, including both the links to pages and some qr codes I had created to make the process of searching for information and resources easier for them.
LESSON 1
Lead-in/revision:
Students who were wearing jeans were asked to stand in front of the class and tell their classmates what kind of jeans they were wearing – the cut and colour were discussed.
Europeana search:
Students were referred to Europeana (https://www.europeana.eu/en), asked to type in the word jeans, find the resources and answer the questions:
What kinds of jeans cuts and colours can you find?
Which ones do you like/have?
Which ones are in and which ones are out of fashion?
Reading
Students were asked to read the article on Europeana (https://blog.europeana.eu/2019/12/denim-and-jeans-making-of-a-fashion-icon/) and answer the question:
In what context are the words and phrases in the word cloud below mentioned in the text? Make notes in your notebooks to help provide the answers.
Students’ answers were checked after this activity.
Listening
The next phase of the lesson included a listening task. Students listened to The story of jeans (https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/america-wears-blue-jeans/1878273.html), in which they found out how jeans were made into an iconic item of clothing.
While listening to the text, they were answering comprehension questions in the quiz I had created for them: https://www.bookwidgets.com/play/Tn7TxKx5-iQAFKQePWgAAA/NE7XMNG/the-story-of-je?).
Discussion
After that, a short discussion followed, based on the following questions:
What is your preferred colour of jeans – dark blue, light blue, distressed?
Why have jeans been so popular for ages (an ICONIC item of clothing)?
key term: fashion icon
Homework – flipped learning:
The topic of the task assigned for homework was How jeans can pollute the environment. A half of the class were asked to watch the video, while the other half were asked to read the text. The links were provided in a Digipad (https://digipad.app/p/632674/a42d14da953ac), where they had to fill in a digital KWL chart in a collaborative form.
Students’ collaborative KWL chart
LESSONS 2 and 3
Discussion
Students’ contributions from the KWL chart were discussed. I asked them what they knew about Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 12 (responsible consumption and production). As not all of them were familiar with SDGs, they were given a link to the page where they found the needed information (https://www.margreetdeheer.com/the-global-goals-of-sustainable-development). We commented on what SDG no. 12 was about. Students talked about whether they are responsible consumers or not, and why.
Group task
Students worked in groups of 4 members. Each group chose 1 item of clothing which is considered iconic and made a report on the making of this fashion icon, just as was demonstrated in The story of Levi’s they had listened to. They could choose their iconic items of clothing from the list available here: https://nypost.com/2020/08/21/do-you-own-any-of-the-most-iconic-items-in-fashion-history-list/.
Instructions for students:
Your presentation/poster/video should include the following:
- Who made this fashion icon, when, and how?
- How and why did it become popular?
- Who wore it first?
- Who wears in nowadays and why?
- How sustainable is it? (find out where it is produced, how it is dyed, how much does it cost, do the trends in its popularity change, what material is it made of, how it is transported to stores, etc.)
- Present your work in a form of a presentation or an interactive poster (Canva, Thinglink, Genially, etc.) which could be shared via a link.
- Your work should contain: images (credited, from Europeana, if possible), some text, speech and a short video (link to a video or your own video – be creative, without showing your face).
***In case of Europeana resources, the attribution should include:
Name of the item, Creator (if provided), Providing institution and Country (if provided), license, adding also hyperlinks to this item on the Europeana platform, the providing institution and the license. (This was taken from the original LS).
You can see an example here: https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/2048208/europeana_fashion_OBJ45495
Self-assessment
Before submitting their final versions, students were asked to self-assess their work, using the rubric below:
| I have… | Yes | No |
| … mentioned who made this fashion icon. | ||
| … mentioned when it was made. | ||
| … mentioned how it was made/invented. | ||
| … mentioned how it became popular. | ||
| … mentioned who wore it first. | ||
| … mentioned who wears it nowadays and why. | ||
| … mentioned how sustainable it is. | ||
| … created an interactive poster/a presentation. | ||
| … included: Images with credits Some text Speech A video link |
These were the final products:
Louis Vuitton bags: https://www.canva.com/design/DAF642wBP3Q/ECICPDKZLHJEfqaClOzRBQ/watch?utm_content=DAF642wBP3Q&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=editor
Chanel tweed jacket:
Polo shirt:
Trench coat
Hoodie
Outcomes
The following learning outcomes were achieved through these 3 lessons:
For the students
Students developed their reading skills by reading texts of medium length, identified global and key information in them, and presented the main points in a digital form. They developed digital skills by: creating digital posters in which they combined images (from Europeana and other Internet sources) and audio clips; searching for relevant information online; crediting their sources; doing a quiz in BookWidgets, and by collaborating in a KWL chart on Digipad. They participated in a discussion about sustainable clothes and responsible consumer habits. They self-assessed their own work. They were also encouraged to think critically in the task involving a video and text about the impact jeans have on the environment.
In a Google survey I created for them, students expressed positive opinion on the lessons, considering them very interesting. They reported that they had learned what really lies behind fashion, something new about materials used in the clothes production process, and that fashion icons are sustainable, as they remain fashionable for a long time. A positively challenging thing was creating digital posters in Canva and importing audio files in them.
For the teacher
The chosen learning scenario fitted perfectly into the topics students had been partially familiar with and offered them useful information about the items of clothing they have and/or find popular. So, the topic is of interest to students.
The resources from Europeana used in the LS were easy to find and work on, which facilitated the process of reading comprehension and searching for relevant images. The tasks were fast-paced, offering students valuable information which they needed for the final stage – creating their own posters. This is one of the most useful ways to deal with a topic – the transition from one task to another was quick, making it clear that they were gathering information they would need for their final task. If other teachers would like to concentrate more on the reading and listening tasks, that can be done easily.
Link to the learning scenario implemented: Having Fun with Levi (LS-HR-253) – Teaching With Europeana (eun.org)
Do you want to discover more stories of implementation? Click here.
PDM 1.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the Rijksmuseum.