Portfolio of English Lesson Plans - Speech or Presentation Example

Portfolio of Lesson Plans Teaching Adjectives to Grade II students Lesson Topic Adjectives Target Audience Grade II students aged between 6-9 years in class ‘Rainbow’ Time I hour Teaching Context ESL/EFL China Aims & Objectives Teach the students how to describe things and people in an appropriate way. At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to: Define and identify adjectives Generate a list of common adjectives Recognize adjectives used in sentences Use adjectives to describe a pet or family member Materials Whiteboard, different coloured markers and erasers Word cards with many adjectives and other word Printed handouts that students can highlight Laptop and Projector Activities Warm up Ask students to identify three words that can be used to describe a puppy and a pet and write them on the board Watch a video as a class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODRVgvjwkbo Presentation Define an adjective as a word that helps to describe or modify a noun or a pronoun Adjectives end with the suffix –y Example: Lovely, fluffy, Sticky, Cheeky etc Controlled Practise Give handouts with sample sentences and have the students highlight adjectives Have each student write an adjective on the whiteboard marker to form a list of adjectives. Evaluation Each student will be given 3 handouts which contains simple sentences. Each handout will contain a different percentage of adjectives. They will use markers to highlight adjectives in the sentences. Game: Adjective Shuffle The students will help scatter word flash cards on the floor. The word cards contain at least 2 cards for every student and 2/3 of the cards contain adjectives. When the game leaders calls ‘adjective shuffle’! The other students hurriedly run to the card they think is an adjective. Then 5 players are chosen at random to say a sentence using the adjective in their card. The game is repeated several times. Those students who chose words that are not adjectives are given a second chance when the game begins again. Expansion Give student homework to write a description of either a pet or a family member, using all possible adjectives, before the next lesson. Lesson Rationale This lesson teaches the students how to describe things and people in an appropriate way. Parts of speech should not be presented to the students in a mystifying way. This is because children use them even before they can name them. Use of fun and hand-on activities makes it easier for them to learn. Given the age of the students, it would be difficult for them to grasp grammar more than they would through practising the language in context. Therefore the use of a combination of the deductive and the inductive approach would be more appropriate for grade II students. Structural Grammar Theory provides the framework necessary to convey ideas and thoughts from teacher to learner. As children, individuals master the basics of sentence construction and learn how to use specific words in a particular pattern. Considering the input processing technique, children would prefer to learn rules by vision. According to Nassaji & Fotos, “Some learners may be visual learners. That is, they may learn better when they see something and benefit more from visual input such as that found with reading activities.” (Nassaji & Fotos, 2011, p. 29). This study appreciates this view by having the children watch a video. Using the inductive approach, the teacher teaches grammar starting with presenting some examples of sentences. In this sense, learners understand grammatical rules from the examples. Using the implicit way of introducing adjectives –through giving words that would describe a puppy lays a foundation for them to understand form. Recent researches, (Droga & Feez, 2012), reveal that instruction that focuses on form is efficient when coupled with a communicative approach. This lesson will use the adjective puzzle to create a communicative approach to learning adjectives. Highlighting and using colours in a part of textual enhancement – a technique that highlights certain textual features of input that might go unnoticed under normal circumstances – and young students are attracted to colour. Teaching Present Simple Tense to Grade VI students Lesson Topic Present Simple Tense Target Audience Grade six students in class violet. Aged between 11 – 12 years Time 1 hour 15 minutes Teaching Context ESL/EFL Indonesia Aims and Objectives Introduce to the students to simple present verb tenses for speaking reading and writing Introduce frequency adverbs and allow students to identify and apply the use of present tense verbs. By the end of the lesson, the students will be able to read a picture story and apply frequency adverbs with simple present tense Materials work sheets, Cards, Baskets/bowl, textbooks, whiteboard and marker s Activities Warm up ‘Pass the Ball activity’ Have all the students sit in a circle. A student holding the ball gives a sentence in the present tense. Then the student throws the ball to another student. The catching student should repeat what the student said then adds his own sentence, then tosses the ball. The student who can’t remember or gives an incorrect sentence is ‘thrown’ out of the game. The last remaining student is the winner. Presentation Pretend to read a book, ask the students “what am I doing”? “How many times do you read a book” Contrast simple present with present progressive to bring out the difference. Bring the students to an understanding that the simple present tense is used to describe routines, daily activities, habits and general truths. This will be done through oral drills. Distinguish the usage of the simple present tense with the 3 persons and the differences that occur when using the third person singular Have the students give examples like, I eat, I take a shower every morning etc. Controlled Practice 1. Verb Cards Take action verb cards prepared before the lesson The cards are folded in halves and put in a big basket or bowl The students will be required to select a card and act what the verb says like jump dance laugh etc The teacher alternates with the students and does some of the actions 2. Oral drills Help the students to form simple present negative statements. Teacher will give the sentence in the affirmative and the students will change it to the negative For example: My mother cooks delicious meals. My mother does not cook delicious meals. Then get the students into pairs and have them practice giving a sentence in the affirmative as the partner gives the negative. They should keep on alternating Write sentences on the whiteboard with verbs in both simple present and progressive present tenses. Have the students pick and write in their exercise books which of the two sentences contain simple present tense For example: I am playing soccer. I play soccer every weekend. Like soccer than tennis. Evaluation In the beginning: through warm-up activity; gauge how much the students know about present tense Continuous: through observation and activities Error correction Through feedback Lesson Rationale The students love to see the teacher act in ways they do not normally see him act especially if they think it is funny. Students in sixth grade by this time gained a proficiency in their native language. In this right, the ability of a student to develop his English language ability is correlated with the ability he has in his native language. The most important factor to consider while planning the study plan is the age of sixth graders. They are between the ages of 11 – 12 years and it is on this age they are starting adolescence. Therefore, learning a second language is important to them since it gives them social and personal advantages. On a personal level, they will gain the ability to communicate with more people and gain an understanding of their cultures and those of others. Socially, they can be able to interact with other English speakers. By grade six the students have already known the basic structure, which means that a combination of deductive and inductive methods is important. The inductive method has been acclaimed to be successful to EFL/ESL classrooms since it promotes student participation and practice (Hinkel & Fotos, 20002). It is important to consider that students have a difficulty in dropping the ‘s’ on the third person singular and many of the students often forgets them. Therefore the oral drills will help the students to learn how to self-correct. If a teacher limits his teaching goals to gaining understanding of grammar without helping the students develop usage ability, this is a return to the grammar translation whose goal was to teach the rules. Krashen model of L2 learners suggest that students ultimately arrive to intuitive self-correction, which alludes to the fact that explicit grammar instruction is not necessary. However studies reveal that one cannot have meaningful communication in the absence of grammatical competence. Teaching Quantifiers to Grade IX Students Lesson Topic Quantifiers: Much, Little, Many, few, more, less. Target Audience Grade IX ESL students aged between 14 – 15 years in class K Time I hour Teaching Context ESL/EFL India Aims and Objectives The lesson aims at helping the students broaden their knowledge on countable and uncountable nouns and the quantifiers that go with them. At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to: 1. differentiate between the usage of: Much and many Little and a little Few and a few More and less 2. Find the appropriate quantifier that goes with each example sentence Materials Hand outs with sentences to complete, black board, chalk, exercise books, Laptop and a projector. Activities Warm up “Guessing the quantifier” The teacher asks students to form small groups The teacher gives 10 slides with different sentences Each slide has 6 alternatives ‘Much, Little, Many, few, more, less’ and a 30 seconds timer The aim is to choose the appropriate quantifier in the least time possible. Presentation State a quantifier as a word that suggest the amount or the number of a noun and they can be classified according to the noun types they quantify: countable or uncountable nouns Have students identify some countable and uncountable nous with the quantifier that can be used with it. Write those quantifiers on the board using two categories of nouns: countable and uncountable. Discuss some of the confusing modifiers like the difference between ‘little’ and ‘a little’, ‘few’ and ‘a few’ Controlled practise 1. Students form groups of five students in each group They fill in the multiple choice fill in dialogue 2. Students individually fill in worksheets where they identify an identifier for each sentence Feedback Correct the worksheet students have worked on as a class Evaluation Error correction Rationale Many people, despite their age confuse words that look similar. This lesson does not only help students distinguish between confusing quantifiers like ‘little’ and ‘a little’, it also solidifies their already acquired knowledge of countable and uncountable nouns. The “quantifier guessing” activity helps the teacher determine what areas the students are comfortable in and those they have problems in. Starting with such an evaluation helps the teacher to be relevant by focusing on areas the students need help in. The teacher chooses to first introduce the quantifiers since the lesson is not dealing with all quantifiers but selected ones. It is important to think about how to combine a focus for grammar and a focus on communication. Particularly, looking at how the opportunity for focusing on grammar can be maximized without forgoing opportunities for focus on communication and meaning. The teacher decides to focus on grammar by making a presentation of the rules and the usage before he lets the students get into groups (focus on communication and meaning). Regardless of the modern trends of language pedagogy which employ different approaches to teaching grammar, a teacher prioritizing on one approach is inevitable (Larsen-Freeman, 2003). To come up with an effective way of teaching grammar, a teacher should ask himself how grammar can be brought back to an ESL/EFL classroom without back-tripping to the old models. Empirical evidence from studies (Harley & Swain 1984) affirms that teaching that focuses on meaning with little consideration for grammar are inadequate. The rule of use suggest that instead of teaching grammar as an end in itself, it is imperative to teach grammar to aid understanding and production of the language. This can be done by having opportunities which give the students to put the grammar into communicative use. Using the Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP) in a communicative context where the students work in groups is more effective. This is the reason the teacher will allow the students to get into small groups. In addition, correcting the worksheets the students have worked on, as a class, helps them understand where why they made an error and understand how such an error can be avoided. Teaching Forms of question Tags to grade 12 students Lesson topic Question tags: Forms (Auxiliary verb + subject) Target Audience High School Seniors aged between 17 – 18 years Time 1hour Teaching Context ESL/SFL Yamagata, Japan Aims and Objectives The aim of this lesson is to develop active and passive knowledge of how to use question tags. At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to: Determine what auxiliary verbs are and what kind of question tag they take. Form statements with both affirmative and negative auxiliary verbs and add question tags. Complete worksheets on different forms of question tags. Materials Exercise books, black board and chalks, handouts, work sheets Activities Warm up Greetings, students hand in assignments, Ice breaker game. Consciousness training Activity The teacher gives statements (Positive and negative) and have the students put a question tag at the end Write the sentences and their question tags on the board regardless of whether they are right or not Identify which are right and those that are not right Have students explain why the question tag forms are right and why others are wrong Presentation Question tags are used to solicit input or to confirm what we are saying Auxiliary verb + Subject 1. With auxiliaries we use the same verb in sentence to form the tag. Statements with no auxiliary verb, we use ‘do’ Example: You live in Japan, don’t you? 2. Affirmative auxiliary verbs take a tag in the negative Example: You are Japanese, aren’t you? 3. Auxiliary verb in the negative take a positive tag Example: You are not a footballer, are you? Practice Students complete worksheets that contain 2 sections The first section has sentences and they are required to add the appropriate question tag The second section requires them to generate statements and add a question tag. The statements should be both affirmative and negative. Evaluation During consciousness training activity: through explanations by students Error correction Feed back Have the students ask questions Lesson Rationale According to Hinkel & Fotos (2002) students first process input for meaning before processing it for form. For students to process meaningful form, they must do it in a communicative context at little attention. This perspective advised the teacher’s decision of indulging the students in a consciousness training activity. Having input-based activities like giving answers to questions is a pedagogical intervention that helps students to understand and process the form . Applying the Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP) models which is a structures three stages sequence ensures that the students do not only grasp the rules but they can be able to use them. Presentation introduces new grammar rules through examples that introduce the structure. This stage aids students to familiarize themselves with the new grammatical structure. The practice stage gives students written and spoken exercises to repeat and manipulate or reproduce (Hinkel & Fotos, 2002) this stage involves controlled as well as open-ended activities. It helps the students to gain control of what they have learnt in the previous stage. The final stage – production stage – learners use the rules learnt in the previous stages in more communicative ways. This stage helps students to master the new forms by aiding the internalization of the rules learnt. At this age, explicitness makes the students have their focus on form. The grade determines the frequency, teach ability, complexity and learnability. Offering explanation for the errors that occur given that in error correction, it is important to begin with elicitation which often leads to self correction. Teaching the if clause to college students Lesson Topic ‘If’ clause Target Audience Japanese university Students aged between 20 – 30 years Teaching Context ESL/EFL Japan Time I hour Aims and objectives The aim of this lesson is to raise consciousness and noticing the ‘if’ clause. By the end of the lesson, the students will be able to Actively produce if clauses with little preparation and with maximum personal preparation Form if sentences in both type 1 and type 2 sentences Correct their peers in case of an error Materials black board, chalks, text books, exercise books Activities Consciousness raising activity Introduce sentences that use wish or hope and write them on the board Example: I hope I will pass this course. Have the students tell you what will happen if they pass the course Example: If I pass this course, I will be very happy. Explain the pattern used for both sentences The students are then required to get small groups and practise listing at least 10 future hopes and the possible results if those hopes come true During this exercise, the teacher walks around observing and offering help where needed. At the same time students can ask the teacher questions Presentation 1. Explain the two sentence patterns (Type 1 sentences) I hope + subject + present tense+(future word) If + Subject + Present tense + (Future word), Subject + will/might + verb + (Future Word) Explain the choice of the auxiliary is dependent on the magnitude of possibility. 2. Introduce type 2 sentences I wish + Subject + Past Tense +(now) If + subject +past tense + (now), Subject +would/could +verb + (now) Example: I wish I was ready now If I was ready now, we could have gone out together now Extension Ask the students to read more on sentence type 2 and list six present wishes (individually) and the results if the wishes came true This is to be reviewed and continued in the next class. Evaluation Collaborative output Through consciousness training Feedback: Error correction and correction from peers Lesson Rationale At college level, academic and professional skills in English language are paramount. These skills cannot be acquired through a communicative approach alone. The principle the appropriateness looks at the needs, interests, learning styles and the expectations of the students. Therefore, instructed learning is important. Teaching a relevant grammar cannot take place if the teacher does not first seek to find out what the ESL/EFL students already know. It is not right to assume that English grammar is wholly different from their mother tongue. Consciousness raising tasks help to build implicit and explicit knowledge. Grammar is defined as a structure of a language and it has rules that determine how words should fit in together. According to Larsen-Freeman (2003) any language is learnt through practice and is perfected through grammar. It is important it allow the students to interact in the process of learning. Communicative approaches help learners strike a balance between a language’s form and meaning. Traditional grammar focuses on knowledge of rules while the communicative approach avoids rules to embrace communicative use which in turn builds implicit knowledge. In Hinkel and Fotos’ words, if students know about a grammatical feature, they are more likely to heed it when they come across it in the input ... the goal of a grammar syllabus becomes not that of teaching learners to use grammar but of helping them to understand how grammar works” (Hinkel and Fotos pp. 26-27) References Droga, L, Humphrey, S. And Feez, S. (2012). Grammar and Meaning: An introduction for Primary teachers. Newtown, NSW: PETAA. Harley, B., & Swain, M. (1984). The interlanguage of immersion students and its implications on second language teaching. In A Davies, e. Criper, & AP.R Howatt (Eds.), Interlanguage (pp. 291-311). Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press. Hinkel, E. and Sandra Fotos (eds.) (2002) New perspectives on grammar teaching in second language classrooms, Mahway, NJ: Erlbaum. Nassaji, H. & Fotos, S. (2010). Teaching Grammar in Second Language Classrooms: Integrating Form-Focused Instruction in Communicative Context. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis. Larsen-Freeman, D (2001) In R. Carter and D. Nunan (Eds) The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 34-41. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2003).Teaching Language: From Grammar to Grammaring. NY: Heinle ELT. The Internet TESL Journal http://iteslj.org/ English Teaching profession http://www.etprofessional.com Read More