Week
4
I
love this thought because it really expresses what happened in the English classes
of this week.
Hi readers!!!!! Let me lead you in the exciting teaching
experience of this week 4. I hope you can truly learn something out my falls
and my victories as I have learned. We all know that since no one is perfect,
things will not go prefect all the time; however, as Elvis Presley said, if
things go wrong, do not go with them!!!!
Ø
Monday
This day was not an easy day;
nevertheless, it challenged me to go beyond and think more in action plans to
use when a topic is not well understood by the students.
The
grammar topic for this class was “Possessive Adjectives”. The lesson began with
a reading part in which students needed to make some reading exercises about
the topic “Facebook Profiles”. This part of the class did not really represent
a big challenge, students seemed to understand the instructions very well, and
nothing went wrong; nevertheless, the problem started with the grammar and
speaking part of the lesson. Since the students that we have are true
beginners, all the topics, no matter how simple they can be for us, they are a
huge challenge for them. Thus, “Possessive Adjectives” was not an exception.
Starting with a picture and a conversation in which students were going to
encounter the topic and then, the explanation part with
the use of a power presentation and even a very understandable video with a man
explaining “Possessive Adjectives” in a very funny way, students did not seem
to understand the topic, and this could be observed by just looking at
their faces and their gestures which translated into words said” I DO NOT
UNDERSTAND”. I continued explaining the
topic more and more, I made as many examples I could so that they could
understand, and at the end, they seemed ready for the practice stage. Thus, I
proceeded to the practice stage. During the practice stage students did show
that they were still struggling with the topic, so a rehearsing was offered by
making another explanation on the board again. Finally, having no more time to
practice, it was necessary to proceed to the production stage to identify how
much the students had understood from the topic, and as expected; students
demonstrated no control of the possessive adjectives and that a rehearsing was
needed for the next class.
The question now becomes, why did
the students could not get the topic presented? Too many ideas arose in my mind
when I made this question for myself, like: -it is because the students are too
basic! Or because the topic is too advance for them, but finally, I could
discover something, students are still having problems with “Subject pronouns”,
so how can they get possessive adjectives if the subject pronouns point is
still not clear?. Of course this is not the only reason why students are having
problems with grammar points. It is known that grammar is not easy for all
English students, however, it is still important, so we got to find the way to
teach grammar in a more advance way. Finally, looking at the problem of the
grammar point that was not well assimilated by the students, I assigned
homework so that students could continue practicing the topic presented during
this lesson at home.
Here you are my lesson plan if you
would like to take a look…..
Due to the grammar problem that
happened on Monday, Friday represented another opportunity for me to do
something to help my students overcome the problem they had with possessive
adjectives.
Reading Lesson
|
|||
Time
|
Stage
|
Procedure
|
|
10 minutes
|
Warm up
|
Students will be asked
to stand up and make a circle. The teacher will give them a ball of paper and
the students will have to pass the ball while saying one word from a category
that the teacher chooses. For example: the teacher says “colors” and the
students have to say a color and pass the ball, then, the teacher says
“countries” the students have to say countries while passing the ball, if one
student does not come up with a fast answer, he/she cannot pass the ball and
will have 5 seconds to answer, if the student does not, he/she will get out
of the game and will have to sit down.
|
Aim of the activity: to break the ice and review the previous
lesson’s vocabulary.
Type of learner: K
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: Ball of paper
|
5 minutes
|
Pre- (reading)
|
The teacher will show
some pictures to the students and will ask them what they think the topic
will be about. Once the students have already made guesses, the teacher will
introduce the topic “Facebook profiles” and will verify if the students’
guesses were accurate.
|
Aim of the activity: to practice the predicting skill and active
schemata.
Type of learner: V
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: pictures, and power presentation.
|
5 minutes
|
During-(reading)
|
The students will be
given a worksheet containing three facebook profiles. Ss will be asked no to
the read the whole three profiles, but just to look for the three names of
the people in the profiles. Ss will be given two minutes to do this activity.
Then, students will check their answers with a partner and also with the
teacher.
|
Aim of the activity: to practice the scanning skill.
Type of learner: V, T
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: Worksheets
|
10 minutes
|
During-(reading)
|
The teacher will ask
for the meaning of some objects that will appear in the reading that may be
new for the students, then, Ss will be asked to look for and circle the
objects that the people mention in their profiles. Then, SS will check their
answers with a partner and the teacher will ask what objects they circled and
who the owners of those objects are.
|
Aim of the activity: to scan for more details.
Type of learner: V,T
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: worksheet
|
10 minutes
|
During-(reading)
|
Ss will be asked to
read the whole text to fill in some exercises and answer some questions that
will be written in a worksheet. Then, students will check their answers in
pairs, and then with the teacher.
|
Aim of the activity: to get the gist of the whole text.
Type of learner: V,T
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: worksheet
|
10 minutes
|
After-(reading
|
Ss will be asked to
stand up and choose one of the people in the facebook profiles. Once the SS
have chosen who they want to be, the will have to look for a partner and
introduce themselves by reading the profile they chose, when the two Ss have
introduced each other, they will have to look for another partner to
introduce themselves again.
|
Aim of the activity: to practice the pronunciation of the text.
Type of learner: K
Interaction: T-S,
Materials: worksheet
|
Grammar and speaking lesson
|
|||
Time
|
Stage
|
Procedure
|
Details
|
10 minutes
|
Warm up
|
The class will be
divided into two teams. Each team will have to choose a leader to pass to the
front while the rest of the Ss stay in their places. The leaders will have to
draw on the board pictures of a list of words that the teacher will give to
each leader, every time a leader draws a picture and his/her team guesses
what the word is, the leader can continue drawing another word; if students
do not guess the word that the leader is drawing, the leader cannot continue drawing
the next word until the one on the board is guessed. The leader who finishes
first with his/her list will be the winner, and the group who lost will have
to pass to the front to answer some questions. This activity can be either deleted or moved to any other moment
during the class if it is found not necessary to wake up the students at this
point of the lesson.
|
Aim of the activity: to wake students up if
they are bored or sleepy.
Type of learner: K, T
Interaction: S-S
Materials: two pieces of papers with a list of
vocabulary.
|
12 minutes
|
Presentation
|
Students will be
presented a picture of a boy’s bedroom. Students will have to identify the
objects and furniture in his bedroom. If they are not able to name the
objects, they will have to label them with the words in a box below the
picture. After that, Ss will be told the topic for the class and will have to
listen to a record to check their answers, then, they will repeat the
vocabulary presented. Finally, Ss will be asked to fill in the blanks with
the correct furniture or object.
|
Aim of the activity: to encounter the target
vocabulary.
Type of learner: V,A,T,
Interaction: T-S,
Materials: worksheets
|
13 minutes
|
Explanation
|
Students will be
presented with a chart in which they will have the possessive adjectives and
the subject pronouns. The teacher will explain their difference and how to
use them with examples using real objects. For instance: the teacher will
show her cell phone and will say “my
cell phone is black and white”. Finally, a video will be shown to the
students to clarify the topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SBCVMw1gjo
|
Aim of the activity: to clarify the target
vocabulary.
Type of learner: V, A
Interaction: T-S
Materials: real objects like cell phone and notebooks,
computer, speakers, and projector.
|
8 minutes
|
Practice
|
SS will have to fill in
the blanks with the correct possessive adjectives, subject pronouns or nouns
in order to complete the sentences. The teacher will check the answers with
the students and will practice the pronunciation of the sentences.
|
Aim of the activity: to start practicing the
target vocabulary.
Type of learner: V,T
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: worksheets
|
10 minutes
|
Practice
|
Aim of the activity: to practice and have
more fluency when using the target vocabulary.
Type of learner: V,A,
Interaction: S-S
Materials: flashcards
|
|
12 minutes
|
Production
|
Ss will have to take
one object they have in the classroom and will stand up with the objects and
make two lines. Ss will have to describe the objects they have to the person
in front, then, one line will be moving every time Ss finish describing their
objects and will talk to another person. The teacher will monitor all the
time. The structure that the SS will use is “My their
object is an adjective”, for example: My
notebook is small.
|
Aim of the activity: to fluently use the
target vocabulary.
Type of learner: k
Interaction: S-S
Materials: real objects
|
5 minutes
|
Wrap up
|
The students will have
to stand up and make a circle. Some balloons will be pasted on the board and
the SS will have to take them to pass them while listening to some music,
once the music stops, the Ss holding the balloons will have to burst them and
answer the questions inside the balloons. This activity can be substituted if the two girls that did not attend
to the last class come to the class to take the oral evaluation they lost.
|
Aim of the activity: to cool down after a
two-hour class.
Type of learner: A
Interaction: S-S T-S
Materials: Nothing
|
Assignments and
Announcements. Students will be given some exercises to work on at home and present
them the next class.
|
|||
Friday
Due to the grammar problem that
happened on Monday, Friday represented another opportunity for me to do
something to help my students overcome the problem they had with possessive
adjectives. 
-Be
prepared to make changes to or scrap your lesson plan.
If the lesson
you have prepared just isn't working, don't be afraid to scrap it or modify it.
Be sensitive to the students--don't forge ahead with something that is bound
for disaster.
- Don't neglect useful vocabulary teaching.
The building blocks of language are not grammar and
functions. The most essential thing students need to learn is vocabulary;
without vocabulary you have no words to form syntax, no words to pronounce.
Help your students to become vocabulary hungry.
-Proceed from more
controlled activities to less controlled ones.
Not always, but in general, present and practice more
structured activities before freer, more open ones.
-Turn regular activities into games or competition. Many familiar teaching points can be turned into games, or activities with a competitive angle. A sure way to motivate students and liven up your classroom.
-Show interest in
the students as individuals.
Treat students as individuals, not subjects. Don't
patronize or talk down to them; talk to them as you would any other person.
Only in this way will true communication take place.
-Use humor to liven
up the class.
-Make it a habit to get the students to laugh at least
once per lesson.
-Make your
instructions short and clear.
-Demonstrate rather than explaining whenever possible.
-Don't talk too
much.
-Depending on the subject, you should be talking from
about 5% to 30% of the lesson. For speaking or writing, more than 10-15% would
probably be too much. Most lessons should be student-centered, not
teacher-centered.
To sum up, the Monday’s class was
not easy either for me, or for the students; however with the desire of doing
significant things, everything is possible and I could do a better job on
Friday. Something very valuable for me is the assignment thing which really
helped students do better at the next lesson. Now the challenge is to find the
way to make all the students do their homework since not all of them did it. I
already have some ideas like: rewarding them with something, but, I will search
for more ideas to share with you in the next posting!!!!! Bye…
Here you are the Friday’s lesson if
you would like to take a look!!!!
Reading Lesson
|
|||
Time
|
Stage
|
Procedure
|
|
10 minutes
|
Warm up
|
Students will be asked
to stand up and make a circle. The teacher will give them a ball of paper and
the students will have to pass the ball while saying one word from a category
that the teacher chooses. For example: the teacher says “colors” and the
students have to say a color and pass the ball, then, the teacher says
“countries” the students have to say countries while passing the ball, if one
student does not come up with a fast answer, he/she cannot pass the ball and
will have 5 seconds to answer, if the student does not, he/she will get out
of the game and will have to sit down.
|
Aim of the activity: to break the ice and review the previous
lesson’s vocabulary.
Type of learner: K
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: Ball of paper
|
5 minutes
|
Pre- (reading)
|
The teacher will show
some pictures to the students and will ask them what they think the topic
will be about. Once the students have already made guesses, the teacher will
introduce the topic “Facebook profiles” and will verify if the students’
guesses were accurate.
|
Aim of the activity: to practice the predicting skill and active
schemata.
Type of learner: V
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: pictures, and power presentation.
|
5 minutes
|
During-(reading)
|
The students will be
given a worksheet containing three facebook profiles. Ss will be asked no to
the read the whole three profiles, but just to look for the three names of
the people in the profiles. Ss will be given two minutes to do this activity.
Then, students will check their answers with a partner and also with the
teacher.
|
Aim of the activity: to practice the scanning skill.
Type of learner: V, T
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: Worksheets
|
10 minutes
|
During-(reading)
|
The teacher will ask
for the meaning of some objects that will appear in the reading that may be
new for the students, then, Ss will be asked to look for and circle the
objects that the people mention in their profiles. Then, SS will check their
answers with a partner and the teacher will ask what objects they circled and
who the owners of those objects are.
|
Aim of the activity: to scan for more details.
Type of learner: V,T
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: worksheet
|
10 minutes
|
During-(reading)
|
Ss will be asked to
read the whole text to fill in some exercises and answer some questions that
will be written in a worksheet. Then, students will check their answers in
pairs, and then with the teacher.
|
Aim of the activity: to get the gist of the whole text.
Type of learner: V,T
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: worksheet
|
10 minutes
|
After-(reading
|
Ss will be asked to
stand up and choose one of the people in the facebook profiles. Once the SS
have chosen who they want to be, the will have to look for a partner and
introduce themselves by reading the profile they chose, when the two Ss have
introduced each other, they will have to look for another partner to
introduce themselves again.
|
Aim of the activity: to practice the pronunciation of the text.
Type of learner: K
Interaction: T-S,
Materials: worksheet
|
Grammar and speaking lesson
|
|||
Time
|
Stage
|
Procedure
|
Details
|
10 minutes
|
Warm up
|
The class will be
divided into two teams. Each team will have to choose a leader to pass to the
front while the rest of the Ss stay in their places. The leaders will have to
draw on the board pictures of a list of words that the teacher will give to
each leader, every time a leader draws a picture and his/her team guesses
what the word is, the leader can continue drawing another word; if students
do not guess the word that the leader is drawing, the leader cannot continue drawing
the next word until the one on the board is guessed. The leader who finishes
first with his/her list will be the winner, and the group who lost will have
to pass to the front to answer some questions. This activity can be either deleted or moved to any other moment
during the class if it is found not necessary to wake up the students at this
point of the lesson.
|
Aim of the activity: to wake students up if
they are bored or sleepy.
Type of learner: K, T
Interaction: S-S
Materials: two pieces of papers with a list of
vocabulary.
|
12 minutes
|
Presentation
|
Students will be
presented a picture of a boy’s bedroom. Students will have to identify the
objects and furniture in his bedroom. If they are not able to name the
objects, they will have to label them with the words in a box below the
picture. After that, Ss will be told the topic for the class and will have to
listen to a record to check their answers, then, they will repeat the
vocabulary presented. Finally, Ss will be asked to fill in the blanks with
the correct furniture or object.
|
Aim of the activity: to encounter the target
vocabulary.
Type of learner: V,A,T,
Interaction: T-S,
Materials: worksheets
|
13 minutes
|
Explanation
|
Students will be
presented with a chart in which they will have the possessive adjectives and
the subject pronouns. The teacher will explain their difference and how to
use them with examples using real objects. For instance: the teacher will
show her cell phone and will say “my
cell phone is black and white”. Finally, a video will be shown to the
students to clarify the topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SBCVMw1gjo
|
Aim of the activity: to clarify the target
vocabulary.
Type of learner: V, A
Interaction: T-S
Materials: real objects like cell phone and notebooks,
computer, speakers, and projector.
|
8 minutes
|
Practice
|
SS will have to fill in
the blanks with the correct possessive adjectives, subject pronouns or nouns
in order to complete the sentences. The teacher will check the answers with
the students and will practice the pronunciation of the sentences.
|
Aim of the activity: to start practicing the
target vocabulary.
Type of learner: V,T
Interaction: T-S, S-S
Materials: worksheets
|
10 minutes
|
Practice
|
Aim of the activity: to practice and have
more fluency when using the target vocabulary.
Type of learner: V,A,
Interaction: S-S
Materials: flashcards
|
|
12 minutes
|
Production
|
Ss will have to take
one object they have in the classroom and will stand up with the objects and
make two lines. Ss will have to describe the objects they have to the person
in front, then, one line will be moving every time Ss finish describing their
objects and will talk to another person. The teacher will monitor all the
time. The structure that the SS will use is “My their
object is an adjective”, for example: My
notebook is small.
|
Aim of the activity: to fluently use the
target vocabulary.
Type of learner: k
Interaction: S-S
Materials: real objects
|
5 minutes
|
Wrap up
|
The students will have
to stand up and make a circle. Some balloons will be pasted on the board and
the SS will have to take them to pass them while listening to some music,
once the music stops, the Ss holding the balloons will have to burst them and
answer the questions inside the balloons. This activity can be substituted if the two girls that did not attend
to the last class come to the class to take the oral evaluation they lost.
|
Aim of the activity: to cool down after a
two-hour class.
Type of learner: A
Interaction: S-S T-S
Materials: Nothing
|
Assignments and
Announcements. Students will be given some exercises to work on at home and present
them the next class.
|
|||
References: http://www.eflpress.com/teacher/EFL_teacher.html
