Close Window
<<Back to Table of Contents  Print

  

TREC Logo ACE English Program Lesson Planner

Teacher:   Level: ACE (High beginner)
Skill: Vocabulary, speaking Date: Lesson #29 – August 21, 2006
Subskills: Giving descriptions Topic: Descriptions II
Objective: SWBAT:
Increase their speaking confidence via a relaxed, conversation-oreiented lesson.
Describe things they touch and feel using adjectives from HW#12 and lexis from the course
Lexis: Adjectives (from homework): soft, rough, heavy, light, short, long, smooth, thick, thin, hard, dark, new, old, expensive, cheap, straight, curvy, shallow, deep
Language point(s): A: Can you describe it?
B: It’s light, soft, straight…
A: Name something that’s tall and thin.
B: The teacher.
Anticipated problems: Confusion of recurring words (light/dark vs. light/heavy)
Rain buggers planned activation (stage 22).

STAGE E | S | A TARGET LANGUAGE TEACHER STUDENT MATERIALS TIME TEACHER’S EVALUATION
  E Conversation Leads a brief conversation with the students reviewing as many previous language points as possible.[1] Responds realia 10 min This is in response to feedback that Ss aren’t retaining enough of what’s covered in class. Need to find other ways of getting Ss conversing more in English outside of class.
  E Theme Asks “What shape is it? What color is it?” Pointing to various realia Responds realia 5 min the color and the shape. They knew most of the colors; shapes were more difficult. Didn’t do “round” based on my own feedback from an earlier general English class. Unwise! Elicited in the next lesson.
  E Theme Show Ss a grain of rice. Ask “What is it?” “What size is it?” Drill the question. Prompt answer. Ask “What’s the opposite of small?” Draw a man wearing a huge shirt if they don’t get it. Create a network tree (skip length, height, etc.) for the looks like adjectives. Responds rice, whiteboard, markers 4 min big/small. No problem.
  E Theme Repeat stage 3 with unrolled toilet paper to for “long.” Elicit “short” by asking for the opposite. “Can you name something that’s short?”
With a ruler, ask “How long is it?” Concept check: “How long is class?”
Responds toilet paper 3 min long/short. They knew this one pretty well.
  E Theme Repeat stage 3. Draw a “tall” palm tree. Elicit “tall.” Can you name something that’s tall?” “What’s the opposite of tall?” “Can you name something that’s short?” Responds whiteboard, marker 3 min tall/short. Knew it.
  E Theme Repeat stage 3. Turn out the lights. Elicits “dark” and “light.” Point to a light if prompting in required. Concept check for opposites. “Can you name something that’s dark?” (inside of a cave). Night and day! Responds lights, whiteboard, markers 3 min dark/light. This one was more difficult. They had some good feedback for things that are dark and light. Elicited “day” and “night.”
NOTE: Comparing skin of farang and Thai would be a great and relevant. Thought of it too late.
  E Theme Repeat stage 3. Toss monkey puppet about. Elicit “light.” Ask for opposite. Use a rock as realia. “Name something heavy and light.” Responds monkey puppet, a rock 3 min light/heavy. Cake.
  E Theme Repeat stage 3. Use same realia but for “soft” and “hard” Responds monkey puppet, a rock 3 min soft/hard. Cake.
  E Theme Repeat stage 3. Compare surfaces of two rocks, one with a smooth surface and one with a rough surface. “Can you name something that’s rough?” (sea?) Responds rough and smooth rocks, whiteboard, 3 min smooth/rough. They’d previously been taught bumpy and several Ss called this out.
  E Theme Repeat stage 3. Compare wet and dry surfaces. Responds water, skin, w/b, markers 3 min wet/dry. They knew this from CBT itinerary lessons.
  E Theme Repeat stage 3. Place curved string in front of Ss and elicit. Opposite? What else is curved? Straight? Responds string, banana, ruler 3 min curvy/straight. This was a harder one for them. They were able to reply “road” as an example for each.
  E Theme Repeat stage 3. Draw a fancy house or car and write 1,000,000 B under it. Elicit “expensive.” Opposite? Can you name something cheap? Expensive? Responds     expensive/cheap. Drew two houses with different price tags. Many Ss knew this lexis.
  E Theme Repeat stage 3. Flashcard for something old and a new version of the same thing. Responds   3 min new/old
Forgot this one with second group. I cleared up the confusion regarding “young” vs. “new” in the next lesson when we specified between things and people.
  E Theme Repeat stage 3. Knocks on the cement wall and the bamboo wall. Repeat using books. Ask for Ss suggestions. Responds classroom wall, whiteboard, markers 3 min thick/thin. A harder one to elicit and demonstrate. Pronunciation was a nightmare. Hello Pronunciation Power?
  E Theme Repeat stage 3. Deep and shallow using drawings. Responds whiteboard, markers 3 min deep/shallow. They knew this one from Helen’s lessons.
  E Theme Elicit as many other adjectives as possible. Prompt if necessary Replies whiteboard, markers 1 – 5 min also taught: hot/cold, fast/slow, loud/quiet, early/late
  S/A Theme Divide class into pairs. Give each pair 2-3 objects [2] and have them brainstorm several adjectives for each. Have each team present their objects. Presents objects. “This is a ball. It’s orange and round and light and smooth …” realia 10 min This worked well. ACE Ss are comfortable with tasks like this. When they presented, the lack of “round” as a shape we a problem (referring to a ball as a circle). Didn’t do a great job distinguishing between facts and opinions (when they claimed something was cheap when in fact that’s a relative term)
NOTE: Stick to concrete adjectives in future lessons.
  S/A Theme Hands out magazines and catalogs. Have Ss find as many adjectives as possible. Ss search for different adjectives from magazines. magazines, scissors, 10 min Did not do.
  S/A Theme Have Ss present their pictures to the class. Have Ss guess what adjective the picture Hold up their pictures. Class has to guess what magazines, whiteboard, markers 10 min Did not do.
  S/A Theme Shouts out adjectives. Shouts back with the opposite adjective. none 5 min Did not do.
  S/A Theme Opposites Attract!
Hands out cards with two adjectives written on them. Ss have to mingle to find their opposite “partner.”
Ss read their cards. Memorize what’s on them. Mingles with class. “I am soft and light.” “I am hard and dark.” MATCH! index cards with adjectives written on them 7 min Did not do.
  S/A Theme Opposite Adjective Bingo!
Writes the list of 24 adjectives (some are PoP) on the whiteboard. [2] Drill as you go. (Alter [2] if some good adjectives came out of stage 15.) Hands out the BINGO cards. Tells Ss to fill in the randomly fill in the matrix. Models the game.
Marks each square with an X that matches the opposite adjective they hear. First to get five across, down, or diagonal shouts BINGO! Bingo cards (See Azar’s Fun With Grammar, Ch 9, page 189) 10 min Did not do.
  A Theme Adjective Community Trail.
Teacher leads students on a walk around the immediate neighbor-hood pointing out things. “What’s this?” Ss have to describe on an individual basis. If pissing rain, do it in TREC.
Follows teacher around and replies. Stuff on the adjective community trail  15 min Went better the second time—more variety (wires, tree, dog)
  E Comparatives Asks two Ss “How old are you?” Draws their faces and names on w/b with ages. Asks, “Who is older?” Add another Ss. “Who is oldest?” Concept check with young. Repeat with other realia from the lesson.  Responds realia 5 min Did not do comparatives.
  E/S Comparatives Draws a table on the whiteboard and elicits several fills in for several adjectives, comparatives, and superlatives. Responds whiteboard, markers, realia 5 min Did not do comparatives.
  E/S Comparatives Grammar Point: X is [comparative] than Y. Responds, takes notes whiteboard, markers 5 min Did not do comparatives.
  S Comparatives Hands out PT1. Models number one. Has Ss complete. Monitors. Completes task PT1: comp-aratives 5 min Did not do comparatives.
  S Comparatives Reviews answers to PT1. Introduces spelling rules? Listens, takes notes PT1: comp-aratives 5 min Did not do comparatives.
  S/A Comparatives Hands out the realia and have Ss ask each other comparative questions Responds   10 min Did not do comparatives.

NOTES:
Pre-Lesson:

[1]
How are you?
How do you feel?
How often do you feel [whatever]?
How’s the weather?
What did you bring to class today?
What do you need to bring on a hike?
Can I have a pen?
Where’s your house?
Where’s the toilet?
How often do you eat breakfast/use computer/study English?
How often is it sunny in August?
How long is this class?
What time does class end?
What do you do at night?
What do you do in the morning?
Tell me about your family.
What color is an ant?
What are you wearing?

[2] Realia

ball roll of TP smooth rock book banana
crowbar rough rock      
         

[3] BINGO words

old (new) dark (light) soft (hard) light (heavy) cheap (expensive)
hot (cold) happy (sad) short (long) slow (fast) think (thin)
beautiful (ugly) tall (short) FREE dry (wet) rough (smooth)
white (black) straight (curved) small (big) full (empty) wide (narrow)
early (late) near (far) loud (quiet) high (low) shallow (deep)

[4] Comparatives

Adjective Comparative Superlative
old older oldest
young younger youngest
light lighter lightest
heavy heavier heaviest
dark darker darkest
light lighter lightest
soft softer softest
hard harder hardest
Adjective Comparative Superlative
expensive more expensive most expensive
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful

ELLP Report (if applicable):

ELLP Chapter No:
Chapter 10 “What’s this?

How did this chapter relate to your lesson (e.g. similar language focus, lexis used, linking concepts etc.)?
Similar language focus and lexis. I gave the Ss homework earlier that asked them to look up a list of adjectives, so I was able to use a lot more than the ELLP manual.

Which activities were deemed not suitable for your lesson – why not?
I chose not to teach the lexis for grouping. i.e., I did not teach “texture,” “length,” “height,” etc. Exception: “shape”

Which activities did you use/adapt for your lesson?
I used a modified version of the sentence practice activity in the homework. I also walked around with the students and pointed to different objects and had them describe the object.

Were these activities effective? (If not why not – if so, why?)

Recommendations for any alterations to ELLP lesson & activities (for the purpose of ACE English)

^ Top