Katie Badger, Carlynn Harshbarger, Emily Wardell

Lesson Overview

The purpose of this lesson is to teach basic English to middle school students by using a
variety of memorization tactics and games. This lesson will focus on the introduction of
classroom vocab words and a grammar lesson on adjectives.

Learner Description

The learners are middle school students from Bogot, Columbia with a limited ability to
speak English. Students have received two to three years of classroom English. There
are approximately twenty-five students in each class. There is an even distribution of
girls and boys in the classroom. There is a low level of technology, with only a teacher
station and projector in each room.

Objectives

Standards

Given classroom vocabulary in spanish, students will be able to define nine out
of ten classroom vocabulary words in English.
1. desk - escritorio
2. chair - silla
3. book - libro
4. pencil - lpiz
5. pen - pluma
6. paper - papel
7. eraser - borrador
8. chalkboard - pizarra
9. student - estudiante
10. teacher - profesor
Given a sentence in English, students will be able to identify the adjective in
every sentence.
Given a sentence in Spanish, students will be able to properly write the sentence
in English with the correct use of the adjectives.
Standard 1: English language learners communicate for social, intercultural, and
instructional purposes within the school setting.
Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts
necessary for academic success in the area of language arts.

Required Materials

Vocab Cards (with pictures)

Candy
Dry Erase Board
Dry Erase Markers and Eraser
Jeopardy Cards
Tape

Procedures

1. Begin with a grammar lesson. Before starting the lesson, show this video on
adjectives: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gobjCDvbB4
2. Next, discuss different adjectives. Introduce the students to about ten adjectives
in English (This should last about 5 minutes). These can include:
a. rojo - red
b. azul - blue
c. amarillo - yellow
d. verde - green
e. rosado - pink
f. corto - short
g. pequeo - small
h. grande - large
i. alto - tall
j. bonita - pretty
3. Next, write identical sentences on the board in Spanish and English that involve
adjectives. Emphasize that in Spanish, the adjective goes after the noun, and in
English the adjective goes before the noun (This should last about 10 minutes).
(See attached document for example sentences.)
4. The second fifteen minutes of the class will involve learning Classroom
Vocabulary using the Vocab Cards (Attached). First show students the Spanish
side of the card, then switch to the English side (with picture). As you show
each side, say the word, then have the students repeat the word after you.
5. Go through the Vocab Posters several times until students are able to say the
English words without prompting. (This should last about five minutes.)
6. Next, practice the new vocabulary. Students should break up in pairs. To begin,
say a vocab word in Spanish. The first student in each pair to say the correct
word in English gets a point. The person with the most points in each pair wins.
(The game should last five to ten minutes.)
7. For the last fifteen minutes of the lesson, review everything that has been
covered through a game of Jeopardy.
8. Place Jeopardy Cards on the board using tape with point value facing up.
(Questions for each card are attached to this document.) The board should look
like this:
Classr Adjec Identi Comb Write
oom
tive
fy the ined
Your
Vocab Vocab Adjec Vocab Own
tive
Sente
nce
100

100

100

100

100

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14.

15.

Split class into two teams. The first person on the first team will choose a
category and a point value. Pull that card off the board and read the question. If
the student gets it right, their team receives those points, if they get it wrong,
their team loses those points, and the question goes to the other team.
Keep going back and forth between teams until all the questions have been
asked. The team with the most points at the end wins candy.

Assessment

The assessment will involve a short quiz that will test students knowledge of the content
covered. Students should take this quiz home and complete for the next class. (Quiz is
attached to this document.)

Reference

Standards
http://www.tesol.org/docs/books/bk_prek12elpstandards_framework_318.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Johnson, K. (1994). The emerging beliefs and instructional practices of preservice
English as a second language teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education,
10(4), 439-452.
This article interprets how teachers who teach english as a second language
view second language teachers. This article discusses how the images of teachers are
changing. Also, the article discusses the various ways of teaching that teachers who
teach english as a second language and second language teachers use. This article is
very important because it shows how the english as a second language teachers and
the second language teachers are different, as well as some of the things that they
have in common.
Gholami, V., Moghaddam, M., & Attaran, A. (2014). Towards An Interactive EFL

Class: Using Active Learning Strategies. Modern Journal of Language

Teaching Methods, 4(2), 124-136.
This article discusses making English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms
more interactive in order to enhance learning. After first covering related literature, the
article goes on to discuss active learning strategies. Each of these strategies are
examined to determine if they are effective for enhancing student learning. The goal of
this article is to help teachers to create an interactive classroom that allows EFL
students to better understand English as a second language.