I. Getting ready to teach Lesson 6 A.

General topic of the lesson: Rhyming words and words with alliteration & pronunciation practice. B. General goal of this lesson: Ss familiarize with alliteration and rhymes by reading famous American folklore. C. Learning outcomes: 1. Content based objectives: Ss will be able to a) define/explain a lullaby, and b) name two American authors 2. Linguistic objectives: Ss will be able to a) produce words that rhyme with cat, rat, etc., b) pronounce /p/ & /b/ in the initial positions, and c) identify words with alliteration in a reading passage D. Vocabulary: N/A E. Materials needed: whiteboard & markers, writing paper & pens & worksheets F. No formal assessment of this material is planned at this time. However, the teacher will continue to enforce the ideas presented in this lesson throughout future lessons. Specific areas of emphasis are words that rhyme & alliteration. II. Teaching the lesson Activity 1: Warm up: What is a rhyme? (15 mins) 1. Ask Ss if they are familiar words that rhyme & explain meaning 2. Give planned examples on the WB 3. Supervise as Ss write their own English rhymes give a stem word 4. Nominate Ss for answers Activity 2: Hush Little Baby (25 mins) 1. Distribute HLB sheets 2. Read aloud / listen as a volunteer reads aloud x 2 3. Supervise as Ss locate the rhymes w/ partners 4. Nominate Ss for answers 5. Answer questions/give explanations about the text Activity 3: This Land (40 mins) 1. Instruct Ss to turn to This Land on the worksheet & give a brief history of the song 2. Read the song aloud uninterrupted x 2 3. Lead pronunciation practice as necessary 4. Supervise as Ss talk identify rhymes with a partner 5. Nominate Ss for meaning & rhyming words 6. Write land & you & me on the WB 7. Supervise as Ss identify more words that rhyme with these / solicit responses

8. Supervise as Ss write sentences ending in these words 9. Supervise as Ss write sentences ending in the rhyming words 10. Supervise as a few Ss write their sentences on the WB 11. Sing This Land for Ss Activity 4: What is alliteration? (15 mins) 1. Ask Ss if they are familiar with alliteration & explain meaning 2. Give planned examples on the WB 3. Supervise as Ss write their own words with alliteration give a stem word 4. Nominate Ss for answers Activity 5: Alliteration practice (NMT 20 mins) 1. Distribute Alliteration Examples 2. Read examples aloud while Ss listen. Lead Ss in pronunciation practice 3. Supervise as Ss practice pronunciation with their partners & underline words with alliteration Activity 6: Closing (NMT 10 mins) 1. Review main topics/learning points from this lesson 2. Ask for final Qs and comments III. Reflection 5 things that went well: Overall I am very happy with the flow and outcomes of Lesson 6. As I am currently under the influence of my Pronunciation class at HPU, I wanted to build a lesson that valued pronunciation; not the meanings of the content presented in class. Through the rhyme examples (from authentic materials and student-generated), I was able to accomplish just that. The students focused on the pronunciation and not the meaning of the passages themselves. They have plenty of time outside of class to use their electronic dictionaries and find the meaning of every word. That is not to say I completely disregarded meaning altogether. After pronunciation practice of the tongue-twisters for instance, I wrote a few definitions on the white board (bitter, batter) and then gave a brief synopsis for the students. One reason I think the lesson was so successful is the materials were generated from songs (or were songs themselves). Students enjoy learning through music because it differs from

rote learning. Music helps reach their multiple intelligences. The tone and beat of a song helps students recall the lyrics and other teaching points. The songs and tongue twisters presented today can be considered American classics. That is, they have been popular in America for a long time (This Land) or nearly all children are exposed to them (lullabies, tongue twisters). This knowledge/experience is carried to adulthood of native speakers and then passed to future generations. The students were taught their linguistic objectives through Americana, which hopefully made them feel more integrated in their current surroundings. Finally, this lesson was solidly bookended with a warm-up activity, review at the end and then closing. At the conclusion of Sally Sells, we made two lists on the board: one for alliteration, one for rhymes. Because there was no need to move to the next activity (end of class), the students could spend a little more time gazing at the final list and preparing questions in order to ensure they grasped todays concept.

5 things I can improve upon: As with every lesson, I couldnt predict the types of questions that the students would address in class. For my definition of rhyme today, I basically said, words that end in the same sound rhyme. Examples included: cat, bat, rat, fat, brat and similar words. However, in the reading passages, some students identified words with an internal rhyme, or a half rhyme. I was unprepared for this and sort of stammered through an explanation. In the future, I will try to think of the what else aspects of teaching points and more closely examine the data I present to my learners. Another question I was unprepared for came from my mentor teacher: do all ing words rhyme? In the haste of class, I told him yes, which was passed to the students. However, I now

feel this is untrue as rolling and strolling rhyme, but waving and shining do not words from This Land. To improve my materials, I will number stanzas and short passages. Hush Little Baby had eight stanzas and the students faced difficulty locating where I began reading at times. Next time I will be able to reference a line or paragraph number that the students can easily identify. During Lesson 6 I did not nominate students for answers to my oral questions. I just allowed them to call out as they identified rhymes. This likely left a) the shy students and b) the students in the back of the classroom with a reason to not share answers much. I am working on nominating students to ensure they practice oral communication, have a voice in class and feel like I am attempting to reach everyone. In addition, the students did not do a lot of communicative writing today because they mostly just circled rhymes/alliteration in the passages. We did not write individual sentences because of lack of time. Perhaps in future lessons I can prioritize the communicative tasks and ensure all four language skills are being addressed. I will also bring in a recording of the song so the students can hear it performed by a voice besides mine.