Attach any handouts or materials required for this lesson. Preparation/Planning ESL Course: ESOL 30
Level
Beginning
Intermediate X
Advanced
Multilevel Topic/Theme: Subject Verb Agreement/ St. Patricks Day
Objectives
Context
Content
Language
Listening The students will learn about correct subject verb agreement The students will learn this within the context of the culture of Ireland and St. Patricks Day traditions. __________________________________________________________ Grammar and Writing: The Students will learn to form the correct regular verb forms with singular or plural noun subjects and will be able to apply it to their writing assignments. New and interesting terminology including such as Ireland, St. Patrick, leprechaun, shamrock, harp, will be taught to increase students vocabulary.
This is a Grammar/Writing class of mid-level ESOL students. The students range in age from 19 62 years of age. They are primarily from the Middle East and South East Asia though a few are of Latino descent. Languages spoken by the students include: Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, Hebrew, Russian, Thai, Pashtu, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Speaking Students will hear authentic language the instructor as she tells them about Irish culture and traditions. The students will be reading the material and observing new vocabulary on their practice worksheets and they will incorporate their understanding of how to form correct subject- verb forms and usages in their paragraph writing on . The students will use this same language as they create appropriate sentence structures in their group meetings Reading They will be reading a paragraph for error analysis once they are familiar with the correct verb forms. Writing The students will be creating sentences using Irish magazine photos for prompts. They will further reflect on the lesson when writing in their journals next class session. Bridging What background knowledge do the students already have? Our class is diverse, representing many cultures. Each week I read their free writing journals which often have prompts asking them to write about their home countries, their values and traditions. I respond to these writings and we have shared many exchanges. I formulated this lesson around my own cultural heritage to share some of my traditions as they pertain to Ireland and St. Patricks day as a platform for respect and appreciation for all. What will you do to activate or link students prior knowledge or experience to upcoming content? We will discuss how they have all shared stories of their cultures. traditions ,and celebrations in writing assignments throughout the semester. I will remind them of how we exchange ideas and questions through their journals and our conversations and ask what they may know about St. Patricks Day prior to todays meeting. Engagement with New Material What will you do to engage students in the active learning of the new material? I will scaffold them moving from the form to meaning, then to use in authentic contexts. In order to do this, I will follow the lesson format as designed by Richards and Rodgers, 1986): 1. Presentation. Engagement with new material - The new structure is introduced and presented by lecture. (Bridging) 2. Controlled practice. Learners are given intensive practice in the structure, under the teachers guidance and control. (Practice on worksheet #1) (Engagement with new material) 3. Free practice. The students practice using the structure without any control by the teacher.(Free Journal writing) ( Application and extension) What will you do to ensure that all students are engaged? I will provide a group activity where the students are working together to construct their own sentences together and individually. Students will be divided into groups of 4 and given authentic Irish magazines as material for forming sentences, using correct subject verb agreement. The groups will read their sentences aloud while showing the class the pictures the sentences describe. I will circulate among them observing those who are engaged and those who need encouragement. Application What opportunities will you provide students to practice and apply their knowledge/skill to meet the objectives for this lesson? To apply to other contexts? Students will complete several practice worksheets individually first, and then share their answers either with their partners or in front of the whole class. Working in pairs requires contribution to the conversation. Sharing in front of the class necessitates that they are prepared. If some students do not volunteer to answer the questions, I will call their name to answer. (think-pair-share) Assessment How will you assess their learning of the objectives? I will circulate the room and informally assess, looking for questions or explanations to assist in their understanding. I will administer a formal assessment grammar quiz the following week to analyze the use of subject verb combinations. I will continue to monitor these grammar forms in successive lessons to ensure that students are maintaining the language forms they have learned as they are learning new forms. The free writing journal assignment will be a solid measure of how they use the new information. Closing How will you help students recap the learning and link it back to the original purpose of the lesson? I will give a brief summary of the lesson before the class is over and explain their homework, writing a paragraph about St. Patricks Day. Then I will quickly review the important components of paragraph writing; brainstorming, organization, topic sentence, supporting details, and concluding sentence to help them with their assignments. Technology If applicable for your context and your lesson, how will you meaningfully integrate technology into your lesson?
I will also use a PowerPoint slide show to present the grammar points, an overhead projector to review the worksheet, white board and markers for the game phase where the students will write their sentences on the board. I will employ a computer to play an Irish music video as they take a break and enjoy authentic Irish food. Reflection What went well?
How do you know? I feel that the overall lesson went well better than my previous lesson on the Olympics. The students responded very warmly to the context and were very interested in learning a bit about my culture. They had some
What didnt go as planned?
What contingency plan did you employ?
What would you do differently next time?
Did your students meet the purpose and objectives for this lesson? How do you know?
What do your students need next? How do you know?
What did you learn about your glows and grows as a teacher? What can you do to work on your areas needing growth? previous knowledge of St. Patricks Day but were intrigued by the details that were previously unknown to them.
This grammar area is a simple one for me to explain but was more difficult for some of the students than I had anticipated. I feel that there was ample time to review each slide before moving on and I learned from previous lessons to check for understanding by having students relate it back to me rather than just saying; do you understand ?
I also felt as though I had a lot of practice material that underscored their learning and made it clearer to me if they were struggling with the concept.
Last time I felt that I should have differentiated instruction for students that finish early. However, this time I saw the students working together, the stronger with the weaker and enjoying themselves. It was noisy and gregarious and I was happy to see the community building that is continuing to happen each week in our class
I am not quite sure that all the students met the objectives yet. Some of the lower performing students made errors thru the end of the practice activities and will need to be further observed for error correction. . This is where I feel that the free writing journal assignment will be a solid measure of how they use the new information.
I feel that they need more practice with subject-verb forms. Per the course syllabus, the students will next be studying the exceptions to the regular forms. . I will confer with my cooperating teacher to see if it may be possible to incorporate more cultural explorations. Perhaps focusing on one country at a time.
I still feel inadequate about difficult grammar questions that I do not readily have the answers to. I also need to work on pacing my lesson to allow for enough time to thoroughly cover the subject and answer questions. I was observed for this lesson and know that I went a bit to fast on some aspects of the lesson at the onset but gradually came into my own. I think I should write down a few extended questions for each area that I cover. This would not only help me slow down my lesson, but also adds to informally assessing the students throughout their learning, rather than just at the end of the lesson.
(Cultural Studies of The Americas 16) Lúcia Sá - Rain Forest Literatures - Amazonian Texts and Latin American Culture (Cultural Studies of The Americas) - U of Minnesota Press (2004) PDF