Doctors Office: The Imperative Form

Tim Kochem
ENG587-81 Dr. Markovic

Title of Lesson: House Hunting

TLIS (Target Language Instruction Setting)

ESL COP is a 10-week course that meets once a week on Wednesdays for two hours, split into
two one-hour lessons. The courses take place in Mitchell Hall on West Chester Universitys
campus in Pennsylvania. The classroom is a large room with stadium-styled seating. There is no
prerequisite for the course, as this is an outreach program. Based on student needs, this course
will focus more on listening and speaking skills (conversational dialogue) with reading and
writing activities mixed in. The types of interactions that will be focused on are both survival
skills (being able to visit the doctors office) and everyday conversations (dialogue with
neighbors and friends). Also, this course will introduce students to American culture, such as
holidays, landmarks, and societal norms. There is not a textbook for the course; however,
materials have been adapted from both the Ventures and Side-by-Side series. Other resources for
the course include: a whiteboard, laptop for instructors use, internet access, projector, and other
various created and adapted materials as needed.
There are two students in this course, a native German speaker from Germany and a native
Spanish speaker. She is in the 25-30 years old bracket, and is married with two children. He is in
the 30-40 years old bracket, and has a girlfriend. Their goal for this course, as aforementioned, is
to develop more fluency-like skills with English, particularly in everyday conversational settings.
Their motivation is high and mostly intrinsic, as this course is not mandated for them to take:
they are choosing to be in class each week. Sabrina uses the language most often to interact with
daily occurrences and with family members, such as her children. Francisco is looking to
building both conversational and work English, as he has a job in the US as an electrical
engineer. The resources they have available are created and adapted materials from class,
computer and internet access, and family members.

Background
This unit of study involves learning to look for a new home, and meeting and discussing details
with a realtor. This unit is one week long, and focuses heavily on listening and speaking, as well
as fact finding and critical thinking. Adjectives used to describe homes is the focal point of the
Doctors Office: The Imperative Form
Tim Kochem
ENG587-81 Dr. Markovic
first hour (this lesson plan), and the second half focuses on wants and needs when looking for a
house.

Topic of Lesson: Adjectives used to describe homes; particularly attention will be paid to
opposite adjectives, i.e., adjectives that state the exact opposite of each other like convenient and
inconvenient.

Performance Objectives: SWBAT

Pair commonly used adjectives for describing houses with its opposite by matching index
cards in 10 minutes with 90% accuracy.
Create sentences with adjectival comparisons by orally describing their model home with
a partner in 10-15 minutes.

1. Warm-up/Review (5 minutes):
Objectives: Activate background knowledge of what will be covered in class.
Instructional strategy: Student-led discussion; question and answer
Sensory Learning Styles: Auditory and visual
Materials needed: House Hunting PowerPoint
Task Description:
Teacher will put prompt question up on the PowerPoint, along with pictures of three
luxurious homes:
o How would you describe your dream home?
Students will discuss their answers with the class. Teacher will pay attention to any
adjectives that the students use when answering the question, as this will be the topic of
todays discussion. Teacher should identify the adjectives they hear, and let students
know this will be todays topic.

2. Introduction (5 minutes):
Objectives: Introduce students to todays topic, adjectives and house hunting.
Instructional strategy: Question and Answer; lecture
Sensory Learning Styles: Auditory and Visual
Materials needed: Laptop, projector, House Hunting PowerPoint
Task Description:
Teacher will present students with pictures of different homes. Teacher will ask students
to describe whats different with each of the homes. Students should be encouraged to
Doctors Office: The Imperative Form
Tim Kochem
ENG587-81 Dr. Markovic
compare the homes with one another. After students have had a chance to share
differences and similarities between the homes, teacher will go over the topic of todays
lesson: House Hunting.
o First, well watch a couple of short videos about house hunting.
o Then were going to be using comparative adjectives to describe potential homes.
o Finally, were going to hop onto Trulia and locate our dream homes.
Teacher will inform students of why this is an important topic, particularly that house
hunting is a rigorous and life-altering event.

3. Presentation (10 minutes):

Objectives: Engage students in a renovation demonstration video; show how adjectives
are used to make houses seem more appealing.
Instructional strategy: Question and Answer; lecture
Sensory Learning Styles: Auditory and visual
Materials needed: Laptop, projector, House Hunting powerpoint; DIY video
(http://www.diynetwork.com/videos/dream-house-nightmare-kitchen-0162662)
Task Description:
Teacher will introduce one short clip from DIY.com by asking what the author meant by
the title, Dream House, Nightmare Kitchen. After students have had a chance to share,
teacher will play the video clip. Students will listen along for the first time, and teacher
will cover any technical terms in the video. Students will watch and listen to the clip a
second time, this time listening for any words or phrases that describe the house. Teacher
will lead a conversation about the ways in which the narrator describes the house/kitchen,
highlighting the uses of adjectives in the video clip.

4. Practice (10 minutes):

Objectives: Test students background knowledge of adjectives commonly used to
describe houses. Students will create their own meaning of any vocabulary words that
are unknown.
Instructional strategy: Discrete-point problem solving; critical thinking builder;
interacting with created materials
Sensory Learning Styles: Auditory and visual
Materials needed: Laptop, projector, House Hunting PowerPoint, Adjective index cards,
Missing Definition worksheet.
Task Description:
Practice Activity One:
Doctors Office: The Imperative Form
Tim Kochem
ENG587-81 Dr. Markovic
Students will be given a set of 8 index cards: Student A will have 8
adjectives and Student B will have 8 adjectives that are the opposite to
Student As. Student A will select a card, but cannot show it to Student
B. Student A must read the card, and then Student B must find the
index card with the opposite adjective. Students will place matched
index cards down in between them.
Vocabulary Words
o Convenient/Inconvenient
o Cramped/Spacious
o Dangerous/Safe
o Shabby/New
o Dingy/Clean
o Bright/Dark
o Quiet/Noisy

o Private/Public

Practice Activity Two

o Students will be given a worksheet with the same vocabulary words on it with no
definitions, only examples of the word being used in a sentence. Students will
work together to build meanings for the words; e.g., if they know the answer for
one adjective, but not its opposite, teacher should let them know that the opposite
word should have the opposite meaning. Students will be allowed to use
references (smartphones) AFTER they have gone through all the words a first
time.

5. Evaluation (6 minutes):
Objectives: To check students level of comprehension by re-visiting the DIY video clip.
Instructional strategy: Question and answer
Sensory Learning Styles: Auditory and visual
Materials needed: DIY video clip (http://www.diynetwork.com/videos/dream-house-
nightmare-kitchen-0162662)
Task Description:
Doctors Office: The Imperative Form
Tim Kochem
ENG587-81 Dr. Markovic
Students will watch the presentation clip one more time. Students will go through their
adjectival opposites handout one-by-one, and choose the words from their index cards
that they think most accurately describes the scene, either pre- or post-renovation.
Teacher should not be looking for right or wrong answers, but students ability to defend
choices.

6. Application (20 minutes):

Objectives: To describe houses on Trulia (iPad app) they are interested in to another
person who has not seen the house.
Instructional strategy: Critical-thinking builder, culminating activity
Sensory Learning Styles: Auditory and visual
Materials needed: Laptop, projector, 2 iPads, pen and paper
Task Description:
Teacher will hand students iPads to use. iPads will have the app Trulia already
downloaded and opened on the iPads. Teacher will make sure settings for Trulia are set to
new home, for sale, and foreclosure homes only. Students must first choose a city that
they would like to live in, and they will put this city into the Trulias search engine. Trulia
will give students a set of listings. Students will not modify any of the search parameters.
Students will identify three potential homes and, using their pairs of adjectives, will
describe their homes using at least five new adjectives. Students will share at least one
home each; if time permits, students will share all three homes.
Doctors Office: The Imperative Form
Tim Kochem
ENG587-81 Dr. Markovic
Materials:
Doctors Office: The Imperative Form
Tim Kochem
ENG587-81 Dr. Markovic
Doctors Office: The Imperative Form
Tim Kochem
ENG587-81 Dr. Markovic
Doctors Office: The Imperative Form
Tim Kochem
ENG587-81 Dr. Markovic