quinta-feira, 25 de fevereiro de 2010

Lesson Plan

Lesson Aim: Consolidate the use of the 1st and 2nd conditional

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Lesson Duration: 1h

Group details: Age___17-18___ Number of students ____20___ Level Intermediate_______________

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time

Student activity

Teacher activity

10

Warmer

SS take 2 minutes to read the dialogue.

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The student play the role of Joao and ask him: Why don’t you use your teeth?

Writes a short dialogue on the board.

Roberto- I can’t open this bottle.

João- Why don’t you use your teeth?

R- I’ll break them if I do that.

J- You could place the cap over a hard edge and hit it.

R- If I hit it with my hand I’ll hurt myself.

Suzy- What about if we had a bottle opener?

R- Yes! If we had a bottle opener, I’d open it quickly.

T takes a bottle of soft drink and plays the role of Roberto.

He mimes opening the bottle and says: I can’t open this bottle.

T responds to the question by saying: - I’ll break them if I do that.

T underlines the sentences and emphasizes the conditional forms

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20

Presentation stage

SS observe and analyse the pictures

This is a car.

- If I win a car, I will participate in the automobile racing.

- If Mario buys a ball, he will play football.

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SS observe the pictures again and respond to the questions:

If we had a building we would live in there.

If we won a thousand millions of dollars we’d be rich.

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1 million.

10 million. (no “s”)

Teacher holds up some pictures and asks students to observe them.

1-

2-

Now I ask you some questions according to the 1st pictures.

What is this?

- What will you do if you win a racing car?

- Class, what do you think will Mario do if he buys a ball?

Ok. Now turn back to the second pictures and respond to the following questions:

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- What would you do if you had a building?

- What would you do if you won a thousand million of dollars?

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20

Study stage

SS pay attention to the explanation of the subject and then write it on their note books.

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In the first example, we form the first conditional by using:

If+Present simple, + Future (will)

- If I win a car, I will participate in the automobile racing.

Here, we express a possible condition and its probable result in the future.

Negative

If I don’t win a car, I won’t participate in the automobile racing.

Question

What will you do if you win a racing car?

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In the second examples we form the second conditional form by using:

If+past simple+ would

If we had a building we would live in there.

We use the 2nd conditional to express an unreal situation and its probable result. The situation or condition is improbable, impossible, imaginary,or contrary to known facts.

Negative

If we had not a building we would not live in there.

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Question

What would you do if you had a building?

time

Student activity

Teacher activity

15

Practice stage

The first group of students write some sentences on the cards

Have money.

Travel abroad.

Lose your ticket.

Don’t find a job

I were rich

I stopped smoking

You spoke the same langue as Peter.

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They give the cards to the second group.

The second group writes the questions.

· What will you do if you have money?

· What will you bring to us if you travel abroad?

· What will happen to you if you lose your ticket?

· What will you do if you don’t find a job?

· How would you be if you were rich?

· What would happen to you if you stopped smoking?

· What would you do if you were the president of your country?

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The third group try to respond to the questions in front of the class.

ü If i have money, I’ll buy a boat.

ü If I travel abroad I’ll bring some gift to you.

ü If I lose my tickets I won’t travel.

ü If I were rich I would be happy.

ü If I stopped smoking I’d run fast.

ü If I were the president of my country I would increase taxes.

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Oral practice

Teacher split the class into groups of three. and gives task to each group.

T asks the first group to write some sentences .

T goes around the groups helping them with the phrases to be formulated.

T asks the ss to formulate simple questions using the structure for questions.

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T asks students to pay attention to the questions and respond to them.

Be attentive to the mistakes and help the class to correct the possible ones.

Some gifts or a gift

5

Warm down/follow up

SS write the questions and answers they formulated on their notebooks.

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T asks students to write the correct questions and answers on the note books as to practice at home. ü

Lesson Evaluation checklist:

1. Has the learning aim been achieved?

Yes. As were able to respond to some teacher’s questions on the subject.

ü They could use the structures for the 1st and 2nd conditional quite well.

2. Were the students interested throughout?

Yes. Because they were able to create questions and answers .

3. How could the lesson have been improved?

They could use the structures for the 1st and 2nd conditional quite well

Classroom Management

Every teacher does everything he can to make sure that his/her activity is a success. Although, sometimes there are situations that hamper what you had planned.

However, there are many ways classroom teacher may use to get success in this activity.

One of these is grouping students.

Groupwork and Pair work

Groupwork is a way of distributing tasks by splitting the class in groups. I have found it very useful to students’ learning. It increases the speaking opportunity among them. ü

In complex activities, students have chance of sharing opinions, stating their different positions related to the question.

Generally, I use groupwork to promote students autonomy by allowing them to decide what to do on their own.

In a debate, for example, I give them an issue and it is up to them to develop the subject and organise their own ideas.

On the other hand, in dialogue practice, listening activities, studying a text or taking part in information –gap activity, I may use pairwork.

With this kind of activity I can promote cooperation, create friendship in the classroom.

It can permit the students to share responsibilities rather than carrying the amount of activity alone. It allows students to interact independently without the guidance of the teacher.

How to organise it?

First of all, I have to consider their interest in the activity by questioning them. Then, I must concentrate on choosing better tasks that are of interest to them. I can group the class respecting the following principles: friendship, mixing group, gender, - considering different factors. ü

Discipline

To ensure successful behaviour in the classroom, the teacher must know the students particularities. Must create interesting things to do, must know how to engage them in different activities.

You should set up some rules to be respected, but be flexible. Develop the capacity of praising the positive actions of the students; it helps them to get motivated. Not show obvious favouritism to some students rather than to others.

As a teacher, I must respect some norms of keeping order and different approaches to make the classroom disciplined.

1- A reward system- teacher can reward the student according to their behaviour.

2- Project work – can also be very useful to them. It gets them involved in the activity without having time to relax.

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Homework

Homework makes part to my teaching activity. I have to set a required amount of homework for my students to do. The kind of homework I give them should be that which is accordingly to the subject they learned.

A real purpose to assessing the students, is to know how well they have understood what they have learned. It also can help me improve my teaching methodologies. As to avoid monotony in homeworks, I have to vary activities by asking students to prepare an oral report, writing short compositions on different subjects, completing some gap-filling activities, etc.


Classroom Layout

The classroom layout contributes greatly in the learning process.

I work with different classroom layout. It depends on the school. In any case, I think that our purpose, determine what we can do to succeed in our activity.

In a more than 25 students in the classroom, I am used to forming the class in orderly rows. It allows me to have a clear view of the students and they also can see me. Some activities like: presentation, explaining grammar points watching video, DVD, or an overhead project can be suitable.

However, in small classroom, I am used to setting the horseshoe forms. Here there is more intimacy in the class. There is more possibility of sharing information and feeling through talking, eye-to-eye contact makes the student more confidents.


Group Size and Mixture

Generally, English language classes vary greatly in size. It has been rare in my country in particular, to have class with less than 10 students.

The techniques we use vary on group size. In small classes there is much more interaction teacher –student, vice-versa. The communication is facilitated and it is easier to find out the students concern.

In large classes, I have been giving my students a number of different responsibilities in the class.

Using pairwork, groupwork, maximising individualwork, taking on account of vision and acoustics and organising activities which can animate the group, has been very useful and successful to my teaching activities.

Teacher must also respect the difference of the students in the classroom. There must be a mixture in the classroom. It is up to the teacher to get a balance as to not take prejudice to any student of the class.

In situations like these: we may, for example, give different exercises to different students according to their level and interest. We could maybe give them different things to read or listen to. Although it has been difficult to achieve, sometimes we are expected to respect the individuality of our students.


Correction

Correction is a very important teaching activity. It is a vital part of the teacher’s role. It helps students discover their weakness and develop their skill in the process of language acquisition.

Teacher must be attentive to the student speaking time.

It is not correct to interrupt students in mid-flow as to focus grammatical, lexical or pronunciation errors. When the teacher intervenes in a communicative activity, automatically impedes students to express themselves, and consequently it raises stress level and the acquisition process as its tracks.

When students strive to overcome difficulties in communication as to be able to transmit their ideas, it helps them find out ways to get rid of this or that communicative problem. Thus, they will learn much more than expecting teacher to do everything for them. ü

Teachers should give students opportunity to learn. When teachers intervene trying to correct every mistake or supply alternative modes of expressions they are removing the need to negotiate meaning, and low the willing of searching the knowledge.

Therefore, teacher should be the last to speak in the class.

However, when introducing a new structure/concept then more correction is needed. Teachers need to find the fine line between too much and too little correction – a balance needs to be found.


Planning

Planning is a very important activity for the teacher. It gives the class direction.

Planning allows the teacher to know what subject to teach, at what pace, providing for a logical progression of activities.

There is no a successful activity without planning it before. I have it as an important tool for achieving my goals and satisfying my students’ interests.

There are very important aspects, which cannot ever be ignored when planning the lesson:

The lesson aim, the class, the methodology ( how to achieve the lesson aim), the unexpected( what we will do if something goes wrong).

If the teacher doesn’t consider these elements, lets down all his teaching effort.

Lesson Plan

Lesson Aim: To practise the use of present perfect tense for recent events.

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Lesson Duration: 1h

Material: Headway intermediate student’book 58ü

Group details: Age__18-20___ Number of students __20__ Level___Intermediate__

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time

Student activity

Teacher activity

5’

Warmer

SS respond: You have broken the glass.

Remember health and Safety!

SS respond: He has been president of Angola since 1979.

The president of Angola was Angola

I went to Luandaü

T drops a glass on the floor and ask the students:

What have I done?

T shows the picture of the president and ask the ss:

How long has he been president of Angola

Who was the 1st president of Angola?

Where did you go last holidays?

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20

Presentation stage

SS study the text and underline the requested sentences.

I was working for the National Meteorological Office in Bracknell, near London, in the autumn of 1995, and I saw a documentary with my family called storm chasers. It was about hurricane hunters and I thought, wow, that’s an interesting job! As it happened, two months later I came across an ad for a meteorologist to work in Florida with the same people who had made the documentary. I applied, was interviewed by the phone, moved to the US, and started work here in Tampa in May 1996.

I love the travel. I’ve been all over the world chasing hurricanes. It is exciting to end up in different cities and different countries days after day. I love flying and also love working with top scientists. I’ve learned so much from them. For me it is like a classroom in the sky.

SS express the sentences they underlined.

Ex. I saw a documentary with my family.

It was about hurricane hunters and I thought, wow, that’s an interesting

I applied, was interviewed by the phone, moved to the US, and started work here in Tampa in May

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SS respond: saw, was, applied, moved, started.

SS express the double underlined sentences.

Ex: I’ve been all over the world chasing hurricanes.

I’ve learned so much from them.

SS respond: The first sentence means that the action of chasing hurricanes began in the past till now and it may continue in the future.

The 2nd sentence means that he has been learning so much since then up to now.

T –Let’s analyse the following text.

Let’s underline sentences the simple past tense in then text and double underline the present perfect.

I was working for the National Meteorological Office in Bracknell, near London, in the autumn of 1995, and I saw a documentary with my family called storm chasers. It was about hurricane hunters and I thought, wow, that’s an interesting job! As it happened, two months later I came across an ad for a meteorologist to work in Florida with the same people who had made the documentary. I applied, was interviewed by the phone, moved to the US, and started work here in Tampa in May 1996.

I love the travel. I’ve been all over the world chasing hurricanes. It is exciting to end up in different cities and different countries days after day. I love flying and also love working with top scientists. I’ve learned so much from them. For me it is like a classroom in the sky.

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Which sentences express a finished action in past?

Which words indicate us that it’s used the simple past?

T points out that in these sentences every action happened in past and no more evidences at the present.

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Which sentences say to us that something began in past and still continues?

What is the meaning of these sentences?

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20

Study stage

SS respond

The past simple is used to express a finished action.

I spoke to my father yesterday.(I am not with him now). ü

They built this school in 2004.( it is an action that occurred exactly that year.)

I had a car. (The car is not with me now)

The present perfect is used to express an action that began in the past and still continues. (Unfinished actions).

We have lived in the same house for 25 years.

Peter’s worked as a teacher since 2000.

They’ve been married for 20 years.

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SS pay attention to the explanation of the subject

SS write down the summary to their note books.

Ø The past simple is used to express a finished action.

I spoke to my father yesterday.(I am not with him now).

They built this school in 2004.( it is an action that occurred exactly that year.)

I had a car. (The car is not with me now)

Ø The present perfect is used to express an action that began in the past and still continues. (Unfinished actions).

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We have lived in the same house for 25 years.

Peter’s worked as a teacher since 2000.

They’ve been married for 20 years.

Ø We use For with a period of time and since with a started point in time.

Ex.


Since Yesterday

Christmas

8 o’clock

1990

For 3 months

A few minutes

Half an hour

Ages

T- let’s go back to our sentences and respond to the following questions. T writes on the board every student’s answers.

When do we use the past simple?

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Can you give me some examples of your own and explain them? T helps them with some verbs.

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When do we use the present perfect?

Please give me some examples:

T elicits the difference in use between for and since.

Ex We use For with a period of time and since with a started point in time.

Ex.


Since Yesterday

Christmas

8 o’clock

1990


For 3 months

A few minutes

Half an hour

Ages

T asks students to write the subject in their note books.

time

Student activity

Teacher activity

10

Practice stage

Freer activity.

SS follow the given example and then share their answer with the classmates for some corrections.

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T organise a group work

Split the class in two groups. T models an interview and they try to follow up.

Who do you work for now?

I work for .....

I see. And how long have you worked for them?

I have worked there for nearly 5 years.

And how long have you been in charge of...?

For two years.

And what did you do before you were in.....?

I worked forü

5

Warm down/follow up

You have put your books in the bag.

Peter has cleaned the board.

You put your books in the bag

Peter cleaned the board.

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T present some situations to the students asks them to formulate sentences according to their understanding.

Use the correct tense.

I put my book, in the bag. You can see it

Pedro cleaned the board. It is clear now.

T takes out the books from the bag. It is now empty.

The board Peter cleaned is now dirty.

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Lesson Evaluation checklist:

1. Has the learning aim been achieved?

Yes. Because the students were able to elicit the difference between the past simple and the present perfect.

2. Were the students interested throughout?

Yes because they could participate in the lesson.

3. How could the lesson have been improved?

They could formulate example themselves, and could discover the tense to use in the situations created by the teacher