Portfolio of Five Lessons Plans - Report Example

Running Head: PORTFOLIO OF FIVE LESSONS PLANS Portfolio of five lessons plans plus a rationale for each lesson plan Name Course Instructor 16 November 2012 Lesson Plan 1 Lesson Topic: improving recognition of the first and second conditional forms as used in conditional statements Level: College students Lesson Goals: Linguistic content: Using “what if…..” to describe situations I will present the grammatical form as well as the pronunciation issues Students will take part in structured practice that involve workbook exercises Communication tasks: I will read short text that have been prepared with first and second conditional forms Using first and second conditions to develop structurally correct questions Learning strategies Cooperative learning strategies Students will read extract using conditionals Students will be required to underline all the conditional structures Structure Preparation (8-120 minutes) I will chat with students as they arrive and ask them what they will do if they came to class and found the door closed with a padlock Students will give their views with regard to their reaction or actions they will take Presentation (8-10 minutes) Move to the use of “what if…..” Use select items in the text books for practice Students to generate conditional questions Students to underline all conditional structures Practice (8-10 minutes) Have students prepare three “what if…..” situations Students to work in groups and prepare “what if…..” situations Evaluation (8-10 minutes) Randomly select students and ask them to construct to situations using first and second conditional forms Ask group leaders to present their members outlined views about the lesson learnt about conditional statements Expansion (8-10 minutes) Give out homework Give out exercise on selected pages in the text book Students to practice through sentence construction Materials Required Materials: Textbook sections on the first and second conditional forms Authentic Materials: Newspapers Rationale Cooperative learning strategies are used in this class lesson. Teaching English to college students at this level should aim at getting attention of students in order to increase their level of understanding. Therefore, capturing students’ attention at this level requires the teacher outlining objectives of the lesson to the students and clearly indicating how the objectives should be achieved. Moreover, collaboration and participation of students in the learning process should be encouraged in order to increase confidence among the students with regard to their capabilities and abilities to learn concepts (Nassaji & Fotos, 2010). Apart from this, the teacher needs to create a lively environment that all students feel comfortable and free to interact and express themselves (Larsen-Freeman, 2001). Although, cooperative strategies are the essence of the learning, the teacher should not forget to take control of the class when necessary in order to ensure no harmful deviation from the main path of the lesson is realised. Furthermore, effectiveness in achieving the objectives of the lesson remain largely ingrained in the ability of the teacher to encourage cooperation through class participation, group work and assignments, assessment through exercises and oral activities, and through group-level initiatives (Nassaji & Fotos, 2010). In the whole process of cooperative learning, differential instructional methods are favoured. This will ensure monotony does not persist through the use of one instructional method to teach the students. Besides, the emphasis of the adopted instructional methods has to be on the need to help the college students learn and improve their recognition of the first and second conditional forms as used in conditional statements. In this way, the students do not have to see the process as hard one, but one that they can manage due to immense help they receive. Lesson Plan 2 Lesson Topic: Correct use of past and present perfect Level: Grade 12 Lesson Goals: Linguistic content I will engage in speaking activity to use past and present perfect grammatically Students will take part in structured practices that include exercises and oral speaking Communication tasks Construct and read short sentences to students using past and present perfect Students to repeat after the teacher in reading sentences prepared using past and present perfect Learning strategies Instructional and group attention Students to read sentences developed using past and present perfect on the chalkboard after the teacher Students to work in groups Structure Preparation (8-10 minutes) I will ask the students to reflect and state any event in the past that had frustrated them Students to view and read articles in newspaper Presentation (8-10 minutes) Move to the use of past and present perfect Show when past perfect is used by giving examples Show when present perfect is used by giving examples Practice (8-10 minutes) Construct sentences using past and present on the chalkboard Read some examples from the text Students in groups to construct sentences using past and present perfect Evaluation (8-10 minutes) To give small oral and writing exercises To ask for group presentation on activities of constructing sentences using past and present perfect Expansion (8-10 minutes) Give homework exercises Students to attempt exercises given on the selected pages Materials Required Materials: Textbooks Past and present perfect charts Authentic Materials: Magazines and newspapers Rationale Instructional and group attention is adopted as learning techniques in this lesson. Students at this level require planning that critically links goals, objectives, and assessment. The lesson plan should help the teacher to stay on course based in specified learning instructions, although this does not mean the teacher should stick to a rigid structure (Hinkel & Fotos, 2002). As a result, effective teaching is not only where the teacher give passive instructions, but one where the teacher also uses demonstrations and examples to reinforce teaching aspects in the students. The teacher needs to develop materials that the students can be able to experience practical aspect of learning. Even with this, these methods of instruction and delivery should encourage group attention to be achieved through interaction, collaboration, and guidance. The students should be able to cooperate with the teacher through constant interactional activities in the class (Hinkel & Fotos, 2002). Moreover, the teacher has to ensure external materials are incorporated in the teaching process. The idea here is that methods suggested for this level class is that students should develop intensive understanding regarding correct use of past and present perfect. In so doing, the teacher is seen to be critical to the process where he or she acts as facilitator. Collaboration, cooperation and group attention are favoured as the best approach for a number of reasons. Cooperative method aims to motivate students and give them confidence and group attention aims at personalising learning experience indirectly where individualised attention can be accorded in the groups by the teacher (Hinkel & Fotos, 2002). Furthermore, the adopted methods have the ability to provide qualitative feedback about the learning process, hence the teacher is in a good position to modify where the need arise. Besides assessment in this part of process is important and this emanates from the tools used, therefore, it is possible to estimate and establish whether the goals are being achieved or not. Lesson Plan 3 Lesson Topic: Correct use of definite and indefinite article Level: Technical college students Lesson Goals: Linguistic content Engage in speaking and writing activities that uses correct grammar of definite and indefinite articles Students to know when and how to use ‘a’, ‘the’ and ‘an’ in the correct grammar Communication tasks Read and write three sentences using ‘a’, ‘the’ and ‘an’ Read a newspaper piece to outline the use of these three articles Students to construct sentences Learning strategies Collaborative group-working Students to construct sentences using ‘a’ ‘the’ and ‘an’ Students to sample newspaper articles and outline how these have been used Structure Preparation (8-10 minutes) Engage students in small talks by asking them to name some of the countries in Asia, names of animals, plants, etc. Presentation (8-10 minutes) Move to show how and when definite and indefinite articles are used Students to indicate instances when these may be used Practice (8-10 minutes) Construct sentences using definite and indefinite articles Students to read sentences in pairs Students to watch a video presentation Evaluation (8-10 minutes) Small exercises Students to write a one-paragraph where definite and indefinite articles are used Expansion (8-10 minutes) Give homework Recommend online sites Materials Required Materials: Textbooks Authentic Materials: Video, online sites, newspapers Rationale Collaborative group-working is the learning strategy adopted in this lesson. Technical college students, unlike those in lower classes, are likely to have some experiences in speaking the English language, a process that makes it possible for them to have ability grasping the correct use of definite and indefinite article. Even with this, the paramount goal of collaboration is not lost, since students are likely to realize tremendous results through collaboration. The primary goals here are to engage, write, and read a lot (Larsen-Freeman, 2003). Therefore, the methods of teaching adopted should be able to increase the capacity of the student to understand the English language more appropriately (Larsen-Freeman, 2003). Therefore, collaborative group-working is seen as the most appropriate way of ensuring students in this class are able to realise positive results. The teacher is at the same time supposed to ensure that a conducive environment is established in which the students are able to feel free and express themselves, interact with fellow students and the teacher, thereby increasing chances of faster grasp of concepts (Larsen-Freeman, 2003). Through this, a strong rapport is established that provide opportunity for both students and teachers to benefit. Moreover, assessment should remain critical to the process in this area, which has the capacity to measure possible impact and outcome of the session. Experience in this process is likely to be enriching and productive to the students, especially in cases the teacher is able to diversify and adopt different differential techniques. Self-assessment should also be encouraged and this can be realised in many ways where the student is left on his or her own to manage and facilitate his or her learning process using technology like internet. Therefore, the method selected in this class aims to ensure objectives set are achieved and that the learning process of the concepts results into long-term positive effect to the students. Lesson Plan 4 Lesson Topic: How to use comparative and superlatives correctly Level: Grade 8 Lesson Goals: Linguistic content Provide the correct grammatical use of comparatives and superlatives Students to know how to use comparatives and superlatives in sentences and when writing Communication tasks Read and write two sentences (comparative and superlative) on chalkboard and ask students to reread Students to read small paragraphs from the materials distributed by the teacher Students to construct sentences using comparatives and superlatives Learning strategies Individualised and Group attention Move around the class picking students randomly to complete comparative and superlative sentences Students to construct sentences on their own Structure Preparation (8-10 minutes) Revisit and remind the students about the previous comparative and superlative sentences Few students to construct sentences Brainstorm by asking few questions Presentation (8-10 minutes) Show clearly to students when and how comparatives and superlatives are used by reading a few examples from the text Students to write a few sentences in their exercise books sentences showing hoe comparatives and superlatives are used Practice (8-10 minutes) Construct sentences using comparatives and superlatives Reading a number of examples from the textbooks Asking student to construct comparative sentence and superlative sentence Evaluation (8-10 minutes) Giving four questions to each group as exercise Asking group leaders to present the answers to class Groups to exchange the answers Expansion (8-10 minutes) Homework Students to complete exercises on selected text pages Materials Required Materials: Textbooks, charts Authentic Materials: Newspapers Rationale Individualised and group attention constitutes learning techniques adopted in this lesson. Learning experience at this level is largely challenging, especially for students learning second language. As a result, a lot of motivation has to take place that also encourages personalised form of learning through selective attention and group attention. The teacher should largely be concerned with increasing chances of analysing each case for each student and encouraging participation on individual and group level. Moreover, the teacher should have the ability to remain flexible and dynamic in the learning process (Purpura, 2004). At the same time, lesson planning at this stage should be able to ensure the strategy adopted resonates perfectly with the established lesson goals, objectives, and assessment. As a result, effective teaching should see get engaged in helping the student on individual basis through exercises, homework, and classroom assistance. Passive instructions should be flavoured with practical assistance and monitoring of the progress in the ability of the student to perform or work out the assignment or exercises provided. In other words, the teacher needs to develop materials that the students can be able to experience practical aspect of learning (Purpura, 2004). Even. Moreover, the teacher has to ensure external materials are incorporated in the teaching process. The idea here is that the learning method should help students develop intensive understanding regarding correct use of past and present perfect (Counihan, 1998). In so doing, the teacher is seen to be critical to the process where he or she acts as facilitator in the learning process (Purpura, 2004). Individualised method aims to motivate students and give them confidence, since through individual attention, the aspect of personalisation is effected in the learning that help the teacher address the learning needs of students more effectively. The process should be further reinforced by effective assessment activities to establish whether objectives are being achieved or not. Lesson Plan 5 Lesson Topic: Using auxiliary verbs correctly in English Level: Grade 6 Lesson Goals: Linguistic content When to use auxiliary verbs Present the grammatical form as well as the pronunciation of auxiliary verbs Students to participate in oral and written exercises Communication tasks Read newspaper articles to indicate when auxiliary verbs are used Read selected examples in the text books Students to underline auxiliary verbs in the materials provided Learning strategies Teacher-control and individual attention Students to read and construct sentences Move around the classes picking students randomly read sentences written on the chalkboard Structure Preparation (8-10 minutes) Refer students to charts placed on the walls to know what auxiliary verbs are Ask each student to construct sentence using auxiliary verb Presentation (8-10 minutes) Explain when auxiliary verbs are used Ask students to repeat after the teacher in reading sentences written on chalkboard Give some examples to the students Practice (8-10 minutes) To move around giving assistance to each student Read what each group has done Evaluation (8-10 minutes) Give oral and written exercises Ask random questions to students Expansion (8-10 minutes) Give homework Students to complete exercises in textbooks Materials Required Materials: Textbooks, Charts Authentic Materials: Newspapers, Magazines Rationale Teacher-control and individual attention constitute the learning strategy or method adopted in this lesson. Learning experience at this level is both exciting and challenging that requires control and individual attention in order to encourage, motivate, and establish long-term positive impact of learning process (English Teaching Professional, 2012). The essence of teacher control is informed by the fact that students at this level require formalized and procedural guidance and direction in using correctly the auxiliary verbs. The teacher has to ensure that the process of knowing how to use auxiliary verbs is created solidly in the cognitive aspect of students. Therefore, the students are likely to gain much when the teacher takes control of the learning process, and at same time, encourage facilitates attention to individual students (Droga, Humphrey & Feez, 2012). In executing instruction, the teacher is supposed to know that at this level of learning in the lives of these students, facilitating learning with practical and real examples is important. Therefore, even as the teacher remains in control of the learning process, practical aspect of the learning process should be encouraged through aspects of using visual aids like charts with numerous uses and examples of auxiliary verbs. Also, the teacher should explore how small and simple stories can be used to enhance much deeper understanding of these concepts. Individualised attention should therefore reflect more instances of the teacher moving around the class giving students help, giving simple exercises that individual students can accomplish without experiencing difficulty and the students should be motivated to ask questions where necessary. With regard to giving out simple exercises to students, it is important for the teacher to use both oral and written exercises, which at this level in the life of students, aim to develop cognitive of the students, which is important for long-term positive impact of learning and remembering. References Counihan, G. (1998). An Activity for Teaching ESL/EFL Students to Make Quick Replies. The Internet TESL Journal, 4(11): p.1. Retrieved November 17, 2012, from http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Counihan-Activities/Rejoinders.html Droga, L. H., Humphrey, S & Feez, S. (2012). Grammar and Meaning: An Introduction for Primary Teachers. Newton, NSW: PETAA. English Teaching Professional. (2012). Tops Tips for Managing Young Learners. Retrieved November 17, 2012, from http://www.etprofessional.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=961:top-tips-for-managing-young-learners&catid=16&Itemid=32 Hinkel, E & Fotos, S. (2002). New Perspectives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Mahway, NJ: Erlbaum. Larsen-Freeman. D (2001). Grammar. In Carter, R & Nunan, D. The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 34-41. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2003). Teaching Language: From Grammar to Grammering. NY: Heinle ELT. Nassaji, H & Fotos, S. (2010). Teaching Grammar in Second Language Classrooms: Integrating Form-Focused Instruction in Communicative Context. New York: Routledge- Taylor & Francis. Purpura, J. E. (2004). Assessing Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More

 

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