Example Lesson Plan 4

Teacher: Kim Edmunds, Kaitlin Griswold, and Sabina Simon

Level: A5
Date: Week 2 (of a two-week unit)
Goal: Finish up discussion of grammar for Unit 8 (gerunds and infinitives) and work on essay-writing
skills.
Objectives (SWBAT):
Students Will Be Able To
1. Discuss the story and their answers to the questions in the Reading and Writing section of the
unit.
2. Understand the difference between participles and gerunds after class discussion followed by the
sentence comparison activity and the song activity.
3. Create an outline for a sample persuasive essay provided in class.
4. Understand how to create a well-formed, clear essay after analyzing a sample essay.
Theme: The Time of Your Life
Aim/Skill/Microskill

Activity/Procedure/Stage

Interaction

Warm-Up
Weekend Review

Ss share stories about the different food they ate

S-S
and restaurants they visited over the weekend.
WC
Pairs share what their partner did with the rest of
the class. Establishing a weekly activity often
helps the Ss get interested in the class because
they know what is expected of them when they get
to class.

Time
10 min

Linking & Transitioning to rest of lesson: Lets

start by reviewing the story you read for
homework with a partner.
Activity 1:
Hot Cup of Talk (Reading HW
review)

Pre-Stage:
1.1.1 Split the Ss into pairs to discuss the reading
activity they were given for HW. T tells them that
they need to summarize what the reading was
about and then discuss what their answers to the
Qs were.

T-Ss

During Stage:
2.1.1 Ss complete the review activity. T walks
S-S
around to monitor their conversations. Let the Ss
WC
talk and really interact with each other in the target
language. Allowing them time and opportunities to
speak in the target language is especially helpful
WC
for the quieter Ss.
Transition to #2: Now that weve
reviewed some reasons why
teenagers need more sleep, lets
move on to learning more about
gerunds and infinitives.

Post-Stage:
3.1.1 WC discuses the reading, shares their
answers, and discusses any questions they may
still have about the reading.
Tangible outcome/T. feedback/peer feedback:

2 min

10 min

5 min

Revised answer to Qs, S-S interaction, T. notes on

overheard errors
Activity 2:
Gerunds v. Participles

Pre-Stage:
2.1.1 Review grammar HW from the weekend (Q
2 in the grammar section of the textbook). Ss
review answers in pairs and then discuss any
questions as a class.
2.1.2 T hands out information about gerunds and
participles. Ss go over handout with partner. Ss
work together to answer any Qs they may have
about the differences between these parts of
speech.

S-S
WC

10 min

T-Ss
S-S

10 min

2.1.3 T introduces the activity. Ss listen to I Will T-Ss

Survive and fill in the blanks as they listen. They
will write whether the missing words were
gerunds, infinitives, or participles. Cloze activities
with songs are great with focusing the Ss attention
on specific grammar points.
During Stage:
2.2.1 Listen to song 2x and complete worksheet.
Post-Stage:
2.3.1 Go over answers as a class. Answer any
further Qs about this grammar point.
2.3.2 Pairs make up own sentences with gerunds,
infinitives, and participles about the things they
hated doing most when they were in elementary
school, and share sentences with class. What the
Ss write about is not especially important. Feel
free to change it as you see fit!
Transition to #3: Hopefully the
difference between gerunds and
infinitives is a bit clearer now.
Lets move on to discussing the
written portion of your final exam
your final paper.
Activity 3:
Analyze a Persuasive Essay

4 min

10 min

WC

10 min

S-S

5 min

T-Ss

10 min

10 min

Tangible outcome/T. feedback/peer feedback:

Handout about gerunds and participles, song
handout and Qs, sentences about
gerunds/infinitives/participles, S-S interaction, T.
notes on overheard errors
Pre-Stage:
3.1.1 T discusses the final paper with Ss. Ss will
also be creating a presentation based on the paper
(will be discussed in the next class). T tells Ss that
they will be looking at a persuasive paper and
creating an outline for it.
During Stage:
3.2.1 Ss read the sample persuasive paper and
work individually to fill out the outline. The
sample paper is one that was written by an ESL
learner. This ensures that the writing is not too

advanced for the Ss, and it is also a source of

inspiration of what their writing can become.
3.2.2 Ss discuss their outline with their partner.

Transition to #4: Now that we

have seen and analyzed a wellwritten essay, lets begin thinking
about your own paper.

S-S

Post-Stage:
3.3.1 WC reviews 1 Ss outline (use the doc cam). WC
WC discusses what made this a good outline and
what could have been improved to make it a better
one.

10 min
10 min

.
Tangible outcome/T. feedback/peer feedback:
Handout on about final paper, outline for
persuasive paper example, S-S interaction, T. notes
on overheard errors

Activity 4:
Create Outline for Final
Persuasive Paper

Pre-Stage:
T-Ss
4.1.1 Handout second outline for Ss so that they
can begin outlining their final paper. T tells Ss that
they will turn this outline in when they turn their
final draft in. This can also be turned in as a part
of the writing portfolio at the end of the course (if
you choose to use it as a writing assessment).
During Stage:
4.2.1 Ss think about ideas for their own papers. T S
walks around to help guide them or answer any Qs S-S
they may have. Ss encouraged to brainstorm good T-Ss
topic ideas with a partner. Ss will fill out outline
before leaving class. Brainstorming will help the
Ss to come up with a topic because they are often
a little slow to coming up with one on their own

Transition to Wrap-Up: Thank you

for all your work and attention
today. It is almost the end of class,
but before we go lets discuss the
HW and whats in store for
Wednesday.

Post-Stage:
4.3.1 WC discusses any Qs about the paper.

Wrap-up

Assign HW: First draft of final persuasive paper

2 min

15 min

WC

5 min

T-Ss

5 min

Tangible outcome/T. feedback/peer feedback:

Outline for persuasive paper, S-S interaction, T.
notes on overheard errors

Remind them to bring in two printed copies for the

peer review activity on Wednesday.
Materials: PPT, persuasive essay handout, persuasive essay example, persuasive essay outline, I Will
Survive fill-in-the-blank, gerunds and participles handout
Anticipated Problems & Suggested Solutions: The Ss may end up discussing the homework for longer
than I anticipate the Ss love to speak, especially to each other, so I will make sure to be better at
managing discussion time since I have had a hard time keeping it to a set timetable.

We run out of time and cannot complete all the activities keep a careful watch on the time and monitor
activities in order to get through them. If we run out of time, I will have to present the material that we
dont discuss in the next class.
Ss may struggle with the gerund/participle activity will spend more time reviewing the handout with them
if they arent able to figure it out with their partner.
Contingency Plans (what you will do if you finish early, etc.): If we finish early, I will introduce the
presentation part of the final. For the speaking portion of the exam, they will present on their topics of their
persuasive paper. We are going to discuss this is our next class in more detail since the presentation is not
due until 4/21.
If we have way more extra time than I anticipate us having, I will have them work in partners and complete
Qs 3 and 4 in the grammar section on p. 100.
Note on Revision: The units covered for A5 were geared toward having the students write a research paper.
Many students in the CEP already understand how to write academically, as many of them hold higher
degrees. Instead of choosing to have the students write a research paper, we assigned a persuasive paper
instead.