LESSON TITLE: The 2014 Winter Olympic Games and the Past Perfect Progressive Lesson #: 1
TEACHER NAME: Grace Kelly-Pousson DATE: February 26, 2014
Attach any handouts or materials required for this lesson. Preparation/Planning ESL Course: ESOL 30
Level
Beginning
Intermediate X
Advanced
Multilevel Topic/Theme: The Olympics
Objectives Content Students will learn to discuss and write about The Olympics. We will focus on a few of the specific actions of the sports, stressing the past perfect progressive form of the action verbs. The winter Olympics had just concluded several days prior to the lesson.
Context
Language Grammar and Writing: The Students will learn the correct form and uses of the past perfect progressive verb tense and will be able to apply it to their writing assignments New and interesting terminology such as luge, bobsled, and snowboarding will be learned to increase students vocabulary.
Listening Speaking Reading Writing 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. Students will hear authentic language by actual Olympic athletes as they describe their sport on the video clip. The students will use this same language as they discuss uses of the verbs in their group meetings. The students will be reading the material and observing new vocabulary on their practice worksheets and they will incorporate their understanding of the verb forms and usages in their paragraph writing on the Olympics topic. Bridging What background knowledge do the students already have? We have been studying the Olympics for two weeks as a topic for our writing process. The Olympics is a multicultural event that spans cultures and languages and unites people across the globe. It can serve as a platform for respect and appreciation for all.
The students have learned simple present, simple past, present perfect present progressive, past perfect and past progressive. The students will apply that knowledge as well as the information in todays lesson about past perfect progressive verbs in order to write a paragraph entitled My Favorite Winter Olympic Sport. What will you do to activate or link students prior knowledge or experience to upcoming content? We will review the topics on the Olympics form the previous weeks and grammar points that supported students to engage in and produce language related to the topic. We will have viewed a short video clip about the Olympics at the end of the class session previous to this lesson. The video featured various athletes preparing for their individual sports. The students will pay attention to the verb forms and how the athletes describe their activities. The video increases student interest and interaction by visually demonstrating the action verbs. 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 game activity where the students are working together to construct their own sentences together and individually. Students will be divided into groups of 4 and base form of action verbs that describe an Olympic sport or activity; ski, ice skate, practice, etc. They will be instructed to take turns within their group and write sentences in the white board using these verbs correctly in the past perfect progressive tense. 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 Practice worksheet 1 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) The Game provides verb cards indicating various Olympic terms. Each group member will make a sentence using the verb in the past perfect progressive tense and write it on the board. Each group will compete against the other for speed and accuracy. 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 results of the perfect progressive tenses. 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. 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 the Olympics that requires the use of the learned tenses. 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 I will employ a computer to show the Olympics video. 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 own answers on the board.
Reflection What went well? How do you know?
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?
I feel that the overall lesson went well however, in retrospect, the Summer Olympics may have been a more culturally relevant topic, however the timing was not correct. I had not taken into consideration that many of my students are from warm climates where winter sports are unknown. While they learned about the winter Olympics it was not something to which they could personally relate. They had no previous knowledge of many of the sporting events which resulted in confusion and a great deal of explanation of the activities.
I did not have a solid back up plan and fell to on the spot explanations which proved acceptable for these purposes but which I felt was inadequate for me personally. I would have a contingency plan in place for the next lesson. In the future I would have more descriptive info for the students and I would use a subject more geared toward their experiences relating back to previously learned material, allowing scaffolding on previous knowledge. Additionally I feel that I should differentiate instruction, for students that finish early. However, I observed a lot of laughing and interaction as the students helped each other to understand the correct verb forms. I feel that the difficulty of the lesson and the group project helped the sense of community which our class is creating each week.
I have not yet formally assessed their understanding of the past perfect progressive tense. It is not very commonly used and was taught mostly because it is obligatory in the textbook required by the college. I had a lot of difficulty accessing authentic text or dialogue featuring this verb tense. My informal in class observation is that about half of the class is still having difficulty using the tense correctly.
I feel that they need more practice with all the perfect progressive verb forms. Per the course syllabus, the students will next be studying the future tense forms. I will confer with my cooperating teacher to see if it may be possible to incorporate looking forward to the next Summer Olympics as a subject that they can more easily associate with.
I think that I need more confidence in explaining difficult verb tenses which in my observation trip up even the most experienced teachers. I get stymied by 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 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.
(Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture) Hori, Victor Sogen (Translation) - Zen Sand - The Book of Capping Phrases For Kōan Practice-University of Hawaii Press - University of Ha - Kopya