EDN2101 Task 3 – Rhiannon Huston

1. To help students understand and remember concepts, group the information you brainstormed in
Topic 2 into chunks.

Language—Language variation and change

 Chunk topic titles based off the titles in the mindmap from topic 2 task
 Modes and Variations
 Language Definition and English
 Study and Location & Culture

2. Rearrange your chunks into a sequence to develop students’ learning in a logical way.

1. Language definition followed by English

2. Study followed by location and culture
3. Modes of language followed by more in depth variations

3. Write down the strategies and tasks you will use to facilitate the learning of each chunk of your topic.

 Language definition and English

 Start the topic off by breaking students into groups of 3 or 4 (whichever the class number is most closely
divided by) and perform a placemat exercise.
o This is when students each have a section on the perimeter of butchers paper to brainstorm their
ideas during an allocated period of time (I would suggest 5 minutes).
o Once this time has passed and every member of the group has written something on their
section of paper they pause and individually each member will share their ideas with the group.
o A member will then scribe for the group and in the centre of the butchers paper and write down
what the groups central and interesting ideas about the topic are.
 This is a cooperative learning exercise that will aid in improving communication skills and assist in
meaningful learning experiences.
 For this specific topic the groups will be asked in their final central section to provide a definition for the
word language and also relate this to what language means to them as well as some information they
know about the English language. Each group will also be asked to introduce their ideas and own
definition to the class so any ideas that were not thought of by some groups can be added for greater
learning.
 As a teacher I will come prepared with my own notes and definition and if any key concepts were not
directly addressed by students I will discuss these ideas before we move on to the next topic.
o This provides informal feedback as students can cross reference key ideas and concepts and ask
any additional questions about the topic at this time.
 Study and Location & Culture
 Students will take part in a think, pair, share exercise with the first task being to create a Y chart about
the study of English with the 3 section titles being; My experience, English in an English speaking country,
and English in a non-English speaking country.
o Each student will have the opportunity to write down their own experience in English in the past
at school and home and what this consisted of. For example based off my experience I could dot
point; reading aloud at home, book week at primary school, and that I don’t enjoy grammar and
editing, among other things. Students will be encouraged to come up with at least 3 points of
their own personal experience with English.
o The second section would surround the topic of English in an English speaking country. I would
direct students to think and write about what countries they know speak English as their national
language, what dialects exists that they are aware of, what forms of English study they know
about, and where the English language stems from.
o The third section is concerning English in non-English speaking countries; here students will be
directed to think about theories as to why non-native English speakers choose to learn English,
how influential they think the English language is within an international context, and what they
think education surrounding English is like in other countries.
 After students have completed this task individually they will break into pairs with a partner sitting
closest to them and discuss the ideas they had and can collaborate in expanding their individual Y charts.
  This is another collaborative learning strategy and will aid in interpersonal skill development and
authentic learning experiences.
 Once this is completed students can share any unique or interesting ideas if they like during a class
discussion and these ideas will be written on the board (using a projector linked to a computer if
possible) to create a class Y chart that can later be uploaded online to an online portal such as connect.
o This provides an opportunity for informal feedback on what students wrote themselves and
allows students to self-reflect upon their work.
 Modes and Variations
 As students should be engaged in the topic overall at this stage due to cooperative learning strategies in
earlier lessons, this lesson will be a PowerPoint presentation surrounding several modes and variations in
the English language.
o The presentation would have video and audio attachments to increase engagement from
students and they would be encouraged to write notes (either with dot pointing or mind maps
would be preferable for later study) during the presentation about key points.
o The use of PowerPoint allows for a more direct focus on specific areas of the curriculum in this
area such as the curriculum requirement to discuss Singlish (Singaporean English) that may
otherwise be missed if student discussion was the key focus in this lesson.
 To ensure students are absorbing the information presented, during the presentation informal
assessment such as question and answer with random select students would be used.
o Employing this I can ask students questions if they look disinterested to incentivise them to
remain more present in the lesson. Also, students who are listening keenly can answer questions
and when correct this can be motivating for them to remain focused.
o This also allows feedback to be given through informal assessment so students are continuously
developing their knowledge in a low-stakes assessment type to reduce stress during early
assessment. This will likely improve their confidence in the topic area and increase the likelihood
of positive performance in formal assessment on the topic such as quizzes, short answer
responses and essays.