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[santi84]

Next week, I will be teaching my first lesson for an adult intermediate class. Would any experienced teachers be willing to take a look at my lesson plan and activity? I have created lesson plans in the past but they were never presented to real students.

Thank you,
Santi

[naturegirl321]

Sure. Post it.

[santi84]

Thank you I hope the format isn't too messed up (it looks fine on my chart). I didn't post the images of the homes/prices because I don't think I can attach images. So assume there is a selection of about 8 paragraphs and 10-12 images of different kinds of homes and prices/descriptions. I guess my main concern is timing. There are around 14 students, so 5-7 groups (depending on who shows up).


Lesson Objective:

By the end of the lesson, Ss will become more familiar with new vocabulary about homes and be able to use 3 nouns and 3 adjectives to describe a home, and give a reason why the home is suitable for a particular person or family.

Part 1: (5-10 minutes) Introduction

- Hand out vocabulary sheets to each S & to look @ p 16 & 17 in text (Adjectives)
- Ss should be familiar with some vocabulary but not all
- Is buying or renting a home a difficult thing to do?
- Which vocabulary is difficult/don�t understand? [write on board]

Part 2: (10 minutes) Activity
1. Ask Ss to form pairs (or 3 if students are odd numbered)
2. Hand out home activity worksheet to each S (same sheet per pair)
3. Ask Ss to read the paragraph and answer the questions on a separate sheet of paper
4. Tell Ss they will find a home. They must find 3 nouns and 3 adjectives to describe the home and/or why it is a good choice for their assigned person/family
5. Answer any S questions before beginning
6. Walk around and assist Ss with questions

Part 3: (10-15 minutes) Sharing Results
1. Ask each group to summarize their paragraph (or read it) and share their 3 nouns and 3 adjectives and reason for choosing the home.

If time left over: ask Ss if they would have chosen a different home for another group�s person/family.

THANK YOU 

Other Vocabulary:
apartment (flat)
attic
balcony
basement
brick
bungalow
cement
chimney
condominium
dormitory
fence floor wood
garage yard
garden
home
house
mobile home
motel
porch
roof
terrace


Focus:
Overall:
- Ss will become familiar with new home vocabulary (nouns and adjectives) and be able to use this vocabulary in future situations.

Specifics:
- Ss will practice using nouns and adjectives
- Ss will practice using indirect questions from previous lessons
- Ss will practice difficult sounds (b in basement, r in roof)
Materials:
Whiteboard, marker(s), textbooks (page 16,17), vocabulary sheets, question worksheets

�Which home would they prefer?�
Instructions:

In pairs, look at the pictures of homes on your worksheet. After, read the paragraph below and answer the following questions.

Paragraph:

Sarah, who lives by herself and has no children or pets, would like to purchase a home. She works downtown and loves to live in the city. She loves to have friends come over and have large parties on the weekend. She does not drive and wants to walk to work each day. She can afford to pay $280,000.

Questions:

1. Decide which home they would prefer to purchase or rent.
2. Choose three (3) nouns to describe the home. You can use the nouns on your vocabulary handout.
3. Choose three (3) adjectives to describe the home. You can use the adjectives on page 16 of your textbook.

Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper. After you have completed the questions, the teacher will ask you to share some of your answers with the class.

[fluffyhamster]

Although it is not clearly stated, the students will be assuming the role of a helpful estate agent or advisor/friend to various characters (e.g. Sarah) - but why? (In terms of ES(O)L student needs, all they'd really need to know, assuming they haven't already successfully secured accomodation for themselves regardless, is vocabulary relating to the size/type of property - apartment, bungalow, condo, dorm, (room in a) house, mobile home, motel room - and then, probably mainly the smaller/more affordable of these). Then, these customers/friends are providing every type of information but the type(s - similar types) of property they also can afford and are mainly looking for (although admittedly, students should be able to infer from the price limit what from trashcan up to that limit will be acceptable). Can I ask, is accomodation the actual topic in the textbook at that point (i.e. are you applying general adjectives to a potentially unnecessary topic)?

So it just seems kind of roundabout and slightly and unnecessarily fussy in functional terms to me (I know what sort of accomodation I can afford, and can and have been able to secure it without complex vocab - the important thing is being legal, having the necessary money, walking into the estate agent's and finally being able to read the contract (another level entirely!)), and I doubt if it will (and hope it won't!) be too hard for students to match paragraph to picture(s? Is there that "risk"?) and "justify" those choices by means of making short adj+n combos (will they be saying stuff like 'It has a basement', 'It/The basement is/was too small'; 'The garden's/was really nice' (?'It has/had a nice garden') etc, or just bare "undeterminated" phrases?).

So unless the students intend to work as estate agents, I don't think they'll need to be reporting much on properties, and likely they will make descisions and puchases for themselves without depending on (being able to even if wanting to depend on) other's help and advice and perhaps too-involved verbalizations (they sees it, they likes it enough to simply and pretty much silently stump up for it, subject to reviewing the contract and/or having it looked over by somebody else too if necessary - which won't involve such simple things like 'big rooms' or 'nice gardens' much).

But I am prepared to accept that doing things one way might lead to an appreciation of how they might then be done in a "related" way - just saying that either way could be just "going through the motions" and making a mountain out of what should be a molehill that the students can traverse alone.

All that being said, I probably did a similar potentially "objectionable" lesson when I was first starting out (and in China, an EFL environment - not that many Chinese don't at some point emigrate, but still, that would have usually been at some point, well after studying with me!), but I recall that it was definitely a topic in the book, and what's more, I was being observed for that very unit. (Of course, I can't say if unobserved I would have still taught it or not at that point in my career, but needless to say, my thinking has changed somewhat since then).

Anyway, the important thing is that yours is not necessarily a bad lesson, and shows at least some consideration things such as flow, connection, further use of elements introduced earlier etc, and if it is received well by your students, who am I to judge that they (or for that matter you) won't have learnt from it (assuming I haven't totally put you off from using it!); that is, I am quite content for you to have or to not have thoughts similar to mine - the important thing is that we respect other's decisions and don't impose our own (so I am entitled to say 'I would probably teach that differently, or indeed teach something else entirely', but I do not expect you to NOT teach your lesson (and am certainly not going to provide you with "that other lesson of mine"! )).

[Glenski]

[santi84]

Wow! Thank you so much for the input. I was told to "make a 30 minute lesson and teach this vocabulary" (the vocabulary is directly from the text). Glenski, I like your idea about designing their own homes and discussing it, thank you/

[Glenski]

Silly as it may sound, you might want to somehow weave into your introduction the story of the 3 little pigs and ask what the differences in their homes were.

[matthew156]

And the big bad wolf. I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll foreclose your house down.



Matt

[santi84]

Glenski, it's not crazy at all! I have Le Loup et Le Petit Cochon (The Wolf and the Little Piggy) for my own French practice I'm not sure how to incorporate that into my lesson though (these students are around 35 years old).

I have revised the lesson to:
5-10 minutes: Handouts of vocabulary sheets, conversation topic(s), talk about vocabulary, show pictures of non-typical housing (ie. igloo, teepee)
10 minutes: Ss draw their realistic and dream homes (folding the paper) and labelling specific things on the page (using the vocabulary)
5-10 minutes: Ask Ss to share their drawings, have a good laugh, and discuss.

Topics:
1. Last class, we talked about homes 50 years ago in your country. What about now?
2. Pretend again that you are 20, single, and no children. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you go?
2. Is it better to build your own home or better to buy one?
http://iteslj.org/questions/home.html


These students are great at discussion so I don't anticipate any problems with that. This also sounds much more fluid and less rigid.

THANKS FOR THE HELP! I really appreciate you guys taking the time to help the lowly nervous TESL student