Lesson Planning - Directions
High Beginner
I taught a lesson on directions last week. The pre-written lesson plan that we were handed suggested using model conversations to teach directions and language when arriving for appointments ("Who is your appointment with?", "What time is your appointment?", etc.). Instead of following the lesson plan, I essentially rewrote the lesson to make it more communicative for my high beginner students in an English communication course.
Present: First, since the students have learned direction language before (verb phrases like "go straight", "turn left", and "cross the _____", as well as prepositional phrases of place like "next to" and "between"), so we did a quick review of that language. I handed out a sheet with the directional phrases matched with pictures which clearly demonstrated those words. I physically demonstrated the directions through actions and the students had to guess which direction I was turning. Then I held up cards with the pictures from the handout, and the students had to tell me the word or phrase associated with that picture without looking at their handout.
Practice: After the review, students looked at a floor plan of a residential house on the back of the vocabulary handout. Below the floor plan was a gap-fill exercise where students had to answer by using the directional vocabulary. For example, one gap-fill problem was "Eric's bedroom is _______ ____ Heather's bedroom".
Following that, I asked all of the students to move against the wall on either side. I asked three students from either side to go to the back of the room and close their eyes. After they closed their eyes, I rearranged the chairs and desks and students that had their eyes closed had to navigate through the new maze of desks and chairs. However, they had the help of the students standing on either side of the classroom who were asked to give directions to their team members. Therefore, the students making their way through the maze had to practice listening comprehension by focusing on the directions their team was giving them rather than the directions from the other team. The teams were practicing giving simple directions in real time. This was a VERY fun activity for the students.
Transition: After all six students made it through the maze, we listened to a conversation in which a woman is visiting an office because she has an appointment with an employee. The receptionist asks "Who is your appointment with?" and "What time is your appointment?" Then, the receptionist gives directions to the visitor. (Note: this listening activity was required for the students)
Practice: After students had listened and completed the gap-fill for the conversation, I gave the students handouts wherein they had to answer the questions "Who is your appointment with?", "Where is your appointment?", and "What time is your appointment?" We did an example together. Then, students had to walk around the room and ask four other students those questions and write down their answers.
Fluency: On the back of the latter handout, students had another floor plan, but this was a business floor plan with the names of fictional office employees written on their respective office room numbers. Half of the students were given cards with the names of the office employees.
Students with the cards had to approach students without the cards and explain that they have an appointment. Then they would have a conversation similar to the one from the practice stage, and the receptionist would have to tell them how to get to the correct room (go straight, turn left, etc.) and where the room was in relation to other rooms (across from, next to, etc.). Then, the student with the card would give it to the student without the card, and they would find new partners.
Pre-Intermediate
I knew the above lesson would be to easy for the majority of my more advanced class, made up of mostly pre-intermediate students. So, I decided to change a considerable portion of the lesson to fit their levels.
Present: At the beginning of the lesson, we quickly reviewed simple directional words and phrases like "go straight", "turn left", "between", and "next to". I drew pictures that represented these words and phrases on the board, and asked the students to identify them. Then, I drew pictures of more complicated directions, like "go around the corner" and "on the right". I separated them into two columns: actions and locations. Then, the students talked with partners to see if they could come up with answers together. After they had some time to discuss, I called on students to tell me the phrases/words associated with the images I had drawn.
Controlled Practice: I gave students a handout with a map of a fictional downtown area with a number of buildings labeled as businesses. The students had 5 gap-fills, and each of them had multiple blank spaces for which they had to fill with the vocabulary words and phrases based on the map.
For example: If you are walking west on Cornell Street and you [go around the corner], you will see the Provincial Bank [on your right].
Transition: Students listened to the same conversation that the high beginner students listened to. Again, this was a required listening activity for this lesson.
Freer Practice: Students were given a new handout with the same map. However, one map was blank and the other had a path drawn on it. The path had a starting point on a corner and ended at a business. On the bottom of each student's sheet was the name of a person they had an appointment with along with the date and time of the appointment. Some students received a Student A handout with a specific path drawn out while others were given a Student B handout with a different path drawn out. Both Student A and Student B had one blank map on their handouts.
First, one student had to ask their partner, "Who is your appointment with?", "Where is your appointment?", and "What time is your appointment?" Then, one student had to describe (using the vocabulary) the path I had drawn out on their sheet to their partner, and their partner drew the path out. Afterwards, they checked to see if the original path matched the path that had been drawn by their partner.
Fluency: In this partner activity, students were given mostly blank A3 sheets with instruction to draw a simple map of our university. Students were expected to make a "tour" of our university to give to an "international student". So, the students had to choose important places (and label them) to show the "international student". Then, the students had to think of language that they had to use in order to give the tour.
For example: "We're walking past the library on your right" and "After that, we will go around the corner to see the library on your left".
I asked the students to use present progressive and simple future when thinking about the language they could use. Wanting the students to focus on fluency, I limited the time frame for which the students could complete the activity so that they would not attempt to write a script.
After students had had enough time to finish their maps, they "gave" their tours to other pairs of students. If there had been more time, I would have asked some partners to present their "tours" to the class as a whole.
I taught a lesson on directions last week. The pre-written lesson plan that we were handed suggested using model conversations to teach directions and language when arriving for appointments ("Who is your appointment with?", "What time is your appointment?", etc.). Instead of following the lesson plan, I essentially rewrote the lesson to make it more communicative for my high beginner students in an English communication course.
Present: First, since the students have learned direction language before (verb phrases like "go straight", "turn left", and "cross the _____", as well as prepositional phrases of place like "next to" and "between"), so we did a quick review of that language. I handed out a sheet with the directional phrases matched with pictures which clearly demonstrated those words. I physically demonstrated the directions through actions and the students had to guess which direction I was turning. Then I held up cards with the pictures from the handout, and the students had to tell me the word or phrase associated with that picture without looking at their handout.
Practice: After the review, students looked at a floor plan of a residential house on the back of the vocabulary handout. Below the floor plan was a gap-fill exercise where students had to answer by using the directional vocabulary. For example, one gap-fill problem was "Eric's bedroom is _______ ____ Heather's bedroom".
Following that, I asked all of the students to move against the wall on either side. I asked three students from either side to go to the back of the room and close their eyes. After they closed their eyes, I rearranged the chairs and desks and students that had their eyes closed had to navigate through the new maze of desks and chairs. However, they had the help of the students standing on either side of the classroom who were asked to give directions to their team members. Therefore, the students making their way through the maze had to practice listening comprehension by focusing on the directions their team was giving them rather than the directions from the other team. The teams were practicing giving simple directions in real time. This was a VERY fun activity for the students.
Transition: After all six students made it through the maze, we listened to a conversation in which a woman is visiting an office because she has an appointment with an employee. The receptionist asks "Who is your appointment with?" and "What time is your appointment?" Then, the receptionist gives directions to the visitor. (Note: this listening activity was required for the students)
Practice: After students had listened and completed the gap-fill for the conversation, I gave the students handouts wherein they had to answer the questions "Who is your appointment with?", "Where is your appointment?", and "What time is your appointment?" We did an example together. Then, students had to walk around the room and ask four other students those questions and write down their answers.
Fluency: On the back of the latter handout, students had another floor plan, but this was a business floor plan with the names of fictional office employees written on their respective office room numbers. Half of the students were given cards with the names of the office employees.
Students with the cards had to approach students without the cards and explain that they have an appointment. Then they would have a conversation similar to the one from the practice stage, and the receptionist would have to tell them how to get to the correct room (go straight, turn left, etc.) and where the room was in relation to other rooms (across from, next to, etc.). Then, the student with the card would give it to the student without the card, and they would find new partners.
Pre-Intermediate
I knew the above lesson would be to easy for the majority of my more advanced class, made up of mostly pre-intermediate students. So, I decided to change a considerable portion of the lesson to fit their levels.
Present: At the beginning of the lesson, we quickly reviewed simple directional words and phrases like "go straight", "turn left", "between", and "next to". I drew pictures that represented these words and phrases on the board, and asked the students to identify them. Then, I drew pictures of more complicated directions, like "go around the corner" and "on the right". I separated them into two columns: actions and locations. Then, the students talked with partners to see if they could come up with answers together. After they had some time to discuss, I called on students to tell me the phrases/words associated with the images I had drawn.
Controlled Practice: I gave students a handout with a map of a fictional downtown area with a number of buildings labeled as businesses. The students had 5 gap-fills, and each of them had multiple blank spaces for which they had to fill with the vocabulary words and phrases based on the map.
For example: If you are walking west on Cornell Street and you [go around the corner], you will see the Provincial Bank [on your right].
Transition: Students listened to the same conversation that the high beginner students listened to. Again, this was a required listening activity for this lesson.
Freer Practice: Students were given a new handout with the same map. However, one map was blank and the other had a path drawn on it. The path had a starting point on a corner and ended at a business. On the bottom of each student's sheet was the name of a person they had an appointment with along with the date and time of the appointment. Some students received a Student A handout with a specific path drawn out while others were given a Student B handout with a different path drawn out. Both Student A and Student B had one blank map on their handouts.
First, one student had to ask their partner, "Who is your appointment with?", "Where is your appointment?", and "What time is your appointment?" Then, one student had to describe (using the vocabulary) the path I had drawn out on their sheet to their partner, and their partner drew the path out. Afterwards, they checked to see if the original path matched the path that had been drawn by their partner.
Fluency: In this partner activity, students were given mostly blank A3 sheets with instruction to draw a simple map of our university. Students were expected to make a "tour" of our university to give to an "international student". So, the students had to choose important places (and label them) to show the "international student". Then, the students had to think of language that they had to use in order to give the tour.
For example: "We're walking past the library on your right" and "After that, we will go around the corner to see the library on your left".
I asked the students to use present progressive and simple future when thinking about the language they could use. Wanting the students to focus on fluency, I limited the time frame for which the students could complete the activity so that they would not attempt to write a script.
After students had had enough time to finish their maps, they "gave" their tours to other pairs of students. If there had been more time, I would have asked some partners to present their "tours" to the class as a whole.
Comments
Post a Comment