lesson plan portfolio

Running head: LESSON PLAN PORTFOLIO: SOPHOMORE ORAL ENGLISH COURSE1

Lesson Plan Portfolio: Sophomore Oral English Course

Brittany Petree

Azusa Pacific University

LESSON PLAN PORTFOLIO 2

Introduction of the Context

The four English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lesson plans contained in this portfolio

have been designed for oral English classes at Sias International University in central China. The

students taking the course are sophomore finance majors who are enrolled in a unique dual

degree program in Sias’ School of International Education (SIE). Upon graduation, SIE students

will earn a degree from Sias International University as well as a degree from Sias’ partner

school, Fort Hayes University, which is located in Kansas.

All Chinese university students are required to take oral English class their freshman and

sophomore year. Typically, students attend oral English class once per week, but Sias has

scheduled SIE students to attend class twice per week in an attempt to better prepare students for

academic classes taught by native English speakers. Beginning their junior year, approximately

half of SIE students’ classes will be taught by native English speakers, so they need to have a

good grasp of the English language.

Although one might expect students enrolled in this dual degree program to have a higher

level of English than the average Chinese student, that is not really the case. A higher level of

English is not a prerequisite for admission into this program. In fact, many teachers have

observed that SIE students often have lower levels of English due to differences in admission

requirements. The students in the classes for which these lesson plans have been designed are at

a B1 level according to the proficiency levels described in the Common European Framework of

Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale (Common European Framework). According to the

Common European Framework, students at the B1 level:

Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly


encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise

whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected

text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and

events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for

opinions and plans. (p. 24)

Sias provides its oral English teachers with a basic curriculum to follow. The curriculum

provides guidance regarding which topics and language functions to teach each week. The oral

English curriculum for SIE students is no different than that used for traditional sophomore

students at Sias. However, SIE teachers have the added benefit of seeing their students twice per

week, meaning they can supplement the curriculum with other learning objectives and provide

students with more practice time. They also have the added aid of an assigned textbook that is

not used in the traditional oral English classes. Unfortunately, the textbook was selected without

consultation with the curriculum committee, so, although it does contain some relevant material,

it does not fit exactly with the course goals or objectives. It is also based on British English

whereas the oral English courses focus on American English. For those reasons, SIE teachers are

not required to use the book but are encouraged to try to make use of it at least a little since the

students have already purchased the textbook.

The oral English curriculum for sophomore students includes coverage of such topics as

travel, food and restaurants, holidays, and jobs and future plans. It also includes a unit on

describing people, places, and objects. The four 60-minute lessons in this portfolio fit into the

unit on descriptions. The entire unit consists of 10 lessons taught in a five week period.

Overarching Goal


The overarching goal for this unit is that students will be able to describe the physical

features of people, places, and things.

Learning Outcomes

Following the entire 10 lessons in the unit, students will be able to:

1. Describe people’s physical appearance.

2. Describe people’s personality.

3. Describe the typical landmarks found in a big city.

4. Describe geographical features found in the countryside.

5. Describe the locations of objects in relation to other objects.

6. Ask questions about the appearance and characteristics of objects.

7. Describe the color, size, shape, material, and function of objects.

8. Use circumlocution to describe objects which they do not know the name of.

9. Describe people’s clothing.

10. Correctly pronounce common trouble sounds (/ɜʳ /, /v/, and /ð/).

Rationale

There are many methods and approaches to teaching EFL. The lessons in this unit follow

the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach. CLT sees students as having an active

role in the classroom. “Learner-centered cooperative, collaborative learning is emphasized, but

not at the expense of appropriate teacher-centered activity” (Brown & Lee, 2015, p. 32). Each of

the lessons includes some formal instruction from the teacher, but a majority of class time is

dedicated to student practice. In an EFL environment, students have few opportunities to speak

English unless they really seek it out. Therefore, class is a valuable time for students to be able to

practice what they are learning.


In an attempt to keep the classroom interactive, a variety of whole class, group, and pair

activities are used. This helps keep students engaged and gives them experience speaking

English both one-on-one and in group settings. An assortment of group and pair work techniques

is used. Among the most common in this unit are brainstorming, dialogues and roleplays,

discussion questions, and games. I have found that students in my classes work best in pairs as

opposed to small groups, so a majority of the interactive activities are done in pairs. Students sit

in assigned seats, which allows them to have a consistent partner and small group until new seats

are assigned. Assigning partners and groupings gives the teacher the opportunity to take factors

such as proficiency level, gender, and personality types into consideration to make the best

possible arrangement and maximize student potential (Brown & Lee, 2015).

Each lesson follows the same general format: a preview of the lesson, a warm-up (or

icebreaker), a brief instructional time, a controlled practice activity, a semi-controlled practice

activity, a free practice activity, and review. By following the same pattern each class, students

come into the class knowing what to expect. Previewing the day’s class agenda helps students to

see the big picture. The teacher can point out how each day’s material relates to material taught

in previous classes and how the material relates to course objectives. The warm-up or icebreaker

activity helps students “warm-up” to speaking in English for what might be the first time in

several days. It also provides an opportunity for schema activation, or calling to mind what

students already know about the topic, which is an important element in language instruction

(Hedgcock & Ferris, 2009). Following the warm-up, the progression of practice activities from

controlled to semi-controlled to free provides a structure that allows students the opportunity to

build up to more challenging language exchange. Controlled activities include exercises such as

gap-fills or matching exercises. Semi-controlled activities include tasks like brainstorming or


short question and answer activities. Free activities tend to be more open-ended and require

students to produce more language (Brown & Lee, 2015, p. 226-227).

Homework is given in some but not all of the lessons. SIE classes meet twice a week but

many teachers typically only assign homework once a week so as not to overwhelm the students

who already have a heavy course load with all their other classes. The homework assignments

are designed to provide an opportunity for students to further practice what was studied in class

and for the teacher to assess how well students are able to use the new language.

Lesson Plan #1

Rationale:

Oral English teachers at Sias are encouraged to teach some vocabulary every class. By

the time students have entered college, they have already been studying English for a number of

years and often know a lot of English words. However, they have likely had little opportunity to

practice using those words as much of their English education in primary or secondary school is

focused on memorization and grammar. One of the goals of the oral English classes is to give

students the opportunity to practice orally using words or language functions they already know,

but another goal is to introduce them to new vocabulary that they can put to use. However,

teachers ought to be careful not to overwhelm students with too many vocabulary words at once.

It is recommended that teachers only teach about five to seven new words or phrases at a time

(Hedgcock & Ferris, 2009).

Therefore, this lesson about describing physical appearance focuses on just seven words.

It is expected that some of these words will be review, especially for the higher level students,

but at least a few should be unfamiliar. Although the instructional part of the lesson focuses on

only seven words, students are given an opportunity through the warm-up activity to call to mind


other words they already know about the day’s topic and can use in the subsequent practice

activities. This type of schema activation activity not only prepares students to speak but it also

provides the teacher with a general idea of the level of vocabulary already known by the students

so that lesson adjustments can be made if needed. In the case of this lesson, I selected mostly

vocabulary words that I thought students would not know. I used the vocabulary list found in the

students’ textbook New Inside Out to guide my selection (Kay & Jones, 2012). Personalized

questions are asked as vocabulary is introduced in an effort to check for comprehension as well

as aid in students’ retention of the new words as they hear the words spoken again and used

within context.

Assessment Plan:

As with all the lessons in this unit, the material taught in this lesson is assessed in an oral

midterm exam following the end of the unit. There is also a smaller-scale graded assessment

given half way through the unit. Both of these graded assessments involve describing

photographs (more details are given at the end of this paper). In the first assessment, students are

asked to describe the people and places in the photograph. In the midterm exam, students are

held accountable not only for describing people and places, but also for describing objects. They

are also asked to speak for a longer length of time. In addition, students are also assessed through

their completion of the homework assignment.

Title: Describing People Part 1: AppearanceCEFR Level: B1Objectives -Students will be able to describe a person’s physical appearance using

the vocabulary words studied in class.-Students will be able to form yes/no questions inquiring about a person’s appearance.

Technology: PPT on a flash drive, PPT clickerOther materials: Inside Out textbook, student name cards (used for calling on students at

random)


Preparation: -Write class agenda on board: Warm-Up Vocabulary for describing people Practice describing people

Introduction

(3 minutes)

Greeting and Class Overview

Greet the students and provide an overview of the day’s class by going over the agenda on the board.

Warm-Up/Schema Activation

(8 minutes)

Celebrity Photos (Whole Class Activity)

Students will be shown pictures of two celebrities and asked to describe the appearance of each in turn. As students call out descriptions, make a list of the words on the board. Students will likely mention words such as beautiful, short, tall, fat, and thin. Draw attention to the word fat and explain the pragmatics of its use. Introduce students to other words that can be used in its place (i.e., overweight, heavy).

Vocabulary Instruction

(7 minutes)

Vocabulary for describing appearance

-Use the pictures on the PPT to teach students the words listed below. short/long hair shoulder-length hair blond hair/red hair (Remind students not to call it yellow hair.) bald mustache beard goatee

-As words are introduced, ask personalized questions about students in the class, such as:

Does ___ have short hair or long hair? Who has shoulder-length hair? Do you know anyone who has a goatee?

-After introducing all of the vocabulary words, have students repeat each word to practice the pronunciation.

Controlled Practice

(10 minutes)

Photo Search (Whole Class Activity)

-Review the vocabulary by using the Inside Out textbook, which is full of pictures of people. Review by calling out a physical description and having students search their Inside Out textbook for photos matching the description. Make it a race to see who can find a photo first. Call on the first student who raises their hand and ask them the page number of the


photo. Have all students turn to the page to view the photo. “Look for someone who _____”:

has blond hair has a beard is bald has blue eyes has a mustache a woman who has short hair a man who has long hair has a goatee has shoulder-length hair has red hair is wearing glasses

Semi-Controlled Practice

(15 minutes)

Guess Who (Group Activity)

-Show pictures of the 24 Guess Who characters (Appendix A) on the PPT. Explain that these pictures are taken from a popular board game in the U.S.-Tell students that they’re going to play a game where another student will choose one of the characters and they have to ask questions until they figure out who it is.-As a class, brainstorm yes/no questions students could ask and make a list on the board for students to refer to later as they play the game. (i.e., Does she have short hair? Does he have a beard? Does he have gray hair?). Draw students’ attention to the correct question structure (does + subject + verb (base form) + object).-Model the game by choosing one of the characters and having students ask questions until they figure out who I chose. Use the student name cards to call upon students at random to ask me a question.-Play the game. In their assigned groups of four, have students take turns picking one of the characters (without telling the others) and having each student take turns asking a question until they’ve correctly identified the character their group member selected.

Free Practice

(10 minutes)

Describing a Family Member (Pair Activity)

-Have students think of a family member (mom/dad/brother/sister) to describe.-Have students describe their family member’s appearance to their desk partner.-Call upon a few students at random (using student name cards) to describe their family member to the class.


Review

(5 minutes)

-Show a photo of another celebrity and ask students to describe their appearance.

Assign Homework

(2 minutes)

-Have students write a short paragraph in their notebook describing their own physical appearance.

Reflection:

When selecting the vocabulary for this lesson, I had been a little unsure as to whether or

not students would already be familiar with these words. It turned out that most of the words

(i.e., mustache, beard, goatee) were new. Based on the reactions I got when I showed the

pictures of each physical feature on the PPT, students seemed to enjoy the pictures and

vocabulary lesson. I found it harder to ask relevant personalized questions than I thought it

would be. There is not much variety in hair length, style or color among the students in the

classroom so I was not able to ask many questions about hair. Also, it occurred to me that

relatively few Chinese men have facial hair, so I also did not get many affirmative answers when

I asked questions such as, “Does anyone in your family have a beard?”

One part I would change about this lesson is the Photo Search activity. Although using

the book to look for pictures was a good way to review the vocabulary words and reinforce them

visually, it ended up being more chaotic than I expected. I struggled with classroom

management. Students found pictures corresponding to each description very quickly and

excitedly shouted out the page numbers rather than raising their hand as I requested. Perhaps this

activity would have worked better in smaller groups where students wrote down the page

numbers of the pictures they found. Then I could have asked each group to tell the page number

they had found for just one of the descriptions and we could have turned to that page together as

a class.


Lesson Plan #2

Rationale:

This lesson about describing the countryside follows a lesson on describing the city. Once

again, the lesson begins with a schema activation activity through a brainstorming exercise. First,

students see how many descriptive words about the countryside they can think of in pairs and

then see how many words they know collectively. Seeing how many words they already know

can build students’ confidence and activate their thinking toward the topic. Once again, the

lesson itself focuses on a small selection of new words and then provides students the

opportunity to use these new words in a series of controlled, semi-controlled, and free practice

activities.

Assessment Plan:

Students are assessed informally as the teacher walks around the classroom and listens to

student pairs as they describe the photograph at the end of the lesson. This provides the

opportunity for the teacher to identify areas for improvement to focus on in preparing students

for the formal midterm assessment in which they will be asked to describe a photograph.

Title: Describing Places Part 2: The CountrysideCEFR Level: B1Objectives -By the end of the class, students will be able to describe common

geographical features of the countryside.Technology: PPT on a flash drive, PPT clickerOther materials: Bell, student name cards (used for calling on students at random)Preparation: -Write class schedule on board:

Warm-Up Vocabulary about countryside Speaking activity Practice for Assessment

Introduction

(2 minutes)


Greet the students. Remind them of what we studied last time and provide an overview of the day’s class by going over the agenda on the


board.


(10 minutes)

Brainstorm (Whole Class Activity)

-Introduce students to the word “countryside” by showing a picture on the PPT of the countryside and explaining its meaning.-Have students work with their desk partner to brainstorm and make a list of words that can be used to describe the countryside. Offer peaceful as an example to get them started.-After five minutes of brainstorming, have each pair share one of the words they wrote in their list. Make a list on the board.


(10 minutes)

Countryside

-Introduce the following vocabulary by showing the words, definitions, and pictures on the PPT:1) countryside (n) = land outside towns and cities2) a field (n) = land on a farm used for growing crops or feeding animals3) a waterfall (n) = water that falls down from a mountain or high rock4) flat (adj) = smooth or level with no parts that are higher than the rest5) hilly (adj) = having many hills (a high area of land that is not as high as a mountain)6) mountainous (adj) = having many mountains7) wooded (adj) = having a lot of trees growing on it

-As words are introduced, ask students personalized questions, such as: Is your hometown in the countryside? Is Xinzheng flat or hilly? Have you ever visited a waterfall?

-Have students listen and repeat each word to practice the pronunciation.

Controlled Practice

(8 minutes)

Matching Exercise (Individual/Pair Activity)

-Show the sentences below on the PPT. Have students match the vocabulary words to the correct sentence and write the answers in their notebook. Students can work with their desk partner if they would like.

1) While we were hiking, we got very hot, so we went to the _____ where we could get wet and cool off.

2) I live in a very _____ area where the hills are almost as tall as mountains.

3) Vivian doesn’t like crowds or noise, so she moved to the _____ where she can live a more peaceful life.


4) The farmer was tired after working in the _____ all day feeding the animals.

5) The countryside in Indiana is very ____. You can see many kilometers ahead because there are no mountains or hills.

6) The land around my grandfather’s house has a lot of trees. Since it is so _____, my brothers and I like to go hiking there in the summertime.

7) I love living in a _____ area because the mountains are so beautiful to look at.

-To check answers, call on volunteers to read each sentence.


(17 minutes)

Would You Rather… (Pair Activity)

-Introduce the concept of “Would you rather?” and do an example together: “Would you rather eat noodles or McDonald’s?” Instruct students to respond with “I would rather ___.” (This is a good opportunity for students to practice the “th” sound which they have been practicing in other lessons. Encourage students to be attentive to their pronunciation of rather).-Students will rotate around the room in a snake-like pattern to talk to 5 of their classmates (2 minutes each) about the questions listed below. Questions will be shown one at a time. Each question with corresponding pictures will be displayed on the PPT. Ring the bell to indicate it’s time to change partners and answer a new question.

1) Would you rather live in the city or in the countryside? Why?2) Would you rather visit a mountainous area or the beach? Why?3) Would you rather work in a field or in a factory? Why?4) Would you rather swim in a lake or under a waterfall? Why?5) Would you rather go camping in a wooded area or stay at a hotel

in the city?

-After students return to their seats, use the student name cards to call on a few students to share their opinions.

Free Practice

(10 minutes)

Describe the Pictures (Pair Activity)

-Show two pictures for students to talk about in pairs. For each picture, students should describe the place and the people they see in the picture. Encourage students to use the vocabulary words they’ve learned about describing the countryside and physical appearance.

Review -Review the vocabulary by asking the following questions and having the


(3 minutes)class call out the correct word:

What do you call the land outside towns and cities? countryside What do you call the water that falls down from a mountain or

high rock? waterfall What do you call the farm land used for growing crops or feeding

animals? field How do you describe an area without hills or mountains? flat How do you describe an area with a lot of trees? wooded How do you describe an area with lots of mountains? mountainous How do you describe an area with lots of hills? hilly

Reflection:

The brainstorming warm-up took more time than I estimated, but I felt it was a helpful

schema activation exercise. I had to shorten the Would You Rather activity to make up the time.

During the brainstorming activity students did not produce any of the words from the vocabulary

list, which indicates that these were new vocabulary words for them. The Would You Rather

activity seemed to capture student interest and I have found that having students rotate partners

for these kinds of short question and answer activities is a simple way to energize students and

liven up the room.

I walked around and listened as students described the pictures. I noticed that when

students described the people in the picture, they often attempted to describe their clothing as

well, but did not use the correct words to describe the clothing. For instance, they called any type

of shirt a t-shirt even if it was a collared button-up shirt. Because of this, I decided to add a

lesson on describing clothing later in the unit. That way, when they did their formal assessment

at the end of the unit, they would be better equipped to describe the people in the pictures.

Lesson Plan #3

Rationale:


Students often confuse prepositions when describing locations, so this lesson focuses on

basic prepositions of location (i.e., on top of, under, behind). Students are already familiar with

the meanings, but need practice with the use of the prepositions. When reviewing the

prepositions, special attention is paid to ones that can be used for describing the location of

people or objects in a picture (i.e., on the right, on the left) as it had been observed in the first

assessment that students did not know how to describe the placement of things in a picture.

It is important to teach to multiple intelligences. This lesson appeals to visual and

kinesthetic learners as it includes a drawing activity where students work together to recreate a

picture that only one of them has seen.

Assessment Plan:

Students are assessed formally at the end of the unit through an oral midterm exam as

well as informally through observation of how well students are able to recreate the picture and

how well they can describe the layout of their dorm room.

Title: Where is It: Prepositions of LocationCEFR levels: B1Objectives: -By the end of class, students will be able to describe the location of

objects using prepositions of location.Technology: PPT on a flash drive, PPT clickerOther materials: Two pictures for drawing activity (Appendix C and D)Preparation: -Write agenda on board:

Warm-Up Review prepositions Practice describing location

Introduction

(3 minutes)


Greet the students. Remind them of what we studied last time and provide an overview of the day’s class by going over the agenda on the board.

Warm-Up Talk about the Photo (Pair Activity)


(10 minutes) -For review of what has been studied the past few weeks, show a photo on the PPT and have students talk about the photo with their desk partner. They should describe the place and the people in the photo.-Discuss the photo together as a class.

Vocabulary

(10 minutes)

Prepositions

-Review the meaning of the following prepositions using pictures on the PPT: in, on, next to, under, between, in front of, behind, in the corner, on the left, on the right, above, below.

-As we go through the vocabulary, ask students personalized questions such as:

What is in your bag? What is on your desk? Who is sitting next to you? Who is sitting between ___ and ___? Who is sitting in front of ___? Who is sitting behind ___? Who is sitting in the back left corner of the classroom? Is the door on the left or on the right of the classroom? What floor are we on? What floor is above this classroom? What

floor is below this classroom?

Controlled Practice

(7 minutes)

True or False (Whole Class Activity)

-Show students a picture of a messy bedroom (Appendix B) on the PPT. Make true or false statements about the location of the items in the bedroom (i.e., The cup is next to the computer. The bed is in the corner). Have students call out whether it’s true or false. For false answers, elicit from students where the object is really located.


(15 minutes)

Describing and Drawing a Picture (Pair Activity)

-Students will work in pairs to describe a picture to each other as the other draws it (Appendix C and D).-There will be a drawing on the desk at the front of the room for students to come and look at and describe to their partner for them to draw. They will have 7 minutes to complete the drawing.-Student A will come up and look at the picture and go back to Student B to describe what to draw. Student A must keep their hands behind their back so that they cannot point to the correct place on the paper to draw each item. Student A can come back up to look at the picture as many times as they need to in order to be able to describe it in detail to their


partner. At the end of 7 minutes, ring the bell to indicate that time is up. Show the picture on the PPT for students to compare their drawing to the original.-Switch roles so that Student A is now the drawer. Use a different picture. Repeat above process.

Free Practice

(10 minutes)

Describing a Room

-Have students describe their dorm room to their desk partner in as much detail as possible.-First model this by describing my apartment:“I live in an apartment in Peter Hall. I have a living room, a bathroom, a bedroom, and a small kitchen. Inside my living room, I have a couch, two chairs, a table, a bookshelf, and a TV. The couch is on the right wall and the table is in front of the couch. The TV is across from the table. It’s between a chair and a bookshelf. I have books and pictures on my bookshelf. My bedroom is big. It has a bed, a desk, a closet and two small tables. The bed is between the tables and the closet is across from the bed. There are clothes and shoes in the closet. The desk is next to the closet.”

Review

(5 minutes)

-Show picture of messy bedroom again and ask questions about the location of items in the room. Call on students to describe the location of each item.-Example: Where are the shoes? The shoes are on the floor.

Reflection:

This lesson went really well and turned out to be one of my favorite lessons of the

semester. Students were engaged and had fun doing the drawing activity and many did an

excellent job. I was pleasantly surprised to see how accurately drawn their pictures were. I liked

the drawing activity so much that I would consider revising and using it for another lesson topic.

The activities took a little longer than I anticipated, so the free practice activity felt rushed. I

wished I had had more time for this part of the lesson.

Lesson Plan #4


Rationale:

Circumlocution is an essential skill when learning a foreign language. If students are

skilled in describing, they can communicate about a lot of things even when they do not know

the proper words for them. This lesson opens with a warm-up activity that raises students’

awareness of the importance of circumlocution.

Students are then instructed on the sentence structures used for asking for descriptions as

well as giving descriptions of color, shape, size, material, and function. To drill these new

structures, the teacher asks the class circling questions about objects found around the room.

Circling questions are a type of questioning procedure used in the TPRS Storytelling method to

practice new structures. These questions are typically yes/no or either/or questions and are

directed toward the whole class. All students are expected to answer. Many descriptive

adjectives are covered in this lesson, but it is assumed that most of these words (especially the

colors) are review so that students should not be overwhelmed with too many words. Following

the instructional time, students are then given a sample dialogue they would be likely to use

while shopping. This dialogue is modeled for students to repeat so that they can practice the

correct intonation. This dialogue also provides a model for a roleplay activity. Modeling is a

helpful technique for initiating pair work or group work so that students know what they are

expected to do (Brown & Lee, 2015, p. 283). Modeling is also useful for more complex

assignments. Therefore, the teacher provides an example of what she wants students to write for

the homework assignment.

Assessment Plan:

Students are assessed through their homework assignment in which they are asked to

write descriptions of three objects needed to do their hobby. The teacher can check or collect the


homework the following class and correct students misuse of the structures or vocabulary words

studied in class. They are also assessed through the oral midterm exam.

Title: Describing objects: Color, Size, Weight, Shape, Material, and FunctionCEFR Level: B1Objectives -Students will be able to ask for descriptions of objects by color, size,

weight, shape, material, and function.-Students will be able to give basic descriptions of the color, size, weight, shape, material, and function of objects.

Technology: PPT on flash drive, PPT clickerOther materials: Student name cards (used for calling on students at random)Preparation: -Write class schedule on board:

Warm-Up How to ask for descriptions Practice describing things

Introduction

(2 minutes)


Greet the students. Remind them of what we studied last time and provide an overview of the day’s class by going over the agenda on the board.


(7 minutes)

Describing Pictures (Whole Class Activity)

-Show a picture on the PPT of an object students probably don’t know the English word for (i.e., envelope). Tell them: “Imagine you are in America. You are shopping for this object, and you need to ask an assistant for help finding it, but you don’t know the English word for it. You don’t have your English dictionary. What can you do? You can describe it!”-Call on students to say one adjective that can be used to describe it. Write the words on the board.-Repeat this with another picture.-Draw students’ attention to the different categories of information we use to describe things (i.e., color, size, shape, use) and point out how helpful it is to be able to describe an object when you don’t know the word for it (circumlocution).


(15 minutes)

Asking for Descriptions

-Go over the basic way to ask for a description: What does it look like?-Then go over the following structures and adjectives using the pictures on the PPT. (Most of the adjectives should be review):1) What color is it?


Black White Brown Red Blue Yellow Green Orange Purple Pink Light Dark

2) What’s it made of? It’s made out of glass. It’s made out of plastic. It’s made out of metal. It’s made out of wood. It’s made out of cloth.

3) How big is it? It’s tiny. It’s small. It’s medium-sized. It’s big/large. It’s huge.

4) How much does it weigh? It weighs about ____ kilograms. It’s heavy. It’s light.

5) What shape is it? It’s shaped like a circle/square/triangle.

6) What’s it for? It’s used for ___. It’s for ___.

As we go through each structure, ask circling questions about objects around the room. Instruct students that when I begin a question with the word “class” it means they should all answer:1) What color is it?

Class, what color is ___? ____, what color is ____?

2) What’s it made of? Class, is my water bottle made of metal? Class, is my water bottled made of plastic? Class, is the door made of metal or wood?


____, what’s my backpack made of? ____, what’s ____ made of?

3) How big is it? Class, is this classroom big? Class, is this classroom small? ____, how big is this classroom?

4) How much does it weigh? Class, is this pen light or heavy? Class, is your bag light or heavy? ____, how much does your bag weigh?

5) What shape is it? Class, is this (show bottle lid) shaped like a circle or a square? Class, is this (show standing name card) shaped like a square or a

triangle? ____, what shape is your textbook?

6) What’s it for? Class, is a pen for writing? Class, is a chair for sitting or standing? Class, is your textbook for reading or for listening to music? ____, what’s your bag for? ____, what are your glasses for? ____, what is a jacket for?

Controlled Practice

(7 minutes)

Dialogue (Pair Activity)

-Read the dialogue below aloud.-Read it as second time, having students repeat each sentence after me.-Have students practice the dialogue with their desk partner.

Dialogue:Shopper: Excuse me.Assistant: Yes, how can I help you?Shopper: I can’t find what I’m looking for. Maybe you can help me find it.Assistant: Sure. What is it you’re looking for?Shopper: I forget what it’s called. It’s shaped like a circle and it’s made of plastic. It’s light weight.Assistant: Hmm…What’s it used for?Shopper: It’s used for a game. You throw it.Assistant: Oh! A Frisbee?Shopper: Yes! That’s it. Where can I find it?Assistant: Let me show you. Follow me.

Semi-Controlled Roleplay (Pair Activity)


Practice

(8 minutes)-Using the above dialogue as a framework, have students roleplay with their desk partner shopping for the following items:

a watermelon a bed sheet

The student playing the role of the shopper should describe the object and the assistant should ask questions. Reverse roles for the second object.

Roleplay framework:Shopper: Excuse me.Assistant: Yes, how can I help you?Shopper: I can’t find what I’m looking for. Maybe you can help me find it.Assistant: Sure. What is it you’re looking for?Shopper: I forget what it’s called. It’s ___________________________.Assistant: Hmm…What’s it used for?Shopper: It’s _______________________.Assistant: Oh! A ________________?Shopper: Yes! That’s it. Where can I find it?Assistant: Let me show you. Follow me.

Free Practice

(15 minutes)

Describe It (Pair Activity)

-Students will work in pairs to describe an object within the category I give them:Row 1: things at schoolRow 2: things in a restaurantRow 3: things in a bedroomRow 4: things outside-Give them 7 minutes to think of the object they want to describe and to answer the following questions on a piece of paper (Remind students to answer in complete sentences in order to practice the structure and to write their names on it):1) What color is it?2) How big is it?3) How much does it weigh?4) What’s it made of?5) What shape is it?6) What’s it used for?-Collect students’ descriptions. Select one and call the students who wrote it up to the front of the room. Have the two students take turns reading off clues. After each clue, the class gets to guess what it is. If all the clues are given and the class still hasn’t guessed correctly, the students may tell them the answer.


-Be sure to model this with a sample object before students begin the activity.

Review

(3 minutes)

Elicit answers to the following questions from the class: You want to know what color something is. What question should

you ask? You want to know the size of something. What should you ask? You want to know the use of something. What should you ask? You want to know the material of something. What should you

ask? You want to know the shape of something. What should you ask?

Assign Homework

(3 minutes)

Describing Objects Used for Leisure Activities

-Instructions: Think about what you like to do in your free time. Then write about 3 objects you need for this activity. Write about it in your notebook. We will discuss your descriptions next time. Here’s an example:

Example:In my free time, I like to play the guitar.To play the guitar, you need a guitar, a pick, and a tuner.

A guitar is a musical instrument. It is usually made out of wood. It is about one meter tall. It has a large, eggplant shaped body with a long, thin neck. It has six strings that you pluck to make sounds. It can be the color of wood or can be painted any color.

A pick is small. It is about the size of your thumb. It is triangular. It is made out of plastic. You use it to play the strings of a guitar.

A tuner is a tool that that helps you ensure the strings of the guitar are in tune. One model is 10cm long, 6cm wide, and 1cm tall. It is electronic and requires batteries. It is made out of plastic. It is sold in the colors black and silver.

Structure:In my free time, I like to __________________ (activity you like to do).To _________________ (activity you like to do), you need (1) ____________, (2) ____________, and (3) _____________ (list three objects that are required for the activity).

Describe each object. Give at least three details for each object.


Reflection:

In this class I tried a new method for eliciting whole-class response to simple

comprehension questions. This method was based on Ben Slavic’s tutorial on asking circling

questions (Slavic, 2012). Circling questions are a component of the TPR Storytelling method,

which Sias teachers receive training in. Slavic advises beginning each circling question with the

word class every time the entire class is expected to answer as a group. For instance, if the

teacher asks, “Class, is this book light or heavy?” that means the whole class is being asked to

respond. If the teacher wants only one student to respond, the question will be preceded by the

students’ name: “Frank, is this book light or heavy?” One of the benefits of this method is that it

is always clear who should be answering the question. Sometimes it seems that students are

unsure if I want them to answer aloud or raise their hand, so I thought this structure would help.

Another benefit is that it encourages all students to participate. Unfortunately, I felt a little

uncomfortable saying class before nearly every question I asked. It seemed too repetitive, but

perhaps it would just take some getting used to.

The homework assignment was an effective form of assessment in that it provided me the

opportunity to see how clearly students could describe everyday objects. If I assign this

homework again, I will collect it rather than just check it during class. I thought I would have

enough time to check the homework while students did a group discussion the following class,

but I did not end up having enough time to read them thoroughly or correct mistakes. I could

only scan them.

Final Assessment and Reflection


Following the five-week unit on describing people, places, and objects, we had a review

period to help students prepare for their assessment. During the review period, we reviewed

vocabulary and practiced describing photographs. The students then took an oral midterm exam

in which they were shown a photograph and asked to describe it. I tried to select pictures that

targeted the vocabulary we had practiced in class. I tried my best to include attention-grabbing

pictures and pictures from movies to add interest. They were assessed on their fluency,

pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary (see grading rubric in Appendix E). Each student was

given approximately two minutes to speak about the picture.

Using pictures seemed to be an effective way to assess students’ ability to give

descriptions. The last lesson in our unit focused on describing clothing, so I found that many

students spent a large portion of their allotted two minutes describing the clothing the people in

the picture were wearing. Perhaps this was because this vocabulary was the freshest in their

mind. Very few students described the objects found in the pictures. Most just focused on the

people or the place, so I felt I was not able to do much assessing of their ability to describe

objects. When students seemed to be running out of things to say I prompted them to describe the

objects.

We had done a similar but smaller-scale assessment about half-way though the unit and I

noticed improvement between that first assessment and the midterm. For instance, during the

first assessment, when there were multiple people in the picture, they noticeably struggled to

describe the location of the person in the picture they wanted to talk about. Our lesson on

prepositions of location helped with that problem. After focusing on some problem sounds such

as /v/ and /w/, I also noticed some improvements in pronunciation. Nearly every student received

a higher score on their midterm exam than on their first assessment.


References

Brown, H., & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to

language pedagogy (Fourth ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.


Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment.

Retrieved from http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf

Hedgcock, J. S., & Ferris, D. R. (2009). Teaching readers of English: Students, texts and

contexts. New York, NY: Routledge.

Kay, S., & Jones, V. (2012). New inside out: Intermediate student’s book. United Kingdom:

Macmillan.

Slavic, B. [Ben Slavic’s TPRS Channel]. (2012, April 28). TPRS Ben Slavic Video #5 – Circling.

[Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3Lbuqw3xWA

Appenix A

Picture for Lesson #1 Guess Who Game


Image retrieved from:

https://www.google.com/search?

q=messy+bedroom&rlz=1C1ASUT_enUS541US541&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ah

UKEwiarKONvNvJAhVN62MKHUebBwAQ_AUIBygB&biw=1366&bih=643#tbm=isch&q=g

uess+who&imgrc=d3j-IeXg89OeaM%3A

Appendix B


Picture of Messy Bedroom for Lesson #3

Appendix C


Picture for Lesson #3 Drawing Activity


https://en.islcollective.com/resources/printables/worksheets_doc_docx/sams_bedroom/

prepositions-toys-prepositions/28777

Appendix D


Picture for Lesson #3 Drawing Activity


https://www.google.com/search?

q=messy+bedroom&rlz=1C1ASUT_enUS541US541&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ah

UKEwiarKONvNvJAhVN62MKHUebBwAQ_AUIBygB&biw=1366&bih=643#tbm=isch&q=e

sl+living+room+drawing&imgrc=9XWR0G6FNPI_0M%3A


Appendix E

Grading Rubric for Midterm Assessment

Student Name: Comments

Use of taught vocabulary 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 /20 Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Communicative Ability Fluency 10 9.5 9 8.5 8 7.5 7 6.5 6

/30Grammar 10 9.5 9 8.5 8 7.5 7 6.5 6

Pronunciation 10 9.5 9 8.5 8 7.5 7 6.5 6

Total /50

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