Listening Lesson Plan
Doug Marshall
March 19, 2013
Theme: The Cherry Blossom Festival

Context: What kind of teaching situation/school setting is the lesson based on?
The class consists of adults of mixed heritage, mainly Asian, Hispanic and Arabic who have
had various levels of schooling prior to this class, but not above college levels. The class is
learning about America and seeks upward mobility and socialization.

Learner Needs: What do the learners need/want to learn?
The students need practical language skills for day to day functioning and competency for
job interviews, negotiation, conducting simple personal and business transactions.

Objectives/Aims: What will your students know or be able to do as a result of this lesson?
Students will be able to comprehend a song and a poem in English around the theme of the
DC Cherry Blossom Festival. They will be able to sing along and recite the poem.

Assumptions: What are you assuming in terms of student background knowledge?
Students should know generally what a cherry tree is, the famous blossoms, and the everexpanding springtime festival in DC.

Language Analysis: What new grammar and vocabulary will this lesson target?
They will learn how song lyrics and poetry express thoughts in a beautiful way with simple
vocabulary and short, simple phrases. In these linguistic art forms complete sentences are not
always used.

Anticipated Problems and Solutions: What could go wrong? What backup plans do you
have? Completely understand the words sung by a massed choir, so the second time
around they will have access to the written lyrics. The poem is short enough and the
diction very clear so that should not be a problem.

Materials: What materials will you use? How will you adapt them?
Youtube videos that can be played and projected by computer. Wireless internet connection
inside the classroom is necessary. Handout of the song lyrics.

Timing/Sequencing: How much time will you need?
The class is 60 minutes long

Assessment: How will you measure what your students can do?
There will be 2 tasks associated with the videos for students to test their comprehension.

(Reflection: What worked well in this lesson? What should I improve upon next time?)
(To be completed after teaching the lesson.)
Lesson Plan:
Stage
Aim
Procedure
Mats.
Focus
Time
To warm up
the class to
think in terms
of the subject
matter
Show some selected photos of cherry trees
in full bloom from various sources, internet
public domain, personal photos, etc.
Teacher will talk about the history of the
cherry blossoms in DC using the book The
Cherry Blossom Festival, Sakura
Celebration, by Ann McClellan, 2005,
published in association with the National
Cherry Blossom Festival. Students will
share their own experiences.
Comp
uter
and
projec
tor
T-S
10
mins
Play the Youtube video of the TV
presentation of the DC Cherry Blossom
Parade 2012, the Parade Youth Choir
singing Bill Wither’s “Lean on Me”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYQgD
Comp input
uter
and
Projec
tor
Warm up
Talk about
cherry trees
And blossoms
And festival
Lesson activities/assessments
Listening (1)
To help train
their ear to
hear and
comprehend a
song sung by a
5 mins
massed choir
0oXWgE&feature=player_detailpage
discussion
Ascertain
level of
comprehensio
n
Teacher will ask students how much they
understood. Did they get the gist of the
song, the main idea? If comprehension was
weak, replay video and pause at intervals to
check for comprehension
task
Test
comprehensio
n
Hand out the lyrics of Lean on Me with
selected words omitted. Go over with the
entire class to complete together.
Play the spoken version of the poem
“Loveliest of Trees” by AE Housman
From youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj8Srxe
XZ5w
listening (2)
Listening/spea Practice
king
comprehensio
n
task
Test
comprehensio
n
Ask for a volunteer student to recite the
poem for the class. Ask the class to watch
her mouth for pronunciation tips. Are there
any words that they did not understand?
Handout copies of the poem with some
words omitted for students to fill in. The
poem is very short and should not take
much time.
T-S
10
mins
Handout
T-S
10
mins
Comp
uter
and
projec
tor
input
5 mins
hando
ut
S-S
5 mins
S
5 mins
T-S
10
mins
Conclusion
Feedback
Identify
strengths and
weaknesses
Discuss what difficulties they encountered
in listening to a massed choir singing
versus the clear spoken voice of the actress
reading the poem. Is it harder?