NAME: Ángeles García Reales.
A READING AND SPEAKING LESSON PLAN
CLASS PROFILE AND TEACHING CONTEXT
The following 2-day lesson plan will form part of a unit which deals with the topic of dreams
and heroes. The reading is based on a fiction literary text. This lesson plan is designed for the
1st. year of ESO, to be worked at the end of the third term, time when students will have
reached a higher degree of maturity and their use of English will be better than at the
beginning of the school year(they will be inbetween 1st and 2nd of ESO) this will be needed
because the text on which the activity is based is lexically complicated as it is authentic
literature.
This is a 28-student group.
The school I work in has had a bilingual project for 4 years. Most of the students have passed
the Cambridge KET exam.
The school where I work is situated in a middle class area in the north of the community of
Madrid.
GENERAL LESSON AIMS
1st. YEAR OF ESO (linguistic section)
LENGTH OF TIME/LESSON: 2- 50´sessions.
Sociocultural aspects . Language awareness.
-Develop students´ interest into the habit of reading.
-Develop students´ imagination and creativity: read a short narrative paragraph and
form hypotheses about what will happen next.
-Develop students´ interest in topics ”catalogued” for children: ambitions , ideals and
children´s heroes although in a different type of context. Lose fear to read unabridged
literature.
-Historical and social background: (nazi occupied) countries in Eastern Europe and the
world of (magic) entertaining in the 20´s and 30´s in the USA. Become aware of one of
the most important prizes in English Language: Pulitzer in the USA and Booker Prize in
UK.
Linguistic objectives
-Understand the main idea of the extract of a fiction text creating a picture in their
mind.
-Guess meaning of word through the context.
-Identify expressions /verbs referring to different actions of main characters.
-Understand in this narrative the motives for the characters ´actions and their
consequences.
-Watch and listen to an 8´ documentary as a background reference for the topic.
-Interpret (orally) the actions/plot in a text.
-Roleplay different points of view on the issue.
TIME
TEACHER ACTIVITY
STUDENT ACTIVITY EXPECTED ACTIVITY
I tell my ss we´re going to do a
reading activity based on a
book I would like them to read
one day. I introduce the book
and tell them it won a very
important North American
Prize: The Pulitzer.
WC (whole class)
1st. session
6’
They know very little /nothing about the
topic of magic-
Ss activate their background
knowledge on magic.
They express their emotions
about dreams and heroes-
One of the topics of the book
is “daydreams and heroes”
and “magic in entertainment”
Elicit what dreams and heroes
they have. Do they know
anybody famous in magic?
2’
I say they´re going to read a
shocking extract from the book
“The Amazing Adventures of
Kavalier and Clay” by Michael
Chabon, which is about 2 boys:
Joseph and Thomas. One of
them wants to fulfill his dream
on this cold night.
SS listen ,hopefully, with
increasing interest in the
reading.
8’
Pre-teach vocab. with handout
2. The rest can be inferred
In pairs, SS. match the words
from the text with their
Some SS. Might not understand some
definitions. So, I would have to use
10’
from the text.
definitions.
different technique to explain vocabulary.
I ask them to give their
answers.
WC. They give their answers.
I tell them now to read
handout 1 (pages 33and 34 of
the book).
SS. do their task in pairs.
There are many verbs they´ve never heard
of before. For this teaching I´ll have to do
a lot of mimicking.
A stronger student describes
the scene so that all get a
clear picture of it.
If there are problems to understand, I´ll
elicit answers through my questions.
SS listen and try to answer
the question.
The documentary is America English. If
they don´t get the gist , we´ll have
stronger ss. help the rest.
.They have to underline verbs
from the text which express
movement and positions of
the body.
.Why are there so many
“descriptive”verbs?
10’
2nd reading for
comprehension.SS. have to
find out what´s happening in
this part of the story.
12’
At this point I connect the
story to the topic of
“escapism/autoliberation”.I
ask them if they know
anything about it.( As I expect
the answer is “no”)I tell them
we´regoing to watch an
8´documentary video of the
most famous escapism artist in
the world: Houdini, doing one
of his autoliberation
performances back in the 20´s,
narrated by a current
documentalist .
SS. watch the video and
weaker ss. answer factual
questions.
I give them some factual
questions bero the watching
about the character: who,
what, how and why.
(video recording from Youtube
in my pen-drive:
“Harry Houdini. An Escape
Artist .National history Day”
2’
When finished, though
obvious, I ask who Joseph´s
hero is.
Listen to the brief answer.
Homework: I ask SS. to write
an account (predict) about
what´s going to happen next
to Joseph inside a sack, all tied
up under the water and
Thomas dead worried about
him.
2nd.SESSION
12’
Going back to the story, I recall
that joseph forced Thomas to
push him in the waters of the
river because he was training
to be an escapism artist.
SS. read their predictions they
had done for HW.
We go through their
predictions they did for HW.
I tell them to give them
encouragement they´re very
close, or not so close, to the
story and try to create some
suspense before I invite them
to continue reading the story.
I warn them the vocabulary is
difficult that´s why it has been
made easier for them giving
them the synonyms so they
will perfectly understand what
happens to the boys.
SS. read and find out about
the end of this (part of) the
story.
SS. will find the vocabulary difficult but
they will get the main idea since most of it
has been provided for.
If they get demotivated I´ll tell them all the
difficult words correspond to descriptive
actions(how) but what I want them to
really focus on is very simple: who, where
and what´s the outcome of the situation.
I give them HO 5, pages 35,36
and few lines of 37.
The cover of H0 4 which reads
“the Escape Artist” is given
now and not before so as not
to have interfered with their
predictions
20’
I ask if anyone´s predictions
coincided with the story.
Now we read a second time
together some reading
comprehension questions
based on the text to help
understand it better.
The WC go through the activity
together to dedicate as much
time as needed, that way I can
stop wherever necessary .
Questions on BB or Power
point.
WC. Read questions and text.
SS. give their answers.
The question of “where are they?” implies
cultural assumption, this can be solved by
quick checking internet in the digital
board. Or maybe some student knows the
place because he had been in Prague on
holidays.
18’
Now that we know what the
outcome of the story is and
since what the kids had done
was very serious, I invite some
of them to express their
opinion for a couple of
minutes.
So, I tell them now that best
way to express their feelings
about it is impersonating
some characters of the story
and they have to defend their
position, that is answering the
questions
“Wasitjustified/right…….what
the kids did?
I elicit what characters should
take part in the dramatization.
I give the HO. 6 with my
proposal of characters and
their arguments. They can add
one more character if they
wish.
For more theatrical
atmosphere, we´ll provide a
stage background with the
view of Charles Bridge
reflected on the white Board ,
material 7(slide).
I tell them we´re all looking
forward to seeing their
performances. They can bring
prompts if they wish.
2/3 sessions
later.
Once the performances are
over and we have made our
play reviews I will invite ss. To
read one day the book and
find out what happened in
later life to Joseph. I anticipate
there is an excellent chapter of
him, trying to escape from the
Nazis being helped by his dear
Teacher Kornblum.
.Which way of Escapism will he
try this time?
SS. express their opinion.
SS. decide on the groups they
are going to work with: 3/4/5
students and split up in
different corners of the
classroom. We could have
some sent to a classroom next
door if empty to work with
less noise.
They start working now and
continue at home/library.
At first they won´t go much further
dialoguewise from the explanation I give
them for each character, so I´ll have to
move around while they are working on
their dialogues to elicit more ideas:
admiration, good/bad influence, too
liberal parents, mutual reproaches
between adults, Thomas´ breathing for life
since the incident, and so on.
They´ll to manage and decide where/how
they are going to meet to do their work.
EVALUATION OF THE STUDENT
To identify and understand the general idea and the most specific information related
to different communicative situations, I will:
-
Observe that students are matching vocabulary in HO 1 and 2 and find verbs of
motion and positions of the body in the text after going through the previous
vocabulary list.
-
Ask stronger ss to describe the scene on pg. 33/34.
-
Ask weaker ss some factual questions on the documentary of Houdini.
-
Ask ss questions on the setting, action, linguistic aspects, rhetorical devices. I
also expect them to express view on the facts and justify with evidence.
SELF EVALUATION / SELF OBSERVATION AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
1. The assignment proposed 1 sessions , not 2.
2. I´m aware the model of lesson plan given is more schematic, simple, clear
whereas mine is more labored/ confusing to the reader not involved in the
design of the plan.
3. The choice of the story “The Amazing Adventures of kavalier and klay” by
Michael Chabon ( Pulitzer Prize2001), is definitely to the eye of any teacher
trainer not the right one. However, after reading for so many years the
Postman-Pat, Caterpillars, Thomas the Tank Engine, The Ladybird series to
continue with the Adrian Moles and everything by Roald Dahl(very suitable
indeed for children) even Billy Liar, I decided to get away from the long list
suggested in the BOCM, 30 April 2010 and design something” adventurous”:
- Adventurous as a challenge for me and
- Adventure book, with two Check, Jewish brothers as main characters at the
beginning of the story.
4. It is also my intention that students somehow get “hooked” to the story and try
to read the book one day when they´re older . It is a book with children and
youngsters as the main characters who work hard to see their dreams come
true. The story has a very interesting historical background with a narrow scape
of Joseph from the Nazis(where his training as escapist was vital).This scene and
the one I chose of Joseph being pushed by his brother into the Modau are not
just pages of printed literature, they can become graphic pictures in the
students ´minds.
5. To conclude and being more than aware of the difficult language of the reading,
I shall say in my defence:
-
I believe in the story and the activity, therefore it should not be a total failure.
-
As my COTE teacher trainer, Sheila Staire, British Council(1992-93), used to say:
“Don´t grade the text, grade the task”
HANDOUT 1 FOR SS. (PAGES 33 AND 34 OF THE BOOK)
HANDOUT FOR SS 2.
The words on the left appear in the book.
In pairs. Let´s see if you can manage to match them with the definitions in the right column:
1 rope
a. an impressive achievement (difficult to define. I´ll use an example)
2 feat
b. find the solution
3 railing
c. bag for the dirty washing
4 pull off the trick
d. tool to make something tight
5 razor blade
e. strong, thick string or cord
6 laundry sack
f. small, flat, sharp object used for shaving
7 tension wrench
g. freezing/like a piece of ice
8 icicle
h. confused
9 housekeeper
i. bend over/ lower your body close to the ground
10 ironmonger
j. person paid to look after the house
11 wrists
k. small, low waves on the surface of a liquid
12 crouched
l. someone who works in a shop that sells tools/equipment
(old-fashioned word)
13 muffled
m. strong, tough boy.
14 misshapen bundle
n. part of the body that joins the hand to the arm
15 ripples of water
o. metal fence made of bars. Ex: in a bridge (picture on the BB is quicker
16 ”tommy boy”
p. similar to a sack with things inside without a shape
HANDOUT FOR SS 3
Power point answer sheet
Which verbs can you find in the text referring to the movements and positions of the body?
Possible answers:
stepped into,
bound ….. together,
crouched,
cinched,
trembled,
pulled ….. back on,
ballooned,
bent forward,
reaching out,
toppled over,
roll into,
knelt down,
ucncinch.
HANDOUT FOR SS 4 (32, 35,36 and 37)
HANDOUT FOR SS 5 (questions based on pgs. 32, 35, 36 and 37)
WC. answer the following questions:
a. Who are they and what is their relationship?:
- What is Thomas doing?
-What is Joseph doing?(The answers to the “What” questions confirm their
predictions of the readings pgs. 33-34)
b. Where are they? (Quick check in internet: Charles Bridge, River Moldau, Prague)
c. When do you think the action takes place?
d. Description of the waters of the river Moldau. Are there any rhetorical figures
used to describe them?
e. What´s the outcome of the situation?
f. Was it right/justified what these teenagers did? Should we go ahead with all our
dreams?
HANDOUT FOR SS 6 (CHARACTERS AND ROLES TO ACT)
Impersonate some characters and defend your positions in a little dramatization.
Answering question f/ of previous handout : Was it right/justified ……? “ .
We are going to have 3/4/5 characters. Who do you think should be the main characters
taking part in this role play?
Here is an example of possible characters and their arguments (the position they defend) .
Characters:
Mother: mad about the incident, especially with the eldest, Joseph. Maybe she´s also
disappointed with Mr. Kornblum (Joseph´s teacher in the art of escapism ).
Mr. Kornblum: Joseph´s teacher of escapism. He knew nothing about Joseph´s intention of
jumpIinin into the river to do his first act of autoliberation = escapism.
Thomas: wanted to help his big brother. He wanted to be an assistant to his artist brother.
Joseph: He had to do it to become a “Houdini”. There had to be a first time.
This auto liberation training makes him strong and might one day be very useful in life.
MATERIAL 7: Slide/Picture of Charles Bridge, over The Moldau, Prague, as Background
stage for students´ performance.