LESSON PLAN 9
Grammar Focus: spatial prepositions.
Vocabulary: Public Services, businesses, directional words
Pronunciation: L and R sounds
Reading and speaking: Reading road signs and printed directions, following and giving oral
directions
Student proficiency level: Multi-level (Level 1,2, and 3)
Ethnographic composition: Vietnamese, Laotian, Thai, and Pakistani
Objectives: The students will learn to use spatial prepositions (in front of, across, between, to the
right/left of, next to, etc.) as well as directional words (straight, close, stop) to follow simple
verbal (spoken) and written directions (on a map). They will learn to differentiate L and R
sounds through listening and speaking practice.
Materials: Whiteboard, dry-erase markers, textbook, worksheets, flashcards, map of city center
Warm-up and Review: Review simple past tense by going over homework to check for
comprehension, emphasizing on following written instructions independently and also studying
picture clues to extract and process information.
Presentation: Presentation: Spatial Prepositions:
Ask a S: Where is Uyen sitting? Elicit: Uyen is sitting next to Lo. Ask: Where is Lo sitting?
Elicit: Lo is sitting between Uyen and Oye. Where is the whiteboard? Elicit: The whiteboard is
in front of the classroom. Ask: Where is our ESL class held? Elicit: The ESL class is held at the
Watauga Public Library in the conference room. Show a picture of a city center, complete with
school, hospital, grocery store, post office, bank, etc. Introduce relevant vocabulary: bus-stop,
parking lot, ATM machine, telephone booth, vending machine, sidewalk, do not enter sign,
one way sign, no parking sign, crosswalk, no right turn, 35 mph, school/construction zone,
Explain that to get around town, we have to ask and understand directions. To do this, we have to
understand some very common phrases. Introduce through flashcards or write on board and have
Ss repeat: in front of (The ATM machine is in front of/), next to, across from, between, to
the right /left of behind, at the corner of, at the end of, etc. Use the picture to explain these
terms. Check for comprehension by calling on Ss, using the relevant spatial prepositional phrases
along with the specific locations or landmarks.
Speaking: Pair-group: Have students take turns asking for directions using the following
dialogue, changing the underlined words in bold to make conversations (1-5)
A: Excuse me, where is the post office?
B: It’s at the corner of Pine St and Main St.
A. Where exactly on Pine street?
B: It is in front of the Community Center.
A: Thanks a lot.
2. A. movie theater?
1.1AAhospital
.hospital?
B. on Main St.
B.B.
onon
Main
MainSt.
St.
A. on Main St?
A.
On Main
MainSt?
St?
A.on
B. next to the Post office.
B.
acrossfrom
fromthe
thepost
postoffice.
office.
B right
right across
Presentation: pronunciation: L vs. R
Explain that we make the l sound by touching the tongue against the roof of the mouth.
Demonstrate with examples: lamp, list, light, little, look (word-initials) and also with
examples: file, while, call, mall, tile, mile, tell fell, rail, mail (word-ending). Accentuate long
and short vowels.
Explain that when we make the r sound, the tongue doesn’t touch the roof of the mouth, it curls
backwards inside the mouth. Demonstrate with examples: roof, root, rat, rug, road, right, ring,
rang (word-initial) and also with examples: fire, liar, wire, car, far, her, purr (word-ending)
Write the words on the board; go over the meanings and have Ss say them aloud. Correct
pronunciation as needed.
Practice: Listening Bingo: Have Ss listen and repeat to the following pairs of words:
1. file- fire 2. while- wire 3. call-car 4. Lamp- ramp 5. list-wrist 6. Light- right
Have Ss listen to the pairs of sentences and put the bingo dot on the appropriate picture on the
bingo card. Examples: 1. It will be a while. It will be a wire. 2. There’s a file in the supply closet.
There’s a fire in the supply closet. 3. Take a light. Take a right. 4. Stop the car. Stop the call. 5.
Here is my list. Here is my wrist.
Homework: Have Ss make lists (from all sources: everyday conversation, radio and TV shows,
magazine ads) of l and r words: word-initial(lamp and ramp), word-ending(car and call), and
word-medial (Marco and Delco), look up the pronunciation on dictionary.com, and practice at
home. Note down and clarify the meanings of any words that are not familiar in the next class.
Reflections: The lesson on spatial prepositions was very productive. It was apparent that
students were waiting for such a lesson. One of them had actually shared with me that she had a
hard time understanding oral directions and visualizing them. Using the map of the city center
worked to consolidate their visual learning. I also used TPR, moving to different points in the
room, asking students to describe my position. Using the table itself was helpful in explaining
the concept of “across from” (“I am standing across from you,” with the table between us) as
opposed to “in front of (The book is in front of you),” which can be interlinked sometimes. I
used their personal belongings (Like the purse a S had kept on the chair behind her) to
demonstrate the concept of “behind,” and pointed to the belongings in the open purse to
demonstrate “in.” One student kept making mistakes consistently on the listening bingo with the
l and r words. I guess that was a good thing since it might make her more alert about active
listening (which we also talked about) next time. The subject of articles came up during one of
my oral reformulations of a student’s error, and even though it was not in the lesson plan, we
ended up talking about it, since article-deletion seemed to be a consistent error-pattern among
my South-East Asian students, which could well be a case of L1 transfer. I wrapped up the
lesson by handing out a copy of some helpful websites which they could use for vocabulary.