Lesson Plan: Women of Achievement

Lesson Level:     Senior                   Duration:  45 Minutes

Lesson Title:     Women of Achievement

Grammar and Vocabulary

Words to describe achievements and characteristics.

.

Lesson Objectives

 Students will discuss various famous women in history and what an “achievement” actually is.

Materials Required

 List of famous women and their roles.¹

Text from Practical Oral English²

Preparation

Prepare materials.

Procedure

1 Write “Women of Achievement” on board and elicit the meaning,

2 Elicit famous women known to the students. (Use ball toss around class.)

3 Put students into groups of four.

Hand out list of women and their achievements. Tell students to match the achievement to the woman. Go through the answer with the students. 

4 Tell students to open their book at the reading text. (Hand out copies to students who don’t have the text.

5. Read text aloud to students. Students follow the text in the book. Stop at the end of each paragraph to check new vocabulary.

(Students are often reluctant to admit that they don’t know a word. Check with several individuals for words you believe they may not know.)

6 At the end ask questions to check understanding of the text.

What kind of background does May come from? (Poor)

Where does she want to volunteer? (Villages in India)

How long does she need to save for her trip? (2 years)

How does she feel when she arrives in India? (Nervous, excited,scared, positive.)

How is she treated by the villagers? (Like a queen)

What does she do to help? (Build a well, teach English, help to farm the land?

How does she feel when she has to leave? (Sad, devastated, happy to be going to see her family)

7 Write the questions from the book on the board.

What do you admire about May? Why?

What kind of person is she? How do you know?

What do you think her strengths and weaknesses are? Why?

Add these questions.

Do you think this kind of aid is always useful? Why? Why not?

Tell groups to discuss their thoughts on these questions and write them in their books.

EXTENSION TASK

Get students to look at the words from the book to describe people.³

Check that they understand all the meanings.

In groups students discuss which three words they think are the most desirable qualities in a person.

Notes

1.

Woman

Marie Curie Margaret Thatcher Mary Wolstonecraft Shelley Rosa Parks Florence Nightingale Diana Spencer Amelia Earhart Catherine the Great Frida Kahlo Indira Ghandi Wu Zetian Venus Williams

Famous For

American Civil Rights Mexican artist Married Prince Charles Tennis player Empress of Russia Discovered Radium Nurse Indian Prime Minister Prime Minisiter of the UK Empress of China Famous pilot Wrote Frankenstein

2. 

Here is a story about May. She is a poor girl from Manchester in England. She has a dream. She wants to work as a volunteer in India to help the local villages. She decides to save all her money to enable her to buy a plane ticket so that she can fulfil her dream. She does not earn a lot of money so it will take her two years to save enough money for the trip.

She works hard every day to earn money for the trip. She focuses her mind and is determined to succeed because she wants to fulfil her dream. She works, works and works, and does not do anything else for two years. Eventually the two years are up. She now has enough money for her trip. She organises her trip, books her ticket and off she goes to India.

She arrives in India. She is on the bus on route to her village, excited and scared at the same time she thinks about what she is about to face. It makes her a little nervous, but she stays positive because she knows it is her dream to help this village.  

She arrives at her village. The villagers treat her like a queen and crowd around her. She is overwhelmed and overjoyed by their reception. This makes her cry with happiness, but at the same time she is sad because they all look so thin and hungry. Their living conditions are very poor and they have very little water.

The next few months she works hard and has many projects to do. She helps the villagers build a well, helps to teach English in the local school and helps to farm the land so that the village can eat well. She observed their way of life closely and had lots of  respect for them. They lead a simple life, but come across as very happy and wonderful people.

The time comes and she has to leave. She is very sad to leave, she loves the people here and wants to help them more. She is devastated to leave, but has a great sense of achievement and is very happy to be going home to see her family. She misses them. The people in India inspired her so she intends to return again in a few years time to carry on helping and supporting them.

3. hard-working, generous, honest, energetic, kind, considerate,  active, helpful, unselfish,

     intelligent, confident, educated, fair, brave, warm-hearted