Lesson Level: Senior Duration: 40 Minutes
Lesson Title: Charity begins at home.1
Grammar and
Vocabulary
Wealth,
fortunate, donate, purchase, volunteer, distribute, participate, labour
.
Lesson Objectives
Students
will practice dictionary skills.
Students
will learn target vocabulary (associated with charity)
Students
will discuss questions associated with charity.
Materials Required
Reading
text.2
Preparation
Prepare
enough copies of reading text to give one to each group of four students.
Check
that students have access to dictionaries.3
Divide
class into groups of four.
Procedure
1
Write “Charity” on
the board as a title for the lesson and elicit ideas about what it means.
Write definition
below the title.
(giving your money or
time to people who need your help)
2
Ask class to give
ideas for who can benefit from charity.
Write list of
suggestions at left hand side of the board. Give examples to get started if
needed.
(poor, old, young,
sick, disabled, homeless… also animals should be the minimum list)
Ask a few students
which of these groups they would give their charity to. (Remember to always
follow up with “Why?”)
3
Write “Charity begins
at home” on the board.
Elicit the meaning of
the phrase.4
(Look
after your own family and community first.)
Give the class two
minutes to discuss whether they agree or disagree with this statement.
Monitor and assist
the discussions.5
Get feedback from
class.
4
Tell class you will
now give each group a reading text.
Tell class they will
need their dictionaries. (books or electronic)
Write on board.
Read the text.
Use your dictionaries
to find the meanings of the underlined words.
Write down the
meanings IN ENGLISH.
While class work on
that, write the list of words on the board.
Monitor and check
that students are working on the task.
Elicit the meanings
and write them on the board.
5.
Read the text out
loud to the class.
Elicit the three ways
that it says you can help (donate money, purchase gifts, volunteer) and write
them on the board.
Ask questions about
text to check understanding.
6
Write discussion
questions on board.
For most classes use
the questions.
Is charity always a
good thing?
Which kind of charity
would you like to support?
Which way to support
a charity is best (donate, purchase, volunteer)?
Does getting charity
make people lazy or dependent?
For stronger classes,
use harder questions.
Does giving to
charity encourage people to become lazy and dependent?
The text says that
giving to charity makes us feel satisfaction. Is this a good reason to give to
charity?
Is it better to give
to charities for people or animals? Why?
Is it better to give
money to charities or to volunteer? Why?
7
Tell classes they
have ten minutes to discuss the questions.
Monitor the groups
and assist the discussions.
8
If there is time
elicit feedback from whole class to share ideas.
Notes
1.
This lesson is based on material in Practical
Oral English, Senior 2, Volume 2, Unit 6
2.
(This reading text comes from Practical Oral
English, Senior 2, Volume 2, Unit 6)
Sharing our wealth and helping others is
part of being a good person. There are many ways you can help less fortunate people than you. You
can donate money, purchase a gift or offer your
service for free as a volunteer. Lots of people volunteer to help others for free. It
is a way to show others that you care.
Caring for others often gives us a sense of achievement and satisfaction.
Ways
of volunteering vary greatly,
such as helping to distribute leaflets for charities, collecting
money for charities or offering your labour
in the local community. Helping your local community is fun, you can do the
shopping for an old person or help to look after children for a person who is
sick. You can also go to other less fortunate countries where people are in need of your help. You can participate
by helping to plant trees, build wells and houses for the local villages.
Whatever
way you want to help others, it will be rewarding.
3.
Some
teachers disapprove of this but whenever I do dictionary work in class I also
allow students to use the dictionaries on their mobile phones. A dictionary is
a dictionary and we are living in the 21st century here.
4.
The phrase “Charity
begins at home” in the UK usually has the meaning that you should look after
those closest to you before you give charity to others. There is another
interpretation that I have sometimes heard which is that if people are
charitable at home they will be more likely to be charitable in general. I
usually stick with the traditional meaning and only discuss the alternate if
someone in class raises the idea.
5.
When monitoring
discussions like this. I find it useful to take the opposite view to whatever
the group answers.
For example if they
say “yes” I ask about whether it’s better to look after our own family who are
already healthy and well-fed or to give our money to charities that help
starving people in other countries.
