Lesson Plan: Discussion and Assessment

Lesson Level:   Senior                   Duration:  45

Lesson Title:     Discussion and Assessment

Grammar and Vocabulary

Grammar and vocabulary from the whole semester .

NOTE: - This lesson is suitable for assessment of students speaking which can be done by making notes while monitoring the main tasks.

Lesson Objectives

Students will be able to discuss a topic, form statements representing opinions and present their conclusions to the class. 

Materials Required

 A set of prepared discussion topics each in the form of two opposed statements. (See notes)

Preparation

Prepare cards showing the opposing statements.

Procedure

1 Tell class that today is an assessment lesson.

Write these instructions on the board and explain them.

Check that everyone understands.

You will work in groups.

You will see two sentences.

Read them carefully.

For each sentence think of THREE things that support it.

As a group decide which sentence you agree with.

Write down your reasons.

2 Divide the class into groups

Give each group ONE of the discussion cards.

3 Monitor the discussions BUT DO NOT ASSIST (except for explaining the meaning of unfamiliar words)

4 After 15 minutes (Be strict on time) stop the activity.

5. Put these instructions on the board.

Stand up.

Read your two sentences out loud.

Tell the class which sentence you agree with.

Tell the class your reasons.

6 Follow the above procedure for each group. 

Notes

1A.   Everyone should own a pet.

B.No one should own a pet.

2.A. You should follow your dream even if you don’t make any money.

B, Making money is more important than following your dream.

3.A. There are probably aliens on other planets.

B.There are probably no aliens on other planets.

4.A. Life was better in the past than it is now.

B, Life is better now than it was in the past.

5.A. Global warming is the most serious problem in the world today.

B.Global warming isn’t real so it isn’t a problem.

6.A. There is no such thing as ghosts.

B, Ghosts exist and are all around us.

7.A. There should be stronger laws to stop people smoking.

B People should be able to smoke anywhere they want to.

8.A. There are some jobs that only men or only women can do.

B.Every job is suitable for both men and women.

9.A. Western medicine is better than Chinese traditional medicine.

B, Chinese traditional medicine is better than western medicine.

10.A. Girls are better students than boys.

B, Boys are better students than girls.

11.A. Sports stars and film stars are paid too much money.

B, Sports stars and film stars are NOT paid too much money.

12.A. Married people are happier than people who are not married.

B, People who are not married are happier than married people.

13.A. Your personality is more important than how you look.

B, How you look is more important than your personality.

14.A The internet is a good thing.

B, The internet is a bad thing.

15.A. Children spend too much time playing on the computer.

B, It isn’t a problem if children spend a lot of time playing on the

computer.

16.A. Watching movies is better than reading books.

B, Reading books is better than watching movies.

17.A. We should be able to download any music for free.

B, We should have to pay for any music we download.

18.A. Playing violent computer games makes people violent

B, Playing violent computer games doesn’t make people violent

19.A. Visiting other countries is a good thing.

B, Visiting other countries is a bad thing.

20.A. Modern music is better than traditional music.

B, Traditional music is better than modern music.

21.A. Chinese music is better than western music.

B, Western music is better than Chinese music.

22.A. Chinese food is better than western food.

B, Western food is better than Chinese food.

23.A. It is good to spend money sending people into space.

B, Sending people into space is a waste of money.

24.A. Drinking alcohol should be banned.

B, Drinking alcohol should NOT be banned.

25.A. Playing sport is more fun than watching sport.

B, Watching sport is more fun than playing sport.

26.A. Dancing is a sport and should be in the Olympics.

B, Dancing is not a sport and should not be in the Olympics.

27.A. Everyone should learn a foreign language.

B, Learning a foreign language is a waste of time.

28.A. Travelling by boat is better than travelling by air.

B, Travelling by air is better than travelling by boat.

Lesson Plan:Colour Idioms

Lesson Plan: Colour idioms.

Lesson Level:   Senior                     Duration:  45

Lesson Title:     Colour Idioms

Grammar and Vocabulary

Use of idiomatic English, especially idioms involving colours .

Lesson Objectives

 Students will learn a number of expressions and idioms that involve colours.

Materials Required

 Work sheet containing list of colours idioms with colour names removed,

Preparation

 Prepare work sheets

Procedure

1 Write “Idiom” on the board. Elicit ideas about its meaning. Add correct meaning  “a group of words whose meaning is not obvious from just the words”. (Note. If Animal Idioms Lesson has already been done then this is revision.)

2 Write some examples.

Today I feel a bit blue.

Today I’m in the pink.

It’s there in black and white.

He’s seeing red.

3 Ask students for their ideas about the meanings.

   Explain the real meanings.

            sad, healthy, written down, angry

   

4  Explain the worksheet task.

There is one sheet for each group.

There are twenty colour idioms.

Groups must discuss the idioms and choose a colour for each one.

DO NOT WRITE ON THE PAPER.

Groups can use dictionaries or ask for help with words they don’t

know..

5 Hand out the worksheets. Allow at least fifteen minutes. Monitor and assist as needed,

7 Go through the answers. Explain the correct colour for each one and what they idiom means (and why, if it isn’t already clear.)

8 EXTENSION TASK

If lesson finishes early tell groups to think of an idiom in Chinese that involve colours and to translate it into English.

Ask each group for their idiom and the meaning (literal and figurative).

BE CAREFUL OF YELLOW - in Chinese it has a sexual meaning.

Notes

In English there are many colour idioms - phrases that use colours and have a special meaning.

Look at the sentences below. Each one has a word missing. The missing word is a colour.

These colours are each used THREE times: black, white, red, green, blue

These colours are each used just once: brown, pink, grey, golden, silver.

Read the sentences and decide which colour each one is missing.

DON’T WRITE ON THIS PAPER

1. He hit me so hard that I have a __________ eye.

2. I didn’t expect to win the prize. It came like a bolt out of the __________.

3. Don’t disturb him. He is thinking about something. He is in a __________ study.

4. Look at his new car! It makes me __________ with envy.

5. I have no money left in the bank. In fact, I owe them money. I am in the __________.

6. I surrender. You win. I will wave the __________ flag.

7. He almost never comes to see me, just once in a __________ moon.

8. He’s the best player in the team. He’s the __________ boy.

9. My garden always looks wonderful because I have __________ fingers.

10. We should have seen the warning signs. There were lots of __________ flags.

11. Why did you buy that broken chair? It’s a real __________ elephant.

12. Nobody is sure of the rules. It’s a __________ area.

13. He tried to steal all the money but was caught __________-handed.

14. I told her that I liked her new dress because I didn’t want her to be unhappy. It was just a little __________ lie.

15. They said we can start our new project. We have been given the __________ light.

16. He’s been arrested and taken to jail. The boys in __________ have got him now.

17. I didn’t buy this in a shop, I got it from a man I met in a bar. I got it on the __________ market.

18. She was so happy when I gave her the present. She was tickled __________.

19. I was feeling sick but that meant I didn’t have to go to school. Every cloud has a __________ lining.

20. I didn’t do my homework so I am in the teacher’s __________ books.

Lesson Plan: World Records

Lesson Level:       Junior                   Duration:  45

Lesson Title:     World records

Grammar and Vocabulary

 Use of superlative adjectives (biggest, most expensive etc).

Lesson Objectives

 Students will be able to demonstrate use of superlatives by creating sentences related to world records.  

(e.g. The tallest building in the world is…)

Materials Required

World Record Worksheet¹ 

Dialogue worksheet ²

Ball for ball toss activity

Preparation

 Prepare enough copies of the worksheet to give one per student.

Prepare two copies of the dialogue.

Procedure

1 Write lesson title on board - WORLD RECORDS

Write some adjectives on the board - tall, big, friendly, interesting

   Elicit from class the superlative form -tallest, biggest, friendliest, most interesting

    Write the correct forms on the board

 2 Choose a strong student to come and read with you.

Tell the class to make a note of any world record they hear.

Read the dialogue.

Elicit the records mentioned

Longest finger nails

Holding your breath

Fastest eating a pizza

Collecting bottle openers, cook books, train tickets, chocolate bar wrappers

3 Put students into groups.

Give out the worksheet

   Go through the example.

   Monitor and assist groups to create nine new sentences.

   

4 Use ball to select students to give an answer from the worksheet.

   Go through all answers.

   Write the answers on the board.

5. Extension task.

Tell groups they must think of a world record that each member of their group would like to try to break. Give time to groups to consider. Monitor and assist. Elicit feedback.

Notes

1. Worksheet.

The records on this sheet should be checked as still valid and pictures for each record added before printing for the lesson.

1	2	3
Man, Tall (Sultan Kosen)	Man, Short (Chandra Dangi)	Animal, Fast (Cheetah)
<picture>	<picture>	<picture>
4	5	6
Person, Old (Gustav Gernath)	Woman, Fast (Carmelia Jeter)	Car, Expensive (Ferrari 250 GTO)
<picture>	<picture>	<picture>
7	8	9
Bridge, Long (Hong Kong to Macau)	City, Populated (Shanghai)	Country, Small (Vatican City)
<picture>	<picture>	<picture>

Look at the pictures. For each picture make a sentence like this.

The ____________________________ in the world is ____________________________.

Animal, Big (The Blue Whale)

<picture>

1. 

Colin	I've been looking at the Guinness Book of World Records. There are some great facts about sport. I love the sporting records such as the fastest...
Don	Forget the sporting records. I like the funny ones. The records you would never think about.
Colin	What do you mean?
Don	Look at this one. This woman had the longest fingernails. They were 8.65 metres long altogether … that's nearly a metre for each nail.
Colin	That sounds awful. How could she do anything with nails that long?
Don	I don't know, it doesn't say. And here's another. How fast do you think you could eat a twelve inch pizza?
Colin	I don't know, maybe about ten minutes? Maybe a bit faster.
Don	How about forty one seconds? That's the record.
Colin	I don't think I could do that. Are there any easier ones?
Don	Can you hold your breath for a long time?
Colin	About a minute. What's the record?
Don	Twenty two minutes.
Colin	That's pretty unbelievable. I couldn't do anything like that. I need something easier.
Don	You could collect something. There are lots of records about the biggest collections.
Colin	What sort of things do they have records for?
Don	There's a man with more than thirty-three thousand bottle openers. There's a woman with about three thousand cook books. Someone has a hundred and sixty-three thousand train tickets. What would you like to collect?
Colin	Well I eat a lot of chocolate. I could collect the wrappers.
Don	A woman in Italy has 2,048 different wrappers, collected from all around the world.
Colin	Wow. That's a lot but I think if I try I can beat it. I'll start now. Would you like a candy bar? I'll buy two different ones. One for each of us. It can be the start of my collection.
Don	OK, I'll take a Snickers bar.