STRUCTURE OF THE LESSON PLAN
v OPENING STAGE
Brain-storming
Warm-up
(group work)
v PRACTICE SKILLS STAGE
Listening 1
+ Speaking
Listening 2
Listening
3+ Reading
Extensive
reading:
§
reading
1 + speaking
§
reading
2 + speaking
§
reading
3
Intensive
reading:
§
completion
and questions to get the message and to search the meaning of the text
v CLOSING STAGE
Writing + Speaking
- Questions
- Dictation
- Homework:
summary and pair group internet activity
ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE
STUDENTS CAN:
ü use to work on authentic materials
ü infer information from a written
text or a specific content
ü recognize different text types
ü
practice
the four skills carrying out purposeful tasks
ü
share
information, exchange ideas and interpret topics critically
ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS
ü Crossword
ü Glossary
ü Teacher’s guide
ü Listening and reading repeated many
times
LEVEL
ü A2
TYPE OF INTERACTION
ü 
T SS
ü Feedback: SS T
ü 
Group work: SS SS
ü 
Pair work: S S
ROLE OF THE TEACHER
ü Informant-guide-observer-mediator-adviser
ROLE OF THE STUDENT
ü Listener, active sharer
MATERIALS
ü
Authentic text (“Speak-up magazine”)
ü
Blackboard
ü
CD
ü
Internet
TYPE OF ACTIVITIES
ü
Guided and free
ü
Interactive and individual
TASKS
ü
Educational, real and purposeful
LANGUAGE
ü
Real and up-to-date
OPERATIVE STRATEGIES
LISTENIG SKILL STRATEGY:
ü
listening at various times according to different
tasks (first no use of the text then the text is given)
ü
listening selectively
READING SKILL STRATEGY:
ü
extensive reading: skimming and scanning
ü
intensive reading
WRITING SKILL STRATEGY:
ü
guided written exercises:
fill-in/completion/scrambled activities/questions
ü
free written exercises: essay/ summary/short
composition
SPEAKING SKILL STRATEGY
ü
pair-group
work
ü
oral
interview
ASSESSMENT
Ø Achievement, proficiency and criterion referenced assessment
FEATURES OF THE TEXT
ü
READABILITY:
the structural and lexical structures are advanced, however the text may be
accessible to the students under the careful teacher’s guidance
ü
SUITABILITY:
the article deals with an up-to-date and late event
ü
EXPLOITABILITY:
the text allows to work on communicative functions, to practice language
skills, to manipulate authentic materials, to share opinions, to work in group
and in pair and to improve vocabulary
v
v OPENING STAGE
Ø BRAIN STORMING
The teacher distributes a piece of paper to the
students, with the following instructions:
“CLOSE YOUR EYES! Now imagine: you stay alone
for 44 days in a very little room without any human contact, you can’t eat and
you can’t move (only few steps).”
After few seconds the teacher says: “STOP!”
The students open their eyes and the teacher
asks: “What are your feelings?
Free-discussion guided by the teacher.
AIMS:
- to
prepare the class for the topic
- to
involve the students, arousing interest
- to get students into the mood
Ø WARM-UP
GROUP-WORK
The teacher gives two sheets of paper and
she\he says: “open the first sheet of paper, hide the other one and solve the
task written on it.”
Task for each group: “solve the following
crossword.” (Time 10 minutes)
ACROSS:
- a
person who is skilled in magic
- an
act intended to deceive somebody
- it’s
a capital
- an
unusual act done to attract attention
- a
difficult or painful experience
- a
container made of metal
- the
best performance the highest or lowest level ever reached
DOWN:
- a
thing or an event of which the cause or origin is not know or impossible
to explain
- a
false idea, belief or impression
- it’s
a Tower of London
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Check: the students who finish earlier choose a
reporter. He or she goes to the blackboard, reads the definitions and fills in
the crossword.
AIMS:
- to
prepare the ground for a serene exploitation of the listening
- to
anticipate the new item in an amusing way
- to
stimulate curiosity
- to
integrate skills
v
PRACTICE SKILLS STAGE
LISTEN 1 + SPEAKING
The teacher says: “open the second sheet of
paper, look at this picture and listen to the text, reflecting on the following
questions:
1)
Who is
he?
2)
Do you
know what he has experienced?
3)
What
is the relation between the words crosswords and the picture?
Discuss with your mates and your teacher.”
AIMS:
- to
check knowledge
- to
make predictions/hypothesis
- to
listen for a task
LISTEN 2
The teacher gives the photocopy of the
article to each student (at the bottom of the page there’s a glossary of the
main difficult words, which are numbered) and she/he says: “listen again and
underline the words that you don’t know and try to catch the general message.”
GLOSSARY
- To thrill-entusiasmare
- Straightforward-trucchi semplici
- Buried himself alive-si fece seppellire
- Kidney damage-danni ai reni
- Sweat-sudore
- Fulfilment-appagamento
- Late-defunta
- She was starving-moriva d’inedia
At the end of the listening the teacher writes
on the blackboard “The Blackboard Dictionary”
|
WORDS |
TRANSLATION |
|
|
|
All the students try to infer the translation
(through examples words and mimes given by the teacher).
AIMS:
- to
tackle unfamiliar lexical items in a relaxed atmosphere
- to
facilitate the general comprehension of the text
- to
predict the nature of the unknown words
- to
pay attention to the message
LISTENING 3 +READING
Task given by the teacher: “listen only the
first part”. She/he stops the CD, chooses one student and says him/she to read
it. The teacher follows the same procedure for the second and the third part,
choosing other two students.
AIMS:
- to
work on the integrated skills
- to
involve students
- to
listen for details
PRONUNCIATION
During the reading performance of each student,
the teacher notes recurrent errors for later correction: she/he repeats the
correct pronunciation and students repeat in chorus.
AIM:
§
to
improve pronunciation and intonation
READING 1
Task for each student: “read the text quickly
and answer to the following YES/NO QUESTIONS”:
1)
Is
David Blaine the “Man of Mystery”?
2)
Did
his magician career begin when he was a teenager?
3)
Did he
suspended from a crane in a perspex box?
4)
Was
his mother still alive?
Oral check guided by the teacher
AIMS:
§
to
practice skimming
§
to
check a general comprehension “picking up” words which enable the student to
get a global idea
§
to
practice question forms and short answers
§
to
share comprehension
READING 2
Task for each group: “scan the text and answer
to the following WH QUESTIONS:
1)
When
did David Blaine begin his latest stunt?
2)
Where?
3)
What
did he experience?
4)
Which
were the health risks?
Language questions:
- What
kind of text is it ? Tick the right answer:
q
Newspaper
article
q
Advertisement
q
Internet
message
q
Leaflet
o
It is
descriptive, narrative or argumentative? Why?
Oral check: the teacher chooses one of the
group reporters.
AIMS:
§
to
practice scanning
§
to be
able to locate situations (contextualize) and to find useful information
§
to
work on the text for selective meaning
§
to
check knowledge about different text type
§
to
cooperate
READING 3
Task for each student: “reread the text and
focus your attention on the chronological sequence of the events. Reconstruct
David Blaine’s career by ordering the following scrambled sentences:
- This
September he began his most dramatic stunt.
- He
has buried himself alive for a week.
- He
began a television career.
- When
he was a teenager he moved from New York to the West Coast.
- He
stood on a pole for 36 hours.
- He
entertained celebrities at show business parties with an impressive
repertoire of illusions.
- David
Blain’s friend Leonardo Di Caprio presented the magician’s first TV
special in 1997.
- He
stayed inside a block of ice for 3 days.
Self-correction.
AIMS
§
to
read selectively in order to carry out a specific task
§
to
enhance self-evaluation
INTENSIVE READING
1. Individual task: “read the text again. You can individualize two
opposite points of view, according to the illusions of the great magician.
Which ones? Complete the table below:
What did their behaviours?
|
FAMOUS¼¼¼ |
FAMOUS¼¼¼ |
|
|
|
What do you think about the journalist’s point
of view?
AIMS:
- to
led students to interpret the text’s own meaning and the intended meaning
- to
enable students to interpret topics
- to
encourage contrastive/comparative analysis
2. Individual task: “the following words have a negative connotation and
some of them a positive one, write them in the right column.”
|
NEGATIVE CONNOTATION |
POSITIVE CONNOTATION |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Now find out the positive items in the last
paragraph and fill them in the blanks, by recreating the complete sentence of
the text and then answer to the questions below.”
A |
B |
|
¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ |
In suffering |
|
¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ |
through the worst conditions |
|
Yet she managed to |
¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ |
|
¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ |
Death |
|
¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ |
In his isolation and deprivation |
1)
What
do you think about this kind of words association?
2)
How
did explain David Blain his “madness experience?
3)
Why
the author speak about a <personal tragedy>?
Check: the teacher tries to involve, in turn,
all the students
AIMS:
§
to
catch an individual and inner meaning in a text
§
to
strengthening linguistic competences
§
to
recognize links among subjects
§
to
interpret topics critically
§
to
work on different language skills
v CLOSING STAGE
WRITING
QUESTIONS:
1)
According
to David Blaine’s stunt, do you agree or disagree? Give reasons
2)
Do you
think that David Blaine is a “mad” or really a “magician”?
3)
How do
you think David Blaine felt during his isolation? Make a list of all possible
adjectives to describe his state of mind.
4)
Would you
able to do it? Write a short essay.
Check: the students in turn read their answer
AIMS:
§
to get
out a critical social meaning
§
to
support personal theses and opinions
§
to
reinforce writing in formal and informal contexts
§
to fix
the acquired knowledge
DICTATION:
The teacher reads slowly the article and the
students write down (if they don’t understand the teacher repeats again).
Self-correction: each student compares the
texts and circle the errors. The teachers chooses some of them who report aloud
their errors.
AIMS:
- to
enable students to recognize how words are pronounced
- to
practice spelling and punctuation
- to
encourage self-confidence
HOMEWORK:
Individual task: “focus your attention on the
main aspects you have already learnt, reread them, try to recall them and write
a summary (don’t use the text ).
AIMS:
- to
organize the acquired information and the new ideas
- to
learn how to personalize a source written text
PAIR ACTIVITY ON THE INTERNET
Task for each pair-group: “do you want discover
more about this <special man>? Visit the following web-sites, choose
something of interesting and write about it. Try to ask something in the forum
section, it may be a matter of discussion in your class.
www.channel4.com/entertainement/tv/microcities/d/david_blaine/index.html
AIMS:
- to
encourage a personal exploitation of L2
- to
promote cooperation
- to
encourage students’ autonomy and responsibility
- to
trust imagination
§
to
encourage students to use the new language in a freer way
ASSESSMENT
The teacher will assess the written and oral
language skills practiced by the student, carrying out classroom and homework
tasks. She/he will be oriented to assess:
Ø how and what the learner can do
Ø the achievement of the specific aims
for each activity
Ø the language abilities in the
requested tasks,
according
to the following indicators:
ü
pronunciation
ü
fluency
ü
use of
vocabulary
ü
grammar
accuracy
ü
content
ü
planning