Ten Practical Teaching Activities
Coca Cabana
Intended students: 25 Chinese students, high intermediate level, visiting Southern California for an English immersion vacation during the summer.
Time: 60 minutes.
Objective: Use the Corpus of Contemporary American English to examine contextual uses of “a” and “the” to help understand how articles are used in English, that “a” refers to generalities and “the” refers to specifics.
Procedure:
1) Working in pairs in a computer lab or with a device that can access the COCA website, have the students enter in the wildcard symbol, asterisk, *
2) The listing will bring up the most common words listed in COCA, “the” number 1.
3) The list reveals the importance of words that function grammatically in English. “A” and “the” can be troublesome; hence COCA can list phrases that identify patterns for the students.
4) Enter: * the [j*] [nn*] in order to list phrases in English, “the” followed by an adjective [j*] and a noun [nn*]. Repeat with a instead of the.
5) The listings show phrases that in the case of "a", demonstrate many idiomatic phrases that convey a state of mind ("have a hard time, come a long way") or a duration ("In a long time, on a regular basis") and yet are not specific emotions or time frames. With "the", the listed phrases are more narrow within their category. Duration: "in the past year", "in the past decade" - the time frame is specific - last year or decade. State of mind: "do the right thing" "on the other hand" a specific ethical or moral choice.
6) Students pick phrases from each of wildcard (the/a) listings from the COCA that match the category of duration/time
7) List the phrases for "a" and "the" (e.g., for a little while, in the near future) side by side. Have the students write explanations on why a or the is being used.
8) Do the same for the category of state of mind/disposition (e.g., do the right thing, lend a hand).
9) Display some of the students chosen phrases and discuss the differences.
Material: COCA access.
Evaluation: COCA is a complex tool and hence the exercise should be teacher-led with the search formula and COCA displayed on an overhead so that students can follow along to the point where they are asked to categorize results.
Intended students: 25 Chinese students, high intermediate level, visiting Southern California for an English immersion vacation during the summer.
Time: 60 minutes.
Objective: Use the Corpus of Contemporary American English to examine contextual uses of “a” and “the” to help understand how articles are used in English, that “a” refers to generalities and “the” refers to specifics.
Procedure:
1) Working in pairs in a computer lab or with a device that can access the COCA website, have the students enter in the wildcard symbol, asterisk, *
2) The listing will bring up the most common words listed in COCA, “the” number 1.
3) The list reveals the importance of words that function grammatically in English. “A” and “the” can be troublesome; hence COCA can list phrases that identify patterns for the students.
4) Enter: * the [j*] [nn*] in order to list phrases in English, “the” followed by an adjective [j*] and a noun [nn*]. Repeat with a instead of the.
5) The listings show phrases that in the case of "a", demonstrate many idiomatic phrases that convey a state of mind ("have a hard time, come a long way") or a duration ("In a long time, on a regular basis") and yet are not specific emotions or time frames. With "the", the listed phrases are more narrow within their category. Duration: "in the past year", "in the past decade" - the time frame is specific - last year or decade. State of mind: "do the right thing" "on the other hand" a specific ethical or moral choice.
6) Students pick phrases from each of wildcard (the/a) listings from the COCA that match the category of duration/time
7) List the phrases for "a" and "the" (e.g., for a little while, in the near future) side by side. Have the students write explanations on why a or the is being used.
8) Do the same for the category of state of mind/disposition (e.g., do the right thing, lend a hand).
9) Display some of the students chosen phrases and discuss the differences.
Material: COCA access.
Evaluation: COCA is a complex tool and hence the exercise should be teacher-led with the search formula and COCA displayed on an overhead so that students can follow along to the point where they are asked to categorize results.
What happened?
Intended students: 25 Chinese students, low intermediate level, visiting Southern California for an English immersion vacation during the summer.
Time: 30 minutes.
Objectives: Use the simple past, present & future tenses of verbs, “to be” in particular.
Procedure: 1) Review, discussion; 10 minutes:
How was your weekend? It was _________(adjective). How are you feeling? I am ______ (adjective). What are you doing this weekend? I will (main verb) (adverb/prepositional phrases). Note the words/phrases on the board, possible word cloud, to build vocabulary. Suggest synonyms.
2) Powerpoint slides, 20 minutes : Teacher displays each slide one at a time and initially elicits responses but the main task is for student to write out an original sentence. Students examine the slides and create basic sentences answering the questions in the correct tense.
Material: Powerpoint slide show file “One picture is worth 1000 words.”
Evaluation: The review does not match identically with the PowerPoint questions, but these are intermediate students and they should catch on. The question “what happened?” is not as clear as, for example in the jail-break photo, asking “Why are these men in jail?” or “How did they end up in jail?” but as a follow-up activity the slides can be revisited and the question re-formulated for greater precision.
Time: 30 minutes.
Objectives: Use the simple past, present & future tenses of verbs, “to be” in particular.
Procedure: 1) Review, discussion; 10 minutes:
How was your weekend? It was _________(adjective). How are you feeling? I am ______ (adjective). What are you doing this weekend? I will (main verb) (adverb/prepositional phrases). Note the words/phrases on the board, possible word cloud, to build vocabulary. Suggest synonyms.
2) Powerpoint slides, 20 minutes : Teacher displays each slide one at a time and initially elicits responses but the main task is for student to write out an original sentence. Students examine the slides and create basic sentences answering the questions in the correct tense.
Material: Powerpoint slide show file “One picture is worth 1000 words.”
Evaluation: The review does not match identically with the PowerPoint questions, but these are intermediate students and they should catch on. The question “what happened?” is not as clear as, for example in the jail-break photo, asking “Why are these men in jail?” or “How did they end up in jail?” but as a follow-up activity the slides can be revisited and the question re-formulated for greater precision.
The Academy Awards
The Academy Awards
The Oscar is an award granted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences for excellence in movie-making.
Here is a lesson plan that can be topical during the week of the Academy Awards.
The Oscar is an award granted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences for excellence in movie-making.
Here is a lesson plan that can be topical during the week of the Academy Awards.
Good Samaritan Digital Painting Project
Time: 120 minutes.
Objective: Reading exercise: Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:30-35, The Message version. Comprehension: discuss the morality of the parable. Writing exercise: list the actions in the parable and simplify to a 4 point narrative. Creativity exercise: Create a series of photos that can be later used in a slideshow of a biblical parable with text and graphics.
Procedure:
1) Have students read Luke 10:30-35, silently and then out loud together as a group, identify pronunciation issues.
2) Class discussion: suggest some questionable interpretations, intentional misinterpretations, e.g., the Levite were justified in avoiding the injured man; get the class talking about what the parable means.
3) Display 3 or 4-frame comic strips, similar to the type featured in newspapers, such as Dilbert (included in Powerpoint slideshow “PowerPoint Parables")
4) Break the parable down into “key” actions, about 4 of them: a man walking, attacked by thieves, ignored by priests, rescued by the Samaritan.
5) Together, teacher and class will work on an overhead using iPaint or MS Paint. Teacher searches for images of “a man walking” imports it into IPaint and adds the text “ a man walking” and so on for the other 3 phrases of the parable. A slideshow can be created showing each picture in series.
6) Discuss the moral of the story: Who is your neighbor?
7) Application: if we were to “modernize” this story, who would be the priest/Levites? As this group is from China, suggests a “Communist Party official”?
8) Who is the Samaritan in a modernized version? (typically an outcast, eg an illegal immigrant in the US). Think of a modernized Samaritan for where you live.
9) Students in teams of 2, create a new version of the parable in iPaint.
10) Presentation of slideshows to the whole class. Powerpoint slideshow “PowerPoint Parables”.
Material: Computer lab or laptops with PowerPoint and internet access to search pictures. File: “PowerPoint Parables”
Evaluation: Internet access might be a problem, but most wireless access services in high schools (and Biola) have excellent censorship software to prevent inappropriate search items.
Objective: Reading exercise: Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:30-35, The Message version. Comprehension: discuss the morality of the parable. Writing exercise: list the actions in the parable and simplify to a 4 point narrative. Creativity exercise: Create a series of photos that can be later used in a slideshow of a biblical parable with text and graphics.
Procedure:
1) Have students read Luke 10:30-35, silently and then out loud together as a group, identify pronunciation issues.
2) Class discussion: suggest some questionable interpretations, intentional misinterpretations, e.g., the Levite were justified in avoiding the injured man; get the class talking about what the parable means.
3) Display 3 or 4-frame comic strips, similar to the type featured in newspapers, such as Dilbert (included in Powerpoint slideshow “PowerPoint Parables")
4) Break the parable down into “key” actions, about 4 of them: a man walking, attacked by thieves, ignored by priests, rescued by the Samaritan.
5) Together, teacher and class will work on an overhead using iPaint or MS Paint. Teacher searches for images of “a man walking” imports it into IPaint and adds the text “ a man walking” and so on for the other 3 phrases of the parable. A slideshow can be created showing each picture in series.
6) Discuss the moral of the story: Who is your neighbor?
7) Application: if we were to “modernize” this story, who would be the priest/Levites? As this group is from China, suggests a “Communist Party official”?
8) Who is the Samaritan in a modernized version? (typically an outcast, eg an illegal immigrant in the US). Think of a modernized Samaritan for where you live.
9) Students in teams of 2, create a new version of the parable in iPaint.
10) Presentation of slideshows to the whole class. Powerpoint slideshow “PowerPoint Parables”.
Material: Computer lab or laptops with PowerPoint and internet access to search pictures. File: “PowerPoint Parables”
Evaluation: Internet access might be a problem, but most wireless access services in high schools (and Biola) have excellent censorship software to prevent inappropriate search items.
Lesson on listening skills and famous lyrics.
Audio Flashcards
Time: 10 minutes each class.
Objective: Create an audio dictionary with pictures of common irregular verbs and their conjugations, study and add daily a particular word using apps that can add audio to a photo, such as SeeMail https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/seemail/id429509393?mt=8.
Procedure: 1) Using a list of irregular verbs (e.g., from the online source “English Club”, http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/irregular-verbs-list.htm ) each day go through one item on the list, alphabetically. Define the verb.
2) Using their chosen app, such as SeeMail, students speak the verb and its conjugations into their smartphone.
3) The students then titles the file using the verb name (in the simple present) and adds a picture to help define the word, example “freeze” (froze, frozen) would have a picture of something to help define the word:
4) Write a short definition.
Material: Smartphone with an app that can add audio to pictures.
Evaluation: Having students pronounce their own words requires oversight to ensure they are pronouncing them properly. Before the lesson, the teacher can pronounce the word into audacity then email that audio file to the whole class if a large number of students have problems.
Objective: Create an audio dictionary with pictures of common irregular verbs and their conjugations, study and add daily a particular word using apps that can add audio to a photo, such as SeeMail https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/seemail/id429509393?mt=8.
Procedure: 1) Using a list of irregular verbs (e.g., from the online source “English Club”, http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/irregular-verbs-list.htm ) each day go through one item on the list, alphabetically. Define the verb.
2) Using their chosen app, such as SeeMail, students speak the verb and its conjugations into their smartphone.
3) The students then titles the file using the verb name (in the simple present) and adds a picture to help define the word, example “freeze” (froze, frozen) would have a picture of something to help define the word:
4) Write a short definition.
Material: Smartphone with an app that can add audio to pictures.
Evaluation: Having students pronounce their own words requires oversight to ensure they are pronouncing them properly. Before the lesson, the teacher can pronounce the word into audacity then email that audio file to the whole class if a large number of students have problems.
Vocaroo Telephone Game
Time: 15 minutes to do the live game, then the Vocaroo version can be done as another lesson proceeds.
Objectives: To practice listening to a message and practice leaving (i.e., sending) a message. Authentic speaking and listening practice using voice messages to transmit a message from person to person and to see if that message can remain intact as it is passed around.
Procedure: 1) Ss seated in a semi-circle, play the classic game of “telephone”; teacher whispers in the ear of one student “Cantaloupes are a good fruit to eat.” Pass on the message until the end result.
2) Have the students use Vocaroo on their smart phones to record the “cantaloupes” message and master recording and saving sound recording files.
3) Teacher goes to Vocaroo and records a prepared message: “While sitting by the sea I soaked up the sun.” The teacher then creates the code to save the sound file, which appears in the window under “Sharing options”, and copies and pastes it into the browser navigation bar. The computer should be in a quiet corner of the classroom. Ss goes to the computer and sees the “play again”, listens.
Objectives: To practice listening to a message and practice leaving (i.e., sending) a message. Authentic speaking and listening practice using voice messages to transmit a message from person to person and to see if that message can remain intact as it is passed around.
Procedure: 1) Ss seated in a semi-circle, play the classic game of “telephone”; teacher whispers in the ear of one student “Cantaloupes are a good fruit to eat.” Pass on the message until the end result.
2) Have the students use Vocaroo on their smart phones to record the “cantaloupes” message and master recording and saving sound recording files.
3) Teacher goes to Vocaroo and records a prepared message: “While sitting by the sea I soaked up the sun.” The teacher then creates the code to save the sound file, which appears in the window under “Sharing options”, and copies and pastes it into the browser navigation bar. The computer should be in a quiet corner of the classroom. Ss goes to the computer and sees the “play again”, listens.
Student plays the file then selects “Record now > >”
Record
the message as remembered.
Then copy and paste the new code into the navigation bar and let the next student listen to and record the (hopefully) same message.
Then copy and paste the new code into the navigation bar and let the next student listen to and record the (hopefully) same message.
Simple Social Media Lesson
Time: 25 minutes, weekly lesson
Objectives: A relatively simple exercise meant to develop an online persona through a writing exercise, as social media is more strongly connected to identity than other writing media.
Activity: 1) Create a “secret” Facebook group page for the class, and add students to the group.
2) After everyone has been added, post an “initial” or lead post: “How was your weekend?” Award points for length of sentence ( 1 per word) but deduct 1 point per spelling error or grammar error.
3) Students can respond to the comments of others for more points.
4) Hail the winners weekly; add a new post each week.
5) Copy and paste interesting comments into an overhead for further discussion in class.
Material: Web access.
Evaluation: Depending on the age group, some students like to present themselves as “too school for school” and aim for the lowest score. They can be honored with a special recognition for their lack of effort.
Objectives: A relatively simple exercise meant to develop an online persona through a writing exercise, as social media is more strongly connected to identity than other writing media.
Activity: 1) Create a “secret” Facebook group page for the class, and add students to the group.
2) After everyone has been added, post an “initial” or lead post: “How was your weekend?” Award points for length of sentence ( 1 per word) but deduct 1 point per spelling error or grammar error.
3) Students can respond to the comments of others for more points.
4) Hail the winners weekly; add a new post each week.
5) Copy and paste interesting comments into an overhead for further discussion in class.
Material: Web access.
Evaluation: Depending on the age group, some students like to present themselves as “too school for school” and aim for the lowest score. They can be honored with a special recognition for their lack of effort.
Thumbs up or down, Siskel & Ebert Style.
Time:45 minutes
Objectives: Listening comprehension: watch a short video (30 minutes) and answering a series of questions using WeChat as a media for submitting answers. Activity assumes that students already have WeChat accounts and have smart phones to send messages on WeChat.
Activity:
1) Watch Nick Park’s episode of Wallace and Grommet’s A Grand Day Out. Available on Netflix or as an online rental.
2) After the movie completes, show PowerPoint slideshow: ThumbsUpDown and with each slide, students upload their answers. Stream the answer on the overhead feed.
3) The final slide show the late Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert with their thumbs in the up and down positions.
4) What do those thumbs mean? Discussion. (like or dislike)
5) You Yube of Siskel and Ebert reviewing “Jurassic Park” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwdvVwVuOI0
6) Vote: A Grand Day Out – thumbs up or down?
Material: Web access, Netflix account.
Evaluation: Students might not “get” the rapid talk/conversation of Siskel and Ebert, but the main idea is thumbs up or down (like or dislike); Siskel/Ebert debate is not important.
Objectives: Listening comprehension: watch a short video (30 minutes) and answering a series of questions using WeChat as a media for submitting answers. Activity assumes that students already have WeChat accounts and have smart phones to send messages on WeChat.
Activity:
1) Watch Nick Park’s episode of Wallace and Grommet’s A Grand Day Out. Available on Netflix or as an online rental.
2) After the movie completes, show PowerPoint slideshow: ThumbsUpDown and with each slide, students upload their answers. Stream the answer on the overhead feed.
3) The final slide show the late Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert with their thumbs in the up and down positions.
4) What do those thumbs mean? Discussion. (like or dislike)
5) You Yube of Siskel and Ebert reviewing “Jurassic Park” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwdvVwVuOI0
6) Vote: A Grand Day Out – thumbs up or down?
Material: Web access, Netflix account.
Evaluation: Students might not “get” the rapid talk/conversation of Siskel and Ebert, but the main idea is thumbs up or down (like or dislike); Siskel/Ebert debate is not important.
Lets go to the beach!
Watch this YouTube presentation of trying to change into a bathing suit without privacy. Can Mr Bean do it?
Activity: Have the students note all of the verbs in the continuous tense. Stop the video and ask the students for the verbs or possible collocates. Use COCA for an advanced class!
Activity: Have the students note all of the verbs in the continuous tense. Stop the video and ask the students for the verbs or possible collocates. Use COCA for an advanced class!