12 February 2007
A good diet - a lesson plan
With my lower intermediate level, I chose to tackle the topic of food and diet to introduce MUST/MUSTN'T.
The idea came up thanks to a dialogue I found in a French school book (Enjoy 6è- éditions DIDIER). The dialogue is on page 55. It's a dialogue between a young boy and a vet. The vet is telling what the dog must eat and mustn't eat (because he is too fat).
I introduce the theme thanks to a great article I found in a magazine for learners of English. The references and the sheet are in the attached file.
My sheet (with fat pets on it) had a LOT OF success in class!!!! They loved talking about the images and it was a great way to start the topic.
Then we listened to the dialogue and made a summary. Then I asked them to imagine they wanted to lose weight. They had to tell me what they must do:
I must stop eating.... I must eat more.... I must eat less/fewer... That's when I introduced the concept of countable nouns and non-countable nouns. It went ok.
In the end, I ask them to write a dialogue between a dietetician and a patient, using all the structures and vocabulary we saw.
I'm starting the dialogues this week. Hope it will be fine.
5eme-MUST.pdf
17:26 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: must, mustn't, more, less, fewer, lesson plan, food
05 February 2007
School in England, a lesson plan
I wanted to talk about cultural matters with my beginner level. It's hard to talk about the anglophone countries at this level because their English is often not complex enough to comprehend such topics as identity, way of life, etc.
So you have to start with basics. Some topics are simple enough to be dealt with at a low level, like the theme of school. It allows you to talk about habits (using simple present), about obligations (using must) and vocabulary (subjects, timetable, uniforms, etc).
That's why I chose to work on this topic with my beginner level. I propose you a lesson plan with several documents, all of them representing one aspect of the lives of British pupils: the uniform, the dress code, the school system, a typical day at school and the timetable.
The goal for the pupils is to create questions to integrate in the next test.
I advise you this very good website: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/
Here is the lesson plan: 6e-School_in_England.pdf
And the sheets to use with the overhead projector: 6e-transparents.pdf
19:37 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: school in england, lesson plan, the uniform, the dress code, the school system, a typical day at school, the timetable.
03 February 2007
Valentine's Day is coming up!
Hi There!
Valentine's day is a good opportunity to talk about love with the pupils in a funny way.
I chose to do it only with my older pupils (14 year-olds) because I didn't have many ideas for the lower levels. Making cards is fun but I didn't feel like doing it. I find it hard to make the topic linguistically interesting; I mean it's hard to practise the language with such a topic, especially with beginners. There's not much to say.
That's why I created a lesson plan for my older pupils, which could also fits High School students.
I chose to introduce love with the theme of advice: should / if I were you, I would...
Pupils are confronted to love problems which they have to solve. The first one is introduced through an oral comprehension, from this page. You can capture the sound with a software such as audacity.
Pupils will have to give advice to Alice, whose heart is broken.
Then I chose to work on an extract from "Friends".
Did I tell you how much I love the series Friends???? I own the 10 seasons (big fan!) and I find them great to watch and use in class. The situations are often interesting to describe, as well as the themes and the characters' actions. I really would like to work more with Friends, to create lesson plans based on the series, to make a list of all the themes/scenes which are worth using in class.
Creating a new blog would be great for that but I'm afraid I just don't have the time.
Anyway, Friends are full of scenes about love, argument, cheating, relationships and so on.
Take season 3, episode 8 in which Chandler learns that Janice is cheating on him. The episode shows several scenes in which the characters questions their feelings and wonder what to do. Those are perfect scene to ask the pupils: what would you do? What should he do?
I then want to finish the lesson plan with dialogues made up by the pupils (see the list of themes in the file) in which they will have to give advice.
Here's the lesson plan:3e_LV2_-love_problems.pdf
14:40 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: love, st valentine's day, teaching with friends, should, If I were you, I would
01 February 2007
A Jazz Chant
I don't use Jazz Chants usually in my class but I thought this one was good and it fitted perfectly with my lesson plan about simple present.
The most famous Jazz Chants are made by Carolyn Graham. I'm not a big fan of Jazz Chants, they are nice to use a couple of times a year but not more, because I think it gets boring in the end. It's better to try other types of songs.
They are great for rhythm and intonation! (what our little francophone pupils have trouble with).
I propose you some ideas about how to teach this song: Jazz_Chant_exploitation.pdf
Here are the lyrics: JAZZ_CHANT.doc
And the chant:
click on "podcast" otherwise the song is too fast, I don't know why.
(for MP3 format, please send an email).
A page about Jazz Chants: onestopenglish
17:25 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this | Tags: Jazz Chants, carolyn graham, simple present, 6ème
28 January 2007
Good Habits - idea for a lesson plan!
HI there!
I've been teaching about Good Habits this week to my beginner level. I'm afraid I can't post the lesson plan for copyright reasons. The lesson is based on a document taken from a school book so I don't want to have any problems with them by reproducing it.
Basically, they are several pictures representing a little monkey doing everyday actions (focusing on good habits): wash your hand before meals, brush your teeth after meals, make your bed after getting up, etc.
You can create such a document with pictures found on Google images, it shouldn't be too hard.
It allows you to teach "always, never, sometimes, often". I tried to find flahscards representing those adverbs but it's difficult. How to you want to represent "always"? My pupils never guessed so I have to translate into French. If you have any tips about that, you're welcome.
Anyway. You introduce the vocbulary of Good Habits then you give an example: "I always wash my hand before meals"... "What about you?" (I introduced "what about you?" recently, they love it!). Then it's their turn to talk about their good habits. Have them talk as much as possible (mine talked about it for nearly 30 minutes!!!).
Then you can do a kind of survey. You need to introduce the question: "do you often...?". Then make them choose three questions, write them down in a grid. Then they stand up, go and ask their friends about their good habits. Pupils should answer Yes I do, No I don't. Then we report: X never makeS his/her bed, Y always doES his/her homework, etc.
I have then a oral comprehension about a little girl having bad habits. But it's taken from the book again, sorry.
Hope it gave you some ideas still.
12:09 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: good habits, bad habits, frequency adverbs, beginners
25 January 2007
Asking and giving directions - a lesson plan
Today is a lesson plan to teach beginners/lower intermediate how to ask and give directions.
My lesson plan is based on a French school book but you basically need a map. A London map, a New York map, whatever suits you. It should be clear (pupils should be able to read the street names easily).
After looking at the map and describing it, you need to have a pairwork / roleplay. One student is a tourist, the other one is just a regular person living in the city. They can make up a dialogue in which the tourist asks for directions and the other one answers him. Make them stand as if they were in the street so that it's more realistic. I'm sure it's fun !
Enjoy !
5eme_Directions.2.pdf
21:14 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: giving and asking for directions, lesson plan, map
18 January 2007
two new lesson plans : to talk about capacities and habits
Two lesson plans today for beginners of English:
- talking about capacities (CAN - CAN'T, etc): 6eme_-_CAN.pdf
you'll need the following worksheet: worksheet_careers_advisor_interview.pdf
- talking about habits (simple present): 6eme-parler_de_ses_habitudes.pdf
You'll need the following MP3s: (click to download)
http://www.rogepost.com/n/0148496256
http://www.rogepost.com/n/4867723434
http://www.rogepost.com/n/3528929845
and the worksheet: http://www.rogepost.com/n/4477440336
ENJOY !
edit: forgot to tell you that the MP3 files are coming from Mary Glasgow Magazines website. They are samples that I've downloaded. They offer A LOT of samples, you should have a look.
20:00 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: lesson plans, present simple, habits, CAN, capacities, beginner level
14 January 2007
Lesson plan: Super Heroes
A new lesson plan today about Super Heroes. A great idea which I've found on : http://www.mes-english.com/vkeypals/supers.php.
Thanks a lot to Mark for this idea!
This lesson plan will allow you to talk about capacities, about superlative and physical description. You can then encourage your students to create their own super hero and talk about him/her. A great way for them to talk in English!
You will find the flashcards here.
Here is the lesson plan: SUPER_HEROES-5eme.pdf
Enjoy!
18:14 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: super hero, lesson plan, capacities, CAN, superlative, physical description, mes-english
09 January 2007
"Our future" - a lesson plan
Here is a new lesson plan talking about the future of our lives and society: how will they be in 50 or 100 years? That's what I'll propose to my pupils in 3ème form - second language. They are supposed to be lower-intermediate or intermediate but their level is very good so I'm doing quite ambitious texts and projetcs with them.
The starting point is an article found on www.oup.com/elt (they propose a lot of samples on this website so I can't give you the exact link but I'll put to file to download here).
It's an article about a huge ship which is going to be built to welcome a kind of small society. Maybe you've heard about the project.
The pdf file can't be mofidied, it's protected. So I just printed it and scanned it to modify it (I cut it out into 5 parts and cut out the image).
Then we'll watch an extract from "Back to the future II", a scene in which Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) discovers his town in 2015. How did Robert Zemeckis (the director) imagine life in 2015? That's quite interesting to see.
Finally, I'll ask the pupils to tell me THEIR vision of the future (in an oral presentation).
This lesson plan is useful to introduce WILL (in nearly all forms) and other little things (personal expression, HOW questions, would like, etc).
The lesson plan:3eme-our_future.pdf
A worksheet (a grid to help read the article): 3eme-article_reading_grid.pdf
A sheet to project (would you like to live on the boat, pros and cons):3eme-article_pros_cons.pdf
and the article: the_perfect_place.pdf
19:02 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: future, lesson plan, ship of freedom, back to the future II
06 January 2007
Back to school (after the Xmas holidays) - 2 lesson plans
Hello there!
Today I'm proposing two new lesson plans with the same topic: coming back to scool after the holidays (the Xmas holidays as far as we are concerned, but you can adapt).
For 6ème form (elementary level), this is just an introduction of the past tense. Holidays are indeed the perfect opportunity to talk about the past.
For 5ème form (pre-intermediate), I chose to focus on DID questions (did you...) and short answers. I also chose to talk about question tags as there are some in the listening I chose (which I can't provide I'm sorry but the references are in the lesson plans - don't hesitate to send me an email for further questions).
The lesson plans are still in French (sorry for my anglophone readers, if there are any - well, there's already you Brian! ;-)
6ème lesson plan:
6eme-holidays.pdf
5ème lesson plan:
5eme-xmas_holidays.pdf
A vocabulary worksheet (to project): holidays_activities.pdf
The last exercise in the "5ème" lesson plan is taken from www.onestopenglish.com and more exactly from this sheet : preterit.pdf
13:59 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: back to school, lesson plan, holidays, christmas holidays, preterit, past tense
21 December 2006
Just a note
I've noticed that traffic on the blog has been increasing (nearly doubled) since I started to post lesson plans. Well, I'm happy that people are interested. But just a couple of remarks:
- if you download files and actually use the lesson plans, some feedback would be great ! Tell me how it went and how your pupils liked it.
- if you post the files or their content on your website (or make them public in any other way), please quote your source. Put my blog's name on the file or below, I would really appreciate.
Most of the files are a product of my work, and not the product of anyone else.
So please do not make people believe they are from someone else. Thanks a lot. :-)
19:40 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
An advertisement
Another lesson plan today ! Well, don't be too enthusiastic, I don't have that many to share !!
Today is a lesson plan I did last year when I was teaching in High School. I liked teaching in High School because the range of possible subects is much wider than in secondary school. But I LOOOOVE teaching in secondary school level. The kids are simply great.
Anyway.
This lesson plan is about advertisement. I chose one particularly ad, which I found really funny and surprising.
This lesson plan not in conformity to the European Framework of Language Teaching since I was not as well trained last year as I am today.
Ads are great to study with the pupils because they are short, often well-made and the level of English is usually adapted to teenagers. Choose funny ads, your pupils will love them. Go a bit beyond the first level of comprehension and make them talk about the way the ad is made and for which purpose. Try to make them aware of the power of advertisement (spoof ads are good for that).
Here is the lesson plan: ad_lesson_plan_-_missteacher.pdf
The ad (a Toyota ad): Toyota_VIOS.mpeg
A great French website to find ads: http://www.pubstv.com/advert/pays-a-a/pub.html
Spoof ads: http://adbusters.org/spoofads/index.php
Other ads to download (English website): http://www.absolutelyandy.com/tvadverts/
To watch the video without (or before) downloading:
Don't hesitate to share your links and to comment.
19:30 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: ads, toyota ad, spoof ads, teaching with advertisements
17 December 2006
Lesson plan: coming back from a trip
It's important to take every opportunity to make the pupils talk about their personal experiences. Trips are great for that. If they're gone on a trip with the school (it may be any kind of trip), don't hesistate to talk about it in class - before or after, or both.
Before the trip, you can talk in the future tense: make them talk about their planning : what they're going to do, etc.
When they come back, use the preterit tense and make them talk about what they liked/didn't like. They will have a lot to say !
You can have them work on a summary of their trip or a kind of journal.
I chose to have my 3ème (learning english for 2 years) write a thank you note to their penpals and their family. They spent 10 days in a German family so it's a good opportunity to write a small letter and teach them:
-how to write a letter
-how to say thank you
-how to say what you liked
The fact that it's a german family doesn't really matter. Some of them spoke English anyway during their trip. The most important thing is that this task is real and it will therefore make sense for them.
Here is the lesson plan (in French):3eme-back_from_a_trip.pdf
20:00 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: thank you note, trip, opportunity, writing a letter, saying thank you, saying what you liked
13 December 2006
Lesson plan: It's (almost) Christmas !
I started typing my lessons on the computer so that I'll be able to share them online. So I begin today with two lesson plans about Christmas for young learners of English (level A1-A2 of the European Common Framework).
I'm sorry to say that they are in French and therefore not usable for anglophone teachers who may have foreign pupils (learning english as a second language). You can still download the document and just use the pictures / the english parts, etc.
I hope I'll be able to share more lesson plans with you (and that other people will share lesson plans with us!).
Don't hesitate to tell me what you think about it.
Here is the first lesson (corresponding to "6ème" form):6eme-Xmas.pdf
I'm giving you external links for the other documents because they are too big for the blog. In any case, don't forget to scroll down the page and click on "download for free with filefactoy basic". Then, on the next page, scroll down again and click on "begin your download".
The images (coming from http://www.tiboo.com/tibooparc/jeux/livre_noel.swf): http://www.filefactory.com/file/ad275e/
The song (coming from the British council website):http://www.filefactory.com/file/b5058b/
Original page: http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-santa.htm
the vocabulary sheet (I didn't do it myself but I unfortunately don't have the references - please if you know them, tell me): christmas.pdf
Another lesson plan (corresponding to "5ème" form): Xmas-_5eme.pdf
the vocabulary sheet going with it: Xmas_traditions_matching.pdf
13:40 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this | Tags: lesson plans; christmas, 6ème, 5ème