Lesson: Animals

Lesson: Animals

General:

Topic	What’s this?
Duration	60 minutes
Education Level	Second year of Primary School (2֯EP)
English Level	Pre-A1
Age	Seven  years old
Class size	Four
Gender of Students	Three females and one male
Specific Objectives	At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 1.       Inquire about the name of an animal based on the image shown using the structured question ‘What’s this?’ with no grammatical error. 2.      Label the picture of two animals with (one or) few grammatical errors. 3.      State the names of four animals in English incorporating the learnt structure, ‘It’s a’ with one or few grammatical errors.
Structures	What’s this? It’s a…
Target Vocabulary	cat, dog, pig, cow, duck, bird, chicken, fish

Materials:

Song	‘Farewell’- Lyrics: So Long, farewell to you my friend, Goodbye for now until we meet again.
Labelled Flashcards	First set (cat, dog, pig, cow) and Second set (duck, bird, chicken, fish)
Stationary	A4 paper, crayons, pencil, markers, eraser

Anticipated Problems and Solutions:

Problems	Solutions
1.      Persistent use of mother tongue	After second warning to speak English, student’s name tag will be demoted to the appropriate section on the stoplight poster.
2.      Evidence of a toy in the class	At the beginning of the class, encourage students to put all items in their bags.
3.      If a student doesn’t know the answer	Provide a prompt by formulating the target vocabulary with my mouth.
4.      If a student forgets to say a word in the chunk	Provide a cue by using my fingers to represent each word in the chunk and shake the finger of the forgotten word.

Lesson Overview:

Warm Up:

1.       Welcoming and seating arrangement

2.      Greetings – Pass the candle

New Learning and Practice:

1.       Introduce structure ‘What’s this?’

2.      Teach structure ‘It’s a’ + first set of the target vocabulary

3.      Play ‘What’s this?’

4.      Play ‘Missing Animal’

5.      Teach structure ‘It’s a’ + second set of the target vocabulary

6.      Play ‘What’s this?’

7.      Play ‘Slow reveal’

Assessment:

1.       Draw two animals.

2.      Play ‘Cross the river’

Wrap Up:

1.       Sing ‘Farewell’ song

2.      Quick Review of Content

Lesson Procedure and Timing:

Warm Up (3 minutes):

1.       Welcoming

Greet each student by name. Say ‘Stand here + [Student’s name]. Use gesture to indicate that he/she should stand behind a chair around the round table.

2.      Greetings – Pass the candle

Take up the red candle and ask the student to my immediate right one of the learnt question (What’s your name?). After the student responds, he/she takes the candle. Say to him/her ‘Ask [Student’s name] the question’. This activity continues until the candle is in the teacher’s hand. Repeat the process using another one of the learnt structured questions (How are you? Or how old are you?). The candle is passed until it is back into the teacher’s hand. Say “Sit down!”

New Learning and Practice (30 minutes):

1.       Introduce structure ‘What’s this?’

Say to students, ‘look’ and ‘listen’. Say the structured question first in two parts, (‘What’s’ then ‘this?’). Say the structured question in its entirety, (‘What’s this?’) along with its accompanied gesture in order to aid in student’s understanding that a question is being asked. Say to students ‘listen’ and ‘then repeat’. Say ‘What’s this?’ twice.

2.      Teach structure ‘It’s a’ + first set of the target vocabulary

Say to students, ‘listen’ and ‘be quiet’ using the appropriate gestures. Hold up one of the flashcards from the first set and say the featured animal on the flashcard to ensure proper pronunciation. Then say ‘It’s a + featured animal’. Say to students ‘listen’ and ‘then repeat’. Say ‘It’s a + featured animal?’ twice. Continue until all animals in the first set of flashcards have been said.

3.      Play ‘What’s this?’

A.     Hold up a flashcard to each student and ask the structure, ‘What’s this?’ Students reply.

B.      Say ‘look’, ‘Raise your hand if you know’. Hold up a random flashcard from the first set and pose the structure, ‘What’s this?’ The student who answers correctly gets the card. Continue until all the flashcards are gone. Say ‘Cards, please’ to students.

4.      Play ‘Missing Animal’

Say to students ‘close your eyes’. Lay the flashcards on the table in front of the students. Flip one of the flashcards on its back. Say to students ‘open your eyes. Encourage students to raise his/her hand if they know the answer.  Point to the faced down flashcard and ask the structure ‘What’s this?’ Choose a student, if the response is correct; it’s that student’s turn.

5.      Teach structure ‘It’s a’ + second set of the target vocabulary

Say to students, ‘listen’ and ‘be quiet’ using the appropriate gestures. Hold up one of the flashcards from the first set and say the featured animal on the flashcard to ensure proper pronunciation. Then say ‘It’s a + featured animal’. Say to students ‘listen’ and ‘then repeat’. Say ‘It’s a + featured animal?’ twice. If the target vocabulary contains more than one syllable, break the pronunciation into syllables. Continue until all animals in the second set of flashcards have been said.

6.      Play ‘What’s this?’

A.     Hold up a flashcard to each student and ask the structure, ‘What’s this?’ Students reply.

B.      Say ‘look’, ‘Raise your hand if you know’. Hold up a random flashcard from the first set and pose the structure, ‘What’s this?’ The student who answers correctly gets the card. Continue until all the flashcards are gone. Say ‘Cards, please’ to students.

7.      Play ‘Slow reveal’

Encourage students to raise his/her hand if they know the answer. Using A4 sized parchment paper, hold the second set of flashcards with the pictures facing towards the teacher.  The first card should be turned around so it is facing the students but is hidden as it is behind the parchment paper.  Slowly pull the flashcard up inch by inch so the students can only see part of the flashcard.  As the picture is slowly revealed pose the structure, ‘What’s this?’ to the students so they can try and guess what it is.  The first student to guess correctly keeps the card. Continue until all the cards have been revealed. Ask for the flashcards back from the students.

Assessment (20 minutes):

1.       Draw two animals and label them

Give each student half of an A4 paper. Put the pencil holder, crayon box and marker holder on the table. Say ‘Write your name’. Model the instruction. Say ‘Draw an animal’. Model the instruction. After students have completed this step, point to the crayons and say ‘Colour the animal’. Model the instruction. Upon completion of this step, hold up your drawing of an animal and ask one student, ‘What’s this?’ After that student responds, say ‘[Student’s name] ask the question to [Student’s name]’. Ensure everyone has had a chance. Take a marker and say ‘Take a marker’. Say ‘Write the name of the animal’. Model the instruction. Repeat the steps for the second animal. At the end, collect the students’ papers.

2.      Play ‘Cross the river’

Place all eight flashcards on floor in winding manner and a ruler to show where the game begins.  Stand behind the ruler. Say ‘Line please’. After all the students are cued behind the ruler, model the activity. Each card represents a stepping stone in the river. A student begins the game after the class shouts the structure, ‘What’s this?’. Students must say the structure, ‘It’s a + featured word’, in order to step on it and cross the river. If a student doesn’t know the featured animal, he/she has to stop on the known animal. Another student gets to begin the game. After all students have begun the game, help will be provided by the teacher to students in a descending order. Once help has been provided, all the students repeat the stated chunk and then that student has to start over. Whenever a student successfully cross the river or say all the words on the flashcard, the class shouts ‘hooray’.

Wrap Up (5 minutes):

1.       Sing ‘Farewell’ song

Encourage students to pack up his things. Say “stand up! It’s time to say goodbye” to indicate the beginning of the song. Everyone sings the song and do the associated action two times.

2.      Quick Review of content

Take up flashcards. Stand at the door and say ‘Line please!’ Hold up a random animal flashcard and ask ‘What’s this?’ to each student. Change the flashcards for each student. Student answers then leave the class. If a student answers incorrectly: a) Change the flashcard and ask the question again, b) help the student by formulating the word with your mouth or sounding out the word and ask student to repeat it.