To understand how to move from passive to active learning, it is important to understand the different types of learners.
An active learning process involves listening, demonstrating, interacting, and understanding in order to engage all learners. Learners tend to have a need to interact and share with others. Therefore I have prepared a set of different activities which will be used to develop and improve such skills as reading (for gist/details) and speaking (freer practice) – article “Pet who arrived down chimney” (The Argus, Wednesday, July, 7, 2010) – see attached.
I hope students find this article amusing, the more so some of them might have ever lived by the sea and found oneself in the situation like Mr and Mrs Grimwood did. By using a variety of teaching techniques and by actively involving learners in the experience, I want to increase the chances that students will retain and use the information.
Such sub-stages as pre-teaching vocabulary and contextualization (see lesson plan) are very important because they get the learners interested in the topic, make an explicit link between the topic of the text and students' own lives and experiences.
I use reading for gist, to teach students how to find the answer quickly, without reading every word of the passage while scanning is fast reading as well, but for specific individual pieces of information. (see lesson plan)
Extensive reading has a powerful impact on language learning. The more students read, the more vocabulary and grammar items they pick up, which then influences and improves their skills in other language areas. Jigsaw reading is a good idea to develop this skill. (see lesson plan)
Freer practice activity is a good way to communicate successfully, speech becomes more fluent and students feel confidence. (See lesson plan)
*Scrivener, J, 2005, Learning Teaching, Macmillan.
LESSON PLAN
Aims: By the end of the lesson the learners will be able to read for gist and details. They will also be able to recognize and use some target language
Target language: lexical set (please see final page for complete list)
Materials
- “Pet who arrived down the chimney”, Argus, Wednesday, July, 7, 2010
- handouts with multiple tasks
- flash card
- http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary
Anticipated problems: |
Possible solutions: |
| problem with skimming – Ss might want to understand all the vocabulary they don't know | make sure Ss understand the purpose of skimming (elicit/CCQs) |
| limited vocabulary regarding skills | discovery of TL through reading materials; use of CCQs; pair and group work to encourage each other; variety of tasks to approach TL in different ways |
| 1. Warmer | “Find someone who...” slide №2 a mingled activity: Ss ask and answer questions | Ss-Ss | 3 |
| 2. Pre-reading: a) pre-teaching vocabulary |
T: identifies some vocabulary items which are likely to block
comprehension of the context. (realia, drawings on whiteboard and meaning matching). It includes eliciting, choral drilling Feedback: recording on whiteboard |
T-Cl Cl-T Cl-T |
5 |
| b) contextualization | T: tells a short anecdote about a crocodile, for example, which was
treated like the family pet. CCQs: Where can you normally find (see) a crocodile? Is it dangerous? Would you have it as a pet? Is usual or usual to have the pet like this one? |
T-Cl T-Cl Cl-T |
3 |
| c) contextualization | slide No 3 Ss predict what the story might be about They work in pairs. T monitors |
Ss-Ss | 4 |
| 3. Reading for gist | Skimmimg text: Ss check the text against predictions made beforehand (20 sec) |
S (indv) | 3 |
| Ss discuss it with their partners | Ss-Ss | ||
| Feedback | Ss-T | ||
| slide No 4 Ss work in pairs (choose the best title from a choice of three options) |
Ss-Ss | 4 | |
| ICQs: How many titles do you have to choose? How much time do you have? |
T-Cl Cl-T |
||
| T monitors | |||
| Feedback | Ss-T | ||
| 4. Reading: | Scanning for information: | ||
| a) for details | slide No5 | ||
| Ss decide whether the sentences T(true) or F(false) | S (indiv) | ||
| Ss compare their answers with their partners, and explain why they think the answers are correct | Ss-Ss | ||
| ICQs: | T-Cl | 6 | |
| Are you reading for a general idea or for details? What would you put next to each sentence? |
Cl-T | ||
| T monitors | |||
| Feedback on whiteboard (OHP) | Cl-T | ||
| b) for global comprehension | Ss are given handouts (№1) | ||
| They work in groups of 3 | Ss-Ss | ||
| Ss have to put the cut-up paragraphs in the correct order | |||
| ICQs: | T-Cl | 5 | |
| Are you working in pairs or groups? | Cl-T | ||
| Are the paragraphs in the right order now? | |||
| Are you going to put them in the right order? | |||
| T monitors | |||
| Feedback | Ss-T | ||
| 5. Free practice | Ss are given handouts (№2) | Ss-Ss | |
| (personalization) | In groups of 3 they create a story about “an animal” which could make an unusual pet. | ||
| ICQs: | T-Cl | 7 | |
| Will the story be about the crocodile again? | Cl-T | ||
| Are you going to create your own story? | |||
| Are you doing it in pairs or groups? | |||
| T monitors | |||
| Feedback |
Meaning
chimney, n – a vertical pipe which conducts smoke through the roof of the house
wary, adj – not completely trusting smb
peck, v – when a bird hits or bites
nest, v – build a place for laying eggs
adapt, v – change smth to suit different uses
abandon,v – leave a place, thing or person forever
soot,n – a black powder which is produced when coal or wood is burnt
Pronunciation
HANDOUTS
Handout №1
| A seagull has adopted a couple who rescued him when he fell down their
chimney. Three years after the drama, the gull, known as Mr Pooh, still visits Steve and June Grimwood every day in summer. They found him as a baby after hearing a strange rustling noise in their home. Mr Grimwood, 52, said: “We had no idea what was making the noise and then a baby seagull covered in soot fell down.” |
| A seagull has adopted a couple who rescued him when he fell down their
chimney. Three years after the drama, the gull, known as Mr Pooh, still visits Steve and June Grimwood every day in summer. They found him as a baby after hearing a strange rustling noise in their home. Mr Grimwood, 52, said: “We had no idea what was making the noise and then a baby seagull covered in soot fell down.” |
| They put the chick back on the roof but he fell off a couple of times so
they tried putting him on top of the garden shed instead. Unfortunately the chick’s mother abandoned him so the family ended up raising him themselves. Mr Griwood said: “We looked after the gull in the garden for a few days as the parents were long gone.” “We have three cats and at first they were very wary of him but after a week or so he was eating cat found out of a bowl with them. I think he thought he was a cat.” |
| Now Mr Pooh is a regular visitor to the Grimwoods’ house in Brighton
Road, Shoreham, and is treated just like the other family pets. He is good friends with the couple’s three cats Mitzi, Gus and Henry and regularly shares their dinner. Mrs Grimwood, 50, said: “he comes to visit three times a day for breakfast, dinner and tea and makes himself known by pecking on the door to come in. He’ll often just wander in and help himself to cat food or the cats’ biscuits. They are used to him now and don’t worry about him.” “He also knows the sound of the fridge door opening and he’ll come in for that as well. He’s just like another pet in the family and even comes when he is called.” |
| Mr Pooh disappears in the winter when the weather gets cold but for the
past two years has returned with a mate and nested in the chimney. Mrs Gromwood said: “They don’t try to attack us because they are used to us. They are not really that worried about strangers either.” The Argus reported on Saturday how Rosemary Howat, had to wear a hard hat in her garden to protect herself from territorial gulls which have nested in her garden. |
Handout №2
monkey |
snake |
cockroach |
Abandoned seagull chick stays with family
PET WHO ARRIVED DOWN CHIMNEY
by SIOBHAN RYAN and PAUL GRIMWOOD
A seagull has adopted a couple who rescued him when he fell down their chimney. Three years after the drama, the gull, known as Mr Pooh, still visits Steve and June Grimwood every day in summer. They found him as a baby after hearing a strange rustling noise in their home. Mr Grimwood, 52, said: “We had no idea what was making the noise and then a baby seagull covered in soot fell down.” They put the chick back on the roof but he fell off a couple of times so they tried putting him on top of the garden shed instead. Unfortunately the chick’s mother abandoned him so the family ended up raising him themselves. Mr Griwood said: “We looked after the gull in the garden for a few days as the parents were long gone.” “We have three cats and at first they were very wary of him but after a week or so he was eating cat found out of a bowl with them. I think he thought he was a cat.” Now Mr Pooh is a regular visitor to the Grimwoods’ house in Brighton Road, Shoreham, and is treated just like the other family pets. He is good friends with the couple’s three cats Mitzi, Gus and Henry and regularly shares their dinner. Mrs Grimwood, 50, said: “he comes to visit three times a day for breakfast, dinner and tea and makes himself known by pecking on the door to come in. He’ll often just wander in and help himself to cat food or the cats’ biscuits. They are used to him now and don’t worry about him.” “He also knows the sound of the fridge door opening and he’ll come in for that as well. He’s just like another pet in the family and even comes when he is called.” Mr Pooh disappears in the winter when the weather gets cold but for the past two years has returned with a mate and nested in the chimney. Mrs Gromwood said:”They don’t try to attack us because they are used to us. They are not really that worried about strangers either.” The Argus reported on Saturday how Rosemary Howat, had to wear a hard hat in her garden to protect herself from territorial gulls which have nested in her garden.