Lesson Plan - Asking for, giving and understanding direction

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Yvette Jilg
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Joined: 05 Aug 2007, 18:10

Lesson Plan - Asking for, giving and understanding direction

Unread post by Yvette Jilg »

Hi there, I'm just doing a TEFL course and would like someone to just check over my lesson plan and tell me if it's OK..... Here goes:


Level: Elementary / young adults / group of 8
Lesson Length: 45-minutes
Objective: Asking for, giving and understanding directions.
Target Language:
Expressions for giving directions; It's next to the bank on Pine Street.Expressions for 'I want'; in the mood for, feel like, fancy, wouldn't mind. Introduce embedded questions(Noun Clauses) Can you tell me where the Bank is? Can you tell me where I can get a coke? Other important expressions; you can't miss it, I'm lost, right in front of you, it's on the second floor.
Assumed Knowledge:
Prepositions of place and common locations in a town.
Anticipated Problems:
Confusion with left and right.Using the wrong prepositions e.g. it's at the left side instead of it's on the left side, it's before the bank instead of it's in front of the bank.
Solutions:
Revise prepositions at the beginning of the lesson correcting any mistakes and writing positions on the outskirts of the board (left, on the left side of the board ect.)
Preparation and Aids:
Partner A Activity Sheet
Partner B Activity Sheet
Restaurant Guide
Town Map
Giving Directions Pair worksheet
Cloze activity worksheet for homework


Stage Activity Interaction Timing
1. Revision: prepositions of place; ask students "does anyone know where my marker is?, who can tell me where John is sitting?,... where the bookshelf is. Then ask the last student to answer to ask the next question about objects or people in the classroom until everyone has spoken. T-S S-T 5 Mins
2. To reinforce the prepositions of place I would get the students to come forward one by one and tell them where to stand e.g. Tom can you stand behind my deck please, Lisa can you stand next to Tom on his right, Peter can you stand in front of the board to the left of Tom.... When everyone has a position I would ask them in turn to say as much as they can about their positions e.g. Lisa says, I am standing to the right of Tom, behind your desk, Mary is in front of me and Bruno is on my left next to the board. This confirms they understand my directions and elicits as many prepositions of place when students explain where they are. T-S S-T 7 Mins
3. Pre-class exercise for Target language:Divide the students into pairs, hand out the town map from the previous lesson. Ask students to ask each other where certain locations are e.g Student A: can you tell me where the bank is please? Student B: Yes, It's on Pine Street next opposite the police station. I would go round the class monitoring and noting any mistakes to correct as a group in the next stage. S-S 2 Mins
4. Ask the students to choose one of the buildings and then ask another student (other than his partner) where it is?I would write question and answer form on the board e.g. Q: Where is + building name?A: It's on + Street name + preposition + building name. S-S 3 Mins.
5. Introduce a small Role play using a tape recorder. Ask students questions about it e.g. What is the text about? Who was the caller? What did they arrange to do? What type of food did they want to eat? Which restaurant did they choose? Where is the restaurant? Listen to the text another three times so students have time to understand the text and answer the questions. T-S 4 Mins
6. Main Exercise: Divide students into two groups: callers and receivers. Callers get the Activity sheet B plus the Town Map and the receivers get the Activity Sheet A plus a Restaurant Guide. Callers 'call' the receivers and ask them out to dinner. The receivers suggest a food type and a restaurant and gives directions on how to get there. Callers record the location on the map and the restaurant details on their activity sheet. S-S 10 Mins.
7. As a fun element and to get movement back into the students I would get them all to stand up and move the desk around in the room to resemble the town plan. Then form new groups: Angels and Mortals. The mortals close their eyes and the angels have to direct them through the maze of desks without touching them and not allowing them to bump into anything. S-S 8 Mins
8. Hand out a Cloze Activity Sheet, go through the first couple of points together and set the rest for homework along with writing a short role play using the form used previously in the lesson . T-S 5 Mins

Sorry the table didn't copy so well, but I hope you can still read it properly and give me your advise.

Thanks

Yvette
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Lucy
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Posts: 658
Joined: 13 Jan 2004, 15:09
Status: Teacher Trainer

Asking for directions

Unread post by Lucy »

Dear Yvette,

Your lesson plan is very good; I can see you have given it a lot of thought and have staged it well.

My main comment is that you are trying to do too much in 45 minutes. I don’t think you can achieve everything in your lesson plan with elementary students in 45 minutes. When you change activities, you need to allow time to give instructions, for students to form pairs or groups and for them to carry out the task. I suggest you adjust your timing.

You could do this by removing the activity to practise expressions for “I want'; in the mood for, feel like, fancy, wouldn't mind”. It distracts from your main objective; by removing that exercise, you’ll have more time to work on directions.

I think you need to find out whether students have worked on asking for and giving directions before. If they haven’t, the language “you can't miss it, I'm lost, right in front of you, it's on the second floor” can be removed from your lesson plan. It’s too difficult for a first lesson on directions. It’s also inappropriate to teach such complicated structures if you think your students will have difficulties with left and right.

Finally, “Asking for, giving and understanding directions” is not an objective; it’s a statement of what language will be focused on. I think that phrase needs to be re-worded.

Kind regards,

Lucy
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