KARA STOLEY

BEGINNER LEVEL:

Grammar: I selected the present tense to focus on because, at the beginning level, I felt it was a bit much to focus on anything much more complicated. I also believe that having a good grasp on the present tense is vital in being able to express oneself on a basic level. As such, that was my selected grammar point.

During the grammar activity, beginning students will be shown the video from 0:29 to 1:32. They will be instructed to listen carefully to Debbie’s description of Goldie. The teacher should likely show the video twice. Students will then be instructed to work individually to fill in the blanks with the correct version of the present tense verb for each sentence. Once finished, students will compare their answers with a partner before going over answers as a whole class.

Lexis: For the lexis portion of the lesson, I chose to have students focus on words that can be used to describe people. This is a useful skill for students to be able to have. This will show students that we use different types of words/categories to describe others. We use personality characteristics, physical characteristics and jobs/hobbies/pass-times to describe people to others and ourselves.

Once again, this lesson goes along with the same video section used for grammar. Students will be instructed to work in pairs to match the words with their definitions, given the context of the video clip. Once students have completed the matching portion of the lexis exercise, they will be instructed to put the lexis in the correct category on the provided chart.

Pronunciation: I wanted to focus on one sound specifically so as not to overwhelm the beginner students. /ʃ/ can be a bit difficult for students to say and the portion of the video I’ve decided to focus this lesson on uses it several times. Therefore, I thought focusing on /ʃ/ seemed to fit well with the rest of the lesson.

In this exercise, students will be asked to listen and repeat. The teacher will say the sentence out loud and the students will repeat. The teacher should say the sentence several times. The teacher should also break it down once or twice to focus students specifically on /ʃ/. For example, in the first sentence, the teacher can say it as a whole and have students repeat as a group a few times. Then the teacher can break it down to just “She shows girls” and have students repeat that portion a few times before redoing the sentence as whole again.

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL:

Grammar: I chose to have students focus on the use of the imperative. The video gives a quick how-to on the GoldieBlox Dunk Tank. Intermediate students will likely have been exposed to the imperative, but may not have the opportunity to use it very often in their personal lives. They may not find themselves in a position of authority, which often exists when utilizing the imperative.

For this activity, I looked up other GoldieBlox contraptions. I took screenshots of them in action. Students will be partnered up, A and B. Student A will give Student B instructions, using the imperative tense, on how to use the Thinga-Ma-Flinger. Student B will give Student A instructions, using the imperative tense, on how to use the Bubble Machine.

Lexis: I wanted to keep the focus on girls building things. I, therefore, decided to have students label a screenshot of the BloxShop Work Bench.

Students will work alone to label the photo with as many words as come to mind. They will be encouraged to add additional useful tools for inventing/building to the photo if they can think of any. After about 5 minutes, the instructor will put up a large version of the picture on the front board (white board/projector combo would work best, but a large printed out posted can work as well). Students will be encouraged to take the marker in turn and label the photo with the words they came up with. They will also be encouraged to add any drawings/words they thought of.

Pronunciation: I chose to focus on prominence. Intermediate students still have trouble with some specific sounds, but they are more confident in their speaking overall than beginners. As such, they start taking risks in their pronunciation. They appreciate being corrected on repeated mispronunciations, but also like the opportunity to speak uninterrupted, as a native speaker would. That being said, many have issues with word stress and intonation. Getting students to begin thinking about prominence is a way to advance a student’s pronunciation and help them speak more like a native speaker.

In this exercise, students would work individually at first. They would be instructed to listen to the video from 1:37 to 2:13 and circle the words, or parts of words, that the speaker gives added stress. The video can be played more than once if needed. The students will then compare what they circled with a partner. Finally, they will perform the dialogue for their partner, doing their best to stress the words/syllables they believe the speaker stressed.

ADVANCED LEVEL:

Grammar: I wanted to focus on giving opinions because that is something advanced students should, in theory, have no real trouble doing. It is incredibly important to be able to coherently express your opinions. Poorly expressing your opinion can lead to misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and/or confusion. Advanced students should be given the chance to practice providing their opinions in a safe environment, where they can be assisted if needed.

In this activity, students would be shown the portion of the video from 2:52 to 3:21 and told that, historically, engineering is seen as a male career. They will be instructed to take a few minutes to think why that is and then instructed to tell their partners why they think it was that girls weren’t encouraged to pursue STEM careers in the past. Their partners will respond with their opinions and the conversation will continue on. The students will speak for about 5 minutes.

Lexis: I chose to have the advanced students focus on STEM words as I felt that area of the video was the most challenging and advanced students should be challenged.

In this activity, students will brainstorm individually. They will write down any words that come to mind when thinking about STEM. After 2-3 minutes, students will be paired up to compare their lists. They will provide and receive feedback on the appropriateness of their words. Finally, the teacher will draw a word web on the board and have the whole class provide their brainstormed words. Students will be encouraged to ask for the meaning of words they do not know and the student who provided the unknown word will be encouraged to provide the meaning.

Pronunciation: I chose to focus on connected speech for my advanced pronunciation task. I observed a pronunciation class during the course of this program and saw how much advanced students worry about speaking like native speakers. One such way to improve their overall speaking is to focus on connected speak. The schwa is used all the time by native speakers of English. Giving students as much opportunity as possible to be exposed to and practice schwa will greatly help students improve their pronunciation.

For this activity, students will work alone. They will be instructed to listen to the video from 2:52 to 4:04 and circle any instances of schwa they hear. The video clip can be played more than once if desired by students, but ideally they will only listen once. Students will then compare the parts of words they circled with a partner. Finally, students will read the dialogue aloud to their partner, trying to use schwa anywhere they indicated the speaker had in the video.