CEP Lesson Plan

Teachers:
Level: B3

Melissa Smith and Aldo Resndiz

Date/Time: November 13th, 2014 10:00 - 12:00 PM

Goal: Skim texts using topic sentences as informative guides. Write a paragraph
with a topic sentence.
Objectives (SWBAT):
Students Will Be Able To
1.
Skim 3 stories by reading the topic sentences in comparison with reading the
same texts word for word.
2.
Write a paragraph about housing using topic sentences and implementing
indentation.
3.
Edit their paragraphs with the help of peer conferencing in groups of two
4.
Asking questions and answering questions through the use of possessives by
playing a flashcard game.
5.
Use location prepositions in a question and answer format by completing an
information gap activity.
Theme: Unit 4: Housing Unit Review
Extensions: Possessives
Aim/Skill/Microskill

Activity/Procedure/Stage

Interaction

Review or Preview (if

applicable)

Linking & Transitioning to

rest of lesson:

(for example:
SS-T)

Activity 1: Greeting!

1.1 Pre-Stage: Talk about:

T-SS
What things are in your
budget?
What is your favorite thing to
buy (spend money on)?
Is it hard to follow a budget?
What other things did we
learn and talk about
S-S
yesterday?
1.2. During Stage: Students
talk for 5-7 min.
1.3 Post-Stage: What did
your partner say?

S-TSS
Students had
a difficult
time

Time

5-10
min

What things are in your

budget?
What is your favorite thing to
buy (spend money on)?
Is it hard to follow a budget?
What else did we talk about
yesterday?
Tangible Outcome & T.
feedback/peer feedback:
Their partners response
Transition to #2: Just
now one of you
mentioned topic
sentences. Lets talk
about that a little more.

expressing
themselves
when talking
about their
neighbors
answers. To
decrease this
load, I would
have them
talk about
their own
responses
next time so
they are more
readily able to
negotiate
meaning
when
responding to
the questions.
20 min

Activity 2: Skimming

2.1 Pre-Stage: What is a

topic sentence?
the first sentence of a
paragraph (usually)
the main idea of the
paragraph
How can we use topic
sentences when reading?

T-SS

S-S
T-SS, S-TSS

2.2. During Stage: Today we

T-SS
are going to practice
skimming. I have some short
stories, but you can only read
them for a very short time.
First I want you to read the
whole story, word for word. I
am going to time you. You
S
only have 20 seconds.
Students read a story for 20
seconds.
What can you tell me about

S-S, then STSS

30-45 min.
This was a really
difficult activity
for the students.
They had a very
hard time letting
go of reading
every sentence in
the paragraph.
They also still
wanted to read
every word in each
sentence, and got
hung up on words
they didnt know.
They could
definitely use more
lessons on
skimming. I will
just need to find
reading that is still
comprehensible
input.

this story?
Now, read the first sentence T-SS
of each paragraph. This time
S
you only have 15 seconds.
Talk with your partner about
S-S
this story. What is it about?
Write 3 or 4 details about
what you learned.
What is this story about?
Were you able to learn more
about the story than the first
time you read? What new
information did you learn?
Now, read the whole story.

S-STS

Do you feel like you were

S-STS
able to understand a lot of
the story by SKIMMING?
When you understand the
main idea of a story, we call
this the gist
After reading the whole story.
Were you right?
Lets try one more story. I
will give you 20 seconds
again.
Write down everything you
learned about the story in 20
seconds.
What did you learn?
Transition to #3: Now
we are going to use
what we are learning
about topic sentences to
practice writing.

2.3 Post-Stage: How is

skimming and reading word
for word different?
Tangible Outcome & T.
feedback/peer feedback:
Written responses

T-S

S-STS
S-S, S-STS

Activity 3: Writing

3.1 Pre-Stage: Here are

some topic sentences I pulled
from this book. With your
T-SS
partner, predict what the
paragraph is about based on
the topic sentence.
(Brazil has some unique
food.
My name is Irina Balack.
Lien owns a clothing store in
California called Danh Tu.
Toots and Fruits Toy Factory
is a wonderful store.)
What do you think these
paragraphs are about?
Look at the top of page 45.
Read the topic sentence of
this paragraph. What do you
think this paragraph is
about?

S-S
S-TSS

T-S

While you read, write down 3

S
ways that houses in Korea
are different from houses in
the US.
3.2. During Stage: From
your reading, How are
houses different in Korea
than in the US?

S-TSS

What are houses like in your

native country? Complete the S-S
chart using different
materials. Materials: Brick,
cement, wood, tile, metal,
glass. (We learned about
these last week, but I should
have done some schema
activation before I had them
dive into talking about
building materials.)
When you are finished, write

30
Min
(This took A LOT
longer than 30
minutes. It was
definitely foolish
of me to think I
could squeeze it all
in such a short
period of time. If I
were to do this
again, I would
have them write
the paragraph on
day 1, then peer
review on day 2,
and have them
rewrite with their
revisions for
homework that
night.)

four sentences about houses

in your country.

Now, Choose a topic

sentence for your paragraph, S
and then write a paragraph
about homes in your country.
Look at the check-list at the
bottom of page 47. The
beginning of a paragraph has
an indent.
Together, lets look at this
paragraph. Lets correct it
together.
Houses in the UAE are
different from houses here in
the USA. The houses are
made from cement, not from
wood or brick. most old
houses have wind tunnels
that catch the air and bring
the wind into the house. My
friend may buys a house
there. Most companies pay
for houses for their workers
in the UAE

S-S

T (Modeling)

In partners, read 1 of your

paragraphs. Use the checklist S-S
to correct it. Do you see any
other errors?
Transition to #4: We
just completed a writing
activity. We will now
play a game to help us
review some of what we
have gone over in class.
This next activity will
help us practice how we
talk about stuff that
belongs to other people.

Now read your partners

paragraph. Use the checklist
again.

S-S

3.3 Post-stage: Do you have

S-S
any questions about your
writing? Will anyone read
S-STS
your paragraph to the class?
For homework, rewrite your
paragraphs on a new sheet of
paper.

Activity 4: s
Flashcards

Tangible Outcome & T.

feedback/peer feedback: The
paragraphs, and peer
feedback
4.1 Pre-Stage:
Prepare flash cards as an aid
to teaching the s possessive
form. On each flash card,
paste a picture of a person
and a picture of an item. Print
a name on the card under the
picture of the person. Use
common names. Be sure to
have both singular and plural
items and people. Then teach
the new pattern by holding up
a flash card and asking:
T. Whats this?
S. Its a book.
T. Whos this?
S. Its John.
T. Whose book is this?
S. Its Johns book
or Its Johns.

Transition to Activity
#5: We just played a
game to help us ask
questions using
Whos/Whose and to

(If I were to do
this activity
again, I would
make sure to
have an example
for each student
to use as they
were confused as
to what the
format for the
flashcards was
supposed to be)

25 min.

5 min.

T-Ss

Go through the cards once

asking and the Ss answering.
Then ask the Ss to ask the
Whos/Whose questions.
When they are comfortable
15 min.
with the pattern, they can ask
and answer each other. Pass
out the cards, keep a couple
yourself so they can practice
this/that. Instruct Ss to:
5 min.
1. Get into pairs.
Give each pair a set of
flashcards.
2.
Hold one card at a
time.
S-S, T-Ss, Ss3.
Take turns asking a T
question and replying.
4.
Demonstrate to the
class.

answer using the

possessive. Next we will
do. Now, we are going
to play one last game
where we are going to
use the furniture
vocabulary we have
learned and the
preposition of place and
location.

Activity 5: Finding
Differences Activity

4.2. During Stage:

Ss take turns asking and
answering Whos/Whose
questions and s possessives.
T goes around while Ss are
doing this, listening to SS
and helping with any
problems.
4.3 Post-Stage: Each pair
demonstrates to the class one
question and response they
came up with. If consistent
questions among several
students, interrupt the class
and give a mini lesson or
review to help students feel
comfortable with the concept.

S-Ss, T-Ss,
Ss-T
(This game went
really well and
was a great way
for the students
to practice using
the possessive
s)

Tangible Outcome & T.

feedback/peer feedback: Ss
demonstrate in front of the
class the use of questions and
answers. During the activity,
T circulates and assists Ss.
During the post-stage, if
consistent questions among
several students emerge,
interrupt the class and give a
mini lesson or review to help
students feel comfortable
with any of the new concepts.
5.1 Pre-Stage:
1. Put students in groups
T-Ss
of two.
2. One student has
Picture A while the other
has Picture B.
3. Student A identifies
the whereabouts of a
several items in Picture A
and asks Student B if the
ghost is in the same place in
Picture B.
a. e.g. Student A: In my
picture, there are two
bedrooms. How many

20 min.
(This activity took
closer to 40
minutes to
complete as the
differences were
REALLY subtle)

5 min.

bedrooms do you have?

4. Student B answers in a
complete sentence, and then
identifies a different item in
Picture B asks Student A if
the ghost is in the same
place in Picture A.
5. Students converse
back and forth until they
have identified the
whereabouts of all the items
in the two pictures.

S-S, T-Ss, SsT

S-Ss, T-Ss,
Ss-T
15 min.

5.2. During Stage:

Ss take turns completing the
activity. goes around while
Ss are doing this, listening to
SS and helping with any
problems.
5.3 Post-Stage: Pairs
compare the location with
each other at the end. Each S
writes three sentences with
prepositions of location. If
consistent questions among
several students, interrupt the
class and give a mini lesson
Transition to 6:
Transition to Wrap-Up: or review to help students
feel comfortable with the
We just finished
concept.
completing an
information gap activity
Tangible Outcome & T.
to help us review what
we have learned in this feedback/peer feedback:
Accurately arranged
lesson. We will now
dominoes. Written sentences
end our lesson by
completing the Learner using prepositions of
Log on p. . Please write location. During the activity,
T circulates and assists Ss
down your homework
with pronunciation and other
for Monday. Have a
questions. During the postgreat weekend.
stage, if consistent questions
among several students,
interrupt the class and give a
mini lesson or review to help
students feel comfortable

5 min.

(If I were to do
this jigsaw again,
I would make the
differences a
little more
obvious, in the
end, the students
had to hold the
pictures next to
each other to see
what has
different
between them.
BUT they did
use a lot of their
new vocabulary
through the
struggle)

Wrap-up

with any of the new

prepositions.
Lesson Evaluation
Procedures:
Learner Log on p. 79 (All)
Homework: Re-write your
paragraph with corrections on
a new paper
Basic Grammar Handouts

5 min.

Materials:
Chalk
Prezi
Stand Out 2
Stand Out 2 CD
Grammar Challenge
Possessive Cards (Activity 4)
Finding Differences (Activity 5)
Writing Activity Handouts
Basic Grammar Handouts (Homework)
Anticipated Problems & Suggested Solutions:
The writing activities may take longer than the allotted time. If that happens, more time
can be given to students to complete these activities and the last two games can be pushed
to Monday.
Contingency Plans (what you will do if you finish early, etc.):
In case some students finish early, they will can begin working on homework on their
own. T can go over homework at the end of class.
Post-Lesson Reflections:
Overall, this lesson went well. However, there are a few things I would change if I were to teach it again.
The reading and writing focus of the lesson went really smoothly. However, I think the students felt rushed
most of the way through. Considering the reading activity was meant for skimming, it makes sense that
they felt a little rushed. But when it comes to the writing sections, the students definitely could have used a
little more time to brain storm and then write. Next time I will spread some of the steps out over more than
one lesson, and the students could use more practice writing topic sentences, but for some of their first
attempts at writing in English, their first full paragraphs, and their first peer reviewing of paragraph writing
in English, this lesson was quite successful!
As far as the possessive s game, the students could have used a smoother explanation of what they were
expected to do in multiple steps rather than all at once. But, when they started understanding the rules of
the game and how to create the flashcards, they not only enjoyed themselves, but used the target language
structure successfully.