Lesson Plan 3 (Grammar)

Theme: Work and Finding the Ideal Job

Instructor: Christine DeLuca

Description of Learners
Grade Level: postsecondary, pre-college adults
Ages: 18-20 years old
Proficiency Levels: high beginner low intermediate
Number of Students: 4
Materials
Board and markers/chalk
Textbook: NorthStar Reading and Writing 2 with MyEnglishLab (Pearson Education); Unit 1
Empty bag
Bounce Cards
Descriptive and Possessive Adjectives PowerPoint
Old Maid (card game)
Grammar Discussion Cards and 10-sided dice (template provided)
Final Writing Task NS2, Unit 1 PowerPoint
Grammar Worksheet: Possessive Adjectives
Big Bang Theory, Season 8, Episode #1 (Available on Amazon)
Worksheet: Marshas Terrible Job Interview
Unit 1 Grammar Quiz
Beginner Writing Rubric Guidelines for Assessment

Language Standards
The Global Scale of English: 4350 and 51-58
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR): Level B1 and Level B1+
The Commission of English Language Acquisition Standards for English Language Programs and Institutions: Curriculum
Standard 1-3
Lesson Objectives
(Content) Students will distinguish between and use descriptive and possessive adjectives.
(Language) Students will use learned grammar objectives to write a paragraph about their ideal job.

Instruction Theory
Warmer Do You Remember?: Constructivist Theory (Vygotsky) Helps students
Introduce yourself by asking, Do you remember my name? and by observing social interactions in a supportive
follow up by asking the name of individual students (Do you know learning environment.
his/her name?). Be sure students reply in full sentences. Then, fill a Basic Interpersonal Conversation Skills (BICS)
bag with items from students and take them out one at a time and ask, Allows students to be exposed to conversational,
Is this your pen? Is this her book? Is this his phone? etc. In addition, language.
have students describe each object using 1-3 descriptive adjectives
and write the answers on the board. [5 minutes]

Bounce Cards Linguistic Communicative Competency (Hymes)

(Pg 17) Part I: Have students work with a partner to read the email and Provides students the opportunity to model correct
discuss the boldfaced adjectives in Exercise 1. Use Bounce Cards to structure, grammar rules, and syntax.
encourage students to engage in conversation and share what they Social-Linguistic Competency (Hymes) Allows
know about these two kind of adjectives. (*Bounce Cards help students to acknowledge the social rules of
encourage deeper and more memorable conversations, encourages language through modeling.
participants to listen intently to other before responding, and models Basic Interpersonal Conversation Skills (BICS)
conversation behavior.) Part II: Then have students list the descriptive Helps students reach conversational proficiency
and possessive adjectives. Elicit answers and go over the responses as with the aid of Bounce Cards.
a class. [15 minutes] Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis (Krashen)
Students are provided samples through which to
learn rules and form language.

(Pg 18 + PowerPoint) Go over the information about descriptive and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)
possessive adjectives with the class. In addition, use the PowerPoint This brief PowerPoint lesson builds students
created for this lesson. Ask individual students to read the grammar academic language in the classroom.
explanations and the examples. Discuss the explanations, answering Constructivist Theory (Vygotsky) Provides
any questions that arise. [10 minutes] students with a supportive environment to reach a
higher level of performance.
Universal Grammar (Chomsky) Students pull
from innate ability to discover the rules of the
English language system.

(Pg 18-19) Have students complete Exercise 2 and compare sentences Behaviorist Theory (Skinner) Language learning
with a partner. Go over the answers as a class. [5-10 minutes] is developed through imitation and positive
reinforcement in peer work.

Old Maid Universal Grammar Chomsky) Allows students

Using a deck of Old Maid cards, the teacher should create two piles of to use similar linguistic structures found in L1
matching sets. With one pile, shuffle the cards to all players until all language development.
cards have been handed out. The remaining pile should be spread out, Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) Students
with faces shown. Taking turns, each player should describe their cards are able to pull from L1 acquisition to assist in L2
using descriptive and possessive adjectives until another player development.
correctly identifies the matching pair. Play until all cards have been Basic Interpersonal Conversation Skills Allows to
paired. The winner is the player with the most paired cards. practice conversational fluency through exposure.
*If students need help with descriptive adjectives, present the Constructivist Theory (Vygotsky) Language is
Amazing Adjectives slide (from the Descriptive and Possessive developed from social interaction and in
Adjectives PowerPoint). supportive, interactive environments.
*This may be a good time to review adjective word order (also
available on the Descriptive and Possessive Adjectives PowerPoint).
[15 minutes]

(Pg 19) Review the instructions for Exercise 3 and the adjectives in the Variable Competence Model (Ellis) Provides
box. Have students work independently to complete the exercises. students with the opportunity to negotiate
Have students share their answers with the class by writing their meaning by experiencing meaningful language
sentences on the board. Elicit peer-editing remarks and corrections. through sentence composure and development.
Discuss as a class. [10 minutes] Output Hypothesis (Swain) Allows students the
opportunity to achieve comprehensible output.

Grammar Discussion
Have students work in pairs to discuss the questions on the Grammar
Discussion cards. Each pair of students should have one 10-sided die.
The student rolls the die and uses the number shown with the Behaviorist Theory (Skinner) Provides students
corresponding number on the card to engage in conversation. with a learning environment that creates positive
Again, use Bounce Cards to encourage further discussion. [10 minutes] reinforcement and modeling.
Basic Interpersonal Conversation Skills (BICS)
Helps students reach conversational proficiency
with the aid of Bounce Cards.
Monitor Hypothesis (Krashen) Allows students
to make minor changes to the learned language
Final Writing Task system through spontaneous language during
(Pg 20) Explain to students that as a final unit assignment, they will conversation.
write a paragraph about their ideal job. They will explain why this job
is ideal for them. They will tell about the skills, setting, and rewards
related to this job. [5 minutes]

Pre-Writing
As a class, review job skills, settings, and rewards. Ask students to
complete the chart in Exercise 1 with their own ideas as a pre-writing
activity. Remind students that lists do not need to be in complete Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis (Krashen) Helps
sentences. Finally, have students list possible ideal jobs for student acquire language through rule learning and
themselves. *PowerPoint is available to walk students through the organizing language.
writing task in more detail, give an example, and to offer a list of skills
and rewards.

Have students share their lists with a partner, and have the partner
add a job or two to the list. Be sure that the partner is brainstorming
ideal jobs based on the students list of job skills, settings, and
rewards. After a short class discussion, and from the list of possible Output Hypothesis (Swain) This task allows
ideal jobs, students should choose just one job to write about. [10 students that through comprehensible input and
minutes] negotiation of meaning, they also develop and
achieve comprehensible output.
Drafting
Have students begin the first draft of their paragraphs using what they
learned about creating a topic sentence. Complete for homework. [5-
10 minutes] Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)
Provides students with the academic language
proficiency needed to advance in higher education.
Extension Activities and Independent Practice
(Homework) Have students watch Big Bang Theory (Season 8, Episode #1) in English (with subtitles, if necessary)
Penny goes on a job interview and during that interview, she uses unit vocabulary words and descriptive and possessive
adjectives. Ask students to be aware of the vocabulary words and adjectives used during her interview, and to take notes to
prepare for a class discussion.

(Homework) Have students read Marshas Terrible Job Interview and highlight descriptive adjectives and underline
possessive adjectives. Ask students to choose synonyms/antonyms of the descriptive adjectives that would also work well in
the reading without upsetting the content.
Evaluation and Assessment

Informal observation during pair work and group work

Assign homework on MyEnglishLab, the online component to the textbook. Students can submit their work online and
teacher can view assignment report, leave comments, and grade work.

Unit 1 Grammar Quiz

Unit 1 Final Writing Task (with Rubric)

Model Performance Indicators

Level 2 Level 3
Beginning Developing
Listening Match or classify oral descriptions to Evaluate information in academic
visually represented examples conversations
Use learning strategies described orally

Speaking Describe people and jobs using Suggest ways to resolve issues or pose
descriptive and possessive adjectives solutions when disagreeing with a peer
Ask WH- questions to clarify meaning in Compare/contrast features, traits,
conversation and academic discussion characteristics using descriptive language
Gather information through oral interaction

Reading Match information with its source or Answer questions about explicit
descriptive or possessive adjective information in texts

Writing Make lists of words and phrases to Compose short narrative pieces describing
describe job skills, settings, and rewards an ideal job
Take notes using graphic organizers or Outline ideas and details using graphic
models during pre-writing organizers
Compare and reflect on performance
against rubric

Artifacts