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Lesson Plans




Table of Contents

  1. Class Bank
  2. Dictation time



Class Bank




Appropriate grade levels: third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth

Subject Area(s): writing

General Topic(s) or Theme(s):

- Good Habits Acquisition
- Learner Awareness
- Spelling
- Class Management

Objectives:
To make students work hard and teach them good habits such as paying attention
and being careful in order to avoid mistakes and improve their performance.
Materials :

- A Class Bank Account Card for each student (see instructions)
Introductory questions to stimulate discussion:
1. Do you feel you are doing your best at school?
2. Do you make mistakes often? If so, why?
3. Do you find it difficult to concentrate and pay attention?
4. Do you often do things in a hurry? Why? Does that help you?
Introduction Activity:
Highlight the advantages of concentrating, paying attention and doing things
carefully in class. Students should feel proud of work well done and strive to do
better when they are not doing fine.
Lesson Body:
So your students are on the lazy side? Are YOU the only person who works hard day
in day out? Start a class bank right now to avoid disaster at the end of the
term! The idea is to make students aware of the fact that learning a language
requires some effort (and that means paying attention in class, taking notes,
doing homework and a bit of private study now and again.) If you feel their
standards are too low and they do not seem to care, show them that mistakes
really matter! We are all determined to be patient and do our best to motivate
our students, but some pupils do not react till they see their grades are severely
affected. This activity is designed to ring a bell to those and hopefully make them
change their attitude before it is too late. You can always reward those who
work properly. Open an account for every student (a small card with the user’s
name and the sections IN/OUT/CREDIT BALANCE will do.) Explain that you are
going to follow their moves closely for a while and keep a record of them.
They start with 30,000 points each and their account will be charged every time
they make a mistake. So they had better watch their grammar, vocabulary,
spelling, pronunciation and translation abilities! All mistakes are serious (deduct
100 points), but some are very serious (deduct 1,000 points) and a few are very
serious indeed (deduct 10,000 points). Students whose account is overdrawn
(spend all their credit) will automatically get lower grades or, if that sounds too
strong, they will be given an extra piece of homework, for instance.
Explain which mistakes belong to which category. The following examples of
what I mean by very serious mistakes indeed may help you to write your own list:
He speak English; My pencils are longs ; Mary playing tennis; Wrong past forms of
most common irregular verbs; Sentences with no subject (e.g. Live in London.)
Whatever your decision is, your students will certainly *not* like the scheme. Tell
them that they can win points too (or rather earn them)... by working hard! This
WILL make a difference. Add points to their account whenever you think they deserve
them and give them extra grades accordingly.
You won’t need your red pens so often from now on!

Conclusion Activity:

Discuss the following:

Does it pay to pay attention?
Is it worth to do things carefully?
Do you feel you can do better from now on?
Vocabulary Terms:
- School and school life
- Habits
- Adjectives and adverbs
Evaluation Activity:
Compare your handwriting and your compositions now with some old samples of
your own work. Make sure that you are doing better now! If you are not, ask
your teacher for help and guidance!





Dictation Time!




Appropriate grade levels: second, third, fourth, fifth

Subject Area(s): reading, writing

General Topic(s) or Theme(s):

- Listening Comprehension
- Spelling
- Dictation
- Vocabulary Acquisition

Objectives:

To improve the kids´listening comprehension and spelling abilities.

Materials:
- The text you want to dictate.
Introductory questions to stimulate discussion:

1. Do you make many spelling mistakes?
2. Are you reading enough?
3. Can you understand what you read?
4. Are you a good listener?
5. Can you remember a long string of words? (Check with your own examples!)
Introduction Activity:

Ask the kids for their favourite words. Let them write sentences with them for a few
minutes. Kids could read their sentences out and aloud while someone copies them
on the blackboard. Check meaning and spelling.

Lesson Body:

In general, students are not particularly fond of dictations. However, you may wish to
give them one now and again to improve their spelling, their vocabulary range or
their listening abilities. Dictations are useful. Try this teaching activity for a dictation
with a difference!
To begin with, it is a good idea to choose a text which sounds familiar to students (e.g.
one you have dealt with over the past few weeks.) Your text should not be too long,
as dictations require concentration and can be a bit stressing. And it would be nice if
you read the text to your students -at normal speed- before actually dictating it: this
will improve their comprehension and will have a direct effect on their performance.
When you proceed to dictate the text, do not dictate word by word but choose short
meaningful bits instead: John lives - in a beautiful house - in Oxford. It often helps if you
care to read the whole text again at normal speed when the dictation has been
completed, as this gives students a chance to check their work before you mark it.
Should your students be over-anxious about their marks, let them find the mistakes
themselves (after all, we are talking about teaching, not testing.)
If you already follow the above suggestions and keep getting hair-raising results, here
are a few more tips:
Let your students have the transcription of the dictation handy, so they can have a
look at the text if necessary. Before the dictation begins, ask the class to write the
following in a corner of their sheets: A/B/C.
Read the following and explain:
During the course of the dictation, stds. will be allowed to check the original text -for
a maximum of 5 times- if they get lost or want to check the spelling of a particular
word PROVIDED they tick (X) under "A"
BEFORE doing so. Emphasize that they should be honest. When the dictation has been
finished, the students count the number of ticks and write it under "A" (e.g. 3). They
should write the number of mistakes under "B" (e.g. 5) and the sum of both numbers under
"C" (8 in this example.) We could say that stds. whose amount expressed under C is
10% or lower of the total number of words in the dictation have done a good job
(9 would be the passmark for a text of about 90 words.) In this way, your students will
no doubt overcome their fears and, with practice, they will improve their talents,
which is what we all want. After some time you may lower the percentage of the
passmark and, if all goes well, you will be giving exciting dictations on new topics
before long!

Conclusion Activity:

Think hard for a minute and write your longest sentence EVER. Make sure it makes sense
and that it is spelt correctly! Write it on the blackboard for everybody to see.

Vocabulary Terms:

- Anything goes, depending on students´ needs and interests.

Evaluation Activity:

Keep your dictations handy and see how you improve your spelling with time.






E-mail comments about these plans to: joandiez@hotmail.com


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