Leisure Life

A Task-based Unit Plan

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

TCSOL 2014-2015 Group 4 Final Project

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.ii
Introduction...1
Task Sequence 1.3
Rationale for Sequencing...3
Task Sequence Descriptions.4
Task Sequence 2.8
Rationale for Sequencing...9
Task Sequence Descriptions...10
Task Sequence 3...12
Rationale for Sequencing.12
Task Sequence Descriptions...13

Leisure Life

ii

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Introduction
It is needless to say that work and study do not characterize a person. In the modern society,
talking about ones leisure activities and learning to seek information about them are inevitable
aspects in ones daily life. With that in mind, we adapt a Chinese lesson unit on leisure life by
creating task sequences that not only expose our students to authentic, meaningful target
language (TL) input but also require them to produce the TL under authentic settings. We are
convinced that such an approach may narrow the distance between real-life situations and the
classroom learning experiences, and thus engage students in language acquisition more naturally
and effectively.
Target students are intermediate second language speakers of Chinese. The lesson unit
includes 3 task sequences, which are presented in such order that the least challenging task
sequence comes first. Each task sequence requires students to complete several tasks, starting
from simpler tasks and ending with complex ones that have comparatively high cognitive
demands and might require more than one language skills. Additionally, the first two task
sequences end with grammar practice so that students will be able to fully comprehend and learn
to use focused sentence structures required in the original version of the lesson materials. The
rationale for each task sequence will be presented before the task descriptions of each sequence
respectively.

Leisure Life

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

In terms of the division of work, Yijun Zhong is responsible for the first task sequence,
Keren Liu the second, and Guohong Xu the third. We work individually and come up with task
sequences first, and afterwards improve them based on other group members suggestion. For the
in-class presentation, Yijun Zhong will lead the overview of the group project while Keren Liu
will give a 10-minute microteaching of one of her tasks.

Leisure Life

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Task Sequence 1
Rationale for Sequencing

This task sequence highlights the discussion of TV programs and comprises 4 tasks: #1
Listing. This is a simple pedagogic task that leads students to the topic. Students need to think of
one TV program they like and provide one reason. #2 Matching. This task is more complex for it
requires position taking. Further, there is authentic input program list from a Chinese TV
station website, thus engaging students in real-life thinking processes. Students are also able to
familiarize themselves with TV program-related vocabulary in doing this task. #3 Role-play.
Compared with the previous tasks, this task is even more challenging in that it asks for written
and oral output. #4 Never have ever game. This is the final and target task. It is in fact the
modified version of a real game that people play in parties and engages students in both peer
input and individual output.

Leisure Life

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Task Sequence Descriptions

Materials: PPT; flip-chart paper; markers; tapes
Objectives: 1) Students will be familiar with TV program-related vocabulary;
2) Students learn to use sentence structures (V.) and V.+;
3) Students learn to seek information they need from TV program lists.
Procedures:
Task 1: Listing
1) Students are given time to come up with one TV program they like and provide one reason.
2) The teacher call on students for answers. Meanwhile, the teacher lists the TV programs on
board.
3) The teacher leads students to classify the programs into several types, such as , ,
, , and so on.

Task 2: Matching
1) Students are given information on five audience and a TV program schedule of a particular
day from a Chinese TV station (see the schedule on next page):
Table 1. Audience and Occupation

Leisure Life

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Table 2. TV Program Schedule

2) In pairs, students discuss what programs each audience might like and why. The teacher
walks around to help each group with unfamiliar words.
3) The teacher calls on one student of each pair randomly to report their discussion results.

Task 3: Role play

1) Students pretend that they are the head of a TV station and are supposed to work out a TV
program schedule for this Saturday. They are given sheets of flip-chart paper and markers.
The teacher makes sure that students will provide the following information in their lists:
! The program names (students can use English if it is an English program);
Leisure Life

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

! The show time.

2) The teacher can give students some words to refer to, such as:

As students work on their lists, the teacher walks around and offers help. Students can also
teach each other unfamiliar words. Allow them plenty of time for this task.
3) When students have completed their program schedules, they randomly form groups of three.
Within groups, they need to ask each other what good TV shows they have. The teacher can
give them an example question by using ? However, students are not
required to use that structure; as long as they can get the message across, the teacher should
not be too strict about the forms they use.
4) Each group needs to present one most interesting list and explain it to the whole class. After
the presentation the whole class can together vote for the list that they have found most
impressive or interesting.

Task 4: Never have ever game.

1) Students move around and form a circle (if the class is too big, they can form two circles).
2) Explain the rules:
a. Students put their hands up, showing ten fingers.
b. The first student begins by making a statement that start with V.. For
example, The Big Bang Theory. They can talk about anything, not just TV
programs. Hearing the statement, any student who has done what the first student has not
must lose a finger (put it down).

Leisure Life

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

c. Students take turns to make statements. The student who has lost all ten fingers before
anyone else loses the game and can not continue. The student that survives in the end will
be rewarded.
3) The students play the game. The teacher can join them and offer help.

Grammar practice
1) Students make sentences according to the picture on the PPT slides, using the structure
(V.)
For example,

2) The teacher starts by asking one student questions, such as,

The student nominated answers the questions, and after that randomly picks another student
and asks different questions, using the same structure V.+.

Leisure Life

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Task Sequence 2
Rationale for Sequencing

There are four sequential tasks in this task sequence. Task #1 serves as a priming stage, in
which students are expected to produce two simple sentences using target language structure
/. Students are given a cinema movie schedule as an authentic input. Task #2
recycles the material in task #1 yet has a higher requirement on students. Students need to use
their mobile phones or laptops to log into an authentic movie review website in China and search
for movie information. It imitates the real life situation in which we search for movie information
and compare movies before going to the cinema. Task #3 leads to a more heated pair discussion.
Students need to come up with reasons to refute their peers. After discussion, each pair would
come to a consensus on which movie to watch, which naturally leads to task #4.The grammar
practice afterwards enable students to practice using structure, which is the language focus
of task #3. With that being said, students are not required to use structure in task #3 because
we dont want to impose particular structure to students.

Leisure Life

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Task Sequence Descriptions

Materials: PPT; Mobile phones/ Laptops
Objectives: 1) Students will be able to use structures / and +clause;
2) Students will be able to give advice or suggestion;
3) Students learn to seek information they need from movie review websites.
Procedures:
Task 1: Personal preference
1) Students are given a cinema movie schedule.
Table 1. Movie Schedules

Leisure Life

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

2) In pairs, students discuss about which movie they find the most interesting and which one the
least. They can use the structure .../.
4) The teacher calls on students for answers.

Task 2: Convincing peers

1) Students are asked to use their mobile phones/laptops to search for more information of the
movie they chose in task 1. The teacher walks around to help students with unfamiliar words.
http://movie.douban.com/
2) Students are given time to come up with two reasons of why they want to see that particular
movie.
3) In pairs, students talk their partner into watching their favorite movie. The teacher calls on
students randomly for their reasons or to report their partners reasons.

Task 3: Refuting peers

1) In pairs, students search for information of their partners favorite movie. The teacher walks
around to help students with unfamiliar words. http://movie.douban.com/
2) Students are given time to come up with two rebuttals to their partners arguments made in
task 2. The teacher calls on students randomly for their rebuttals.

Task 4: Decision-making
1) In pairs, students are given time to decide which movie they would watch together.
2) The teacher calls on students from each pair to report their decision and reasons behind it.
Leisure Life

10

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Grammar practice
1) Students make sentences according to the picture on the PPT slides, using the structure +
clause
For example,
2) Students are given time to come up with one reason for each advice/suggestion they make for
the pictures.
For example,
3) The teacher calls on students randomly for their answers.

Leisure Life

11

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Task Sequence 3
Rationale for Sequencing

This is a task sequence focusing on the topic . It consists of 3 tasks: #1

Priming. It is a simple lead-in task that asks students to think about the kind of events they are
interested in: , or . #2 Information gap. This task requires student to read 3
different advertisements and decide which one they like to attend. It simulates real-life situations
where students need to seek information they want and choose between more than one items. #3
Negotiation and decision-making. The task provides authentic input and engages students in
active negotiation on which specific event they will attend as a group. It also goes beyond the
present lesson and asks students to decide on the route to their destination. This task is the most
challenging, considering that it generates both cognitive and linguistic demands.

Leisure Life

12

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Task Sequence Descriptions

Materials: PPT; advertisement pictures; map of New York City
Objectives: 1) Students will be familiar with vocabulary related with leisure activities;
2) Students will learn to use the structure N.+;
3) Students will be able to read advertisements and seek information from them;
Procedures:
Task 1: Priming
1) In pairs, students read the following advertisements. They can teach each other about
unfamiliar vocabulary.
Tables 1-6. Advertisements
1

Leisure Life

13

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Leisure Life

14

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Leisure Life

15

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

5
6

Leisure Life

16

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Task 2: Information-gap
1) Based on the advertisements provided in the previous task, students each think about the type
of events that they are interested in. They have to choose between , and .
2) After students have made up their mind, they can leave their seats and try to find classmates
who have made the same decision. The teacher can provide an example sentence, such as
? However, students are not required to use the exact same structure.
3) Students need to form three large groups in the end, so that those who want to go to watch a
match will gather together. The same applies to the other two types of events.

Task 3: Negotiation and decision-making

1) Within each group, students need to choose one specific event out of two.
2) After they have reached an agreement, they can choose one secretary to fill out the following
form (see the form on next page):

Leisure Life

17

Keren LIU, Guohong XU, Yijun ZHONG

Table 7. Event Plan

1.

2.

3.

4.

3) Each group can choose one presenter and give whole class report on the specific event they
as a group will attend. Students are allowed to use the above form as a reference.

Leisure Life

18