Lesson Plan Template for Content-Based Instruction

Teachers Name: Chelsea Morris & Vann Hassell

Date: 6/23/16
Grade/Class/Subject: High School 1 & 2 Grade
Time Period: N/A
Unit/ Topic: Travel

Lesson Context & Title: Vacations

Content Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will know vocabulary used to discuss
vacations and practicing using this vocabulary in a hypothetical situation.

Language Objectives:
Form

Function

(grammatical term and/or example, eg. Past Tense: The boy

went to see his grandfather;)
Where are you going? How will you get there?

(in ing form, eg. Retelling a story )

1) Wh-questions
2)
3)
Review Vocabulary
(previously taught vocabulary that
students likely need review of)

Vacation

New Vocabulary
(new vocabulary to be explicitly taught
that is critical to an understanding of the
content)

Location
arrive
Destination
Duration
Transportation
Site
Attraction
Activity

to get=to

Signal Words
(vocabulary that may need to be taught or
emphasized that link concepts in
meaningful ways, such as conjunctions and
time markers)

Where
How

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to correctly use wh-questions and vocabulary related
to travel in order to discuss vacations and future plans.

Special Cross-Cultural Considerations: Include here anything relevant to culture that you will either
incorporate as part of your lesson or that you need to be attuned to in terms of your students background
to ensure a lesson that is culturally responsive.

Because the students are not from America, we had to take into account that they may not be familiar
with certain landmarks incorporated into our game. As such, we had to make sure that we ordered the
cards in such a way that the students were able to get the landmark card after the location card. This
ensured that the location would be matched with its landmark. Additionally, we titled our game The
Amazing Race and based it off of the American TV show The Amazing Race. Because this is an
American TV show, we had to make sure that we explained the rules of the game very clearly.

Materials: Include here all the materials that you need, including the authentic texts, both written
and oral, that you will use to provide input (provide the links to them, besides adding the texts
themselves as attachments.)
PowerPoint with rules and explanations, 6 sets of 8 cards depicting 4 different categories: destinations,
sites, attractions, and transportation, 6 sets of 4 clues to direct the students to the proper locations,
worksheet used to find out other groups vacations, blank paper for postcard, video of all the countries
of the world (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pOFKmk7ytU)
Lesson Sequence: This may be adjusted as necessary to accommodate unique lesson plan features.
For each step, explain what the teacher will do, the expectation of what the students will do, and how
long the stage should take.
I.

MOTIVATION/WARM-UP: Describe how you will build content background and introduce the specific language
functions/forms that you will target.

TIME: _____2 min_________

The teacher will(specifically what the teacher

does)
1) Hello class!
2) Ask questions about weekend/lunch/etc.
3) Review topic of previous lesson
4) Introduce new lesson

The students will (specifically what the students

should do in response to what the teacher does)
1) Hello teacher!
2) Respond to questions appropriately
3) Demonstrate memory of previous lesson
4) Listen to introduction

Formative Assessment (How will you gauge whether or not students are connecting to the background the teacher
is providing?):
The students should respond appropriately to questions asked by the teacher and demonstrate
engagement and use of the English language.
II. PRESENTATION (Listening and/or Reading): Describe the specific techniques you will use to make your
presentation of new content and linguistic material comprehensible to students, to provide opportunities for
interaction through appropriate questioning, to engage learner strategies, and to assess whether or not
students are getting it.
TIME: ____20 min__________

The teacher will(specifically what the teacher

does)
1) Explain The Amazing Race game
2) Divide students into six groups
3) Distribute clues to each group and dismiss
one at a time
4) Wait for students to return to classroom
Place a blank sheet of paper on each
desk

5) Have students choose last vacation card

6) Have students return to their seats

The students will (specifically what the students

should do in response to what the teacher does)
1) Listen to rules
2) Remember group number
3) Receive clue and figure out the location
4) Students should:
Go to each location and find the teacher
hidden there
Ask What are you selling? and collect
vacation card (x3)
Receive next clue
5) Select final vacation card
6) Return to seats

Formative Assessment (How will you gauge whether or not students are comprehending/using the targeted
language forms as presented?): The other teachers helping us will report on the students use of language
at each station. We will also ask the students questions prior to their departure to ensure that the
rules and the goals of the game are understood.

III.

PRACTICE/APPLICATION (Controlled Writing and/or Speaking): Describe the activities you will use to
allow for meaningful practice targeting the lessons objectives, the learner strategies you will engage,
and the formative assessment you will provide to gauge whether or not students practice is moving
them along closer to the target)

TIME: ____20 min__________

The teacher will(specifically what the teacher

does)
1) Guide the students in writing a postcard
detailing their vacation.
2) Monitor the students, answer questions, and
check postcards
3) Explain the rules of the worksheet
4) Pass out worksheet
5) Monitor the class
6) Lead class in a group review of everyones
vacations

The students will (specifically what the students

should do in response to what the teacher does)
1) Listen to instructions
2) Answer questions to write their postcard on a
sheet of paper
3) Listen to instructions
4) Receive worksheet
5) Talk to one person from each group and write
down their vacation
6) Respond to teachers questions about each
groups vacation

Formative Assessment (How you will gauge whether or not students practice is moving them closer toward
achieving the objective in a meaningful way?) If the students responses during the review are both appropriate and
correct it will show that they understand the usage of the questions and are able to use them properly.

EXTENSION (Open-ended Writing and/or Speaking): Describe the student-centered activities you will use
for students to further apply language skills toward greater mastery of the targeted content and language
objectives, either independently or with a group. This should be an opportunity for developing higher-order
thinking skills and using language in communicative ways.
TIME: ____8 min__________

The teacher will(specifically what the teacher

does)
1) Thank the class
2) Show video of all the countries of the world

The students will (specifically what the students

should do in response to what the teacher does)
1) Listen
2) Watch video

Summative Assessment

(Describe the ways in which you plan to determine whether or not students achieved the content and
language objectives for the lesson. Be specific in terms of not only what the students will do to demonstrate their knowledge and
skills, but how you will evaluate what they produce.): Our lesson does not really incorporate this element of teaching

English because our time with the students is so short that we are unable to provide any sort of quality
evaluation. The best that we have is comprehension checks that are incorporated into the lesson.
Additionally, our cool down activity was used to give the students a final goodbye as opposed to a final
assessment.

Reflection on Lesson
In planning this lesson, I think Chelsea and I were more excited and motivated
compared to our previous lesson. We were on the same page and had the same vision
for the lesson: that it would be fun and highly interactive. In the planning process we ran
into several road blocks and snags, but these helped us to iron out the lesson plan so
that when we went to teach it we were well prepared and were ready to handle any
unforeseen circumstances. Because of the scale of this lesson plan, however, there were
many changes we made to the structure even from the beginning. It seemed that in
every class we learned something else to help with our presentation. The order with
which we introduced information changed drastically from lesson to lesson to ensure that
the vital information was received first and the supporting details were given a
foundation to attach to.
When I compare this lesson plan to last weeks lesson plan, I have mixed feelings.
On the one hand, this lesson plan was much more fun for the students and also provided
a lot more opportunities for output and peer-to-peer interaction. On the other hand, the
lesson felt very disorganized and even after we taught it for the last time, I still felt that
there were so many aspects of it that needed to be improved. Some of the positives from
the lesson were that the students spent a lot of the time speaking. After our first lesson,
which was much more input based, I was glad that the students had more opportunity to
interact. Another positive was that the students really liked the game and activity. In
almost every class the students came back with smiles on their faces and actively
engaged each other in the information gap activity.
Some of the aspects of the lesson that could have been better were the
organization and the timing. Every time we taught this lesson, it seemed that we needed
to move something else into a different order. And then the second we changed the

order, we needed to change the order another piece of material was presented in. Even
in our last lesson, I still felt as though there were aspects that needed to change, and
while it is good to seek to constantly improve, I never reached a place of contentment or
satisfaction with this lesson like I did with the last lesson. The vocabulary always seemed
out of place in our lecture and removed from its context. Also, our worksheet seemed to
be a bit confusing for the students, but I was unsure what sort of changes would help the
students understand the activity better. I think the goals of this lesson were achieved, I
just wish it could have been done more efficiently.
One thing we really learned from this lesson is the importance of learner feedback.
During the lesson, we saw the value in asking the students questions to check
understanding. Additionally, many of the changes we made to the lesson were based on
the feedback we received from learners during the lesson. If something was confusing or
misunderstood, that let us know that we needed to change it for the next class. If
something worked well, we tried to maintain that portion of the explanation or lesson
rather than experiment with it.
One part of this lesson that was extremely difficult was checking to make sure that
the students were achieving the lesson objectives. Assessment was difficult for two
reasons. One is that the lesson was very much based on individual accountability to
maintain language use. Because the students were interacting so much, they had
greater access to their native language to use as a crutch. It was nearly impossible to
find ways to monitor all the students even with two teachers wandering the room. It was
also difficult to construct a group-centered review activity for this lesson and so checking
the understanding of the group was another challenge. Another reason that assessment
was difficult is that we did not have a clear language objective. When we started to plan
the lesson, we came up with the game first and then the language objective. I think this

resulted in us being unable to assess the students understanding because the lesson
was focused more intensely on the game. We learned from this lesson to keep the main
thing the main thing and the main thing is that the students are there to learn language,
not to just play fun games.