Teacher L&PM observations 2017

Lower Secondary 7
Teacher Rusiru Observer Class
(CEFR B1+/low B2)
Time 5.00- 6.00 Date 02-09-2017 Class size 18

Class profile (a brief description of the class including learner needs)

 A strong, mature and highly motivated group of senior students (with strong B1 or low B2 level language skills) that has performed consistently well throughout
the year .

 The majority of the students are cooperative and participate well in the lesson.

 The learners tend to be different from each other in terms of their intelligence types, but the majority seem to have active experiential or analytical learning styles.
Some well-performing students are introverts but they are often very competitive and co-operate and take part well during class activities.

 This is a highly motivated class that responds well to instructions and take part quite actively in the learning process. They have always exceeded my expectations
in many ways.

 Some students are stronger than others because English is their medium of instruction at school. ( Devon, Sumaid)

 Almost all of them tend to have fairly strong receptive and productive skills and they speak fluently though there may be some accuracy-related issues. However,
they do tend to have gaps in their explicit knowledge about language.

 All students may not enjoy grammar and find is useful, yet it is very useful for them for them due to problems vis-à-vis accuracy. I believe that it is important to
foster explicit awareness in grammar while integrating it with other skills (e.g. speaking, listening) and making the process of learning more competitive and
rewarding.

Teaching aim(s) for the lesson – language/skills

The aim of this lesson is to present and practise the modal verbs may and might to speculate about the future in the context of the visions of the future.

Outcomes for the learners

By the end of this lesson, the students will have:
- practised using may and might for speculating about the future
- practised listening for gist and specific information
 - practised oral accuracy and fluency by giving a presentation about the future
- practised written accuracy and fluency by writing a short description about developments in the future

Language/skills analysis
Skills:
a) Listening for gist specific information
b) Oral fluency accuracy
c) Presentation skills

Language:

• P: They might fly through the air like rockets.

N: They might not (mightn’t) fly through the air like rockets.
Might they fly through the air like rockets?

• P: People may turn against technology in the future.

N: People may not turn against technology in the future
C: May people turn against technology in the future?

CCQs: Do I think…? Do I know…? Am I sure…? Is it possible?

Differentiation (considering any individual/sub-group needs)

Devon and Sumaid are gifted students but they tend to dominate their groups at times and it’s important to monitor this situation.

Course fit (Why are you teaching this content at this point in the course?)

One of the intended learning outcomes of the S4 C1 syllabus for Term 3 is learning to use may/might to speculate about the future.
Before the observed part of the lesson, they have activated their schemata on the topic and have been introduced to some key lexical terms.

Anticipated problems and solutions

Problem: There are five groups in the class and one group often has 5 students. It is useful to have small groups for the games in this lesson as having five students means that some students
many not be involved.
 Solution: Have 2 extra tables so that a 5th group can be formed, if necessary.

Problem: Students will have a problem about the difference between may/might and will
Solution: Elicit/explain the difference during the presentation

Problem: Students will have a problem if there is a difference between may and might.
Solution: Explain that grammarians used to distinguish between may and might in the past thought it is currently used interchangeably.

Reference for materials/resources and a brief rationale for why they have been chosen/adapted

- Solutions 4 Students’ book.p. 34-35

- Handout

- Flipchart

- Coloured paper, boards, marker pens

Teacher learning focus

- To manage time appropriately
- To a clear and age-appropriate context throughout the lesson
- To hold the learners’ attention using teacher positioning, voice and body language

Time Stage/Aim Procedure Interaction Material

patterns
5.00- 5.08 Lead-in Ask Ss to discuss in pairs how different the world will be in 100 year’s time. Flipchart
Give each group a marker pen and an A3 sheet of paper. T-S Pens
(to get the class moving Ask the students to take down as many ideas as they can. S-Ss Paper
and to activate the Ss-Ss
 schemata of the
students)
5.08- 5.18 Listening Point to the pictures of Aggie and Sunil tell the students that they are two T-S Flipchart
comprehension teenagers who are going to talk about their predictions about future. Text-Ss Worksheet
S-S Recording
(to practice listening for Point them to the two predictions. Ask Ss to listen to the two teenagers and
gist/ specific information decide who is making which prediction and write the correct name in front of
and to help student each prediction.
notice examples of the
TL in a meaningful Once they have finished, ask them to check in pairs before revealing the
context) correct answers on the flipchart.

Ask them to read the statements in Activity 2, listen to the recording again and
decide whether each statement is true or false. Once they have finished, ask
the students to check their answers in pairs before going through the answers
together.

Ask the sudents to see whose vision of the future they would prefer.

5. 18- 5. 28 Focus on target Display the following sentences on the board. T-S Flipchart
language Ss-Ss
 They might fly through the air like rockets.
(to elicit meaning and  People may turn against technology in the future.
form of the target
language) Ask the students to underline the verbs in the above sentences. Ask them
whether the speakers are sure about what they say or whether they are
speculating. Establish that they are speculating and these think will perhaps
be true.

Ask the students to underline all the examples of May and might in the text.

Display the two sentences.

 There wil be much faster cars.

 They might fliy through the air like rockets.

Ask which one is more certain/ speculative than the other.

Elicit negative and question forms.

5.35- 5.45 Controlled practice Provide keywords for sentence construction using may and might. T-S Flipchart
( to help students Ss-Ss Coloured paper (5
construct sentences Once each string of keywords is revealed, Ss are expected to construct a sheets)
 using may and might) grammatically correct first conditional sentence using the given words.

As soon as the students have finished constructing the sentence, they run to
the teacher and show their sentence.

The first group to bring a grammatically correct sentence to the teacher is

awarded points.
5.45- 6.00 Freer Practice 1: Ask the students to think of answers to the following questions. T-S Flipchart
Speaking - How might we travel in the future? S-S (pairwork)
- What might the classroom of the future look like? Processing
(to help the learners - What gadget may change our lives at home? Ss-Ss language handout
practise the use of - Will we be healthy or unhealthy in future? (Groupwork)
may/might more freely
in the context of Once they have finished, ask the students compare their ideas in pairs. S- Ss
speculating about the (presentations)
future) Once they have finished, ask the students to work in groups of three or four
and prepare a similar presentation about their vision for the future. They
should work on the following:

Once they have finished, ask each group to give a presentation on their
collective vision of the future.
6.00- 6.10 Freer practice 2: Writing Ask the students to read the two descriptions and write about their own vision T-S Coloured paper
(individual) of the future using the texts as a model. S-S Bristol Boards
Coloured pens
(to help the learners Display some processing language on the flipchart.
practise the use of
may/might more freely While the students are writing, go around the class and monitor carefully and
in the context of do some on the spot error-correction.
speculating about the
future)