Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Report about a great lesson



I just had such a great lesson yesterday, I am writing it up here so I can remember it. Maybe some other teachers will find it useful, too.

Teaching points were:  pronunciation of /ae/, language of machines, passive voice in present simple tense for describing processes
Level: pre-intermediate
Students are two middle aged colleagues at a company that produces oil. One is a lab tech, the other is in finance/administration
  • Warmer. I made 3 columns on board titled nouns/ verbs/ adj and asked Ss to write appropriate words containing the ae sound in the columns. I had one example for each column already in.
    • Pulled up lots of language, eg seasons, months, days 
    • S at board, T out of limelight
    • They had to talk
  • Oil refining
    • Elicit steps of refining vegetable oils, T put up
    • Makes Ss experts, it's their field, speak confidently because know it
    • I got important details about their jobs, expertise eg office worker S knows oil
  • Create first step in passive sentence, The rapeseed is pressed.
    • Show/elicit form
    • Explain use, present simple passive to describe a process
    • Ss created further steps of oil refining T helped make passive sentences
  • Telephone listening - fresh topic, turn away from efforts with passive
    • Listen 2 times, let them panic, get 1-2 words
    • Read and listen
    • Read out loud to each other
    • Listen one more time
  • Close, next lesson repeat/revise/practice passive and telephone
    • "Repetition is the mother of all learning"