PHASE 1 LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

A. Students and Setting:

Students: Male and female students in their early teens, mostly Spanish and a few Romanian. 2 nd year
Middle School. Most of them have studied English since childhood, though with different outcomes. Most
of them are Pre-Intermediate. A heterogeneous group in terms of learning styles and capacities. Some of
them seem not to be interested in English. Some have not acquired any English so far. These students
with little or no interest feel the same about all the subjects. They all get along as they have been
classmates for as long as they can remember. Besides, they are neighbours and friends outside school.

Setting: Public school, located in a middle-sized town in the north of Spain. There are 23 students of
them. Class meets 4 times a week, 50-minute-long lesson each. We are meeting on a Thursday and will
not meet until Monday. The language lab is only available once a week, which means having class in an
old-fashioned classroom the rest of the week. The teacher would take a CD player in for every lesson.
Today, we will be in an ordinary classroom with no sound system or computer. Students sit in pairs, facing
their backs in three blocks. The least interested students would sit at the back. The classroom has
different posters with classroom language on the walls for the teacher to sign so as to prevent students
from speaking Spanish.

B. Lesson Background:
The lesson is part of the module on the expression of past actions and memories from childhood.
Students have been presented with past simple verb to be, regular and irregular verbs. We have also
included adjectives related to feelings. This lesson is meant to expand on the expression of the past by
including There was, there were. We have seen this structure throughout previous lessons, but not in a
detailed fashion.
After this lesson, students will write a tale based on this one as the writing practice from this module. We
have been talking about our childhood memories, our favourite childhood toy (which they will bring in to
class). As an extension activity, we will also deal with their own favourite childhood tale.

C. Learning Objectives/Expected Results:

Students are expected to master the use of There + was/ were in the affirmative and negative while
describing past events. They will be able to understand the general context in a past tense narration.
They will also be able to compose a fairy tale with some guidance.

D. Materials and Sources:.

Materials: We will use the Ethiopian folk story called The Bird and The Elephant from the curriculum
extra section in our course book.
I will need to prepare some images on the characters of the folk story. I will print out colour pictures
beforehand (an elephant, a bird, a bird hunter)
I will give them a characters grid to complete the plot.
I will play some background music.
Sources:

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The Bird and the elephant DIGNEN, Sheila. (2014) English Plus 2. Oxford. p102.
Spirit Animal Totems. Retrieved from: http://spirit-animals.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Elephant2.jpg
Naija. Com. Retrieved from: http://www.ynaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Bird.jpg
Can Stock Photo csp 13954012. Retrieved from: http://comps.canstockphoto.com/can-stockphoto_csp13954012.jpg
CHURCH, Charlotte. A Beautiful Mind Soundtrack. All Love Can Be. 2001

E. Procedures / Timing:
Teacher does/says . . .

Students do/say . . .

Greetings: Good morning,

did you sleep well last night?
What did you have for dinner
last night? Was it tasty?
Did you watch TV while
having dinner?
Was there anything
interesting on TV? Was it
boring?

Good morning teacher,

Yes, I did; No, I didnt.
I had some fish, an egg, etc.
Yes, it was; No, it wasnt.
Yes, I did; No, I didnt.

Did you watch TV before

going to bed when you were
little?
Did your parents read tales
to you at bedtime?
Did you like them?
What was your favourite
tale?

Yes, I did; No, I didnt

I write the following

sentences on the board.
Was there a monster in it?
There was a monster or
there were some monsters.

Approximate time
needed
5m

Yes, there was; No, there wasnt.

There was a movie, a series, a
contest, etc.
5m

Yes, they did; No, they didnt.

Yes, I did; No, I didnt.
FREE ANSWER

Yes, there was. No, there wasnt.

FREE ANSWER

Was there a princess in it?

Were there any animals?
I will listen to all of their
answers

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So let us read about a folk

tale today.
I show them the pictures of
the elephant, bird and
hunter.
These are the characters
from the story we are now
going to read.
I am going to ask you to get
in groups of 3 or 4 people as
I say your names.
I get them in 3s or 4s mixing
a reticent student with a
dominant student and one or
two average ones. There
will be 6 groups.
Now that you are sitting, get
a name for your team.
I write their names on the
board.

20m

Students sit on different desks so

that they gather with their team
members.

FREE ANSWER: The Lions, the

Cool Teens, etc.

Students assign a role to each.

Each of you will have some
responsibility.
One will be The Dictionary
Boy/ Girl and look up
unfamiliar vocabulary.
Another one will take care of
time. Thats the Time Boy/
Girl.
Another one or two people
will be the Scribe Boy/ Girl,
and so, will complete the
chart Im going to give you.

Now, open your course book

on page 102.
I will now give you this

Students read the text.

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character chart for you to

complete with your team
members. Follow the
instructions, please.
You only have 12m. Lets
see which team finishes first.
I play adventure music in the
background.
I give one dictionary for each
group.

They can ask their

classmates or me for
clarification. I monitor and
encourage students.
Time is up! Now, I want you
to close your books and put
them away. Keep the chart
as a guideline.

Students close their books and put

them away.

1m

Im going to ask you some

questions from our story.
The Time Boy/ Girl will now
be the Speaker Boy/ Girl and
only he/ she can answer the
question out loud. Discuss
the answer to each question
with your team.
You will get 2 points for each
right answer.
Speaking Spanish will
deduce 1 point.

Students discuss in English and the

Speaker says the answer out loud
while using the pictures to guide his
speech.

15m

I ask questions 1 4 from

the Question Sheet. I give
them 10 seconds to answer
each.

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Now, extra 5 points to the

best moral or lesson we
have learnt. Get a moral for
this story. For example:
Birds and elephants can
become good friends.

Students work with their teams to

find a motto.

5m

Now, as homework for next

Monday, imagine that you
are the bird. Retell the story
as if you were the narrator.

Students write down their

homework.

2m.

F. Reflection - Week 2:
Describe how this lesson demonstrates the use of realia and/or authentic materials and pair or group
work. Explain how this lesson is appropriate to the age/grade level of student you are targeting.

This lesson is meant to put together all the previous lessons on the expression of the past.
Realia, first of all, in the form of a folk tale makes the students interested in learning about a
story with a beginning, body and conclusion. Besides, instead of paying attention to separate
sentences without any context meaning, students here understand the use of the past tense in a
meaningful framework.
I have also used some printed out photos that have been used to introduce the characters, as
well as a guide for students to develop their answers to the comprehension questions.
As for the background music, although it was not the type of music they would listen, they liked
the softness of the singers voice.
Regarding pair or group work, secondly, students have worked in a cooperative and
collaborative fashion. The most reticent students have felt first reluctant to participate in this
project, and more importantly, to sit outside their comfort zone with their friends. Both most
capable and least capable students have worked to get a common goal and have had some fun
in the meantime.
Each student has had a function within the group, and the time person has taken over during
the question time as he/ she was the only one allowed to talk.
This lesson has been appropriate for my students age because, although starting to become
adults, they still feel a real closeness to animals, especially friendly animals. Besides, the moral
matches the sort of ethics we, all teachers, want them to acquire.
As for the level, they have chosen their role inside their group in terms of their abilities, so
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everybody has felt comfortable in their positions.

ATTACHMENT #1 - CHARACTERS GRID

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Characters
How were they?
What was the
problem?
How did they solve
the problem?
Characters
How were they?
What was the
problem?
How did they solve
the problem?

The bird
Observant

The elephant
Was Upset
Was lost

Guided the
elephant to its
The
bird
family.

Followed the bird to

its family.
The elephant

The man
N/A

The man

THE
FIRST
TIME
THEY
MET

THE SECOND TIME THEY MET

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ATTACHMENT #2 - COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.
2.
3.
4.

Why was the elephant upset?

How did the bird know where the other elephants were?
When did they meet again?
How did the elephant recognize the bird?

5. Find a moral or lesson you have learnt from this story. Something like: A real friend is
like a treasure.

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