Reading Lesson – “The Lady or the Tiger”
Teaching time: 50 minutes Target students: 20 advanced 8th graders (14 years old) in a private school in Japan
1) What is being taught?
Language points – vocabulary: barbaric, to shudder, trial, to devour, to lurk, admiration, accused, amphitheater
Language skills – listening, reading, writing, and speaking
Skill focus – reading
Cultural aspects – American short story
2) Student Learning Objectives (SLO)
· SWBAT demonstrate comprehension of the short story “The Lady or the Tiger” by inferring the ending of the story using a graphic organizer to support their ideas, then sharing in groups of four.
3) When/how in the lesson will I check students’ progress toward the above SLOs? What behaviors/activities will show me whether they have mastered the material?
· Ss will fill out a T/F worksheet about the reading
· Ss discuss questions in groups
· Ss complete vocab worksheet
4) Preliminary consideration:
What do your students already know in relation to today’s lesson?
· Ss know what ‘genres’ are, and the types of stories that are encompassed by the term; at this private school, Ss are required to take a basic English literature class and most of them have already done so
· Ss know emotion words
What aspects of the lesson do you anticipate your students might find challenging/difficult?
Students may have difficulty completing the reading in the amount of time given.
Students might not want to argue their points.
How will these obstacles be addressed in the lesson?
The “summarizing” step can be cut out to save time.
A less argumentative discussion can be facilitated by the teacher using discussion questions provided on the powerpoint.
STEP / FRAMEWORK (PDP) / PROCEDURE / INTERACTION / ACTIVITY PURPOSE
1 / PRE- (2 min) / PPT Slide: 1
Greet Ss by name as they come in the door.
In pairs, Ss discuss questions from the slide with one another (i.e., “Who do you trust? Why?” “Have you ever been jealous?”). / Ss-Ss / Make Ss feel comfortable/welcomed
Get Ss thinking about themselves and thus more interested in what the lesson might have to do with them
--Speaking
--Listening
--Interpersonal
2 / PRE- (3 min) / PPT Slide: 2
T tells Ss they will be reading a famous short story.
Looking at the ppt picture, Ss discuss in pairs:
What might this story be about?
What do you think the genre is?
/ Ss-SS / Get Ss predicting what the story might be about; get them to have questions before reading text in order to have more motivation for reading it
--Speaking
--Visual
3 / PRE-(10 min) / PPT Slides: 3-12
Pre-teaching Key Words
T introduces words from the text (visual support via ppt pictures): several pictures are displayed on a slide; ss describe picture in pairs, then T displays vocabulary word on ppt. Choral repetition as each word is introduced. / Ss-T
T-SS / T gains insight as to how much vocab Ss already know. New vocab is introduced with visual support.
--Speaking
--Listening;
--Visual
--Auditory
4 / PRE- (5 min) / Vocabulary understanding check: matching activity
Ss’ recall of new vocabulary is tested/solidified through a matching activity. Ss work together in five groups of four to match words with corresponding picture. / Ss / Ss gain confidence using new words and can see actual examples in sentences
--Reading
--Visual
--Kinesthetic
5 / D (5 min) / PPT Slide: 13
Reading Task 1: General Questions
Ss skim the text, reading for general, overall meaning.
Discuss in pairs:
Who are the main characters?
What is the conflict/problem in the story?
/ Ss-Ss / A very general overview of the text; a wide scope before zooming in on details/abstract
--Speaking
--Reading
--Auditory
6 / D (10 min) / Reading Task 2: T/F Questions handout
· In groups of four, Ss read the true/false questions.
· Ss read the text again.
· Ss answer t/f questions, circling correct answer.
· In pairs, Ss check against each others’ answers. T then displays answers (via ppt) and the Ss check in groups to see if they got the correct answers. / Ss
Ss-ss
T-Ss / Ss read text again for more understanding. T reviews worksheet to see how well Ss are understanding the story.
--Speaking
--Reading
--Writing
--Listening
--Auditory
7 / D (10 min) / Reading Task 3: Cause/Effect
Ss read text again. Ss fill in the second half of a sentence worksheet (i.e., “The king threw the young man in jail because______”; “The princess was jealous when______”;). Discuss in pairs.
Switch partners. Ss summarize the story. / Ss-Ss / Ss would use their knowledge of the story to make connections between actions/ideas/feelings of characters; Ss tie pieces together
8 / D (10 min) / Final Reading Task: Infer Ending
· Ss use a graphic organizer to list their ideas & rationale.
· Mingle! Ss make new groups of 4, and share the ending they inferred. / Ss-Ss / Ss are able to draw on what they have read & think critically as to what the next part of the story would be
--Speaking
--Listening
--Writing
--Interpersonal
9 / POST (3 min) / Ss can freely discuss the text for the remainder of the class period. (They will likely want to. If not, T can have them discuss PPT SLIDE #14.) / Ss-Ss / Ss can continue thinking about text, get other Ss’ opinions about it, argue, etc