Listening Lesson Plan

Doug Marshall

March 19, 2013

Theme: The Cherry Blossom Festival

·  Context: What kind of teaching situation/school setting is the lesson based on?

The class consists of adults of mixed heritage, mainly Asian, Hispanic and Arabic who have had various levels of schooling prior to this class, but not above college levels. The class is learning about America and seeks upward mobility and socialization.

·  Learner Needs: What do the learners need/want to learn?

The students need practical language skills for day to day functioning and competency for job interviews, negotiation, conducting simple personal and business transactions.

·  Objectives/Aims: What will your students know or be able to do as a result of this lesson?

Students will be able to comprehend a song and a poem in English around the theme of the DC Cherry Blossom Festival. They will be able to sing along and recite the poem.

·  Assumptions: What are you assuming in terms of student background knowledge?

Students should know generally what a cherry tree is, the famous blossoms, and the ever-expanding springtime festival in DC.

·  Language Analysis: What new grammar and vocabulary will this lesson target?

They will learn how song lyrics and poetry express thoughts in a beautiful way with simple vocabulary and short, simple phrases. In these linguistic art forms complete sentences are not always used.

·  Anticipated Problems and Solutions: What could go wrong? What backup plans do you have? Completely understand the words sung by a massed choir, so the second time around they will have access to the written lyrics. The poem is short enough and the diction very clear so that should not be a problem.

·  Materials: What materials will you use? How will you adapt them?

Youtube videos that can be played and projected by computer. Wireless internet connection inside the classroom is necessary. Handout of the song lyrics.

·  Timing/Sequencing: How much time will you need?

The class is 60 minutes long

·  Assessment: How will you measure what your students can do?

There will be 2 tasks associated with the videos for students to test their comprehension.

·  (Reflection: What worked well in this lesson? What should I improve upon next time?) (To be completed after teaching the lesson.)

Lesson Plan:

Stage / Aim / Procedure / Mats. / Focus / Time
Warm up
Talk about cherry trees
And blossoms
And festival / To warm up the class to think in terms of the subject matter / Show some selected photos of cherry trees in full bloom from various sources, internet public domain, personal photos, etc.
Teacher will talk about the history of the cherry blossoms in DC using the book The Cherry Blossom Festival, Sakura Celebration, by Ann McClellan, 2005, published in association with the National
Cherry Blossom Festival. Students will share their own experiences. / Computer and projector / T-S / 10 mins
Lesson activities/assessments
Listening (1) / To help train their ear to hear and comprehend a song sung by a massed choir / Play the Youtube video of the TV presentation of the DC Cherry Blossom Parade 2012, the Parade Youth Choir singing Bill Wither’s “Lean on Me”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYQgD0oXWgE&feature=player_detailpage / Computer and Projector / input / 5 mins
discussion
task
listening (2) / Ascertain level of comprehension
Test comprehension / Teacher will ask students how much they understood. Did they get the gist of the song, the main idea? If comprehension was weak, replay video and pause at intervals to check for comprehension
Hand out the lyrics of Lean on Me with selected words omitted. Go over with the entire class to complete together.
Play the spoken version of the poem “Loveliest of Trees” by AE Housman
From youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj8SrxeXZ5w / Hand-out
Computer and projector / T-S
T-S
input / 10 mins
10 mins
5 mins
Listening/speaking
task / Practice comprehension
Test comprehension / Ask for a volunteer student to recite the poem for the class. Ask the class to watch her mouth for pronunciation tips. Are there any words that they did not understand?
Handout copies of the poem with some words omitted for students to fill in. The poem is very short and should not take much time. / handout / S-S
S / 5 mins
5 mins
Conclusion
Feedback / Identify strengths and weaknesses / Discuss what difficulties they encountered in listening to a massed choir singing versus the clear spoken voice of the actress reading the poem. Is it harder? / T-S / 10 mins