Speaking Lesson Plan
Haining Lou
Background
This is a speakinglesson plan for students of first-year Mandarin Chinese Languageat the University of Kansas. Over the past eight weeks, the fourteenstudents in this class have learned greetings, family, dates and time, hobbies, visiting friends,and most recently making appointments via the phone. In this class, the students will practice using new vocabulary and sentence patterns to create mini phone conversations where students either makes an appointment with a teacher or a peer student. Students are highly encouraged to incorporate previous vocabulary and sentence patterns. Since the class is designed to have students practice speaking the language and not to introduce new grammar and vocabulary, the instructor conductsthe class mostly in Chinese and provides English supportonly when necessary.
Student proficiency levels: Beginnerlevel. Most students have never taken Chinese language classes previously. A couple students speak a different Chinese dialect at home.
Level: College – beginner level
Time: 50 minutes
Preparation
Content objectives:
-Students will learn to make appointments based on their own schedule.
-Students will practice phone courtesy.
-Students will practice calling a teacher to make an appointment.
-Students will practice calling a friend to make plans to go out.
Language objectives:
-Students will exercise several common functions of language, such as: greeting others, introducing oneself, making social plans, apologizing, negotiating, explaining, making decisions, expressing appreciation, etc.
-Students will practice newly learned vocabulary and grammar patterns, such as “Subject + time + to be going to do something 要 + activities”pattern.
-Students will review previously learned vocabulary, such as time and hobbies.
-Students will improve pronunciation.
-Students will distinguish between different levels of formality when addressing to a teacher vs. when addressing to one’s peers.
-Students will improve listening comprehension through collaborative learning.
Materials:two cellular phones, pictures of time (appendix 1), pictures of activities/hobbies (appendix 2),sample pictures of a teacher’s daily activities(appendix 3), instructions of phone call scenarios (appendix 4),laptop connected to a projector.
Vocabulary:review new vocabulary, such as:to be going to do something “要+ verb”, to have a meeting “开会”, to give an exam “考试”，to teach/have a class ”上课”, hello(on the phone) “喂”, which one “哪位”, sorry “对不起”, I am very busy “我很忙”, see you the day after tomorrow”后天见”, etc. Review previous vocabulary, such as time of the day and hobbies/activities.
Motivation
Before the class, posts pictures of different times of the day (appendix 1) and activities (appendix 2) in two columnson the blackboard, with the times on the left and activities on the right, with some space between the columns. Beginthe class by describing what activities the instructor has for today while pointing to the pictures on the blackboard. Then asks a few students to name one activity on their agenda for tomorrow and when. More advanced students are encouraged to say the whole sentence while pointing to the pictures.For students who are not yet comfortable saying complete sentences, they can simply point to the pictures and complete the sentences with the instructor’s help.
Total time: 5 minutes
Presentation
-Show pictures of a teacher’s activities (appendix 3), using an laptop projector.
-Ask students to describe what is happening in the pictures, for example “He will have a meeting at 3PM today他今天3点要开会”; “He will teach a class at 10am tomorrow他明天１０点要上课”; “He will give an exam at 3pmtomorrow他明天３点要考试”, etc. (5 minutes)
-Ask the students to findsimilar patterns in these sentences
-Write the pattern on the blackboard above the pictures as follows –
-“Subject + time + to be going to do something 要+ activities”
-with “Subject” to the left of the column with pictures of time, “time” right on top of the time column, “要”between the time column and the activity column, and “activities” right on top the activity column. (2 minutes)
-Have the students work in pairs to form their own sentences by choosing different components from the pictures on the blackboard based on their own schedule. (5 minutes)
-Select a few pairs to describe their partners’ schedule for tomorrow, not their own schedule.Correctonly major grammar and pronunciation mistakes. (5 minutes)
-Pause to answer questions.
-Model a short phone conversation that the students have learned earlier this week where a student makes a call to a teacher to request a meeting tomorrow (appendix 5). Turn from side to side to differentiate the two characters, and emphasize the use of “您”, the polite form of “you”, instead of “你”, the regular “you” when addressing to superiors. (3 minutes)
Total time:20 minutes
Practice/Application
-Distribute a list of two phone conversation scenarios with specific instructions of what the students need to prepare (appendix4). One is between a student and a teacher to set up an appointment and the other one is between two students, making plans go out.
-Working in pairs, students will have five minutes to prepare for the first phone conversation between a student and a teacher. Students should incorporate real-life activities in the dialogue.
-The instructorwill walk around the room to correct major grammar and pronunciation mistakes and remind students to use the correct tone of voice when addressing superiors. (5 minutes)
-When five minutes is up, the instructor will select a few groups to act out their dialogue. Using the two cell phones the instructor provides, one student will stand in the hallway and the other stays inside the classroom. Their call will be put on speaker for the whole class to hear. (5 minutes)
-Briefly comment on the first exercise and correct common mistakes and suggest improvement. (1 minutes)
-Working in pairs, students will have five minutes to prepare for the second phone conversation between two students. Students should incorporate real-life activities in the dialogue.
-The instructor will walk around the room to correct major grammar and pronunciation mistakes and remind students to use the correct tone of voice when addressing peers. (5 minutes)
-When five minutes is up, the instructor will select a few groups to act out their dialogue. Using the two cell phones the instructor provides, one student will stand in the hallway and the other stays inside the classroom. Their call will be put on speaker for the whole class to hear. (5 minutes)
-Briefly comment on the second exercise and correct common mistakes and suggest improvement. (1 minutes)
-Summarize the key functional phrases typically used in a phone conversation and the importance of choosing the correct tone of voice when addressing different target audience. (1 minute)
Totaltimes:23 minutes
Review/Assessment
Assess students throughout the class and take notes of which students have difficulties with which activities. Distribute a blank page to each studentand have them votewhich activity they like the most and why (response will be in English).
Totaltimes:2 minutes
Extension
For this week’s 10-minuteone-on-one tutorial with the graduate teaching assistant (GTA), instead of going to the GTA’s office, students will make a call to the GTA to set up a fake appointment for next week.
Appendix 1
Appendix 1- Time
Appendix2– Activities/hobbies
Appendix 3 – Teacher’s activities
Appendix 4
1.You are on the phone with your teacher. You would like to make an appointment with him/her. Your teacher happens to be busy at the time you suggest. Ask your teacher when he/she will be available. Decide on a time and place to meet. Thank your teacher.
2.You are calling a friend to make plans togo out. You would like to meet him/her tonight, but he/she is going to … and does not know when he/she will be back. Decide on another time to meet and what you will do, such as studying Chinese or drinking coffee, etc.
Appendix 5 – Sample phone conversation
A: Hello! Is Teacher Wang there?
喂，请问王老师在吗？
B: This is he. Who is this?
我就是。你是哪位？
A: Teacher Wang, hello. This is Li You.
王老师，您好。我是李友。
B: Li You, how are you? How can I help you?
李友，你好。有事吗？
A: Teacher Wang, do you have time this afternoon? I have a few questions to ask you.
王老师，您今天下午有空吗？我有几个问题想问您。
B: I am sorry but I am busy today. I have a meeting at 3pm this afternoon.
对不起，我今天很忙。我三点要开会。
A: What about tomorrow?
明天呢？
B: I have two classes in the morning and I will give an exam tomorrow afternoon at 3pm.
我明天上午要上两节课，下午三点要考试。
A: When do you have time the day after tomorrow then?
您后天什么时候有空？
B: I am free after 4pm the day after tomorrow.
我后天四点以后有空。
A: If convenient, may I come to your office at 4:30pm the day after tomorrow?
如果方便，我后天下午四点半来您的办公室，行吗？
B: No problem. I will wait for you in my office.
没问题。我在办公室等你。
A: Thank you, teacher Wang.
谢谢，王老师。
B: You are welcome.
别客气。