Lesson Plan: Local Government Services

Lesson Plan: Local Government Services

Lesson Basics
Class level: Beginning Topic: Local Government
Length: 2 hours
Objectives:
The student will be able to:
·  Demonstrate background knowledge of government services such as police, ambulance, libraries, ball fields, and utilities.
·  Write a sentence dictated by a classmate
·  Match a sentence with a corresponding picture
·  Ask and answer questions about how often they use government services.
·  Rank government services in order of importance, and discuss justification
·  Write a sentence about how they use a local government service
·  State what he/she thinks is good or not good about a local government service via video or audio recording
Language skill primary focus:
X Listening X Speaking _X Reading _X_ Writing
Benchmarks from Virginia’s Adult ESOL Content Standards:
q  S2.3f Produce limited learned phrases with simple grammatical structures. Recall oral vocabulary through word domains.
q  L2.1b Respond appropriately (verbally or nonverbally) to simple learned phrases, questions, and sentences in a face-to-face situation.
q  R2.1d Understand a short simple paragraph on a single topic with familiar vocabulary.
q  W2.1 Write to communicate ideas in familiar contexts, demonstrating some awareness of audience.
Materials/Equipment:
Slideshare: Local Government Services
Google Form: How often do you use local government services
Visual Ranking Tool: Local Government Services
Voicethread: Local Government Services
Teacher Materials TM 1-9
Handout 1 & 2
Authentic Documents from local government services
Stages of the Lesson Plan
Warm Up/Review
What does local gov’t do?
Grouping Strategies:
Whole group
Materials Needed:
·  Local Government Slideshare
·  TM 1: Categories of Services
·  Examples of authentic documents from local government services. (See Teacher Resources for specific Ideas) / Activity Steps:
Does local government help you?
Use ‘Virginia’s Local Government’ Slideshare to introduce the topic. (See Teacher’s Resources for link to Slideshow.)
1.  Talk through slides 1-4
2.  The rest of the slides show services provided by local government. Use these pictures to activate student’s background knowledge: What is happening in the picture? Have you ever used this service? (Write key words on the board)
3.  Put categories of services from Teacher Materials 1 on the board/screen (or use slide 21), go back through slides 5- 20 and talk through the category each picture goes in.
4.  Pass around and discuss authentic documents from local government services.
·  What is the document?
·  Which government service uses this document?
(Example documents provided on the Slideshare, but local examples would be much more relevant and interesting to students.)
Introduction/Presentation
Running Dictation
Grouping Strategies:
Pairs
Whole group
Materials Needed:
Teacher Materials 1-5
Running Dictation text
Handout 1: Marianna’s Story / Activity Steps:
Running dictation: Marianna’s story
·  Set up a running dictation activity. Post numbered dictation sentences on the wall at the back of the room (or in the hall). Use the sentences provided in Teacher Materials 2-6 or create your own. Have students pair up and assign them a number- Partner A stays seated and is the writer, partner B is the messenger. The messenger goes up to the text posted on the wall, reads it and remembers a chunk of the text. Then goes back to their partner and tells them what they remember. This continues until the text is complete. Assign more difficult sentences to higher functioning students. When students have their sentence on paper, have them locate the picture that goes with their sentence on handout 2. Have students switch roles with a second sentence. (If you have a low literacy level student, you can orally dictate the sentence to them, and have them relay it to their partner.
·  Come together as a whole group. Have student pairs read their sentence aloud. (the teacher can write it on the board) Discuss if students also use these services, and which category of local government services it falls under. (TM 1)
Guided Practice
How often do you use services?
Grouping Strategies:
Pairs
Materials Needed:
Visuals for terms of frequency (TM 7-9)
Google Form (see teacher resources for link)
Or handout 2 / Activity Steps:
·  Google forms- survey of how often students use government services.
·  Discuss terms of frequency: Always, sometimes, never (TM 7-9)
·  If needed, walk the class through answering this survey for themselves, using the slideshare from the warmup and Handout 2.
·  Practice the question: “How often do you use ______” (the library, the local roads)
·  Use Google form in pairs, have students ask their partner and submit answers for their partner, then switch roles
·  Debrief as a whole group- which services do you use the most?
·  If you don’t have internet access, students can survey each other using handout 2, putting tally marks for each person they ask.
Communicative Practice
Rank Gov’t Services
Grouping Strategies
Small groups
Materials Needed:
Visual Ranking Tool- see teacher resources for links to demo ‘Pets’ and the ‘Local Government’ ranking / Activity Steps:
·  Discuss the concept of most important- use realia to show what is important, and not important to you personally- perhaps a picture of family or pets, a piece of clothing, a penny, etc. Rank the items- what is most important to least important to you and why.
·  Introduce the visual ranking tool with a quick whole group ranking of animals who make the best pets- demonstrate how to move names to change ranking, and how to add a comment/justification (double click- note the color of the text box matches the color of the category commenting about)
·  In small groups, use the visual ranking tool to rank which government services are most important. Add comments justifying choices to at least 3 categories. If students have trouble making comments (or you suspect they will) you can have them rank them first, then as a whole group discuss reasons why the top choice was so important and why the bottom choice was not as important, writing key words on the board.
·  If you set up small groups as teams with different links to the visual ranking tool, they can access the ranking and comments of the other groups and compare results.
·  If you don’t have internet access, Put a list of government services on the board. (Or provide cards with services written on them.) Have students work in groups to rank cards or write down the 3 services they think are most important, in order of importance. Have students discuss why these are important. Share as a whole group.
Application
Voicethread
Grouping Strategies:
Pairs or individually
Materials Needed:
Voicethread internet tool or Voicethread App / Activity Steps
Have students use Voicethread to write text comments about how they personally use local government services. (Similar to Marianna’s story sentences) They can revise/rewrite as many times as they want.
Directions on how to use voicethread is provided in the Teachers Resources.
Students will post their comments on slide 1 of the voicethread
If you don’t have internet access, you can have students write sentences on paper- similar to Marianna’s story.
Evaluation
Voicethread
Grouping Strategies:
Materials Needed:
Voicethread for categories of government services
Computers or smart phones with voicethread app / Activity Steps
Students will add a comment via voice or video on the Voicethread slide related to the service that is most important to them. A personal version of what students did in the communicative practice, explaining why this service is most important to them.
Extension
Local Ordinances
Grouping Strategies:
Whole group/ Individual
Materials Needed:
Find two local ordinances- ideally something relevant to your learners and recent
(See links to local government webpages in Teacher Resources) / Activity Steps
Ahead of time, pick two local ordinances- something relevant and recent*
·  Local leaders write laws to help and to regulate these services, such as creating rules about fire lanes. These laws are called ordinances.
·  Discuss: What is an ordinance? (a law made by a local government, for the local area)
·  Discuss the ordinances as a whole group, using realia or visuals to aid understanding
·  In small groups have students discuss and come to a consensus if there is a need in the community for this ordinance, and into which category of services the ordinances fall.
·  Come back together as a whole group and have groups share their thoughts. (For low beginning classes this may be very basic)
Additional Extension Ideas Local Leader Classroom Visit Kit (See Teacher Resources) / ·  Have a local government leader visit the class in person or via skype. (see local leader visit kit)
·  Does the local government in your native country provide these services? Do they provide some services not provided here?

Teacher Resources:

Warm Up/ Review:

·  Slideshare: Local Government Services:

http://www.slideshare.net/VALRC/local-government-services-presentation

·  Here is a link to the slide show in powerpoint format if you would like to make changes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxnwTyxcFX9fMVdLa1hZMlNReWM/edit?usp=sharing

Introduction/Presentation:

Marianna’s story (letters correspond to pictures on handout 1)

1.  Marianna learns English at the school on Monday and Wednesday nights. (G)

2.  She is proud to see her children learn in school. (F)

3.  She drives on local roads to go to work. (A)

4.  On Saturdays her son plays soccer on the local sports fields. (H)

5.  She goes to the library to use the computers and books. (E)

6.  On Sundays her family goes to the park to eat food and see friends. (I)

7.  Last month her son fell off his bike and hit his head hard. An ambulance took him to the hospital. (C)

8.  The police keep the neighborhood safe. (D)

9.  On Tuesday and Friday she puts her garbage and recycling outside and a truck picks it up. (B)

Guided Practice:

·  Google Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VQN01DyGQigf2Hewjl2ia3rEbEdPd3SCraBQZRhy9R4/viewform

·  Create your own copy of the google form to have only your student’s responses show up in the results.

Communicative Practice:

·  Visual Ranking Tool:

https://educate.intel.com/workspace/student/loginpage.aspx?LID=en

Enter: Teacher ID: VALRC Team ID: Adult ESOL, Password: @valrc

Application:

Voicethread

1.  Link to Government Services Voicethread: https://voicethread.com/share/5383176/

2.  Resources for how to use Voicethread:

·  Introduction to Voicethread: http://voicethread.com/media/misc/IntroductionToVoiceThread.mov

·  Text directions for creating a voicethread:

http://voicethread.com/media/custom/site/docs/CreatingaVoiceThread.pdf

Evaluation:

Voicethread Link: http://voicethread.com/share/5383176/

Extension:

Resources for finding local ordinances:

·  Search Virginia city and county websites to locate ordinances:

http://www.virginia.gov/government/federal-and-local

·  Links to local government- (Scroll down to counties or cities)

http://www.statelocalgov.net/state-va.cfm#toc

·  Local Leader Classroom Visit Kit: This is a great resource with information about how to prepare students and the local leader for a visit: http://www.lessonsonlocalgovernment.org/resources/4.4.1+mgl+local+leader+classroom+visit+kit+2011.pdf

Suggestions for adapting the lesson to higher levels:

Warm Up-

·  Have students do a think-pair-share activity to brainstorm what services local government provides. Have students work in small groups to view and discuss the slideshare

Introduction/Presentation:

Ahead of time, write a paragraph about Marianna and another paragraph giving a different perspective of how someone uses government services. Have students use these paragraphs for their running dictation

Guided Practice:

Modify the google form to include 5 levels of adverbs of frequency: for example add: rarely, occasionally, frequently

Communicative Practice:

Provide a simple rubric outlining your expectations for their justification comments. Have students work in pairs, and have them compare their responses to others.

Application:

·  Students could write text comments on how they use or don’t use several or all of the government service categories. Students could write a paragraph about how they use government services in their everyday lives.

·  Have students create their own voicethread slide- they can create a visual document or video of how they use government services as their centerpiece, add an audio comment, and then students can comment on each others voicethread slides.

Evaluation:

Have students comment on three services evaluating their quality and giving specific justification for their evaluation. Provide a simple rubric to focus comments.

Extension:

·  Provide a written copy, simplified as needed, of the ordinances and have students answer several questions about the ordinances.

·  Have students provide specific justification for why there is or is not a need for this ordinance in their community. If they feel there is not a need for this ordinance, discuss why they think it was written.

·  How does our local government rate?

As a whole group, look at the top ranked services from the visual ranking activity. Use a T chart - + on one side, - on the other. Discuss what is done well, and what could be improved. For example, public safety- what do the police do well in our area? What could be better? Write key words on the board. For example, it is good that the police help install child car seats, but there is too much crime in the neighborhood and the police are never nearby.

Voicethread

·  Students add a comment via voice or video on the Voicethread slide related to the service that is most important to them and will include if our local government does a good job with this service or not, and why

·  Optionally: Ahead of time, adapt the voicethread to include the top choices of what services are most important to your students.

Service / Slides
Public Health and Safety / 6 Police
7 Ambulance/ EMS
8 Fire Department
20 Social Services
Education / 9 Schools
Transportation / 10 Bus/ Public Transportation
11 Local Roads
Parks and Recreation / 12 Sports Fields
13 Parks
14 Libraries
Utilities / 15 Garbage Collection
16 Gas, Water, Electricity
17 Sewer/ waste water
Other: Land use, Elections / 18 Land Use/ Zoning
19 Elections

Teacher Materials 1

Categories of Local Government Services

Teacher Materials 2

1.  Marianna learns English at the school on Monday and Wednesday nights.

2.  Marianna is proud to see her children learn in school.

Teacher Materials 3

3.  She drives on local roads to go to work.

4.  On Saturdays she takes her son to his soccer game on the local sports fields.

Teacher Materials 4

5.  She goes to the library to use the computers and books.

6.  On Sundays her family goes to the local park to eat food and see friends.

Teacher Materials 5