Lesson plan for First Grade Unit 1 (Community service)

English materials for
Secondary school in México

First Grade

Unit 1

Lesson plan

Contents

Session 1

Introduction (10 mins.)
T uses flashcards to introduce community services. T shows each flashcard one by one and elicit or teach the vocabulary. Ss take notes.
Development (20 mins.)
Ss read a text about what a community service is and complete a true or false activity:

The text is about a voluntary work intended to help people. _____
A community service is free. _____
Adopting dogs or cats from a local shelter is not a community service. _____
Teens can perform a community service. _____

T elicits from Ss the most common community services in their area. T writes the list of the services on the board. In pairs, the Ss discuss and rate them using the following levels of performance: poor, only fair, good and excellent.
Consolidation (15 mins.)
First, T writes on the board “What can we do for our community?” and elicits from Ss the main problems of their community services. Then, in pairs, Ss discuss the possible solutions for these problems and choose the community service that could help for each case. Finally, Ss register the information on a table on their notebooks.
Conclusion (5 mins.)
T reads aloud to the class the achievements for this unit and encourages Ss to share their ideas about the meaning of each achievement. Ss share their expectations they have of the unit.
Homework: Label twelve Community services

Session 2

Introduction (5 mins.)
T writes 7 verbs related to community services on the board. Then, T shows 7 picture cards big enough for all Ss to see and Ss take turns matching them.
Development (25 mins.)
First,T tells Ss that they are going to listen to a short conversation about volunteering, so T points out one of the picture card (someone is tutoring a child) and elicits what it shows. T invites Ss to share their experiences of tutoring someone at school.
Next, Ss listen and complete the conversation (gap filling activity). Ss recognize topic and purpose by brainstorming.
Finally, Ss listen again and answer the following questions:

Where did the conversation take place?
Is the conversation formal or informal?
How was the speaker’s attitude?
What was the purpose of the conversation?

Consolidation (15 mins.)
Ss read some extracts aloud, imitating the tone of voice and the intonation on the recording. Then Ss answer the following multi-choice questions:
1. “Good morning Kim”
The teacher is:
a) asking for help                    b) greeting
2. “What can I do for you?”
The teacher is:
a) asking for information b) offering help
3. “I’m interested in participating”
The girl is expressing:
a) what she needs                   b) her feelings
4. “I’m good at math and science”
The word “and” is used:
a) to contrast ideas                 b) to link ideas
Closure (5 mins.)
T asks Ss to discuss how volunteers help in our community.
Time filler: “Ticking off items” - Ss listen to a list of words (audio) and for each word they identify, put a tick in the correct categories (people and places related to community services).

Session 3

Introduction (10 mins.)
Ss complete a worksheet listening to an audio where they have to discriminate environment sounds and background noise related to public places where people perform community services.
Development (15 mins.)
First, Ss listen to a conversation between a volunteer and a receptionist in order to identify the volunteer’s decision. Next, Ss listen again and complete a true/false activity:

Steve wants to work with children. _____
Steve is not interested to volunteer abroad. _____
There is a conservation program in Cuba. _____
Steve heard about a recycling program in the Central park. _____

Consolidation (20 mins.)
T asks Ss to close their eyes and listen for sounds: in a classroom, hospital, park and street. They can be asked whether the sounds are indoor or outdoor. Ss can also imitate these sounds. Ss make a list of environmental sounds for each place.
Closure (5 mins.)
Ss do a crossword about places in the community.
Time filler: “Guessing definitions” – Ss listen to some definitions (audio) and try to guess the community helper (tutor, nurse, volunteer, doctor, firefighter and dentist).

Session 4

Introduction (5 mins.)
T writes a list of expressions on the board and asks Ss to classify them into formal or informal. List of expressions: “Good morning”, “What’s up dude?”, “How can I help you?”, “See you later!”, “Good-bye”, “How are you?”, “Give me a hand”, etc.
Development (25 mins.)
First, Ss listen to two different conversations in order to identify their speech and communication modality (face-to-face, long distance interaction).
Then, Ss listen again and check if the sentences are in the conversation 1 or 2. In pairs, Ss contrast their ideas.
Next, T asks students to match common expressions with their purpose (greeting, asking for help, etc.).
Finally, T reads out a list of expressions and asks Ss to respond to each one.
Consolidation (15 mins.)
In pairs, Ss to write a short conversation in formal or informal speech. Volunteers come to the front of the class and read it aloud.
Closure (5 mins.)
T gives feedback on Ss’ performance.
Time filler: “Ticking off items” - Ss listen to an advertisement (audio) and tick the community services they hear from a list.

Session 5

Introduction (5 mins.)
T introduces the parts of a dialogue by writing a conversation on the board and encourages Ss to identify which expressions are used for the opening, body or closing.
Development (25 mins.)
First, Ss classify a list of expressions into the parts of a dialogue.
Then, T asks Ss to put in order a conversation by listening the dialogues in the order they hear them.
a) ____ There is a program at the senior citizen center. Can you work on weekends?
b) ____ Thank you.
c) ____ It was a pleasure to help you.
d) ____ Good morning. I’m interested in volunteering. I’d like to work with the elderly. Is there a program that involves working with them?
e) ____ If you’re interested, please call me. I have the details in my office. Here’s my telephone number.
f) ____ Good morning. What can I do for you?
g) ____ Sure! How can I participate?
Consolidation (15 mins.)
In pairs, Ss make a short conversation with the 3 parts of a dialogue. Ss contrast their dialogues with their partners.
Closure (5 mins.)
T gives feedback on the dialogues.
Homework: Ss bring more dialogues about the topic. Ss identify the 3 parts of the dialogues.

Session 6

Introduction (10 mins.)
T activates prior knowledge by asking “What can we do in a recycling program?” Ss brainstorm ideas aloud, the teacher writes their answers on the board.
Development (15 mins.)
T shows a short video to explain how recycling impacts in a community and ways we can help. T asks Ss questions about the story in the video: “What was the main idea, what was a detail that supported the main idea?”
Consolidation (15 mins.)
In pairs, Ss read an ad and identify the main idea and supporting details. Ss compare their answers.
Closure (10 mins.)
T invites Ss to tell the class what they have learned: “Why is the main idea and supporting details important?” “Does every paragraph have a main idea?” “How can we find them?”

Session 7

Introduction (10 mins.)
T helps Ss brainstorm a list of activities to help their community. T writes their ideas on the board.
Development (10 mins.)
T writes a list of themes (animal shelter, environment, school, etc.) on the board. In pairs, Ss choose one and write activities related to the theme on their notebooks, for example: in the animal shelter we can adopt animals, share adoption profiles on Facebook or wash animals.
Consolidation (25 mins.)
T asks Ss to make a short conversation. T monitors the activity to make sure Ss are actually attempting the dialogue with a good repertoire of words, relevant structures, and appropriate functions. Volunteers come to the front of the class and read it aloud.
Closure (5 mins.)
T gives feedback on Ss’ performance.

Sessions 8-10

T explains that Ss are going to act-out a dialogue as their first product. First, Ss have to choose one of the community services.
T provides Ss with the phrases, functions, and structures needed for the project (dialogue). In pairs, Ss formulate and answer questions in a written way, in order to give and request information about the service they chose, using the word repertoire previously selected. Ss structure the dialogue by classifying the sentences they have now, for: opening, body and closure, in a written way.
T encourages Ss to use what they have learned. Ss write their dialogue interventions on pieces of paper to be shown to the T for correction and enrichment before presenting them to the class. Ss can even exchange dialogues with other pairs and act them out for peer correction.
T chooses a spokesperson to read the sentences aloud for the rest of the class to practice pronunciation. Ss helped by T check that sentences are understood when spoken and listened to, by correcting pronunciation mistakes to their classmates.
SS decide the types of sounds, noises and special effects they would like to insert while producing their dialogue.
T decides place and time of the presentations. Ss, after several practices, may act it out in front of the group. T asks Ss to take turns and perform the dialogue in front of the class, the rest of the Ss can also participate by adding ideas to solve the problem or improve the service. Together, T and Ss, decide which presentation was the best.