English materials for
​Secondary school in México

First Grade

Unit 9

Lesson plan

Lesson plan | Worksheets & Handouts | PowerPoint presentations
Exercises for students | ​Project Ideas | Pop Quizzes & Exams
Introduction (10 mins.)
T writes a few discussion points on the board about linguistic diversity:
  • What is a language? (It’s a system of communication that uses signals, voice sounds, gestures and written symbols)
  • How many languages do you think are spoken in the world? (7,102 languages in 2019)
  • Which other languages do you know besides your mother tongue and English? (Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Italian, etc.)
  • Why do you think it is important to speak other languages? (To communicate with others, to know more about their culture, better job opportunities, etc.)
Ss share their ideas or have a class discussion.
Development (20 mins.)
First, T explains to Ss what linguistic diversity is. (It refers to the fact that people use many different languages to communicate with others). Then, T write a list of countries on the board and asks Ss to match them with the language that is spoken.
Here is a list of countries and languages:
  • China, Taiwan - Chinese
  • Australia, England - English
  • Brazil, Portugal - Portuguese
  • Colombia, Cuba, Spain – Spanish
  • Egypt, Qatar – Arabic
T asks Ss to listen to an audio about varieties of English (British, American and Australian) and Ss have to identify them.
Consolidation (15 mins.)
T draws a mind map about linguistic diversity and ask Ss to brainstorm new ideas. The main ideas are the importance of linguistic diversity, languages spoken in the world, indigenous languages in México, varieties of English, countries where English is spoken, etc.
Closure (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 say their expectations they have of the unit.
Homework: Ss do some research on https://en.wikipedia.org. Ss have to choose a topic about linguistic diversity (history of a language or dialect, geographical distribution, language variation, etc.) and print an article for the class. 
Introduction (10 mins.)
First, T shows flashcards of sources of information (textbook, web page, dictionary, encyclopedia, map, atlas, index cards, pie chart) and Ss try to describe them. Then, Ss rank the sources of information that they would be interested in searching information for an oral presentation.
Development (15 mins.)
T asks Ss to choose the best source of information to answer the following questions:
  1. How many languages are spoken in the world? A web site / An atlas
  2. Which countries share borders with México? An atlas / An encyclopedia
  3. How do you spell “Portuguese”? A web site / A dictionary
  4. Where is the nearest museum? A web site / Google maps
  5. What was the most important city in the Roman Empire? A textbook / A web site
  6. What percentage of people use drugs in the United States? A pie chart / A web site
  7. What are the ingredients for guacamole? Index cards / Cooking book
  8. What dialects are spoken in Africa? An encyclopedia / A web site
  9. How much is a room at a hotel? Google maps / A web site
Consolidation (20 mins.)
T draws a grid on the board with items or pieces of equipment for oral presentations (board, poster, video, projector, speakers, map, pie chart, etc.) along the top and space for  research topics (The story of English language, A recipe for apple pie, Human evolution, music from different countries, etc.) in the left-hand column. Ss mark what they need for each presentation according to the topic.
In pairs, Ss discuss what items of pieces of equipment they would use at the beginning, middle and end of an oral presentation.
Closure (5 mins.)
T invite Ss to have a class discussion by asking them:
  1. Have you ever attended to an oral presentation?
  2. What was it about?
  3. Was the information clear?
  4. Did the speaker use any visual materials? Which ones?
Introduction (10 mins.)
T gives Ss a photocopy of an article. In pairs, Ss identify their parts (title, headings, graphics/images, glossary, footnote and bibliography). A volunteer goes to the front of the class and shares their answers.
Development (15 mins.)
T reads aloud the function of each part and asks Ss to guess the name of the part.
  1. They give visual support to the information - GRAPHICS/IMAGES
  2. It gives the meaning of a newly introduced, uncommon or specialized word - GLOSSARY
  3. They introduce or summarize a section of a text - HEADINGS
  4. It gives more information about something in the text. It’s at the bottom of the page - FOOTNOTE
  5. It gives the main idea of the text – TITLE
  6. It gives credit to authors whose work has been consulted in the article - BIBLIOGRAPHY
T writes the information on the board and Ss take note on their notebooks.
Consolidation (20 mins.)
First, T asks Ss to work with their article from Wikipedia (homework in session 1) and circle the parts that the article has. Then, Ss make a glossary of 3-5 words that they don’t know using their dictionary. Finally, Ss exchange their article with someone else and check if it is correct.
Closure (5 mins.)
T writes several true/false statements of key points from the session and asks Ss to raise their thumbs up (for true)/down (for false) for each one.
Here are some statements:
  1. The glossary is in alphabetical order.
  2. The heading summarizes the main idea of a paragraph.
  3. The footnotes are at the top of the page.
  4. A map doesn’t help you as a visual aid in oral presentations.
  5. The title gives the main idea of an article.
  6. The bibliography is a list of sources. 
Approach: Task-based learning
T takes Ss to the library/media center or computer lab. T put Ss into teams of 3 or 4. Ss research linguistic diversity. Ss take notes on their notebooks. T monitors the activities.
These are the tasks for the class:
  1. Look up the following words in an Internet search engine: language, dialect, idiom, accent, speech and linguistic.
  2. Complete a table the most widely spoken language in the world. Write the number of speakers for each language.
  3. Research the history of any language. Visit three web pages and check the text elements each (title, table of contents, headings, bibliography, footnotes and glossary) source has.
  4. Choose the most complete article which has title, headings, bibliography and footnotes. Take notes of these parts from the article.
  5. Skimming the article and take notes of the main and supporting ideas. Remember that you need information for the introduction, body and conclusion.
In the end, Ss evaluate their performance. T gives Ss feedback on the tasks.
Academic rally (not physical interaction)
  • It’s designed for teams of 4 Ss.
  • Ss remain in their seats. Only the monitors will give them the activities. 
  • There are 4 stages. Every stage has an activity which is divided equitably into 4 parts.
  • Every S has to finish his/her part and glue it onto his/her notebook in order to give the team the next activity.
  • Ss can use dictionaries or their notes.
  • The winner is the team which completes the 4 stages.
Topic: Linguistic diversity
Here are the stages:
Stage1 – Matching vocabulary and images.
Stage 2 – Completing definitions.
Stage 3 – Matching language facts and images.
Stage 4 – Questions and answers.
Introduction (10 mins.)
T asks Ss to brainstorm greetings or expressions used for starting an oral presentation. T invites Ss to have a class discussion. T writes on the board Ss’ ideas.
Development (25 mins.)
T writes a list of expressions on the board and asks Ss to match them with their function.
Here are the expressions and their functions:
Functions:
  1. To introduce the topic of the presentation.
  2. To extend or give additional information to clarify ideas.
  3. To ask the audience if they have questions.
  4. To close the presentation.
Expressions:
  • In conclusion, … (    )
  • The topic of my presentation is… (    )
  • I would like to add… (    )
  • Any question? (    )
  • As I was saying… (    )
  • Finally, I would like to add… (    )
  • Now, I’d like to hear your comments. (    )
  • This graph shows you… (    )
  • In this presentation, I’m going to talk about… (    )
Now, T draws a chart with 3 headings: introduction, body and conclusion. T asks Ss to classify the expressions above.
Consolidation (10 mins.)
First, T invites Ss to do choral drills in order to improve the pronunciation of each expression. Then, volunteers go to the front of the class and pronounce some expressions, their partners repeat them.
Closure (5 mins.)
T gives Ss feedback on Ss’ speaking skills.
In teams, Ss suggest and discuss different topics about linguistic diversity.
Ss write a set of questions to begin with their research.
Ss select sources of information for their topic: web pages, books, encyclopedias, etc. Ss organize and divide the topic equally.
Ss make notes for relevant information and prepare graphic resources (mind maps, images, charts, etc.)
Ss write a draft of the presentation. Ss check for spelling, and punctuation.
Ss assign a part of the presentation to each team member. Every member of the team practice reading the presentation.
Ss give the presentation to the rest of the class.
Ss ask questions or make comments.
Once all the presentations are over, share and discuss as a class how Ss felt about this experience.