LESSON TITLE: Subject Verb Agreement / St.

Patricks Day Lesson #: 2

TEACHER NAME: Grace Kelly-Pousson DATE: 3/17/14

Attach any handouts or materials required for this lesson.
Preparation/Planning
ESL Course:
ESOL 30

Level

Beginning


Intermediate
X

Advanced


Multilevel
Topic/Theme: Subject Verb
Agreement/ St. Patricks Day

Objectives




Context

Content




Language






Listening
The students will learn about correct subject verb agreement The students
will learn this within the context of the culture of Ireland and St. Patricks
Day traditions.
__________________________________________________________
Grammar and Writing: The Students will learn to form the correct
regular verb forms with singular or plural noun subjects and will be able to
apply it to their writing assignments. New and interesting terminology
including such as Ireland, St. Patrick, leprechaun, shamrock, harp, will be
taught to increase students vocabulary.

This is a Grammar/Writing class of mid-level ESOL students. The
students range in age from 19 62 years of age. They are primarily from
the Middle East and South East Asia though a few are of Latino descent.
Languages spoken by the students include: Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, Hebrew,
Russian, Thai, Pashtu, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
Speaking Students will hear authentic language the instructor as she tells them about
Irish culture and traditions. The students will be reading the material and
observing new vocabulary on their practice worksheets and they will
incorporate their understanding of how to form correct subject- verb forms
and usages in their paragraph writing on . The students will use this same
language as they create appropriate sentence structures in their group
meetings
Reading They will be reading a paragraph for error analysis once they are familiar
with the correct verb forms.
Writing The students will be creating sentences using Irish magazine photos for
prompts. They will further reflect on the lesson when writing in their
journals next class session.
Bridging
What background knowledge do the
students already have?
Our class is diverse, representing many cultures. Each week I read their
free writing journals which often have prompts asking them to write
about their home countries, their values and traditions. I respond to these
writings and we have shared many exchanges. I formulated this lesson
around my own cultural heritage to share some of my traditions as they
pertain to Ireland and St. Patricks day as a platform for respect and
appreciation for all.
What will you do to activate or link
students prior knowledge or
experience to upcoming content?
We will discuss how they have all shared stories of their cultures.
traditions ,and celebrations in writing assignments throughout the
semester. I will remind them of how we exchange ideas and questions
through their journals and our conversations and ask what they may
know about St. Patricks Day prior to todays meeting.
Engagement with New Material
What will you do to engage students
in the active learning of the new
material?
I will scaffold them moving from the form to meaning, then to use in
authentic contexts. In order to do this, I will follow the lesson format as
designed by Richards and Rodgers, 1986):
1. Presentation. Engagement with new material - The new structure is
introduced and presented by lecture. (Bridging)
2. Controlled practice. Learners are given intensive practice in the
structure, under the teachers guidance and control. (Practice on
worksheet #1) (Engagement with new material)
3. Free practice. The students practice using the structure without any
control by the teacher.(Free Journal writing) ( Application and extension)
What will you do to ensure that all
students are engaged?
I will provide a group activity where the students are working together to
construct their own sentences together and individually. Students will
be divided into groups of 4 and given authentic Irish magazines as
material for forming sentences, using correct subject verb agreement.
The groups will read their sentences aloud while showing the
class the pictures the sentences describe. I will circulate among them
observing those who are engaged and those who need encouragement.
Application
What opportunities will you provide
students to practice and apply their
knowledge/skill to meet the
objectives for this lesson? To apply to
other contexts?
Students will complete several practice worksheets individually first, and
then share their answers either with their partners or in front of the
whole class. Working in pairs requires contribution to the conversation.
Sharing in front of the class necessitates that they are prepared. If some
students do not volunteer to answer the questions, I will call their name
to answer. (think-pair-share)
Assessment
How will you assess their learning of
the objectives?
I will circulate the room and informally assess, looking for questions or
explanations to assist in their understanding. I will administer a formal
assessment grammar quiz the following week to analyze the use of
subject verb combinations. I will continue to monitor these grammar
forms in successive lessons to ensure that students are maintaining the
language forms they have learned as they are learning new forms. The
free writing journal assignment will be a solid measure of how they use
the new information.
Closing
How will you help students recap the
learning and link it back to the
original purpose of the lesson?
I will give a brief summary of the lesson before the class is over and
explain their homework, writing a paragraph about St. Patricks Day.
Then I will quickly review the important components of paragraph
writing; brainstorming, organization, topic sentence, supporting details,
and concluding sentence to help them with their assignments.
Technology
If applicable for your context and
your lesson, how will you
meaningfully integrate technology
into your lesson?

I will also use a PowerPoint slide show to present the grammar points, an
overhead projector to review the worksheet, white board and markers for
the game phase where the students will write their sentences on the
board. I will employ a computer to play an Irish music video as they take
a break and enjoy authentic Irish food.
Reflection
What went well?

How do you know?
I feel that the overall lesson went well better than my previous lesson on
the Olympics. The students responded very warmly to the context and
were very interested in learning a bit about my culture. They had some



What didnt go as planned?





What contingency plan did you
employ?


What would you do differently next
time?






Did your students meet the purpose
and objectives for this lesson? How
do you know?








What do your students need
next? How do you know?





What did you learn about your glows and grows as a teacher? What can you do to work on your areas
needing growth?
previous knowledge of St. Patricks Day but were intrigued by the details
that were previously unknown to them.

This grammar area is a simple one for me to explain but was more
difficult for some of the students than I had anticipated. I feel that there
was ample time to review each slide before moving on and I learned
from previous lessons to check for understanding by having students
relate it back to me rather than just saying; do you understand ?

I also felt as though I had a lot of practice material that underscored their
learning and made it clearer to me if they were struggling with the
concept.

Last time I felt that I should have differentiated instruction for students
that finish early. However, this time I saw the students working together,
the stronger with the weaker and enjoying themselves. It was noisy and
gregarious and I was happy to see the community building that is
continuing to happen each week in our class



I am not quite sure that all the students met the objectives yet. Some of
the lower performing students made errors thru the end of the practice
activities and will need to be further observed for error correction. . This
is where I feel that the free writing journal assignment will be a solid
measure of how they use the new information.





I feel that they need more practice with subject-verb forms. Per the
course syllabus, the students will next be studying the exceptions to the
regular forms. . I will confer with my cooperating teacher to see if it may
be possible to incorporate more cultural explorations. Perhaps focusing
on one country at a time.

I still feel inadequate about difficult grammar questions that I do not
readily have the answers to. I also need to work on pacing my lesson to
allow for enough time to thoroughly cover the subject and answer
questions. I was observed for this lesson and know that I went a bit to
fast on some aspects of the lesson at the onset but gradually came into
my own. I think I should write down a few extended questions for each
area that I cover. This would not only help me slow down my lesson, but
also adds to informally assessing the students throughout their learning,
rather than just at the end of the lesson.