Teaching Unit: Speaking and Listening

Beginning Adult ESL

Maddie MacMath
December 2016
Wheaton College Graduate School
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Unit Planning Rationale

In my first ESL unit, I grappled around with themes of methodology and what it means to

teach ESL, especially when considering what it means to create a learner-centered environment.

As I’ve continued to learn and process what it means for me to be a future educator in the field of

English as a second language, I’ve come to four working facets of methodology: immersive

learning, building confidence, valuing personal story, and communal support. These four

overarching themes are applicable to every teaching context that I may find myself. In exploring

these principles, I’ll also address what it means to teach speaking and listening in a specifically

low context classroom setting.

Immersive learning is something that comes relatively naturally in an ESL setting, most

especially in the context in which this unit plan was written for: resettling refugees in an adult

ESL survival class. The emphasis here is on an interactive, engaging, and learner-centered

environment. When students are challenged to speak in English and wrestle through problems

using their new language, their retention and comprehension is often improved. Especially when

presented with practical problems or vocabulary that is relevant to their daily life, students are

more likely to use and therefore remember the material from class. In the classroom itself,

establishing scaffolded and intentional practices of using more English than not can help students

quickly assimilate into the new language. In a class where students do not have the same L1, this

immersion principle looks different and is often easier to implement, simply by nature of

necessity.

Building confidence is something that I view as the role of every teacher. So much of

success in learning is predicated on feelings of accomplishment; success often breeds

perseverance for more success, while a perception of failure can often feel debilitating. If
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students continually have negative, draining, or unsuccessful attempts in practicing their new

language, they are going to associate English with a negative emotional response. By

consistently evaluating the needs and level of the students, an ESL teacher is able to introduce

material that is challenging, but is also appropriate enough to generate success from the students.

In feeling competent and having experiences where they use English proficiently, students are

likely to continue practice and continue to step out in using English.

One of the unique joys of adult ESL is the value and variety of stories that the students

bring into the classroom. Using student’s personal stories, experiences, and needs, in and of

itself, creates a beautiful and comprehensive kind of curriculum. Part of the teacher’s job as an

ESL instructor is not only providing students with the language necessary to survive in an

English-speaking country, but also to communicate who they are and what their story is to

speakers of this new language. Because of this low level, students don’t have many of the

reading and writing skills necessary to tell their stories in a traditional way. In addition, because

of the resettling refugee setting, coupled with the beginner status, we are assuming some level of

novelty in this classroom setting. Asking students to not only reflect on their experiences as a

refugee, but to do so in a second language that they are struggling to learn, would likely feel

emotionally and mentally overwhelming. Even small things, such as having students articulate

where they live, their phone number, and their name are not only practical and necessary pieces

in learning English, but they also allow students to step into their new story and take ownership

of a new season in their lives.

The final principle that I want to touch on, in terms of overarching teaching methodology,

is communal support. Neurobiology has proven that our brains are fundamentally designed to be

social and to function within community. It follows, then, that teaching structures would support
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this research, noting that students often retain more when they work in groups, teach others, and

articulate things in their own words. In a speaking and listening class, this principle is

reverberated tenfold. Low level ESL students need to be listening and conversing, and what

better partners than the people who are going to speak as simply and slowly as they are. The

classroom should be a place of camaraderie. Cultural differences make this particularly

challenging in a diverse class, however it’s a principle worth pursuing. Using a role-play activity

where everyone is nervous, stiff, and uncomfortable is one thing, even if it’s a fantastically

crafted activity. Doing that same activity in a context where students feel comfortable, confident,

and enjoy being with one another is a different thing. I’ve seen the way a classroom changes

when students find themselves laughing, messing with one another, and conversing in what little

English they have. The emphasis shifts from learning an intimidating new language, in a country

they did not choose, but giggling with a group of people who are all in the same sort of boat.

While these methodological building blocks play out a little differently in a

speaking/listening, low level, adult ESL class for resettling refugees, the principles themselves

stay the same. For this level, it is important to include problem solving activities, total physical

response, including relevant language in every part of the class, involving the students in

multiple parts of the conversation, all at an age appropriately level. Speaking and listening are

the foundation for learning English, especially when students aren’t coming from a literacy

background. Listening becomes an integral step one, as students are going to absorb language by

hearing and observing, before they can produce. The question for the teacher then becomes,

“how do you incorporate listening activities that engage the students, encouraging them to move

into speaking, without moving too quickly or slowly?”

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Description of the Class

Since my current teaching experience is in World Relief’s Gateway A class, working

with pre-literate students who rely mostly on oral skills, this is the level I have chosen to focus

on for this unit. Beginning students are often the most challenging to teach, especially when they

come from contexts with no formal schooling or literacy training. Here, I’m assuming little to no

reading or writing ability in student’s L1 and several months of oral work in English. I’ve also

chosen a setting where the students would be resettling adult refugees, since that is a realistic

context for this low of a level. This is relevant in the sense that activities are fully immersive and

do not draw on any of the student’s L1 for decoding or translation purposes.

I’ve chosen a two-hour class period, covering five lessons in a week. The daily structure

is less important than the notably slow pace of each lesson. This unit is designed to spend the

entire week covering one topic: telephone calls. Hypothetically, this unit could also be adapted

for other class structures. For example, a class that met once a week on Saturday mornings could

choose to move more quickly and consolidate these lessons into a half-day lesson on telephone

calls. Naturally, the homework would need to be more extensive in that sort of setting, however

the material could still apply. All of that to say, the application of this unit spans beyond the

specific time and day context that it is written for. The specific reasons for the activities and

overall choice to do a speaking/listening unit on telephone calls is included in the unit

commentary at the end of the daily plan.

Objectives

Semester Objectives: students will be able to. . .

• Repeat words and phrases using correct pronunciation.

• Introduce themselves appropriately to another person and end a conversation.

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• Carry on simple English conversations in a variety of relevant life settings.

• Speak phrases related to instruction, requests, closings, comparisons, and actions.

• Speak in English with increasing confidence.

• Listen and comprehend simple passages or conversations.

• Follow along and comprehend short and simple stories that are read aloud.

• Grow in their ability to interpret meaning of unfamiliar words based on pictures, body

language, or circumstantial evidence.

• Move from repetition to consolidation and use of basic, oral English.

• Make telephone calls and use them to make an appointment, an inquiry, or call 911.

Day-to-Day Lesson Plans

Unit 11: On the Telephone

Day 1: Telephone conversations (introductions/conclusions)

Monday, 9-11am

Daily objectives: students should be able to…

• Understand the back-and-forth nature of a phone conversation
• Introduce themselves with appropriate phone etiquette
• End a phone conversation

9:00-9:30 Introductory Activity – Introducing the Telephone

Have students pull out their cellphones if they have them. Put up pictures on the board of
different kinds of phones – an office phone, a wall phone, a payphone, a cellphone, etc. Then put
up pictures of phone conversation scenarios – calling a family member, making an appointment,
inquiring about something, telling an ESL teacher that you are sick, dialing 911 in an emergency.
Students will likely have a decent amount of background knowledge in terms of understanding or
using the telephone, so the key here is to give visuals about telephone conversations and activate
a mental framework for telephone-related activities and vocabulary.

Have students listen to voice recordings of introductory and concluding telephone conversations:
Beginning: Hi Sarah, it’s Amy., Hello you’ve reached Maddie, etc.
Ending: It was good talking to you, Talk to you later, Thanks for calling, etc.

Have students listen and then repeat these back.

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9:30-10:00 Pre-listening
Explain that we are going to listen to a phone conversation from a movie. In the conversation a
man who makes animations is talking to his brother.

(Explain “animation”): Show Disney animation clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKQ2lHFamFA. Ask students if they’ve ever seen any of
these movies.

Explain illustrate on the board: the telephone conversation is between a man named Walt and his
brother, Roy. Walt drew the characters for those movies in the video. On the phone, he is talking
to his brother. He is selling his drawings to be made into movies. They will be shown in a
theater. He has exciting news. Someone is finally buying his drawings! But he sells them for how
much it costs for him to make them. So he doesn’t make money. His brother is worried.

10:00-10:30 Listening
Media Clip: 16:30-16:59 into the movie Walk Before Mickey
Watch clip once. Have the teacher and a volunteer say each line slowly, playing the parts of Walt
and Roy.

Video Transcript for reading

Walt: It’s happening Roy. Not only did I get my own place, but I have a new team together.
And we’ve sold our first animation.
Roy: Well that’s great news. Edna told me you moved out.
Walt: Oh and they’re going to be shown in Newman’s theaters.
Roy: That’s a big deal. How much are you making for each animation?
Walt: Thirty cents a foot.
Roy: How much does it cost you? Walt?
Walt: Thirty cents a foot.
Roy: So you’re selling at cost?
Walt: I forgot to add in profit.
Roy: Walt, you’ve gotta get your head out of the clouds.
Walt: It’s okay, don’t worry. It’s only a start.

Watch clip again. Without the video, have students hold up a red card if Walt is speaking and a
blue card when Roy is speaking.

10:30-11:00 Post-listening/Introductions and Conclusions

In pairs, have students stand back to back, pretending to be on the phone. One person will role-
play as Walt (holding a red card) and the other will pretend to be Roy (holding a blue card).
Have the student playing Walt introduce themselves after a “ring, ring” (“hello this is Walt”),
have Roy respond (“hi Walt, it’s Roy”). See if students can articulate any of the previous
listening clip by talking about making an animation or trying to sell something. Have the
students close the conversation (“I have to go now Roy,” “bye Walt”).
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Day 2: Taking a message

Tuesday, 9-11am

Daily objectives: students should be able to…

• Recognize vocabulary related to a call that is not intended for them
• Identify numbers within a telephone number
• Brainstorm ways to note a message for someone else

9:00-9:30 Introductory Activity and Review

Play a bingo-type game with pictures of different telephone scenarios. Have nine different
pictures on sheets, in random orders, with some sheets missing certain photos and including
others. Have students put a bean on the scenario that is called out – i.e. making a doctor’s
appointment, child talking on the phone, calling a teacher. The students who gets three beans in a
row, wins. The game can continue until all the scenarios have been called out and the students
are comprehending the different circumstances they are hearing.

9:30-9:45 Role Play Teacher/Volunteer Scenario

Have the teacher and a volunteer sit back to back in chairs. Have the volunteer pretend to call the
teacher: *ring ring, Teacher answers: Hello!
Volunteer responds: Hi, it’s Sarah. Is Max there?
Teacher: no, sorry he’s not here right now. Can I take a message?
Volunteer: That would be good. Can you let Max know he has an appointment tomorrow at
5:00? He will be seeing Dr. Chan.
Teacher: (marks the message down on the board/piece of paper), yes, I’ll let him know!
–if you have another volunteer, bringing them in as the message recipient would be helpful,
otherwise the first volunteer can play two roles: Volunteer 2 enters.
Volunteer 2: Hey, how’s it going?
Teacher: Good! Sarah called for you today. She left a message: it said that you have an
appointment tomorrow at 5:00 with Dr. Chan.
Volunteer 2: Thank you!

You could also present this scenario in video format, if you want to pause/play for
comprehension or don’t have the volunteer support.

9:45-10:00 Review Numbers 1-9 and Telephone Number Structure

Hold up cards with numbers 1-9, have students say each number. Have students practice
listening to the numbers and choosing the right one on a card. Contrarily, have students see
numbers on the board and then call out what it is. Since they are going to work on writing down
people’s numbers that are leaving a message, it’s important that they are proficient with
listening, reading, writing, and speaking numbers. Take this time to review whichever skill their
number retention is lacking in.

Take this space to introduce how many numbers are in a U.S. phone number (10). They will
come in sequences of three, three, four.

10:00-10:30 Take a Message Worksheet/Guided Listening

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Explain the vocabulary of “can I take a message?” Give students a worksheet with blanks in
areas that they’ll fill in from a listening track. Have the teacher read a script about someone
calling to remind someone else of an appointment at a health clinic. Give students a chance to
listen to the vocabulary and mark down, as best they can, the message that the teacher wants
them to pass along (or to circle the correct vocabulary, if students are not at the writing level
yet). Since this lesson is focused on taking a message, not listening to a voicemail, students
should practice asking the teacher to repeat the message until they understand. When reviewing
the worksheet in small groups, have the students practice telling the teacher to slow down or
repeat something.

Can I leave a message? (students respond, yes). My name is Kate and I’m calling to
remind Man Maya about her doctor’s appointment. Her appointment is for Tuesday, at
8am, at the health clinic on Roosevelt Road. If you need to call us, the health clinic phone
number is 770 – 456 – 5672. Thank you, bye.

1. my name is ______
2. calling to remind ______ about their _______
3. Their appointment is for Monday / Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday (day), 6 / 8 / 10 am,
at the _________ clinic.
4. Health Clinic phone number 7 7 0 _ _ _ 5 6 _ _

Play the recording as many times as it takes for the students to copy down the details of the
message or circle the right word.
The LifePrints ESL for Adults Level 1 Worksheets and recordings could be helpful for this
section of the lesson.

10:30-11:00 Using Personal Symbols to Take Messages

Give students a blank piece of paper. Have then divide the paper into four sections and number
then. In each section students are going to take down a message that the teacher gives.
Section 1: Can you tell them that I need to cancel our meeting for tomorrow?
Section 2: Can you tell them to call me back? My phone number is 770.555.2136
Section 3: Can you tell them that I got the job! I’m so happy!
Section 4: Can you tell them they have an appointment on Friday at 8am?

Give students crayons or colored pencils, since students will likely be drawing more pictures
than writing down words.

Day 3: Making an appointment

Wednesday, 9-11am

Daily objectives: students should be able to…

• Review finding and dialing unfamiliar numbers
• Call an office and schedule an appointment
• Note the time, day, and location of an appointment

9:00-9:20 Ball Tossing Back-and-Forth Conversations

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Have students stand in a circle and toss a ball to one another. Go through a series of several
questions. The person tossing should ask the question and then the person catching should
answer, repeating the process by asking someone else the question. Questions could include:
What is your phone number?
Where do you live now?
Where are you from?
How long have you lived in the United States?

9:20-9:30 Appointment Vocabulary

Put up photos on the board of different things the students might have to make appointments for
– to meet a child’s teacher, a doctor’s appointment, a job meeting, etc. With each picture, ask the
students what is happening (i.e. identifying that it is a doctor’s office). Make sure students
understand each of these scenarios and that they might involve making a phone call to set up a
time to meet. See if students have any other life examples about things they would have to call to
set up appointments for.

9:30-10:00 Listening Stations

Have students rotate to different stations (potentially around different tables) that are each
structured around one of the appointment scenarios. There, they could have a picture they color
of that situation. Each table could have an audio recording of what making an appointment in
that circumstance might sound like (“you’ve reached the office of Dr. Sam, if making an
appointment press 1” versus “hello, this is patty with Lawson Elementary school, how can I help
you?”). Students can practice listening to the recordings and practicing the relevant vocabulary
with each other. If they are learning to read, they could have a list of basic words related to
making that specific kind of appointment.

10:00-10:30 Back-to-back Chair Conversations

Students will then practice what they learned at each of the listening stations. In small groups,
have students practice appointment conversations with a volunteer. Have a student and volunteer
sit back to back in chairs, imitating a phone conversation. The teacher should act as a recording
or as a real person, indicating what the student should do or say. For example:
Student pretends to call auto repair office.
Volunteer: Hello, Shane’s Auto Shop, this is Sally speaking. How can we help you?
Student: I need tires for my car.
Volunteer: Okay! We can do that – what time did you want to bring the car in?
Student: I work in the morning. Can I come in the evening?
Volunteer: Sure, we are open until 6.
Student: Can I bring my car in tomorrow at 5?
Volunteer: Yep, we will see you then!
Student: Thank you. Bye.

If students are still struggling to produce the language, have another volunteer or teacher speak
and then have the student repeat the phrase.

Day 4: Leaving or Receiving a voicemail

Thursday, 9-11am
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Daily objectives: students should be able to…

• Identify a voicemail indication
• Understand the purpose behind a voicemail
• Include necessary details related to their message

9:00-9:15 Introducing Voicemails

Have students watch a video such as this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7ukm-PhQJY
This video includes, not only listening to a voicemail and taking down information, but also
leaving a message for someone who isn’t there (which students should have learned in the
previous lesson). While students may not be able to pick up all the specific vocabulary or
meaning in this video, the goal is to have them review different components of phone
conversations and expose them to more conversational English.
After playing the video once all the way through, go through each section. In the first part, the
woman is listening to a voicemail – that is what we will be doing today. She hears details in the
message and writes them down. She calls the number back.
In the second part – the man answers the phone but Mrs. Ming is not home. The man takes a
message. Remember when we practiced taking a message for someone who isn’t home? Have
students watch the part where the man takes the message and review the important details of
taking a message for someone else.

9:15-10:00 Creating Voicemail Maps

Give students a worksheet to help them learn the structure of voicemail messages and taking
down important information. On the worksheet, go through pictures of a voicemail map structure
– name, reason, and number they can be reached at. They should practice writing or speaking
their name, phone number, and the reason they are calling (having to miss ESL class, going to be
late to ESL class, or needing a ride to ESL class).

10:00-10:30 Listening to Voicemails

Play audio recordings of voicemails for the students. Have the teacher record voicemail audios
based on the notecard information provided by the students (or from a class roster). Hearing their
personal information should make the recordings both more interesting and more practical for
the students. Give students a sheet with three pictures – a person, a question mark, and blanks for
a phone number. Students should practice listening to voicemails and marking down who is
calling, what they wanted to say, and what the number to call them back is. Since it’s a
recording, students can listen to the audio as many times as needed for comprehension.

10:30-11:00 Practicing Speaking Voicemails

Have students speak into a voice recording and play it back for them. Have them include
voicemail details based on prompt they choose from a jar – leaving a voicemail for a friend
asking them to talk later, leaving a voicemail about a job interview, leaving a voicemail about
visiting a family member (assuming students have vocabulary for these scenarios, otherwise just
have students practice saying their name, the date, and for someone to call them back later).

Day 5: Dialing 911

Friday, 9-11am
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Daily objectives: students should be able to…

• Understand the purpose behind calling 911
• Successfully dial 911
• Converse and brainstorm about a problem that needs solving
• Use the necessary language to explain an emergency

9:00-9:15 Reviewing Dialing Numbers

Have students pull out their phones and demonstrate the different ways they call people – typing
in a number, finding them in their contacts, looking up a number online/in a phonebook.

9:15-9:30 Reviewing Emergency Language

Have students repeat words such as “help,” “fire,” “accident,” “choking,” “unconscious,”
“bleeding,” and “crash.” Put up pictures of each word on the board (students should be relatively
familiar with some of these words from other lessons, although they likely have not associated
them with emergency situations).
The LifePrints ESL for Adults Level 1 worksheets on calling 911 could be helpful here. Also see
resources below, from MiraCosta College Noncredit ESL Program.
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9:30-10:30 Problem Solving Activity

Read through a story about a man driving in his car who slides off the ice and hits a tree. Give
students a picture-book visual of the story. Have them point out words they don’t understand. Put
up pictures on the board to help students visualize the story.

Ask simple comprehension questions, such as “what is the man’s name?,” “what is he doing?,”
and “what is the weather like?”

Once students have demonstrated comprehension about the storyline, ask about the problem.
Associating the members and means involved with the problem helps students to identify exactly
what the issue is. For example: is the man happy or sad that he is driving? Is the man happy or
sad that he crashes into the tree? Is the problem that the man is driving to work or that it is icy?

The people might have different cultural background responses to accidents like this – try to
gauge this by asking students what they would do where they’re from (you can contextualize
something like it being icy with simply asking what they would do if there was an accident in
their home country). Ask them what they think they should do in the United States.

Introduce the concept of 911 as the number to call in emergencies. Explain that it reaches the
police, medical, and fire stations.

In small groups, have the students brainstorm solutions to the problem (including calling 911).
Who else could the man call? If he was bleeding, how does that change things? If there is no
noticeable damage to himself, the car, or the tree, what about then? What if he notices smoke
coming from the hood of his car?

Have the students report to the class the responses they came up with. If there’s time, the
students can draw a picture of what this situation might look like and what they might do.

10:30-11:00 Reviewing 911 Calls

Pass out activity worksheet where students can check if they should or shouldn’t call 911. On the
worksheet, have columns of photos and check boxes underneath that either say yes/no or have
green/red (if students can’t read yet). For example, a picture of someone having fallen off a
ladder should be checked “yes,” while a picture of a baby crying because they are being made to
eat vegetables should be checked “no.”
An example worksheet is included below, from TeachersPayTeachers.com:
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Daily Lesson Plan Commentary

The topic of telephone conversations is one that lends itself well to speaking and listening

lesson plans, in addition to being a vital skill that newly arriving refugee students would need to

learn, practice, and refine. Part of what makes telephone conversations hard for ESL students is

the lack of external signals that aid in understanding and comprehension. Since students can’t

interpret body language, facial expressions, or read the affective nature of a situation, they must

rely completely on listening comprehension. In addition, the nature of specific telephone

conversations can look very different than everyday face-to-face conversations. The reality of
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calling 911, listening a voicemail, or making an appointment over the phone necessitate different

kinds of listening and speaking skills.

Another reason that I chose telephone conversations for the topic of this unit is that it aids

in an overall goal of practicing conversational English. If one of the goals is to help students

matriculate into daily American life, with an increasing confidence in their speaking and

listening abilities, practicing conversations with particularly challenging comprehension nuances,

such as conversing without being able to interpret body language, students will hopefully find

other kinds of conversations easier. The vocabulary included in these lessons would be relevant

and an applicable review of previously learned survival English (appointments, jobs, locations,

family, etc.).

I chose not to include break time in the actual write-up of the lesson plan, since I didn’t

want it to detract from the actual breadth of the material. In reality, however, building a set time

for a break would be important in the daily lesson, especially for a two-hour lesson with students

who are not familiar with long classes. Giving them a time to speak in their native language, rest

their brains, and use the restroom would be helpful in ensuring that they come back refreshed

and ready to learn.

In terms of the actual activities that I chose for the daily plans, I included mostly simple

texts, all of which could be easily created or produced by a teacher. Even something as simple as

recording audio on a phone can be efficient and effective, since the teacher can adjust the text per

the specific needs and level of the class. Since there are a lot of things that low level students are

not ready for, and many beginner workbooks or readers move quickly or are intended for

students with some level of literacy, many of the activities I chose aren’t tied to a specific

textbook. There are a variety of resources in terms of activity sheets or video texts, however I
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chose to include mostly teacher adaptive lesson plans and activities in this unit. They could be

tweaked or manipulated to fit many different settings and levels within a beginning classroom,

which ultimately felt most helpful in terms of creating a hypothetical, low level unit plan.