The Gossip Village, is an activity that I developed based on the materials that I picked from various sources to develop reading and speaking skills of my form 5 students. I decided to do this activity as the first reading lesson for unit two before exploring the reading task entitled 'Winchester Mystery House'.
Preparation
To carry out this lesson the teacher needs to prepare the following :
a) Eight texts on different mysterious houses. Teachers may use the text I used for my lesson, but it may need to be simplified if your students are very weak. You know the level of your students better, so improvise it accordingly. You may click here to download the materials.
b) Next, you also need some 'monopoly money' for students to use for transaction purposes during the activity. If you have Monopoly or SAHIBBA at home, you may use those money for the activity. As for me I have money templates which are designed for my classroom activities. The money templates were shared with me by a trainee teacher who came to my school many years ago. I can't recall her name, so I am giving credits to her. If you want to use the money template that I am using, you may download it here.
c) I prepared task sheets to be given at the end of the activity, to be done as a homework. It is more like a reflection than a practice task. Click here for the task sheet.
Preparation before you start the activity
To carry out this activity the teacher first needs to divide the class into 8 groups. I have 24 students in my class so, I put them into eight groups.
Each group will be given equal amount of money ( Depends on the 'amount' of money you have). I gave them 500 dollars per group.
Each group will have labels on their respective tables which is the name of their houses.
Task
The classroom is going to be turned into a 'Gossip Village' - a place where everyone is gossiping about the past of everyone's house without the knowing the past of their own houses.
Part 1
The first 10 -15 minutes of the lesson
Pupils dress up and get ready to become gossip queens. They can wear scarfs, sun glasses and other appropriate accessories. (I did not want to allow them to change clothes as it will be time consuming).
Pupils get into each group and they are assigned a house and a 'gossip' document which contains information of the people who lived in one of the houses in the 'Gossip Village'.
The village has eight houses, and each house has a name such as, Grey House, Rose Cottage, Annie's Cottage, HoneySuckle Cottage, Manor Farm, Willow Cottage, Hazel Cottage and Home Farm.
Pupils should be informed that they have just moved in into Gossip Village and each group owns as house here and in each of the house they discover a document related to one of the houses at their neighbourhood. For example, Grey House might have a document related to Annie's Cottage.
The document could be a love letter, a bill, a report card or a post card that may reveal some information about the past owners. Their task is to find out what happened in their respective houses many years ago.
Pupils are to read the documents carefully and identify all the important details. They are to discuss these details in their groups for the first 15 minutes. Pupils should not write notes.
Pupils are all dressed up and discussing the secret document that they have discovered
Part 2
20 minutes
In the second part of the lesson, pupils are to go around and share the information with their neighbours and at the same time they need to find the secrets of their own houses. They need to get at least 5 information about their own houses.
While they carry out this activity they have to follow the restrictions given below :
a) Every conversation should start by introducing one another, exchanging pleasantries or praising each others' scarfs.
b) Pupils should only speak in English. A fine of 100 dollars will be imposed if any other languages are spoken.
b) Pupils should not directly share the information to the owners of the houses, If they do, a fine of 100 dollars will be imposed. For example, if Grey House has a document about Annie's cottage, they should not talk directly about it to the owner's of Annie's Cottage, but they can tell to anyone else. So, the owners of Annie's Cottage will get the information concerning their house from people who have heard from the members of the Grey House.
c) The information shared should be negotiated for a certain amount of money. The higher the price the more detailed the information should be. For example, let's say the owners of Home Farm, has heard something useful about Annie's Cottage from Grey House. The owners of Home Farm can offer the information and negotiate the sum that they would like the owners of Annie's Cottage to pay them. This is how each house should negotiate to earn money and exchange information.
d) The information exchanged should be from the text. Pupils cannot make up stories.
e) The conversations should take place in pairs. However, if the class has odd numbers, three students in a group can be allowed. (all the three must be from different houses)
f) Pupils are not allowed to carry notes or any documents during the speaking part. All information shared should be based on what they remember from the reading.
exchanging information
trying to get information
gossiping girls!
Part 3
15 minutes
After the 20 minutes of information exchanging session, pupils are to return to their own houses. They are to share and discuss the information that they have gathered about their own houses and they need to explain what actually happened in their own houses in the past to the class. Each group takes turn to explain and the group that actually keeps the documents validate the information shared by the house owners. Pupils also share their opinions on the events happened at their houses. ( How they feel about it?)
Pupils are also to count the money that they have and the group that has the highest amount will be declared as the winner and they will be given the title 'Gossip Queens'.
Pupils counting their money
Part 4 (Closure)
10 minutes
Teacher sums up the lesson, distributes the task sheet to be completed as homework. Pupils are to write reflection on what is learnt during the lesson and what can be improved (I always forget to take pictures of my students' reflections, will remember the next round).
Teacher's Reflection
The lesson was conducted as planned. My role as a teacher was to make sure they understood the text, and discussed appropriately using the sequence connectors, linking words as well as appropriate vocabulary. This activity has helped students to develop better reading and speaking skills. While reading, they learnt to pick the important details to narrate to their friends and when narrating the ideas, they used the past simple and past continuous as instructed by the teacher ( me).
Dear teachers, you may develop and improvise this activity according to your own mould!
I completed the first writing task in unit one (pg14) with my form 5 students this week. Before the lesson, I prepared a task sheet for them as I did not want them to scribble on the textbook. If you are interested in using the modified task sheet, you may click here. If you are interested to
Preparation
a) Task sheets
b) Mini whiteboards
c) Marker pens
d) Post - it notes
Lesson introduction
Teacher begins the lesson by asking pupils to sit facing their should partners. Pupils are then asked to answer the following questions to each other. They are given five minutes. the questions are:
a) Tell your friend about the most important person in your life?
b) Who is the person? ( describe the person)
c) What is your relationship with the person?
d) Why is that person important to you?
After five minutes, teachers uses the ice - cream stick to pick names random to share what their friends has shared with them ( this is fun as they have to tell the class the information that was shared by their partners with them). Pupils are then directed to the textbook page 14.
Lesson Development
Activity 1
Pupils are asked to read the email from the English - speaking friend and identify all the questions that they are required to answer (students are given 4 to 5 minutes to do this depends on their proficiency level). After identifying the questions, students are to volunteer to read each and every question that was asked in the email. Teacher then directs students to the notes on the top of the textbook and explains on the importance of reading for details properly and understanding important points. Students are then directed to the questions given in the textbook to identify SITUATION, REASON, TOPIC AND LANGUAGE in the email.
Activity 2
In activity one, the pupils with guidance from the teacher have explored and dissected the email received from the English - speaking friend. In the second part of the lesson development, the teacher, with the students should explore on how to reply to the email. In this part of the lesson, the teacher shows a sampler to the students to read and identify the answers to the questions asked in the email. The sample is shown below :
This is a sampler shared with the students for discussion purposes
Note :
While discussing the sampler, I usually do not allow my pupils to take notes or copy down the important words. I just allow them to read, and discuss. I will only share the printed version of the sampler with them after they have submitted their work. Why do I show a sampler? I want my students to know what is expected from them. It is unfair to tell the students your expectation if you can't show what is expected from them. The sampler above is for a good class. If you are teaching students with low proficiency, you should simplify the essay to suit their proficiency level.
As students read the essay, they are to discuss in groups, the questions that are answered and if there are any unanswered questions (Teachers, you may leave some parts unanswered if you want your pupils to identify them).
Activity 3
In the first part of the lesson development, the question was dissected, in the second part the teachers explores the nuances of writing a reply to the email through a sampler and what's next ?
It is important to practice what students have gathered thus far. So, pupils are required to work in pair and write a reply based on the email that they have received from their English - speaking friend.
First pupils are given a few minutes to plan and write their drafts on the mini - whiteboard. This is a pair - work.
Pupils are working on their email.
Once they have completed their replies, pupils are required to do gallery walk. They are to spend 1 to 2 minutes (I used a whistle and blow it every two minutes to indicate the time) at each station reading and responding to their friends work. Pupils are asked to write one good thing that they have learnt and one improvisation that can be done to their friends essays ( this will work well with high proficiency students, if you are working with the lower proficiency ones, just ask them to identify whether their friends have responded to all the questions asked in the email, and leave a note which one they have not responded to)
Pupils are in the midst of analysing their friends' work
A piece of work that has received four responses
After the gallery walk, pupils are to reflect on their own work based on their friends' responses. Teacher responds to some of the outstanding work and also points out the areas that need improvisation. Pupils are then required to write an email responding to their English - speaking friend in about 140 - 190 words, as their homework.
Post - Lesson
Pupils are to write a 20-word reflection on three new things that they have learnt today.
Teacher's Reflection
When I look back at my lesson, I believe I have adhered to the learning standards and ensured that the students learnt what they are suppose to learn. As a teacher, when I plan my lessons, I don't plan it to make it impressive to others but plan it in such a way that learning occurs. That's all for now!
One of the ways to encourage your pupils to speak in English lesson is by developing lessons that would engage them. With the right activities, speaking lessons can be both fun and exciting for pupils.. The following is a speaking activity that I carried out recently. It turned out well as I could see the productive skill (Speaking) were being built among students when they attempted to speak throughout the lesson. This task is based on the Full Blast English language textbook page 12.
Preparation
The preparation for this lesson is very simple. All you need to do is prepare cards with the words learnt in the vocabulary section and also the words and phrases given to describe the activities in the pictures ( page 12). I had eight sets with 36 cards in each set. The number of sets you need depends on the number of students in your class. I have 32 students in my form four class and I wanted to put them in groups of four, so I needed eight sets. I printed them in different colours so that it would be easier for me to sort them out if the get mixed up.
Please click here if you want a pdf copy of the cards. Please bear in mind that we don't teach the same pupils so you may need to use simpler words if you are teaching the low proficiency group.
Lesson Introduction
Teacher begins the lesson by asking pupils to talk to their shoulder partner about an activity they did the most during the MCO. Then, pupils are then directed to the four activities shown in the pictures (page 12) . Pupils shout out loud the names of the activities and teacher writes them down on the whiteboard. Pupils are then directed to the vocabulary section (page 12) to just look and refresh on the vocabulary learnt previously. They are also asked to look at the list of words given in the box for speaking activity. Teacher explains the unfamiliar words with examples. After the explanation, pupils are then directed to the next activity.
Activity 1
The 'speaking cards' are placed in the middle as shown in the picture above. Before we start the activity, it is better to ask pupils to label themselves as student A, B, C and D. In this activity, pupils are to pick the card from the middle of the table and use the words in the card to describe one of the four activities (video gaming, bungee jumping, painting and American football). Pupils are free to speak on any of the four activities. They are to use simple present tense or present continuous tense only. Once they have spoken, they should not return the card but keep it with them. Pupils take turns to speak until all the cards are taken. At the end of the activity each student should have 4 to 5 cards in their possession (depends on number of cards you prepared).
Activity 2
With the cards that they have with them, pupils are now to start interacting with one another. For example, Student A would start using her speaking card containing the word 'Dangerous' by saying
"Bungee Jumping is a dangerous activity, do you agree with me student B?
Student B should respond by using any of the words she has with her. For example, let's say she uses the word 'thrilling' and she might say ;
" I agree with you to a certain extend but I feel that it is both thrilling and exciting. I would
love to give it a try one day. What is your opinion on this Student C?
Student C might say
" Bungee jumping is too risky, I rather spend my leisure time painting the pictures of nature. It is more relaxing. Do you share the same opinion with me, Student D?
So, the activity continues until all the cards are used up. Pupils are to place the cards to the middle of the table once they have used them. Pupils should also be reminded that they must use one card at a time. If they are unable to respond to their friends, they would miss a turn and the next pupil can answer the question using any of her speaking cards. In this task, students listen to their peers' statements or questions and respond appropriately.
If have tried this activity and I could see that students were able to use all the cards successfully. Students may agree and disagree, ask questions and respond to a question using the speaking cards they have relating to any one of the four activities given for their speaking task.
After completing the second task, students are then directed to the third activity.
Activity 3
Teacher picks one student from each group to redistribute the speaking cards to all the group members. This activity starts with student D. Student D, places one of the cards in the middle of the table and using the word in the card, she talks about one of the four activities that they have been discussing. When student D is done sharing opinion/feeling/fact/question any other group members can respond immediately by placing another card in the middle. The response could be agreeing and disagreeing or simply comparing with another free time activity ( from the four). Pupils continue to respond to one another as quickly as they can. The one who finishes all the cards first will be the winner. This task requires pupils to listen carefully, think and respond immediately to the statements/questions offered.
Please take note that, pupils can only respond using one card, and they need to wait for another person to speak before they could speak again. And if there is anyone in the group who is unable to use all her cards at the end of the activity, she should continue speaking while the rest of the members observe and help her. This activity can also make the class a little noisier as students race with one another to speak.
Activity 4
Students speak to their shoulder partners by referring to the questions given in the textbook (page 12).
Closure
Students write on the exit cards on what went well in their learning today.
Teacher's role throughout the lesson
The teacher observes the task. Walk from group to group and offer help where needed while assessing the students. Also observe students' use of simple present and present continuous tense. The should be using these two tenses and they have learnt them in lesson two previously. This is a place for them to practice the tenses in communication with their peers. Teacher also corrects students where appropriate but should refrain from doing overt correction.
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