English Language Form 4 - Writing (Lesson 5)

I have been busy with a lot of work for the last few days and could not share much. However, I find time today to share a writing lesson which I developed recently. This lesson is based on the Form 4 Fullblast Textbook (pg.13). 

Well, before I get started, as teachers it is important for all of us to remind ourselves that essay writing is the major part of secondary school and it is our responsibility to explore different ways to engage our students in writing. For some of us, making our students write essays may be a daunting task but that does not mean we should give up and make them copy sample essays instead. So, please try a variety of activities to engage your students in writing lessons. Some may work and some may not. Don't just give up yet!!!

Now, let us get into the lesson. 

For the introductory activity, students were asked a few questions about webpages and websites and how they differ from one another. Learners were then directed to the following reading task : 

Students were required to read the text above and as they read, they were to underline all the sentence starters in the text. They also identified all the linking words in the text such as and, but, so and because. 

After reading, students 'shouted out' the list of sentence starters, followed by the linkers. The teacher listed them on the whiteboard. 

In the next task, students were required to work in their small groups. They were to identify three from the eight categories to brainstorm ideas.  As they brainstorm, they were also reminded that they could actually pick ideas from the text that they have read earlier. I also asked them to write their sentences using the simple present and present continuous tenses(They learnt these in lesson 2). 

After the brainstorming activity, students worked in their groups to create a webpage for "Aminah". They used all the ideas that they have gotten from the text and brainstorming activity to complete their webpages. The following pictures were taken while students were preparing their webpages. 

The following are some examples of the students' completed task : 

After completing the webpages, students did the "Gallery Walk' activity. They moved from one group to another and spent about two minutes identifying spelling and grammatical errors. They were told that the ideas should be developed in simple present and present continuous tenses just like how Ahmad's webpage had been developed. Students were reminded to only work on these two errors and write one thing that they like about the webpage. The pictures below were taken while students were doing the "Gallery Walk" activity. 

All the activities above helped students to build ideas and knowledge that would help them to write up their own webpage. I believe that students have learnt a large deal through all the activities and they are up for an individual task.

So, I asked them to write their own personal webpage by picking any 3 out of the 8 categories of ideas as their homework. The essays must be in about 150 to 200 words.  

And that's all for now.... Happy Teaching and Happy Ponggal to those who are celebrating it!!

English Language Form 4 - Lesson 2 (Language Awareness)

Today I had my second lesson with 4S1 on language awareness which is the second lesson in Form 4 CEFR - aligned Scheme of Work.

So this was how the lesson went : 

After introducing the success criteria, I gave 5 minutes for the students to discuss Simple Present and Present Continuous in their groups. They had learnt these tenses while they were in  Form 2 and 3. So, this lesson was an extension of what was learnt in previous years. The discussion was to activate their schemata. 

The discussion led to the next activity where students had to identify Simple Present and Present Continous in a teacher prepared task sheet and they were also required to identify and circle all the Stative verbs used in the sentences. You can download the task sheet here. 

Upon completing Task A in the task sheet, students were asked to put the task sheet aside. I continued the lesson by directing students to look at page 9 in their textbooks and gave examples of the two tenses that were being focussed. We also discussed how Simple Present Tense and Present Continuous Tense were used in context by referring to the text on Social Networking Sites(page8). Students were asked to identify all the Simple Present and Present Continuous Tenses in the text. Stative verbs were also discussed. 

After the discussion ended students were asked to look at the task sheet again and check and correct their answers. Task B in the task sheet and the grammar practise in the textbook were given as homework. 

After completing the tasks, students played a board game. To play this game you need a dice and also a striker. This is how the game is played:  

1. The game has words that are used in the text on Social Networking Sites and some are related to computer vocabulary. 

2. At the bottom of each word, it is stated Simple Present or Present Continuous. 

3. Students who stop at Present Continuous will have to verbally construct a sentence in Present Continuous and if they stop at Simple Present, they will have to construct a sentence on Simple Present. 

4. You may download the board game here. 

5. For every correct sentence, students get 2 marks and a deduction of 2 marks for wrong 

    sentence-construction (I made the rules simple, as to not complicate things). 

The pictures below were taken when my students were playing the grammar boardgame. 

Before the lesson ended, students completed exit cards on what they learnt today. 

Happy Teaching!!

Ready to Print Exit Cards!!

Exit cards are often used in post - lessons to get students to summarise the lesson learnt or to display what they have understood at the end of a lesson. Exit cards can be in many different forms and teachers can actually design their own exit cards based on what is relevant for their lessons. 

After referring to some online and offline resources,  I have prepared different types of exit cards which I am planning to use in my lessons and I thought of sharing them here. Exit cards can provide us with immediate information that we can use to assess our students' understanding, monitor their progress and to gather feedback on our own teaching. Exit cards do not only help us to assess our students but it is also a way for us to reflect our own teaching practices. The following are some of the exit cards that I am sharing here. 

a) Summarising the lesson

This is an interesting way to summarise the lesson. If you are having a speaking and listening task, you may want your students to reflect whatever they have listened and spoken in a written form. This exit slip can be a great way to reflect whatever learnt during listening/speaking lesson. 

b) Writing the summary of a lesson and listing new words

Besides summarising, if you are exploring new vocabulary in your lesson, this exit card will be a suitable one. This will help us to assess students' vocabulary gain at the end of the lesson. 

c) Answering simple questions

We can also use exit cards with three simple questions. I think this exit card will be suitable when we teach grammar. This will help students to reflect on new grammar rules that they learn. Undeniably this can also be used for other lessons. Look at the questions and think whether the exit card is relevant for your lesson before using it or else students will return empty papers. 

d) 3 - 2 - 1 

This is a common exit slip that can be used in almost all lessons but remember not to use it too often as students will get bored doing the same thing. A little variety will spice up things and help students to put on their thinking caps.  I have used this particular exit slip many times in previous years and not planning to use it this year.  

e) Reflection slip

When you use this exit slip, you are actually giving your students the liberty to decide whether or not they like the lesson. So, if you want your students to assess your lesson, this is one simple and quick way. 

f) Your opinion matters 

This is another exit slip where students are required to form an opinion around the topic discussed and they are to give relevant details to back up their opinion. This exit slip will be suitable when we are discussing topics related to certain issues, just like the reading task in unit 1 in the form 4 textbook where it discusses issues related to social networking sites. 

You may download the ready to print pdf version of the exit slips here. You may print in coloured papers of your choice. 

Happy Teaching!!! 

Reading Activity - Full Blast Unit 1

I began my lesson this year with a reading activity. This lesson is based on the 'Full Blast!' textbook, page 8.  I did not try anything ambitious as my intention is to develop my students reading skills using simple activities that will work for everyone, especially for my students. 

So, this was how the lesson went : 

Before I began the lesson, I put my students into small groups and they remained in the same groups throughout the lesson.  

For the pre-reading activity, I wanted to activate students prior knowledge on social networking sites(SNS), so students were given three questions to be discussed in their groups. After discussion, each group choose a representative to share the outcome of the group discussion. The sharing session then led to the next activity. 

The first round of discussion is in progress 

For the next activity, students were required to read the text assigned to them individually. There were four students in a group and each of them was assigned one section of the text. I also prepared supplementary task sheets to help them with the reading activity. You may click here to download the task sheet. As they read, students were required to fill in the necessary information in the task sheet provided and share them during the discussion with the rest of the class. They were required to identify the opinions of each individual about SNS in the text and together with the opinion they were also identified reasons given for the opinions. After completing the task,  students exchanged their answers with members from other groups.

Students completing tasks given in the supplementary task sheet while reading the text.

Students completed the supplementary task individually before discussing as a group

A student sharing opinion  and reason 

Upon completing this, I drew students attention to the next activity in the task sheet, where they have to read through the entire text again as a group to identify the advantages and disadvantages of SNS. Again, to save time I asked them to complete the task in their respective groups. After completing the table, students were asked to shout out their answers for the teacher's approval. This activity is followed by task C and D in the student's book. 

Students found it easier to complete task C and D in the textbook as they had read the text more than twice and understood the opinions of each individual in the text through the supplementary task. 

The next activity was speaking, due to time constraint, students were required to stay put in the same groups. I used talking chips so that students will be focussed and know their roles. Each student was given 8 chips. The chips have three different colours. Two pink chips for questioning, three blue chips to respond to a statement/question/answer and three yellow chips for them to state their opinions. The speaking task was very organised due to the use of the talking chips. 

Students are engaged in speaking task using the talking chips.

As a closure for this lesson, a few students were randomly picked using ice-cream sticks to share what they have learnt today. 

Happy Teaching!!!