EFL Methodology
ASSIGNMENT 3
Materials
Student:
Javiera Carrillo Ibez
Natalia Cuevas Pereira
Teachers:
Roxana Correa
Theresa St John
November, 2017
Assignment aim
The aim of the assignment is for future English teachers to be able to plan
activities for a unit, dealing with the number of lessons in which those activities
should be implemented. Moreover, the objective of this assignment is focuses on
making decisions from a teacher perspective, especially in terms of which activities
are really useful for students (regarding their level and their goal in the second
language). In this assignment we selected, adapted, rejected and supplemented
different activities.
Context
The lessons are planned for 35 young adults students with a low-intermediate
level of English in a University of Concepcin. Furthermore, students have 1 hour of
English per day to reach their goal, which is to balance all their skill development,
grammatical accuracy and vocabulary extension.
This assignment presents five lesson of 1 hour. Each lesson include three
different activities. Furthermore, we will present two charts with the information about
the lessons. Firstly, chart number 1 includes a summary of our planning decisions
lesson by lesson. Secondly, chart number 2 is about our teaching decisions on each
of the activities, in there you will find out about the activities that we selected,
adapted, rejected and supplemented.
Charts
1. Summary of planning decisions (Table 5.1)
Stage Objective Procedure Interaction Aids Time
(brief (Aims) (minutes)
description)
Lesson one Introduce new T-Ss PPT
topic about
Lead-in vocabulary 5
related to
Activate physical
previous appearance
knowledge
related to
Lesson one adjectives to Students will
describe watch a video Speakers
people. about physical T-Ss Data 15
Practice appearance projector
and they will
take notes
Lesson one Students will T-Ss Computer
write in Ss-Ss 40
TodaysMeet
Production their own
physical
description
Lesson two Introduce topic T-Ss Flashcard
Activate about s
Lead-in previous description of 10
knowledge physical
about how to appearance
describe
hairstyles.
Lesson Two Students will T-Ss Computer
Identify read The Little Cmap
Practice vocabulary Match Girl and tools 35
related to create a
physical character map
description in
the text.
Lesson Two Students will Ss-Ss Computer
describe Data 15
Closing pictures about projector
famous people PPT
for their
classmates to
guess which
person is
projected
behind them.
Lesson three Introduce new T-Ss Flashcard
Activate topic about life s
Lead-in previous stages 15
knowledge
about how to
describe
Lesson different life students will Ss-Ss Workshee
Three stages. ask questions t
to find out each 30
Production Demonstrate person with the
d Knowledge statement.
related to
physical
Lesson three descriptions Students will Ts-Ss Speakers
listen just the
Closing way you are 15
and identify
adjectives in
the song.
Lesson four Introduce new T-Ss Pictures
topic about
Lead-in Activate clothing style 10
previous and how to
knowledge describe them.
about how to
describe
Lesson four clothes. Student will Ts-Ss Google
Students will write a Ss-Ss doc
Practice learn how to paragraph Ss-Ts pictures
write a short about their
paragraph favorite
describing a member of 35
member of their family in a
their family. Word
document, and
then they will
share their
work with the
class.
Lesson four Students will Ts-Ss Speakers
listen an audio Computer
Practice from exam . 15
english, and
match the
character
according each
description.
Lesson five Students will Ss-Ss Google
write in group doc
Production Students will of five about
work in bank robbery 35
groups to using
demonstrate adjectives to
everything describe the
they had characters.
learn in the
Lesson five previous 4 Each group will Ss-Ss Not
lessons present their needed.
Production (vocabulary, writing in front 25
pronunciation of the class.
,)
2. Summary of teachers decisions (Table 5.4)
Lesson Select Reject Adapt Supplement
One 2 5 Listening and
writing
Two 6 and Reading Speaking
Three 3 4 Listening
Activity 1 with
Four 7 a writing.
We added a
listening.
Five Writing activity Oral
presentation
Pedagogical decisions on chart 2
In this section, we will present our pedagogical decision on chart number two.
In other words, we explained the reasons why we chose some activities, the
changes that we made in some of them, and the additional activities that we added.
Lesson 1
For this lesson were selected two activities number 2 & 5, and we
supplemented this lesson with two other activities, a listening and a writing. On the
one hand activity number 2 is going to be used as a lead-in without any change;
moreover, the purpose of this activity is to activate students previous knowledge on
the unit Judging by appearances. On the other hand, activity number 5 was
rejected, due to we think that the activity is not useful for students final purpose of
improving their English skills; furthermore, students have an intermediate level of
English, so it is inferred that they have knowledge related to colors, shapes, sizes to
describe other peoples eyes.
Furthermore, the first activity we added in the practice part of the lesson is a
listening activity (to see the supplementation, go to Appendix 1). This activity is for
students to listen to a video about physical appearance adjectives, so they will be
able to take vocabulary notes, and also they will listen to the right pronunciation of
the words. Additionally, we added a writing activity (to see the supplementation, go
to Appendix 1.1) in which students, using the page TodaysMeet, will describe
themselves physically in a forum, this activity is for them to practice how to describe
physical appearance.
Lesson 2
For this lesson we adapted activity number 6; moreover, the activity will be
used as a lead-in, due to it is a short activity for students to remember what they
know regarding how to describe peoples hair. In addition, we adapted this activity
because it is not real for students, so we selected images of famous people with the
purpose of them to recognize their hair features in an easier form. Additionally, we
include two more pictures, in which students will explain why they do not match
those pictures with an alternative given. The objective of this change is to make the
task more difficult and to find out if students could recognize the differences between
adjectives (to see the adaptation, go to Appendix 2)
In this lesson, activity reading is going to be use as practice; also it will be
adapted (to see the adaptation, go to Appendix 2.1). The changes in this activity is
related to the text itself, because we think that it is not necessary to use the text that
is provided in the book due to in the same unit there is another text which is very
similar. The adaptation is a completely new text, and we will ask students to create a
character map regarding only physical appearances on the main character of the
story.
In addition, we will supplement (to see the supplementation, go to Appendix
2.2) this lesson with a game in which students will describe physically some pictures
of famous people to one of their classmates. The pictures will be projected so the
whole class will see the character, and everybody will try to describe the person for
the classmate which is guessing. This activity is an speaking activity for students to
practice the structures of descriptions and the vocabulary pronunciation.
Lesson 3
For this lesson we selected activity number 3 as a lead-in, for the reason that
the activity is simpler for student, so they will remember all life stages. Besides,
activity number 4 will be used as well in this lesson. However, as we think that the
activity can cause problems regarding to bullying or discrimination among students,
we decided to adapt the activity into a game called find someone who, where the
students are going to walk around the class and ask questions regarding physical
appearances to find which person correspond to each statement on a worksheet. (to
see the adaptation, go to Appendix 3).
In addition, we will supplement this class with a listening activity (to see the
supplementation, go to Appendix 3.1). Students will watch and listen a Bruno Mars
video called just the way you are, and they will try to identify all the adjectives in the
song.
Lesson 4
For this lesson we selected activity number 7 as a lead-in, due to its main
purpose is to make students elicit some definitions regarding adjectives to describe
clothes; however, we will adapt this part with images to make the activity more
engaging (to see the adaptation, go to Appendix 4) . Furthermore, activity number 1
is going to be supplemented with an extra writing activity in which students -using
activity 1 as a model- will write a 5 lines paragraph describing their favorite member
of their family. (to see the supplementation, go to Appendix 4.1). The aim of the
supplementary activity is for students to have a realistic assignment, and also for
them to develop their writing skills. Additionally, we will incorporate another activity to
this lesson (to see the supplementation, go to Appendix 4.2). In this activity students
will work at the computers lab in a activity on the webpage ExamEnglish. Besides,
they will listen to an audio, and they will match each character with her/his definition.
Lesson 5
For this lesson we selected the writing activity for students to demonstrate
everything they learned during the five lessons; however, we are going to adapt the
instructions (To see the adaptation, go to appendix 5). The changes in the
instructions were made because we wanted to encourage the collaborative writing in
the students through a virtual environment as it is Google Docs.
Additionally, this activity is going to be supplemented (to see the
supplementation, go to appendix 5.1) with an oral presentation in which the groups
will to perform their previous writing assignment in front of the class. Moreover, this
activity has two objectives, the first is to implement the speaking skill of students as a
supplement of everything that they had learnt during the entire unit, and the second
is to make students feel confident while speaking in front of the people.
Conclusion ( which were the main difficulties to make decisions about
the activities)
After the analysis of each of the activities and realizing the purpose of them,
we find some negative and positive aspects while reaching an agreement on the
activities and the changes -or not- that were needed.
On the one hand, one negative aspect (the one that is the biggest for us) was
setting a context in each of the activities. Furthermore, we think that this happened to
us due to the lack of creativity in each of the tasks, and the lack of real context that
was not included on them. On the other hand, it was difficult to us to create the
activities that were used as a supplement. However, we think that with order and
collaboration, we were able to create activities that are related to the topic of the unit
and that will call the attention of the students.
Another part that was a bit difficult for us was the incorporation of TICs. It was
really difficult to find online resources that could match with the activities planned for
each lesson. Nonetheless, at the end this research was a positive situation, on the
grounds that we were able to research new technological mechanism to work with in
the future with our students.
Regarding to the positives aspects while doing this assignment, we were able
to get along in every decision that we made. Moreover, when we were facing each
one of the activities, we pointed out the negative and positive aspects of the activities
as individuals, and then we combine our ideas to create a final product. Additionally,
when we were creating the extra activities, we had in mind the activities that were
useful for us while we were in first year of the English program, so we think that the
students will relate to every activity that we planned.
Appendices
Appendix 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGdKDemKF30
Instructions: Watch the video and take notes about vocabulary related to physical
appearance.
Appendix 1.1
Instructions: Using the webpage https://todaysmeet.com/. Write about your own
physical appearance. Do not forget to use the vocabulary that you have learned from
the previous video.
Appendix 2
When we describe peoples hair, we normally give length first followed by colour and
style. e.g. He has got long dark hair in a pony tail.
Instructions: Match the adjectives on the box with the pictures above. There are two
extra pictures. Explain in the chart why you didnt match those extra pictures with
an adjective.
1. 2. 3.
4. 5. 6.
1.Balding 2.Straight 3.Curly 4.Spiky
Appendix 2.1
Instructions: Read the following text, and create a character map in Cmap Tools
about the main character of the story. You MUST include all the physical aspects
described in the text.
The Little Match Girl link:
https://americanliterature.com/author/hans-christian-andersen/short-story/the-little-
match-girl
Appendix 2.2
Instruction: Describe the pictures to your classmates that are in front of the class,
use only physical appearance descriptions.
Appendix 3
FIND SOMEONE WHO
Instructions: Walk around the classroom, and ask a question to find one person for
each of the following statements.
When you find someone who________, write the name of that person.
1. ________________________ is wearing a white shirt.
2. ________________________ has black hair.
3. ________________________ is wearing blue pants.
4. ________________________ has short hair.
5. ________________________ is wearing a belt
6. ________________________ is tall.
7. ________________________ has straight hair.
8. ________________________ is wearing white socks.
9. ________________________ has green eyes.
10. ________________________ has wavy hair.
11. ________________________ is wearing a black shirt.
12. ________________________ has a long black hair.
13. ________________________ is wearing a dress.
14. ________________________ has blue eyes.
15. ________________________ is wearing a jacket.
16. ________________________ has short blond hair.
17. ________________________ is wearing a pink shirt.
18. ________________________ is wearing a hat.
19. ________________________ has black hair in a pony tail.
20. ________________________ is wearing boots.
Appendix 3.1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjhCEhWiKXk
Instructions: Listen to the song Just the way you are by Bruno Mars, and write
down the adjectives that you can recognize from the song.
Appendix 4
Instructions: Match these adjectives with the definitions.
1. Casual A. Old/worn a lot
2. Scruffy B. Carefully dressed
3. Shabby C. well (expensively) dressed
4. Smart D. informal
5. Neat E. untidy/dirty
Appendix 4.1
Instructions: Write a short paragraph of 5 lines describing your favorite member on
your family. You can use the chart in activity 1 as a model. Include at least 7 physical
descriptions of the person.
___________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_________________________.
Appendix 4.2
https://www.examenglish.com/B1/b1_listening_describing_people.htm
Instructions: Listen to two students talking about teachers at their college. Match the
teachers names with the corresponding photo.
Appendix 5
Instructions: You were a witness to a bank robbery in your town. You got a good look
at the criminals when they took off their masks in the getaway car. In groups of five,
write in google doc about the robbery and include a full description of the criminal's
appearance. You should share one copy per group of your writing assignment with
the teacher.
Appendix 5.1
Oral presentation Checklist
Oral presentation
Name of the student: _________________________ Date: ______________
Group:________
YES NO
Student present 5 or more physical descriptions.
Student used accurately vocabulary related to physical
appearance.
Student made eye contact with the audience.
Student spoke clearly and loudly enough.
Student made good use of its time.
Student stick to the theme of the play.
Comments:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
References
McGranth, Ian.(2006) Materials evaluation and design for language teaching.
Edinburgh University Press LTD: Edinburgh. Chapter five.
TodaysMeet. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2017, from
https://todaysmeet.com/
Andersen, H. C. (n.d.). The Little Match Girl. Retrieved November 15, 2017,
from https://americanliterature.com/author/hans-christian-andersen/short-story/the-
little-match-girl
Exam English Ltd, all rights reserved. (n.d.). Exam English . Retrieved
November 15, 2017, from
https://www.examenglish.com/B1/b1_listening_describing_people.htm
