Friday, July 25, 2008

Creative Writing: Showing Rather Than Telling

Outcomes:
Students will be able to differentiate between "showing" and "telling" in writing.
Students will be able to add details in order to improve descriptive passages.

Time: 30 minutes

Resources: white board/markers

Presentation:

Ask students: Which of the following endings is better? Why?

A. I had finally finished the long race across the Sahara desert.
B. As I crossed the finish line, a surge of excitement went through my body. I knelt down and kissed the ground. Finally, after weeks of trudging through endless sand dunes, it was over.

Allow students to discuss the two endings. The second ending is better because it gives the reader a vivid picture of what happened. The first ending only tells. When writing, we want the reader to be able to see, taste, smell, hear and sense things just as we are. It is important to use details that invoke imagery.

Write the following sentence on the board: Today the weather was nice.

Ask students: How could we add more details to this sentence? We don't know what the weather was like at all. Was it sunny, raining, cloudy, or what?
Ask students orally to think of ways to better describe the nice weather, jot down ideas on the board.

Continue reading the detailed lesson activity here

Making Story Outlines

Key Concepts: genre, setting, characters, plot, outline
Time: 45 minutes
Resources: 1 copy of Sample Story Outline per student OR this material on an overhead, white board & markers

Presentation: Elements of a Story Outline (15 minutes)


Genre

Ask students, "What does genre mean?" Elicit answers from students. If they are unable to define it, you can tell them it means "type."

Ask, "Can you think of different movie genres?" Write student responses on the board. Responses may include romance, horror, documentary, western, science fiction, comedy, action, adventure, musical, etc.

After writing all the responses on the board, say, "It's the same thing with books! Just like we have different types of movies, we have different types of stories. Can you think of what types of stories there are?" Again write the answers on the board and compare them to the movie categories. Inform students that whenever they want to start writing a story they should first decide the genre.

Setting

Say, "The setting answers the questions where and when." Explain that when writing a story we need to describe the place."

Continue reading lesson plan here

Speaking Fluency Part II

Objectives:
1) Be able to recognize features of formal and informal speech
2) Analyze a natural speech sample
3) Be confident in using features of natural speech including discourse markers & fillers to sound more like a native speaker
4) Be able to share a narrative in a fluent fashion by making use of natural speech features

Time: 120 minutes

Resources:
Text for Activity 1 on handouts (one per student)
White board & markers
Speech Sample for Activity 3 on handouts (one per student)

Lesson Components

Warm Up (10 minutes)


Greet each student with a different slang greeting.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hi. How's it goin'?

"Hey man. How're things?"

"Yo! What have you been up to?"

"Hello. What's up with you?" (pronounced "wichu")

Explain to students that we do not always say the same greeting when we meet each other. Some are more formal and others are more informal. Write the new slang expressions on the board and have students practice greeting each other.

Presentation 1: Features of Informal Spoken English (15 minutes)

Say, "When you speak fluently you are usually speaking in an informal situation. Due to this fact, it is important to be able to recognize and imitate features of informal spoken English such as the following:

Read Complete Lesson Details Here

Speaking Fluency Part I

Lesson Objectives:

1) Understand the concept of speaking fluency
2) Recognize the difference between formal and informal speech

Resources: Presentation 2.0 examples (on overhead or handouts)

Time: 50 minutes

Lesson Components:

Warm Up (5 minutes)

Say, "Today we are going to talk about fluency." Write the word fluency on the board. Ask students,

"What do you think it means to be fluent in a language?"
"What languages are you fluent in?"
"How do you know when you are fluent in a language?"

Call on students for responses. Allow them to share but do not give your answers.

Presentation- 1.0 What is Fluency? (10 minutes)

Present the following information. Make sure to read it over thoroughly before and make some notes so that you do not just read this text. Write key words on the board. Key words and phrases are underlined. Fluency is the property of a person or of system that delivers information quickly and with expertise...

Read Complete Article Here

Saturday, July 5, 2008

How to Teach English

Date: July 29th, July 30th, July 31st, and August 1st (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday)

Timing: 9am-12pm

Medium: English

Fee: 2000

Who Should Attend:
Any teacher or teacher trainer who would like to learn the basics of how to teach English. In order to take full advantage of the course, participants should be prepared to spend one hour a day on at home assignments.

Workshop Purpose:
This workshop will serve to equip participants with basic theory and practical skills for English teaching.

Outcomes:
• Learn how to teach receptive skills (reading & listening)
• Learn how to teach productive skills (speaking & writing)
• Learn about the basic parts of speech in English
• Learn about the pronunciation and basic phonology of English

Fun with Grammar - Verb Tenses

Date: July 24th, 25th, and 26th (Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

Timing: 9am-12pm

Medium: English

Fee: 2000 rupees for BOTH Fun with Grammar courses

Who Should Attend:
Sick of your students whining about grammar? This workshop is for teachers (Grade 6 and up) who could use some inspiration in teaching verb tenses. Any English speaker who would like to participate in a complete survey of English verb tenses is also welcome to attend.

Workshop Purpose:
This workshop will serve to equip participants with an understanding of the verb tenses of English. Language teachers will be able to adjust the model lessons used in the workshop to teach grammar for students of Grade 6 and up.

Outcomes:
• Know the difference between your present, past, perfect and progressive tenses
• Be able to teach about verb tenses in a clear and creative way
• Learn how to quickly adjust textbook material to make grammar exercises more interesting for students
• Learn different games and activities such as Verb Tense Bingo or Around the World with Present Progressive that can be used to spice up your grammar lessons

Fun with Grammar - Parts of Speech

Date: July 21st, 22nd, and 23rd (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)

Timing: 9am-12pm

Medium: English

Fee: 2000 rupees for BOTH Fun with Grammar courses

Who Should Attend:
Sick of your students whining about grammar? This workshop is for teachers (Grade 6 and up) who could use some inspiration in teaching verb tenses. Any English speaker who would like to participate in a fun and complete survey of English parts of speech is also welcome to attend.

Workshop Purpose:
This workshop will serve to equip participants with an understanding of the parts of speech in English. Language teachers will be able to adjust the model lessons used in the workshop to teach grammar for students of Grade 6 and up.

Outcomes:
• Identify all the different parts of speech used in English
• Learn to draw basic syntax trees comparing English & Urdu
• Be able to teach about parts of speech in a clear and creative way
• Learn how to quickly adjust textbook material to make grammar exercises more interesting for students
• Learn different games and activities such as Jeopardy or Conjunction Craze Race that can be used to spice up your grammar lessons