Mississippi Elementary School: Second Language Comprehension for Beginners Grade 3: "Questions?

" Casey Beeman MATERIALS: "Things About Me" worksheet "Who, What, When, Where, Why" poster "A Question To B" worksheet VIDEO: English Conversation 1 01- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmYgPHr60VU&feature=related "Reading About Rosa" handout LESSON OBJECTIVES: The target task is to improve speaking confidence while ask questions in English, particularly questions regarding a person's traits. The language objective is to increase understanding and usage of "question" words to their vocabulary, granting them the ability to obtain answers by providing the ESL students with a basis by which to ask their questions. [:00- :10]-Warm Up Pass out "Things About Me" questionnaire worksheets for students to fill out. Make sure they do not put their names on this sheet of paper. These sheets consist of twelve simple facts that the students will fill out. After they complete the questionnaire, the teacher collects it for usage later in the lesson. [:10- :20]- Question Words Discussion Discussion on English question words (who, what, where...) using the blackboard to have students write the question words, spelling them correctly. The question words discussion should be a review, using the mnemonic device, "who, what, when, where, why," the first set of question words they should have learned. Teacher should have a poster of these five words. In past lessons, the students should have worked on how to read and write questions, but haven't yet practiced speaking or listening comprehension of them. The teacher should describe the importance of vocal intonation, or the raising of pitch at the end of a question. Also, discuss asking questions about other people, or multiple people by using other pronouns. [:20- :25]- Verbal Practice Pass out "A Question To B" questionnaire worksheets. Have students read out loud with a partner, focusing on intonation of voice and emphasis on certain words. Make sure they switch roles. If the students have a difficult time understanding what the different pronouns are implying or what the tense is implying, the teacher should have them use a guessing technique, using the context of the question, the suffix of the action and consideration of the "who" (what DID they do: past tense/ multiple people; where DID she go: past tense/ one girl). [:25- :35]- Listening to Learn Play the YouTube video clip, "English Conversation 1 01" (link above in materials). This video is essentially a review of the "A Question To B" exercises. It uses the same questions and format but provides pictures to help illustrate the situation. The second half of the video provides more examples of asking questions about other people by using pronouns. It should be played two or three times through. [:35- :40]- Discuss to Learn What did you notice? What happens to a person's voice when they ask a question? Can you give me example questions? Ask me a question. [:40- :55]- Practice to Learn Pass back "Things About Me" worksheets, but give them out randomly, so that nobody is getting the paper that they filled out. Their job is to walk around asking one question to each person, trying to find the person

who filled out this paper. The only way they can ask somebody a second question is if they answered the first one affirmatively. The questions should be precise, requiring only yes or no answers, as in: "Is your mother's name Louisa?" "Is your favorite food spaghetti?" "Do you like soccer?" Discourage simple questions, such as: "What is your father's name?" "Where were you born?" "What do you like?" This emphasis will ensure that the content is placed into the questions, making the questioner be as specific as possible. The focus of this activity is for the questioner to be doing all the work, not the answerer. If they find their match, they are to sit down in a seat next to where they found their partner. This way, you can turn it into a game. If they all find their matches quickly, collect the papers and randomly distribute them again. [:55- :75]- Reading to Learn Pass out the "Reading about Rosa" worksheets and read the directions to the students. Then, read the six questions at out loud, slowly while using proper intonation. Give the students enough time to read through the passage a couple times, answering the questions while they read. The teacher should walk around helping students with words they struggle to understand. After about ten minutes of reading, stop the students and ask them some post-reading questions that will require deeper understanding of the text that they have just read, such as: "How long will Rosa be gone?" "What is the longest that Rosa and her mother have been apart?" "What questions does Maruja ask to Rosa?" "What color is Rosa's diary?"

**HANDOUTS ATTACHED: Things About Me A Question To B Reading About Rosa Reading About Rosa (original copy)

THINGS ABOUT MEI am from: I was born: My mother's name is: My father's name is:

DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THIS!

I have ______ brothers and _______ sisters. My brothers and sisters names are: My favorite color is: My favorite animal is: I like: I like: I don't like: I don't like:

A QUESTION TO B With your partner, practice asking these questions to each other. Take turns being A and B. A) B) A) B) A) B) A) B) What are you doing? I'm reading. Are you reading a book? No, I'm not. Are you reading a newspaper? No, I'm not. What are you reading? I am reading a magazine.

With your partner, ask each other these questions, then answer using the sentences below. A) B) A) B) A) B) A) B) A) B) A) B) A) B) Where did you walk? I walked home. What did you clean? I cleaned the store. Where did she play? She played at the park. Where did he talk? He talked at the shop. Where did they jump? They jumped in the river. Where did we study? We studied at school. When did I cook? You cooked in the morning.

VIDEO REVIEW: Watch the video and write down every question word you see in the space below. If you need more space to write, use the back of this paper. You will write each word more than one time, so listen closely!

READING ABOUT ROSA

Look at the reading questions. Then, read the story and answer the questions as you go along.
Rosa is from Texas. She lives in a house in Dallas with her mother. Rosa's mother is called Maruja. Tomorrow is a big day for Rosa. She is going to the airport. She is flying to England. She will stay with an English family in London. She will live in London with them for one month. Maruja is a little sad. She does not want to see her daughter leave. She likes her daughter, but tomorrow she will have to say goodbye. Rosa is putting three books in her suitcase. Maruja is watching her. The suitcase looks very heavy. "Do you need all those books?" Maruja asks. "Yes, mommy! The yellow book is my diary and the red one is a guide to London." "Did you pack all of your clothes?" "Yes, of course, mommy!" "Will you call me every night?" "Yes I will, mother!" Maruja is going to miss Rosa. Rosa is going to miss her mother. The longest they have been apart is one week. Rosa is scared, but is not going to let it show. Rosa is excited for her trip.

READING QUESTIONS:

1. Where is Rosa from? 2. Where does Rosa live? 3. What is her mother's name? 4. Where is Rosa going? 5. When is Rosa leaving? 6. How does her mother feel about Rosa leaving? 7. How does Rosa feel about leaving?

READING ABOUT ROSA (ORIGINAL COPY)

Rosa is from Spain. She lives in a small flat in Madrid with her mother. Rosa's mother is called Maruja. Tomorrow is extremely important for Rosa. She is going to the airport. She is flying to London. She will stay with an English family in Wembley, West London. Maruja is a little sad. She doesn't want to see her daughter leave. She likes her daughter, but tomorrow she will have to say goodbye. Rosa is putting three books in her suitcase. Maruja is watching her. The suitcase looks very heavy. "Do you need all those books?" Maruja asks. "Yes, mummy! The yellow book is a Spanish English dictionary and the red one is a Tourist Guide to London." "But do you need that big, black book?" "Yes, of course, mummy! The black book's very important. It's about children. My English family has two young children and I'm going to look after them." Rosa is pretty nervous isn't going to let it show because she is very excited.

Rational and Explanation Casey Beeman

Activity One- "Warm Up" This is a warm-up assignment that sets up a later portion of the lesson plan. This questionnaire is simple to fill out and requires a basic recall of vocabulary that defines one's self. This is essentially the preparatory portion of the later activity. It gets their minds on the target of the lesson plan and gives the teacher a chance to see if anyone is going to need content adaptation for the most basic of vocabulary.

Activity Two- "Question Words Discussion" This is more of a listening activity where the students will review the question words of the English language. It is assumed that these students have some past experience with reading and writing comprehension of questions, but their actual usage of this area of vocabulary is minimal. Together, we use the mnemonic device because it is an effective learning strategy that the students can easily remember and access. These question words need to be emphasized early in this lesson because they are essential to the act of asking questions. By promoting these deep levels of vocabulary processing, we express one of the key principals of explicit learning as defined in our "Vocabulary Learning and Teaching" article. However, if we were to use this mnemonic device as an everyday activity, we would be dealing with implicit learning, also defined in "Vocabulary Leaning and Teaching." The focus of intonation is important here because the manner in which one asks questions is a great determiner of the perceived message. It can help determine if a question is serious in nature, or sarcastic. This idea is described in Joan Morley's "Aural Comprehension Instruction" article when she discusses Transactional and Interactional language functions. The meaning can also be adapted based on the speaker's

paralinguistic messages (also described my Morley's article). This is why there is such intense focus on the importance of question intonation.

Activity Three- "Verbal Practice" Using the "A Question To B" questionnaires, the students work with a partner to practice asking questions. By grouping them together, they get a peer interaction which can serve as a meaningful activity. If they have a partner who speaks the same native language as them, they can use L1 support to comprehend, which I would allow as a teacher. It is important to have this communication option according to the grammar translation approach mentioned in the "Language Teaching Approaches" reading. This grouping technique also touches on the communicative approach discussed in the same article, as the teacher is trying to facilitate use of the target language in the communicative form. In this activity, the teacher is encouraged to use the guessing technique introduced in the "Vocabulary Learning and Teaching" article. This makes the student a more independent learner by helping them find clues to answer their questions.

Activity Four- "Listening to Learn" This is a listening activity that can effectively allow students who learn best by listening to use this material and develop their skills. The "A Question To B" worksheets were designed to set up this video by having the students read the same questions that would be used in the video clip. That worksheet also includes the assignment "write the question words used in the video" at the bottom of the page. So, not only is this worksheet a pre-listening material, but it also serves as the while-listening material.

Activity Five- "Discuss to Learn" To complete the listening activity, the teacher asks post-listening questions to stimulate a deeper understanding of the subject. These listening comprehension questions are designed to promote higher order thinking by making them think for themselves. It also allows the students ample interaction with the educator and gives them time to ask questions, which the teacher can assist them with.

Activity Six- "Practice to Learn" This activity brings back the "Things About Me" handout that they completed in their warm-up. The students have to walk around and interact with everybody, which is a very important learning opportunity, a meaningful activity that allows plenty of practice reading and listening, while emphasizing focus upon the target vocabulary. It gets these young students up and moving. By interacting with other students, they get to practice by doing, while also grasping a further understanding of the importance of question intonation. Hopefully they even notice the body language of their peers, providing exposure to the ideas of paralinguistic and extralinguistic messages defined in "Aural Comprehension Instruction."

Activity Seven- "Reading to Learn" By doing the "Reading About Rosa" assignment, the lesson is incorporating a reading material for the students to practice their reading comprehension skills. The pre-reading activity is having the students listen to the teacher read the questions out loud. Having these questions presented prereading gives the students something to think about while they are doing the actual reading portion of the activity. While they read, they need to comprehend the basic facts presented in the text and answer a few short questions. There have been minor adaptations to the text, as shown in the two separate

versions provided. This input enhancement is described in Larsen- Freeman's "Grammar Teaching" article. The teacher has used input enhancement in order to increase overall understanding of the input, but should still walk around helping students who struggle. By enhancing the text, it makes the reading much easier to understand, leveling the playing field for all students in the form of content adaptation. This hopefully provides a significant amount of linguistic examples for the student to acknowledge and learn from that, otherwise, would have been much more difficult to comprehend.