Language Level

Intermediate

Grade

College

Date

Unit Theme and Question

Unit 8 (Signing Naturally) Describing Others (Day 2)

Daily topic:

Famous People

STANDARDS

What are the communicative

and cultural objectives for the
lesson?

Day in
Unit

xxx

Minutes

75

LESSON OBJECTIVES
Communication
and
Cultures

Which modes of
communication
will be
addressed?
u Interpersonal
u Interpretive
u Presentational

Students can:
-Identify and describe famous people
-Demonstrate more attention-getting strategies

Connections
Comparisons
If applicable, indicate how
Connections Comparisons
Communities Common Core
will be part of your lesson.

Lesson Sequence

Gain Attention / Activate

Prior Knowledge

Communities

Common Core

Colorado Standard 1
a. Initiate, sustain, and conclude conversations (written or oral) in a variety of situations
based on familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary and learned grammatical structures.
b. Comprehend spoken or written language in a variety of situations based on familiar and
unfamiliar vocabulary and learned grammatical structures.
c. Present (written or oral) in a variety of situations based on familiar and unfamiliar
vocabulary and learned grammatical structures.

Activity/Activities
What will learners do?
What does the teacher do?

Learners will pair up with their partner and practice describing

their best friend. Then they will describe their favorite movie

Time*
How many
minutes will
this segment
take?
15

Materials Resources
Technology
Be specific. What materials
will you develop? What
materials will you bring in
from other sources?

character (what they look like and what movies/tv shows theyve
been featured in).
Learners will learn more attention-getting strategies and apply
them to Who Am I Activity.
Learners will quickly review the NMS for yes/no and whquestions. Teachers will present questions in ASL with no NMS,
and students have to tell me which NMS applies to the sentences.

Provide Input

Learners will demonstrate the signs for different personalities

(SWEET, COCKY, GOOD-NATURED, NICE, FRIENDLY,
MEAN, STUBBORN, BAD, SHY)

10

Powerpoint Presentation

25

-Post-Its with the names of

Famous people
-Famous people list and
pictures of them to show on
the projector after the activity
is over

Who Am I Activity
1. Teacher will stick a post-it on each students back with the
name of a famous person. Students are not allowed to see their
post-it, but others can.

Elicit Performance / Provide

Feedback

2. Students will learn the rules about how to find out who their
assigned famous person is. They can to ask up to 5 yes/no
questions related to describing people (see below for example) to
one classmate before moving on to a different classmate. No
hints (additional information, role-play, gesture) are allowed
unless one is stuck and cannot figure out who her/his famous
person is after many attempts.
Acceptable questions:
a. Am I a woman?
b. Am I tall?
Non-acceptable questions:
a. Am I a woman or man?
b. Am I tall or short?
3. Students proceed to roam around the room asking yes/no
questions about their famous person. If they guess the right

person, students must spell the full names clearly.

4. Once students have guessed their famous person, they will be
seated.
5. Teacher will pull up pictures of the famous people on the
screen and ask random students to which famous people they
were assigned and describe them. (Give feedback)

Provide Input
Elicit Performance / Provide
Feedback
Closure
Enhance Retention &
Transfer
Reflection Notes to Self

Learners review vocabulary related to opinion (LIKE, DONT

LIKE, LOVE, HATE) and demonstrate the WHY questions with
correct NMS.
Learners pair and rotate and describe one famous person they like
and one they dont like and explain why.
Teachers will pull up the pictures of famous people again and ask
students to describe their job.
Homework: Students will videotape themselves describing 2
famous people, what they do and their personalities and upload
them in Avenue ASL. Give rubric to students.

What worked well? Why?

What didnt work? Why?
What changes would you make if you taught this lesson again?
Was the lesson stimulating?

10
5

-Powerpoint Presentation

ASL Signed Short Presentation Rubric

Teacher Name: Rachel Blythe
Student Name:

CATEGORY

________________________________________

Sign Accuracy

Signs are clear and

accurate during most or
the entire presentation

Signs are accurate and

clear about 80% of the
time

Sign placement and

Signs are difficult to read
direction are correct 50%
of the time

Facial Expression

Uses appropriate facial

expression during entire
presentation to indicate
grammar and stress

Uses good facial

Uses some facial
expression during most of expression only when
presentation
making an emphasis

No facial expression
noted

Posture and Eye

Contact

Stands up straight, looks

relaxed and confident.
Establishes eye contact
with everyone in the room
during the presentation.

Stands up straight and

Sometimes stands up
establishes eye contact
straight and establishes
with everyone in the room eye contact.
during the presentation.

Slouches and/or does not

look at people during the
presentation.

Body Language

Body language is
appropriate during entire
presentation

Body language supports

material presented but
isnt consistent

Some Body language is

used

Student does not use any

body language

Conceptually
Accurate

Entire presentation is
ASL and ideas are
presented with
appropriate conceptual
sign

Students mixes some

concepts with English
sign but corrects self

Some concepts are

signed in ASL.

Presentation is conducted
in English literal language

Blythes Notes:
1. This lesson plan can be used for secondary ASL classes, with some adaptations since the learner characteristics of secondary students and postsecondary students might be different. Ive never taught high school, but from what Ive been seeing, high school students require a higher
motivational level compared to college students and more guidance in their learning journey. Also, their attitude about learning language might be
different from college students. Since high school students are teenagers with fluctuating hormones, their ego of making mistakes in front of others
might get in the way, affecting their motivation and willingness to place themselves in situations where they will need to use the new language
(Lightbrown & Spada, p. 93). Creating a positive and encouraging classroom culture where everyone with different personalities can feel safe to
participate becomes important. Lightbrown and Spada also said that teachers must also keep in mind that cultural and age differences will
determine the most appropriate ways to motivate students. The content needs to be relevant and meaningful to high school students, hence this
lesson was developed about famous people as it is often the most talked topic in their age group . Additionally, the metalinguistic awareness and
world knowledge is less mature compared to adult learners (Lightbrown & Spada, p.36). Some adaptations to fit the post-secondary level are:
a. Update the famous people list that high school students are more likely to recognize.
b. Consider the diversity of the famous people on the list to match the demographics in the class.
c. Create more paired activities (use the Clock Partner) and have them choose a topic to discuss about:
i. Favorite Musician
ii. Favorite TV Show Character
iii. Favorite Movie Character
iv. Favorite Cartoon Character
v. Favorite Athlete
vi. Favorite Reality TV show
vii. Favorite Teacher at their school
d. Include a game related to attention-getting strategies. (Daniels famous game)
The structure of the instruction is communicative as the emphasis is on the communication of meaning, both between teacher and students and
among the students themselves in group-or pair-work (Lightbrown & Spada, p.127). Grammar form is used in order to clarify meaning, and there is
less error correction compared to structure-based instructional setting. The communicative structure supports many pair and group work since they
have limited time for learning, and this lesson incorporates lots of interactions. Since participation is important, I would also use scaffolding since
it contributes to participation and learner comprehension, and this may be especially important for secondary level where willingness to learn and
motivation might be lower than college students.

Research has shown that learners have difficulty with understanding the language if there is little or no form focused instruction (Lightbrown &
Spada), leading me to create a balanced instruction that focuses on both meaning and form. Ive included some grammar review at the beginning of
the class and application practice. I will not hesitate to correct persistent errors if the learners have not noticed them.