PHASE 2 SAMPLE LESSON PLAN: Children/Young Learners

Based on a lesson from Shaping the Way We Teach English, Module 2

U. S. Department of State, Office of English Language Programs Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs. (2009, Jan 15). Shaping the way we teach English: Approaches to language
teaching: Foundation: Module 2: Building language awareness [Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-LkN-Pm_zA

A. STUDENTS and SETTING

Students
Fourth grade (ages 9-10); beginning EFL. Could be adapted up for older children. Some
students have come from refugee camps or have immigrated from other countries. There are 20
students in the class.

Setting
This is a public school where the teacher has the same students daily. English is practiced in
30-40 minute lessons every day. The teacher can build vocabulary from day to day with English
lessons and games.

B. BACKGROUND
Students are learning about migrations within and to their country. In previous classes, they
have been reading short books, stories, and poems in English about migration, some of them
written by children their own age. In this lesson, they will begin the process of deciding on a
story to use in acting out a play about immigration. In the next class, they will choose roles to
use in the story. Students have already done some group activities and so are familiar with the
process of being assigned to a group, and working with a recorder who reports back. The
students will be placed in groups of 4.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES / EXPECTED RESULTS

This is the initial lesson in a series of activities leading to students creating a play about
immigration and some of the hardships immigrants encounter, based on one of the texts they
have read. They will enact the play for their classmates. They will be able to use new
vocabulary words appropriately, e.g., travel, journey, building a boat, hardship, etc. Their oral
performance of the play will be evaluated by their peers and by the teacher. The lesson will
have added value in allowing students the opportunity to express their fears and the emotional
and physical hardships they may have encountered, and allow all students to understand more
fully and express what others have experienced.

D. MATERIALS and RESOURCES

Paper and pencil. Books and other texts with stories of migrations. During this initial lesson,
students will decide which story will be the basis of their skit. This lesson plan uses a book
about immigrants on the Mayflower coming to America (DiVito and McGovern, 1960).

Sources
[Note: Teachers would use local stories and materials about immigration and displacement of
people in their own country.]

This is a program of the U.S. Department of State, administered by the University of Oregon.
Paths to Success in English Language Teaching. Copyright 2015 University of Oregon. All rights reserved.
Phase 2 Sample Lesson Plan - Children/Young Learners Page 1
 ● DiVito, A. and McGovern, A. (1960). . . . If you sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. New
York: Scholastic.
● Scholastic. (2014). Meet young immigrants [Website]. Retrieved from:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/young_immigrants/
● U. S. Department of State, Office of English Language Programs Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs. (2013, June 13). Shaping the way we teach English: From
observation to action: Primary: Young learners: Unit 5 [Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlSLJjDMu8s
● U. S. Department of State, Office of English Language Programs Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs. (2009, Jan 15). Shaping the way we teach English: Approaches to
language teaching: Foundation: Module 2: Building language awareness [Video file].
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-LkN-Pm_zA

E. PROCEDURES / TIMING
Choose either Option 1 (Table format if you use a .pdf file) or Option 2 (List format for .txt files).

Option 1: Table format

Teacher does/says . . . Students do/say . . . Approximate
time needed

Has written some important vocabulary words on Respond with 10 min.

the board, e.g., immigration, journey, hardship, something about the
etc. stories they read
Says:
Today we are going to start making a play. I will
put you in groups and you will choose one of the
stories we read to act out. Think for a minute about
which story you liked best and what you would like
to say about it.
Calls on one or two students to say which story
they liked and why
Encourages students to use English in replies
Writes more vocabulary words as students speak

Places students in groups of 6-7; lower level Assemble in groups at

students are placed with higher level students who a table made of desks 5 min.
can help them pushed together

Asks students to choose a recorder to write down Choose a recorder for 5 min.
what the group decides; recorder is given paper each group
with directions (see Handout) once he/she is
chosen. Recorder will change with each group
meeting.
(Other roles in making the play will also change as
the play develops, e.g., writer, editor, director,
costume maker, etc.)

Now each person say which story they would like Take turns saying

This is a program of the U.S. Department of State, administered by the University of Oregon.
Paths to Success in English Language Teaching. Copyright 2015 University of Oregon. All rights reserved.
Phase 2 Sample Lesson Plan - Children/Young Learners Page 2
to do and why. You can all agree, or you can vote which story they want 10 min.
on your favorite. I will come around to help you. to do and why
Circulates around groups to make sure a story is
chosen and that each student has a chance to
talk; groups may be changed if students can’t
agree on a story
Determines which students have difficulty
discussing a story; he/she will investigate later
whether students are having problems with the
reading or with speaking

Returns to front of the class and asks each group Recorder reports back 10 min
to say which story they will do; groups do not have for group until all
to pick different stories groups have reported
their choices

Very good. Next time we will decide who will play As students leave, 1 min.
which roles in the story. Please make sure that recorders turn in
everyone has a part to play. papers.
Recorders, please give me your paper before you
leave.

Option 2: List format

1. Teacher says/does . . .
Has written some important vocabulary words on the board, e.g., immigration, journey,
hardship, etc.
Says:
Today we are going to start making a play. I will put you in groups and you will choose one of
the stories we read to act out. Think for a minute about which story you liked best and what you
would like to say about it.
Calls on one or two students to say which story they liked and why
Encourages students to use English in replies
Writes more vocabulary words as students speak

Students say/do . . .
Respond with something about the stories they read

Approximate time needed: 10 min.

2. Teacher says/does . . .
Places students in groups of 6-7; lower level students are placed with higher level students who
can help them

Students say/do . . .
Assemble in groups at a table made of desks pushed together

This is a program of the U.S. Department of State, administered by the University of Oregon.
Paths to Success in English Language Teaching. Copyright 2015 University of Oregon. All rights reserved.
Phase 2 Sample Lesson Plan - Children/Young Learners Page 3
 Approximate time needed: 5 min.

3. Teacher says/does . . .
Asks students to choose a recorder to write down what the group decides; recorder is given
paper with directions (see Handout) once he/she is chosen. Recorder will change with each
group meeting.
(Other roles in making the play will also change as the play develops, e.g., writer, editor,
director, costume maker, etc.)

Students say/do . . .
Choose a recorder for each group

Approximate time needed: 5 min.

4. Teacher says/does . . .
Now each person say which story they would like to do and why. You can all agree, or you can
vote on your favorite. I will come around to help you.
Circulates around groups to make sure a story is chosen and that each student has a chance to
talk; groups may be changed if students can’t agree on a story
Determines which students have difficulty discussing a story; he/she will investigate later
whether students are having problems with the reading or with speaking

Students say/do . . .
Take turns saying which story they want to do and why

Approximate time needed: 10 min.

5. Teacher says/does . . .
Returns to front of the class and asks each group to say which story they will do; groups do not
have to pick different stories

Students say/do . . .
Recorder reports back for group until all groups have reported their choices

Approximate time needed: 10 min.

6. Teacher says/does . . .
Very good. Next time we will decide who will play which roles in the story. Please make sure
that everyone has a part to play.
Recorders, please give me your paper before you leave.

Students say/do . . .
As students leave, recorders turn in papers.

Approximate time needed: 1 min.

This is a program of the U.S. Department of State, administered by the University of Oregon.
Paths to Success in English Language Teaching. Copyright 2015 University of Oregon. All rights reserved.
Phase 2 Sample Lesson Plan - Children/Young Learners Page 4
HANDOUT
Name of Recorder:

Names of other people in your group:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Which story will you do?

Please return this paper to your teacher at the end of this

class.

F. ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT
For this class period, the teacher will make a note of which students can talk about one of the
stories or poems. He/she will help students with vocabulary and phrasing as they speak to the
group. During learning station time, she will check individually with students who didn’t speak up
in the group to be sure they have read a story and can say a few words about it. The teacher
will use a simple checklist to keep track of which students have spoken and what they had
difficulty with. The handout is included here.

Informal Assessment Checklist

Student name Vocabulary/grammar needed

NEW FOR PHASE 2

G. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
In order to manage the classroom, I have given the recorder for each group a sheet where they
can write down the names of people in their group and what story they will do. This will help me
keep track of where everyone in the class belongs and what tasks they should do. Having

This is a program of the U.S. Department of State, administered by the University of Oregon.
Paths to Success in English Language Teaching. Copyright 2015 University of Oregon. All rights reserved.
Phase 2 Sample Lesson Plan - Children/Young Learners Page 5
students choose their recorder gives them a sense of involvement with the group process.
Having just the recorders report back will ensure orderly responses to my questions. In later
class sessions, I will make sure the role of recorder is given to other students in turn. To make
sure student groups are all evenly balanced, I will place lower proficiency level students with
higher level students who can help them. This will give the stronger students a sense of purpose
and the weaker students will not feel they are left out of the process. Thus, all students will
participate more willingly.

H. EXTENDED REFLECTION - Phase 2

(a) Changes from Phase 1: This lesson integrates previous readings with speaking in a small
group, so it integrates different skills. The lesson includes alternative assessment during the
group activity and individual interviews. This will help me find out which students need more
individual help with reading or speaking assignments. I have added here an informal
assessment checklist with names of students and the vocabulary or grammar they will need
help with. For classroom management, I have added a note that the recorder and other roles in
the group will change with each meeting of the group. This will give students with different levels
of proficiency a chance to have a turn at writing and reporting back, editing, costume-making,
etc. This takes into account individual learning differences, but encourages students to try things
that may not be their strongest points.

(b) Additional elements in Phase 2:

I take into account learning differences by grouping stronger students with weaker students.
This way the groups are balanced and the weaker students can learn from the stronger. I want
students to use their individual strengths and preferences during the creation of the plays, but I
also want them to practice other roles and get used to contributing to the group in different
ways. So students who are good at writing and editing will in subsequent lessons have a chance
to swap with students who are visually or handicraft oriented and might want to just stay with
making costumes. With younger classes, I would let them keep the same roles throughout this
process, but have them later try different roles in another project. Since the recorder will change
in each group meeting, learners with different proficiency levels will have more chance to write
and speak.

In order to manage the classroom, I would allow the students in groups to choose their own
recorder. Only the recorder will report back. In later classes, the role of the recorder will rotate to
other students. The sheet with names of people in the group will help me keep track of all the
students. Also, I will mix the groups so that stronger students can help weaker students. This
will balance the groups and ensure that everyone can participate fully.

This is a program of the U.S. Department of State, administered by the University of Oregon.
Paths to Success in English Language Teaching. Copyright 2015 University of Oregon. All rights reserved.
Phase 2 Sample Lesson Plan - Children/Young Learners Page 6