ACE Lesson 27






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Teacher:		Level:	ACE (High beginner)
Skill:	Vocabulary, speaking	Date:	Lesson #29 – August 21, 2006
Subskills:	Giving descriptions	Topic:	Descriptions II
Objective:	SWBAT: Increase their speaking confidence via a relaxed, conversation-oreiented lesson. Describe things they touch and feel using adjectives from HW#12 and lexis from the course	Lexis:	Adjectives (from homework): soft, rough, heavy, light, short, long, smooth, thick, thin, hard, dark, new, old, expensive, cheap, straight, curvy, shallow, deep
Language point(s):	A: Can you describe it? B: It’s light, soft, straight… A: Name something that’s tall and thin. B: The teacher.	Anticipated problems:	Confusion of recurring words (light/dark vs. light/heavy) Rain buggers planned activation (stage 22).

STAGE	E \| S \| A	TARGET LANGUAGE	TEACHER	STUDENT	MATERIALS	TIME	TEACHER’S EVALUATION
	E	Conversation	Leads a brief conversation with the students reviewing as many previous language points as possible.[1]	Responds	realia	10 min	This is in response to feedback that Ss aren’t retaining enough of what’s covered in class. Need to find other ways of getting Ss conversing more in English outside of class.
	E	Theme	Asks “What shape is it? What color is it?” Pointing to various realia	Responds	realia	5 min	the color and the shape. They knew most of the colors; shapes were more difficult. Didn’t do “round” based on my own feedback from an earlier general English class. Unwise! Elicited in the next lesson.
	E	Theme	Show Ss a grain of rice. Ask “What is it?” “What size is it?” Drill the question. Prompt answer. Ask “What’s the opposite of small?” Draw a man wearing a huge shirt if they don’t get it. Create a network tree (skip length, height, etc.) for the looks like adjectives.	Responds	rice, whiteboard, markers	4 min	big/small. No problem.
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3 with unrolled toilet paper to for “long.” Elicit “short” by asking for the opposite. “Can you name something that’s short?” With a ruler, ask “How long is it?” Concept check: “How long is class?”	Responds	toilet paper	3 min	long/short. They knew this one pretty well.
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3. Draw a “tall” palm tree. Elicit “tall.” Can you name something that’s tall?” “What’s the opposite of tall?” “Can you name something that’s short?”	Responds	whiteboard, marker	3 min	tall/short. Knew it.
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3. Turn out the lights. Elicits “dark” and “light.” Point to a light if prompting in required. Concept check for opposites. “Can you name something that’s dark?” (inside of a cave). Night and day!	Responds	lights, whiteboard, markers	3 min	dark/light. This one was more difficult. They had some good feedback for things that are dark and light. Elicited “day” and “night.” NOTE: Comparing skin of farang and Thai would be a great and relevant. Thought of it too late.
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3. Toss monkey puppet about. Elicit “light.” Ask for opposite. Use a rock as realia. “Name something heavy and light.”	Responds	monkey puppet, a rock	3 min	light/heavy. Cake.
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3. Use same realia but for “soft” and “hard”	Responds	monkey puppet, a rock	3 min	soft/hard. Cake.
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3. Compare surfaces of two rocks, one with a smooth surface and one with a rough surface. “Can you name something that’s rough?” (sea?)	Responds	rough and smooth rocks, whiteboard,	3 min	smooth/rough. They’d previously been taught bumpy and several Ss called this out.
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3. Compare wet and dry surfaces.	Responds	water, skin, w/b, markers	3 min	wet/dry. They knew this from CBT itinerary lessons.
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3. Place curved string in front of Ss and elicit. Opposite? What else is curved? Straight?	Responds	string, banana, ruler	3 min	curvy/straight. This was a harder one for them. They were able to reply “road” as an example for each.
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3. Draw a fancy house or car and write 1,000,000 B under it. Elicit “expensive.” Opposite? Can you name something cheap? Expensive?	Responds			expensive/cheap. Drew two houses with different price tags. Many Ss knew this lexis.
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3. Flashcard for something old and a new version of the same thing.	Responds		3 min	new/old Forgot this one with second group. I cleared up the confusion regarding “young” vs. “new” in the next lesson when we specified between things and people.
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3. Knocks on the cement wall and the bamboo wall. Repeat using books. Ask for Ss suggestions.	Responds	classroom wall, whiteboard, markers	3 min	thick/thin. A harder one to elicit and demonstrate. Pronunciation was a nightmare. Hello Pronunciation Power?
	E	Theme	Repeat stage 3. Deep and shallow using drawings.	Responds	whiteboard, markers	3 min	deep/shallow. They knew this one from Helen’s lessons.
	E	Theme	Elicit as many other adjectives as possible. Prompt if necessary	Replies	whiteboard, markers	1 – 5 min	also taught: hot/cold, fast/slow, loud/quiet, early/late
	S/A	Theme	Divide class into pairs. Give each pair 2-3 objects [2] and have them brainstorm several adjectives for each. Have each team present their objects.	Presents objects. “This is a ball. It’s orange and round and light and smooth …”	realia	10 min	This worked well. ACE Ss are comfortable with tasks like this. When they presented, the lack of “round” as a shape we a problem (referring to a ball as a circle). Didn’t do a great job distinguishing between facts and opinions (when they claimed something was cheap when in fact that’s a relative term) NOTE: Stick to concrete adjectives in future lessons.
	S/A	Theme	Hands out magazines and catalogs. Have Ss find as many adjectives as possible.	Ss search for different adjectives from magazines.	magazines, scissors,	10 min	Did not do.
	S/A	Theme	Have Ss present their pictures to the class. Have Ss guess what adjective the picture	Hold up their pictures. Class has to guess what	magazines, whiteboard, markers	10 min	Did not do.
	S/A	Theme	Shouts out adjectives.	Shouts back with the opposite adjective.	none	5 min	Did not do.
	S/A	Theme	Opposites Attract! Hands out cards with two adjectives written on them. Ss have to mingle to find their opposite “partner.”	Ss read their cards. Memorize what’s on them. Mingles with class. “I am soft and light.” “I am hard and dark.” MATCH!	index cards with adjectives written on them	7 min	Did not do.
	S/A	Theme	Opposite Adjective Bingo! Writes the list of 24 adjectives (some are PoP) on the whiteboard. [2] Drill as you go. (Alter [2] if some good adjectives came out of stage 15.) Hands out the BINGO cards. Tells Ss to fill in the randomly fill in the matrix. Models the game.	Marks each square with an X that matches the opposite adjective they hear. First to get five across, down, or diagonal shouts BINGO!	Bingo cards (See Azar’s Fun With Grammar, Ch 9, page 189)	10 min	Did not do.
	A	Theme	Adjective Community Trail. Teacher leads students on a walk around the immediate neighbor-hood pointing out things. “What’s this?” Ss have to describe on an individual basis. If pissing rain, do it in TREC.	Follows teacher around and replies.	Stuff on the adjective community trail	15 min	Went better the second time—more variety (wires, tree, dog)
	E	Comparatives	Asks two Ss “How old are you?” Draws their faces and names on w/b with ages. Asks, “Who is older?” Add another Ss. “Who is oldest?” Concept check with young. Repeat with other realia from the lesson.	Responds	realia	5 min	Did not do comparatives.
	E/S	Comparatives	Draws a table on the whiteboard and elicits several fills in for several adjectives, comparatives, and superlatives.	Responds	whiteboard, markers, realia	5 min	Did not do comparatives.
	E/S	Comparatives	Grammar Point: X is [comparative] than Y.	Responds, takes notes	whiteboard, markers	5 min	Did not do comparatives.
	S	Comparatives	Hands out PT1. Models number one. Has Ss complete. Monitors.	Completes task	PT1: comp-aratives	5 min	Did not do comparatives.
	S	Comparatives	Reviews answers to PT1. Introduces spelling rules?	Listens, takes notes	PT1: comp-aratives	5 min	Did not do comparatives.
	S/A	Comparatives	Hands out the realia and have Ss ask each other comparative questions	Responds		10 min	Did not do comparatives.

NOTES:

Pre-Lesson:

[1]
How are you?
How do you feel?
How often do you feel [whatever]?
How’s the weather?
What did you bring to class today?
What do you need to bring on a hike?
Can I have a pen?
Where’s your house?
Where’s the toilet?
How often do you eat breakfast/use computer/study English?
How often is it sunny in August?
How long is this class?
What time does class end?
What do you do at night?
What do you do in the morning?
Tell me about your family.
What color is an ant?
What are you wearing?

[2] Realia

ball	roll of TP	smooth rock	book	banana
crowbar	rough rock

[3] BINGO words

old (new)	dark (light)	soft (hard)	light (heavy)	cheap (expensive)
hot (cold)	happy (sad)	short (long)	slow (fast)	think (thin)
beautiful (ugly)	tall (short)	FREE	dry (wet)	rough (smooth)
white (black)	straight (curved)	small (big)	full (empty)	wide (narrow)
early (late)	near (far)	loud (quiet)	high (low)	shallow (deep)

[4] Comparatives

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
old	older	oldest
young	younger	youngest
light	lighter	lightest
heavy	heavier	heaviest
dark	darker	darkest
light	lighter	lightest
soft	softer	softest
hard	harder	hardest

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
expensive	more expensive	most expensive
beautiful	more beautiful	most beautiful

ELLP Report (if applicable):

ELLP Chapter No:
Chapter 10 “What’s this?

How did this chapter relate to your lesson (e.g. similar language focus, lexis used, linking concepts etc.)?
Similar language focus and lexis. I gave the Ss homework earlier that asked them to look up a list of adjectives, so I was able to use a lot more than the ELLP manual.

Which activities were deemed not suitable for your lesson – why not?
I chose not to teach the lexis for grouping. i.e., I did not teach “texture,” “length,” “height,” etc. Exception: “shape”

Which activities did you use/adapt for your lesson?
I used a modified version of the sentence practice activity in the homework. I also walked around with the students and pointed to different objects and had them describe the object.

Were these activities effective? (If not why not – if so, why?)

Recommendations for any alterations to ELLP lesson & activities (for the purpose of ACE English)

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