"Why study English?", 7 form, УМК М.З. Биболетовой
To practice speaking on the topic “Why study English”? Practice reading for general understanding and listening for specific information
To develop fluency in speaking; give them an opportunity to express their personal opinion and give them a chance to learn more about their own learning style
To personalize the topic
Re-group learners in a new way
Ask learners what activities they like during the lesson (reflection)
To increase learners’ confidence in expressing their personal opinions
To make the process of learning the language more conscious
Topic vocabulary and grammar structures in this unit.
The lesson is quite intensive, not all the students may keep up with the pace due to their level of English and natural passiveness, though the lesson tends to be personalized, so I hope to make every student interested in it or at least make them think.
Class work; group work; pairwork
A textbook; internet.
Teacher’s manuals; computer, whiteboard, textbook; audio file
This is the 10th lesson in the sequence of 21 lessons (Unit 2 “Meet the Winners of the International Teenagers’ Competition”)
Yarkova Elena Vladimirovna
Stages of the lesson
Revising topic vocabulary from the text
Aim: revise topic vocabulary necessary for further discussions
Shows the phrase on the blackboard: A WORLD LANGUAGE.
“…a language that came from nowhere to conquer the world…”(What language do they say about?)
We revise English-speaking countries, languages that are spoken there apart from English, nationalities.
The students try to guess that these words are about English; they revise the English speaking countries
Thinking of possible ideas to study English
Aim: elicit ideas that will be discussed during the lesson; practice brainstorming activity
Draws a spidergram with the phrase: “Why study English”? in the middle. Writes the ideas students suggest.
Think of possible reasons for why people may want study Englsih. Then they study the pictures in the textbook, adding any other reasons, they have missed.
Reading for general understanding
Look through the pictures again and match them with one of the abstracts.
Aim: practice reading for general understanding
Refers students to exercise 42, p. 44
Match pictures with the texts. Name three most important reasons for language learning.
Listening for specific information
Listen to students talking about their reasons for learning a language. Fill in the table.
Aims: practice listening
Refers the students to ex. 46, p. 42
Explains the task
Listen to the text, fill in the table.
English learning quiz
After listening, we get to the point that every student has his / her own idea of why learn a foreign language. They can easily find out what type of language learners they are.
Aim: Raise students' awareness about what kind of English learner they are
Explains the task and the logic of scoring; gives out the handouts with the test
Fulfill the quizz and discuss the results
Free speaking activity
Rank them according to them personal opinion. Discuss their choice with partners. Students work in threes (initially they draw a piece of paper with a number and arrange a group according to it), then change their groups to learn others opinion.
Aim: practice speaking and get the opportunity to express their opinion
Explains the task
Fulfill the task
Filling a little questionnaire on the lesson (what activities they like/didn’t like; what was challenging/what they are looking forward to next time)
Aim: to motivate teenagers and to make them feel their opinions are taken into account
Explains the task. Gives out the questionnaires. Praises children for the lesson; gives marks and hometask.
Get their marks; put down their hometask; express their impression on the lesson in the written form.
People learn English for many reasons. Unfortunately, learners often think that there is only one way to learn English and that the same things are important for everyone. Students who are aware of why they are learning English can also be persuaded that different things are important for different learners. This lesson uses a quiz first placed online and helps identify learners as:
English for Career Purposes Learner
Global English Learner
Learner Who Wants to Live (or already lives) in an English Speaking Culture
English for Fun and Pleasure Learner
When do you use your English outside of class?
Why are you learning English?
Which statement best expresses your opinion about English?
It's important to speak English for my future job.
It's important to speak American English OR British English.
The most important thing is communicating. It doesn't matter whether you make a few mistakes.
I need to ask directions and order breakfast when I go on holiday.
Which is the most important English task for you?
Understanding native English speakers.
Writing excellent communication through email, or in letters.
Exchanging ideas with other people in English (both native and non-native speakers).
Asking for and understanding basic things in English.
How often do you use your English?
Quite often at work.
Every day at work, shopping and speaking to people.
Not very often, only when I travel or meet foreigners in my country.
On a regular basis when reading, speaking to friends via the internet, watching TV in English, etc.
How do you use English on the Internet?
Only to learn English. Otherwise, I visit sites in my language.
I like looking at pages in English from all around the world.
Doing research for my job.
I like visiting American or British sites to learn the slang and lifestyle.
Which statement is true for you?
Basic pronunciation is important, excellent pronunciation is impossible.
Pronunciation should be clear, it doesn't matter if it is British or American, etc.
Pronunciation is not so important, I need to understand and write English well.
Pronunciation and the correct accent is very important for me. I want native speakers (Americans, British, Australian, Canadian, etc.) to understand me.
Do you think that...
English learning is stressful, but important for work.
English learning is essential to improve my life where I live.
English learning is fun and one of my hobbies.
English learning is one of my favorite hobbies.
Do you dream in English?
How often do you study English?
A few hours every day
Once or twice a week
A little bit every day
Career English Learner Resources - Type 1
As a Career English learner, you are interested in communicating in English for your job. You need to know the correct forms of English used on the job such as letters, vocabulary and more. Things like slang, advanced grammar formulations, etc. are not so important to you. Here are some recommend resources to begin getting the most out this site for your style of English learning.
Global English Learner Resources - Type 2
As a global English learner, you are interested in communicating in English. American or British culture and their inflections are not so important to you because you just want to communicate in English. You may communicate with people from a number of countries and things like idioms, phrasal verbs and slang are really not that important to you. Here are some recommend resources to begin getting the most out this site for your style of English learning.
Enviornment English Learner Resources - Type 3
As a Enviornment English learner, you are interested in learning English to live in an English speaking country or enviornment. You need to be able to pronounce well, know idioms, phrasal verbs and slang. Here are some recommend resources to help you learn the most important aspects of English for your style of English learning.
Fun English Learner Resources - Type 4
As a Fun English learner, you are interested in using English to get across the basics. You need tobe able to do basic tasks like ordering food in a restaurant, talking to other people etc.. Things like slang, advanced grammar formulations, etc. are not so important to you. Here are some recommend resources to help you learn the most important aspects of English for your style of English learning.
Brief description of context, location and time
The classroom is quite big, with desks in rows across the room. There is an overhead projector, a computer and some posters too. The lesson was before lunch at 11.35 a.m. o’clock approximately. It was Wednesday.
Brief description of learners
There are 14students in the group aged 13-14. Half girls, half boys. Most students are rather motivated, though the level varies. They know each other well since they are the students of the same school. The students are quite interested and motivated, though there are 2 weaker students. The students feel comfortable during the lessons and they are quite active.
c. Brief description of the new idea/ solution and why chosen
My idea was to raise the students’ motivation in learning a foreign language and the topic in the textbook suited perfectly. Firstly, I tried to personalize the topic from the very beginning while eliciting the possible ideas of learning a foreign language. Then I used authentic materials (learning language quiz), that was a mixture of psychology and language learning and the students found it quite engaging as they learnt something new about themselves. Moreover, I tried to give them opportunities to share their opinion while discussing the results of the quiz as well as ranking reasons for learning a language. What’s more, I regrouped them (at first they worked as three, then they changed over and discussed the topic with new people). This gave them a possibility to learn their peers’ opinion and to speak to different people. And finally the students wrote a written feedback on the lesson and they felt their suggestions are important and are taken into account.
What went well? Why?
The lesson was quite dynamic with lots of activities included. The students obviously enjoyed the quiz and the final feedback paper, as it was new to them and it went deeper than ordinary shallow saying “goodbye, see you next lesson”.
d. What did not go well? Why?
Though in general the activities were adapted to the learners’ level, some needed language patterns while expressing their own opinions. While working in groups stronger students tended to dominate and weaker ones didn’t express their opinions fully.
What changes will I make next time? Why?
Next time I will try introduce listed above personalized exercises as they help make the process of education and language learning in particular easier both for the teacher and for the students. Moreover it makes students reflect and think of the reasons why we are doing this or that exercise, not mechanical following the teacher’s commands.