Giorgia Mineo Giorgia Mineo

Life events - reading lesson
Elementary level

Description

In this lesson students will learn to talk about life events. They will start with an exercise putting life milestones in order (get a job, get married, etc), and then move on to a mingling activity where they discuss questions about social networking with their classmates. Following this, students will brainstorm ideas about Ben Silbermann - his education, career, etc - and then skim read an article to check their ideas. Next they will read the same article again for specific information to complete a table of questions. Finally, they will discuss their ideas in pairs before giving WGFB.

Materials

Abc Ex 5 Handout
Abc Life events cut-ups
Abc Article handout
Abc Two posters

Main Aims

  • To provide gist and scan reading practice using a text about an extraordinary businessman in the context of life events

Subsidiary Aims

  • To provide fluency
  • To provide clarification

Procedure

Lead in - Life Events (CUT UPS) (9-10 minutes) • Students warm up and build interest in the lesson

Tell students we will continue talking about life events. Elicit to check their understanding of: - life events (important things that happen in a person's life) - meet someone - get married - leave school - start a business Pair up students and give them the cut outs to put into order. Stress that there is more than one correct answer. (4 mins) Peer check. WGFB - same ideas? Different?

Poster discussion (TWO POSTERS) (8-9 minutes) • Students practise speaking about the context

Ask two students to stick the posters on the wall. Check they know what blogs and social networking are by eliciting examples (Facebook, Instagram, etc). Check they understand the questions - CCQs: - Q1: Do you like sharing information about your life on blogs and social networking sites? Why / why not? - Q2: Do you like to read about other people's lives life events / interests on these sites? Why / why not? ICQs: - will you walk around the room? - yes - do you have a partner? - yes - will you discuss the questions? - yes (5 mins - 2.5 for each question) WGFB - elicit ideas: - who likes sharing their life events on social media? - do you share when you get a new job? / have children / graduate? - who likes seeing other people's information? - do you like seeing what they eat / where they go / when they marry?

Pre-reading prediction (PICTURE/ARTICLE HANDOUT AS ONE) (4-5 minutes) • Students activate schemata/brainstorm to prepare for upcoming text

Chest the handout and draw students attention to the picture and the title. Elicit to check students know meaning of ordinary - normal man, not special or strange Elicit to check students know meaning of extraordinary - very strange or very great. - What do they think are Ben Silbermann's interests? (answer: He is interested in collecting things) - What extraordinary business did he start? (answer: He started Pinterest) Elicit and write their guesses on the board: - look at the pictures - leaves, butterflies, stamps - does he like nature? - does he like writing letters? / drawing? - does he like collecting? (when you keep lots of the same thing - lots of stamps, lots of leaves) - what extraordinary business did he start - art? - museum? (a building where lots of amazing things are kept for people to see, like Topkapı Palace

Skim-reading (PINTEREST HANDOUT AFTER FEEDBACK) (5-6 minutes) • Students develop skim-reading skills

Students skim-read the article alone to check their predictions. Emphasise that they are not reading every word - they are using their eyes across the page very quickly to look for any of their ideas. ICQs: - are we reading every word? - no - are we reading very quickly? - yes - are we looking for our ideas? - yes (2 mins) Peer check (2 mins). WGFB. Do they know what Pinterest is? Have a handout ready in case they haven't seen it before.

Reading for specific info (5-6 minutes) • Students develop their ability to scan for information

Chest the handout again and draw students attention to the info box about Ben. Check they understand all of the questions. - change of US state - where was he born? where did he move to? - first job - when you work for someone else - first business - when you work for yourself Elicit the answer for the first question as an example. (Year of birth - 1982) Ask students to read the text again, but this time to scan for the answers to these questions. ICQs: - are we reading every single word? - no - are we answering only these questions? - yes - are we working alone or with a partner? - alone Peer check (2 mins). WGFB.

Post-reading discussion (EX 5 HANDOUT) (9-10 minutes) • Students improve their ability to speak about the context

Students in pairs discuss the three qs on the handout. (5 mins - 1+ min for each q) IF TIME - swap partners and discuss again (4 mins). WGFB on content and delayed error correction (5 mins).

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