Module 2: Lesson Frameworks

  Google: drive, docs, pub

For this assignment, I chose to do a Test-Teach-Test lesson.  

The major obstacle was adapting this method to online teaching.  Because of the Covid pandemic, all my lessons are online.  In my context, the impact of shifting to online teaching has been a decrease in student participation generally, and a reluctance to participate in speaking tasks especially.  It also makes it more difficult for me to gauge student engagement because I cannot see them.  (They do not turn on their cameras.)

Because of this reluctance to speak, the lead-in question failed to generate a lot of conversation, although I did get the students to write down a few ideas on a shared Google Docs.

I then gave the students test 1.  I could not see their faces, but I was worried that they would be confused about why I was giving them a grammar exercise without any prior grammar instruction.  I worried it would cause them to question my teaching competence.

The students were encouraged to discuss their answers to test 1 before writing them down in the Google Docs.  I monitored the breakout rooms, and unfortunately there was very little discussion or peer teaching going on.  However, the advantage of using shared Google Docs is that I could see these documents being edited in real time, and fortunately for me the results were consistent across all the groups, so it was very easy to decide what uses of articles to focus on.

For the “teach” section, I ended up just presenting the rules to the students on Google Slides, and then reading the slide out.  I am actually not sure how the “teach” part of this framework is supposed to work.  With PPP or Text-Based Approach, it is much easier to pull the language out of the context, and use guiding questions, but how are you supposed to clarify language in a test-teach-test lesson without resorting to just explaining the rules?  

Although, upon reflection, I realize that in this particular lesson I actually did have the language in context, because test 1 was a gap fill within a unified text.  So, once the students had been given the correct answers for test 1, I could have actually used test 1 as a context for the language.  Unfortunately, I did not think of this until later, but this is something I would change if I taught this lesson again.

Once I had explained the rules, I went back to test 1 and picked out the questions that students had trouble with, and asked them to explain to me what rule these items related to.  I was very pleased when they did this successfully, and I think this helped them see what the purpose of test 1 had been.

The students were much more accurate on test 2.  However, because test 1 and test 2 came from different sources, there was one use of articles in test 1 which was not repeated in test 2.  If I did this lesson again, I would edit test 2 so that it reflected all the uses of articles that were in test 1.  

The freer practice went very well.  I was able to monitor the students writing on the Google doc in real time, and then give them feedback afterwards.

Appendix:

Lesson Plan

Main aim: Students will become more accurate in the use of indefinite articles, definite articles, and zero articles

sub aim: Students will practice their writing fluency

Materials: 

Textbook: Q: Skills for Success: Reading and Writing p.57-58 (screenshots included below)

Worksheet 1: Page 58 of the textbook adapted for into a Google Docs (included below)

Worksheet 2: Test 2.  I adapted this from a worksheet created by one of my colleagues.  This was on the shared Google Drive at my school.  I believe she designed it herself. (Included below)

Worksheet 3: A blank google document for students to write their production task on.  (Not included below, because it is only a blank sheet)

Google Slides Presentation: The Google slides contained some of the text from page 57 of the textbook adapted into a Slideshow presentation.  It is not included because the Google Slide is in a different format.  However the material on the Google Slides is from page 57, which is included below.

stage name	Procedure
Lead-in	Teacher: Imagine you want to sell your house. What are all the things you have to do before you are able to sell it? Students discuss the question in groups Open Class Feedback: Teacher nominates a couple students to give their answer.
Test 1:	Students work in groups to complete worksheet 1, which is a gap fill based on the topic of the lead-in--preparing a house for sale.  This worksheet is based on page 58 of Q: Skills for Success: Reading and Writing 4.  However, it has been adapted into a Google document so that it can be used in an online lesson. (Notes--ordinarily this would be pair work, but it’s been adapted to groups because it’s an online lesson, and there are 4 breakout rooms.) The teacher monitors their progress.  The students are working on google docs, which the teacher also has access to, so the teacher can see the answers as they are being written.  The teacher can also go into the breakout rooms to monitor. Open class feedback is conducted by giving the groups the answer key, and having them check their answers and note which ones they got wrong.
Teach	The teacher presents information on the use of definite and indefinite articles.  This information is based off of page 57 of Q: Skills for Success: Reading and Writing 4.  However, the teacher will adapt the presentation to focus on the common errors that were observed during test 1. After presenting this information, the teacher will go back to common errors on test 1.  The teacher will ask students to tell him what rules the exercises correspond to.  (e.g. “Why is number 18 “the” ?  What rule does that match?)
Test 2	The students complete worksheet 2.   They do this first individually, and then check in groups.  The teacher monitors the group work by viewing the Google documents, and gives immediate correction as needed.  Then once students have completed the task, open class feedback is by the teacher nominating students.
Production	The teacher tells the students to write a description of a vacation that they have been on, using definite articles, indefinite articles, and zero articles where appropriate.  (This is the same topic as test 2).  The students write on a shared Google Docs which the teacher monitors.  The teacher collects examples of usages of articles (both correct and incorrect) from the production, and uses these for delayed feedback.

Worksheet 1

Complete the email.  Write the correct articles: a/an, the or for Ø no article

Hi Louis,

Sorry I haven’t been in touch for a while, but I have ___ big news. I got ___ job that I told you about, so I’m selling my house! You know that ___ housing market is very tough right now, but I’m happy because there is already___  couple who are interested in my place.___ potential buyers are coming over in two weeks. I want to stage ___  house so that everything looks perfect. I’m wondering if you might be able to help me, so I thought I’d tell you what I’m planning.

This weekend, I’m going to clean ___ house all over and repaint all ___ doors. I also bought ___ awesome dining table to put in ___ kitchen. (I need some help picking it up!) Then I want to paint ___ main bedroom—probably in ___ soft blue color. And when ___ weather is nice, I want to clean up___ yard and plant ___ flowers.

Real estate agents always say that when ___ buyers are looking at ___  houses, they want to feel like they already live there, so I know this will be worth all ___  effort.

Let me know if you can help me. Oh, and one other question. Do you

know where I can find___ good hardware store?

Felix

Worksheet 2

Complete the email.  Write the correct articles: a/an, the or for Ø no article

My family and I went on holiday to ______ island. _______ island is called Borneo.  On _____ island there are many different animals like _______ monkeys and lizards.  We didn’t see many of _____ monkeys because they only come out at night.  One day, one of _______ lizards crawled into my sister’s bed and she screamed really loudly.  ______ bed was big enough for two people but she slept there on her own.

One day we hired _____ boat to go fishing.  ______ boat wasn’t very big but it was perfect for our family.  My brother was the first one to catch ____ fish.  _____ fish was very colorful and quite big.  By the end of the day we all managed to catch at least one fish.

When we were done fishing, we decided to pull the boat up to _____ beach.  _____ beach was very nice and it had bright white sand and clear blue water!  As I was sitting under _____ tree, _____ coconut fell and almost hit me in the head!  I didn’t know that ______ tree was a coconut tree.  If I had known it was a coconut tree I wouldn’t have sat under it.  I picked up _____ coconut that almost hit me and found ____ rock to break into it.  I hit ____ coconut with _____ rock many times and I finally got to the coconut milk.  It was delicious and very refreshing!

When we got back to the village we checked into _____ hotel.  ______ hotel was very big and quite expensive.  There were many good restaurants at _____ hotel and we ate seafood every night.  _____ seafood at _____ hotel was the best I’ve ever had!

After one week on _____ island, we had to go home.  I will never forget that holiday, it was _____ best holiday I’ve ever been on!