Sample II-19: Lesson Plan: Intermediate Level

Class Intermediate ESL    Date_____________

Time: We are assuming the class period is a minimum of two hours. Times listed for the activities are approximate. Times for each of the activities will vary depending on number of students in the class, literacy level of the class, and other factors. A specific lesson plan will always occur in the context of prior and subsequent lessons and objectives and other class activities. The following is a sample plan using a commercially published textbook. It is included because it contains an activity for interpreting a weekly homework form, a type of document literacy that most parents will need to read and fill out for their children. Also, we want to show that it is not necessary to create all your own activities in your lesson plans; textbook exercises can often be adapted or even used as is to meet your objectives.

Lesson Objective: Interpret elementary school weekly homework form.

Language Skills:

Read a simple chart and explain the following orally:
  • Days of the week
  • School subjects
  • Other vocabulary: daily, weekly, each, comments (new)

Life Skills:

Cultural information: parents are often expected to monitor or help with children's homework


Materials:

  • Sample homework forms from local schools
  • Transparency of one form
  • A Day in the Life of the Gonzalez Family (text, page 49 and video scene 6), by C. Van Duzer & M. Burt (1999).
    Available from the Center for Applied Linguistics, at http://calstore.cal.org/store/
    Used with permission.

Equipment:

  • Overhead projector
  • VCR

Stages of the Lesson:

Warm Up/Review (10 minutes)

Review school subjects by asking learners what their children are studying in school and which subjects and skills are listed on their children's report cards (This is a review of a previous lesson on interpreting report cards).

Review days of the week by asking learners if their children study these every day or only on certain days.

Ask what days the learners study English and what they do other days.