Lesson Plans that work / Favorite Lesson Plans

[ssaari386]

  Hi Everyone!  I wanted to start this post because I think it would be great if there was a place where everyone posted their favorite lesson plans.  The ones that worked really well, got a great response from the class and lasted the 50mins - or even longer!  If everyone posts the best lesson plans they've used off Waygook.org, it will save a lot of time weeding through the not-so-great lesson plans / PPTs.  These are tried and true plans. 

I'll start here by posting a link to the lesson plan I am doing this week.  It's a lesson on FAMOUS STRUCTURES OF THE WORLD - and it's great because the PPT (especially the edited version further down the page) is simple and easy for lower level students (but higher level students don't know all of the structures either) - also, the worksheet helps students engage and follow along.  And to top it off the bomb game is great and the classes all had a lot of fun, easily filling the time.  One of my co-teachers even commented on fun the game is.  I made the game a bit more challenging for higher level students by giving them an extra point if they didn't need to look at the paper for an answer during the game.  Anyway, it's here for everyone to use. 

http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,13994.0.html

Please post GREAT lesson plans that worked for you!  Thanks!

[Falconface]

Here is a lesson plan I used this week. It is about some basic idiomatic expressions. I start all my classes with a speed quiz, which tends to take them about 10 minutes to finish. Then I run them through the explanation of what an idiom is, because they probably don't know the word. After that, I take them through several idioms, showing the picture first, I have them try to figure it out. They probably won't get any of them, but they do try to guess. For the "monkey business" idiom I got a lot of students yelling that it was a Japanese person...Anyway, make them repeat the idioms out loud and make sure they understand what each one means. Then have them volunteer some Korean idioms, at this point they should understand what an idiom is and be able to volunteer some massively confusing examples. Good luck figuring them out yourself. Finally I give each group several easy idioms which they have to draw (attached are a few examples). The point is that they make it as clear as possible for the other groups to understand, because the more the others guess correctly the more points they get. Depending on your class this may not take up the full 50 minutes, but it would be pretty easy to just some more idioms if you think you need it.

Good luck fellow Waygooks.

[theemmons]

There's one lesson that I did last year that I really liked. It's a lesson on Morals and the difference between killing and murder. Wow typing it out like this makes it sound so morbid... but it's actually a very interesting lesson. It would work best with higher level students but could be adjusted for other levels.

It's based on a lecture from Harvard called "Justice" by Michael Sandel (This is actually fairly famous in Korea). The power-point has 4 morally ambiguous situations (I only had time to use 2 situations). Read the situations (or have students read) to the class. For each situation there are two options to choose from. Each student (or group) must choose option A or B then explain why they made that decision.

I found that answering WHY or BECAUSE was very difficult but because the topic was interesting they pushed themselves to find the words. Some of the girls were a little saddened by the class but still found it interested. The boys didn't care hahaha... maybe you could find a way to make it more happy. The PPT is pretty simple but found some pics to help with explaining the situations.

Here is a link to the lecture as well if you're interested: http://www.justiceharvard.org/2011/03/episode-01/#watch

[ssaari386]

theemmons - I'm not sure you attached the right PPT - the one you posted just has a couple simple pictures of cable cars / salad and gall bladder....hmmm.  Please take a look and attach the correct PPT if you have it.  Thanks!

[theemmons]

That's the right ppt.... granted not my best effort (suspect use of a bladder pic) but the content made for a great result in my mid/high level classes... I swear!

[ssaari386]

Does anyone have, or know of, a great PPT for 'Music around the world'?  I have a music lesson coming up and I wanted to teach the kids about music from different parts of the world.  Let me know if anyone has a good lesson plan for this.  Thanks! 

[Dorozco]

One that I have is called Dog Attack. In this lesson, I have a short story of a woman who was attacked by a dog, it's supposed to teach students the passive form of a verb.

[skjosh]

http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,4960.0.html

That's a post about music if you're interested.

[Squire]

Put the students in small groups, then generate 8-10 random letters and give them 90 seconds to make the longest word they can from the letters. If a team's longest word is 4 letters they get 4 points that round. I used to use a random letter generator online, and entered in the scrabble letters (so there are enough vowels) but if I didn't like the letter sequence I'd change it or generate another one.

I used to play this with a middle school after school class last year, and was often surprised at the good words they came out with, but also that they never really caught on to the idea of pluralizing words for an extra point if there was an 's' available.

If anyone decided to play this it's a good idea to put a letter sequence on the board first and make words out of it together as a class. Teach them to make sure they at least come out with a three, two or even one letter word at the end of the round, rather than wasting the whole time looking for long words and coming out with 0 points

[ssaari386]

SkJosh, thanks for the link to the music lesson plan.  Squire, love the scrambled letter idea...they are so competitive, games like this are always good. 

[ssaari386]

Just wanted to mention that I played this Top 5 game with my low level high school students last week.  They loved it and the time flew by...even my worst classes got into it and those who usually sleep were the most active!  If you are looking for an easy and fun game to play with the students before finals week - this is it!

http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,8747.0.html

[Mattaru]

(1) Personality

http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,1839.msg255741.html#msg255741

Had a really good time with my students playing this personality game.
See post for more information. I've chucked in a Mario Bomb Game. It worked really well.

(2) Suggestions

http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,11455.msg253047.html#msg253047

My suggestions lesson worked really well with my high school kids who are at a low level. They were jumping out of their seats to give me answers, it was great. The end activity is also fun and requires no prep on your behalf.

[tmeinecke]

1. 7 Billion People- New vocab words: Population, million, billion, average, common, typical

I had so much success with this lesson, I received quite the ovation from the class, which on that particular day included all of the (ok most) of the students, both of my co-teachers, and the nearby university student teachers. They all loved it. The worksheets required some guidance but were mostly finished by the students unassisted.

Here is a link to the prezi:
http://prezi.com/cor8kkuczugb/world-cultures/

The lesson starts off with a clip, where you explain beforehand the meanings of the new words (population, average, common, typical, million, billion). You note that common, typical, and average can be used interchangeably. Once they understand population, then you say something along the lines of the world having 7 billion people and that is the "Earth's population', while writing 7 billion on the board. So, the world has 7 billion people, and they are from all over the Earth, here are just some of those people. After the clip, You ask the students how many countries they think there are? Get a few responses. Then show them the next slide that says there are 7 billion people in 195 countries. While you are going through the slides, ask them along the way 'Who's flag is this?' or 'What country is this?' all while pointing at the flags (the ones you know that is lol).

Next up, explain the word population again for anyone who doesn't know what it means still. And show them the top 3 populated countries (China, India, USA). It will bring you to a close up of the flag of these countries, and ask them who is this for all 3 of them. The next parts I think you can figure out how to do, but basically you want to explain that in this particular context you can use the words average, common, and typical interchangeably. I showed them the senntence, 'This is the world's most (typical, common, average) person' in 3 different ways. They all seemed to understand. Ask them what does the world's most common person look like? Male or female? Old, middle aged, o young? What age? Do they own a cell phone? Bank account? How much money do they make?

Form groups in your classroom depending on the size, and have them guess the answers to these questions before showing the clip. After the clip give the answers to these questions, and give points to the groups which guessed correctly. I recommend making a small worksheet with 5 different questions about the most 'common person' on Earth. I actually cant' happen to find mine so make your own, it is nothing difficult whatsoever.

Good luck and feel free to ask ANY questions whatsoever. I put alot of time into this lesson plan and really want to share it with others :)

http://prezi.com/cor8kkuczugb/world-cultures/

[dapharoah]

Stupid question probably... but how do you upload? i have a few really good high school random lessons but don't know how to share ;) haha

[Korea Nat]

I did asking for and giving advice for my open class and it went really well. This is doable for lower level students too I found. With my higher level students I asked more questions and pushed them to use more complicated sentences when giving advice. I used a PPT I found on here but tweaked it (so thanks whoevers it was!) and added some different activities.

There are a few activities:

- Intro
- Drill the different expression. Write giving advice expressions on the board.
Game
- CCQ - Multiple choice. ask students to guess which advice is correct/best.
Now show the students different situations without answers. They must use the expressions and give different advice for each scenario. There were some funny answers
(for this section they get points and it is made competitive to keep them engaged)

Activity 2
Next every student is given a slip of paper and they have to write a problem and ask for advice (anonymously) using the expressions. Fold and give paper back to the teacher, I had a basket for them to go in.  Mix the problems up and give them back out to students making sure they are receiving a different one. Now students will have to write and use one of the expressions (try to push them away from always using you should...) and give advice to the problem in front of them. This time they keep the paper. I went around the classroom with a mic and picked volunteers to read out the problem and then their advice. The problems and the advice were often quite funny so other students really got involved. Dependent on time you can stretch this out or reduce it down as you feel necessary.

Activity 3 - Agony aunt/teen advice column problem solving.
Teacher explains what an advice column is. The class are split in to 6 groups. Each group is given a problem and are told that together they must offer different advice using each of the giving advice expressions. This was a bit of a challenge but if they can be kept on task they can do it. I helped them a bit if lower level by hinting at some possible advice.
Each group presents their ideas to the rest of the class.I gave a brief summary of the problem first and had it up on the screen so other students could try to read if they wanted to.
       
It sounds quite complicated reading back but it was a really good class, the feedback from my open class observers was very positive, I had fun and the students had fun too :)

Hope its useful for someone!

[ssaari386]

Thanks for the Advice lesson plan Korea Nat - I tried it out with my students - one class really got into it and was giving the best and worst advice....another class lost interest half way through and just kept saying "give up" for bad advice...don't you hate it when classes react so differently to the same lesson plan!! Anyway, I liked it!

Also, dapharoah, to upload, just hit reply at the bottom of the page and then on the reply page there is an option for "Attachments and other options" - click that and you can upload.  Would love to see what you've got so please share.

I am working on my open class this week and am looking for a fun and active game/warm-up to open with - so if anyone has a suggestion please let me know.

Thanks!