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Author Topic: Kid Power Grammar Lesson Series  (Read 1163 times)

Offline nimrand

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Kid Power Grammar Lesson Series
« on: November 20, 2014, 12:41:06 PM »
I've been using a book called "Kid Power Grammar" in my afterschool classes for some of my more proficient classes (3rd, 5th, & 6th grade).  It's gone quite well, despite being a little more "work" heavy than the way some afterschool classes are taught, and the kids are showing significant progress.  So, I've decided to post my lesson plans and materials online.  I don't have time to post everything right away, but I'll update as I have time.

You can find the book all Kyobooks and many other book stores in Korea, though if you want to buy copies for all your students, you'll probably have to order of GMarket of something.  Otherwise, you can just buy the book and make photo copies.

I use the book for class, and the workbook (bought separately) as optional homework (which they get candy for if they complete).

Generally, I break each lesson into two sessions, each about 50 minutes in length:
1. The first session introduces example language to demonstrate the grammatical concept being taught.  I use the example sentences from the "Kid Power" grammar tables in the book, but supplement them with images in the PPT to ensure that students understand.  I have students read the sentences as a class.  Then, as a practice exercise, I have students complete the "Kid Power Practice" and "Kid Power To Speak" exercises.  At first, I'll ask for volunteers to answer each question, but as students catch on I start picking students at random to keep students on their toes.  As students complete each sentence, I then have them read the completed sentence.  I also use graphics in the PPT for each sentence to ensure that students associate the sentence with its meaning.  Once those two practice exercises are done, I do a game or two to reinforce what they've learned.
2. In the second session, I have kids complete the "Kid Power To Write" and "Kid Power To Think" exercises, calling on random students and having the class read the completed sentences.  If time allows, I do a game, and then give the students a journal writing assignment where they have to use what they've learned to complete some open-ended but short writing assignment.

Sometimes, I do a third class in between 1 & 2 and fill in more games if I feel the students need more practice.

Note that the materials for the earlier lessons are quite as polished as those for the later ones.  Also, the PPTs are actually made with Keynote (Apple's presentation software for Mac), and the exporting the files to PPT sometimes moves things around on the slides or causes other problems.  So, if you have any problems with the PPTs, please let me know so I can fix them.

Link to book:
http://item2.gmarket.co.kr/Item/detailview/Item.aspx?goodscode=612745633
« Last Edit: November 21, 2014, 10:42:56 AM by nimrand »

Offline nimrand

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Lesson 1 - Paris is a city.
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2014, 12:41:56 PM »
Differentiating common and special (i.e., proper) nouns is probably the least interesting lesson in this book, especially if you're more interested in speaking than writing.  I considered skipping it.  However, the distinction is important if your students want to know why they are supposed to say "a baseball" and not "a Harry Potter" when they reach the latter lessons.  However, I don't make a point of bringing those kinds of things up unless they ask.

There are two versions of the lesson plan for the first part of the class.  The "revised" one is the one I did for my 3rd grade class, which I adapted to be a little more appropriate for their age level and correct some problems I had with the original one.
« Last Edit: November 20, 2014, 01:22:06 PM by nimrand »

Offline nimrand

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Lesson 2 - I see an eraser.
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2014, 12:42:46 PM »
I recommend skipping "Start Power Practice" on this one.  The activity was too difficult for many students, and didn't really contribute much to the lesson.
« Last Edit: November 20, 2014, 01:05:22 PM by nimrand »

Offline nimrand

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Lesson 3 - I need many rulers.
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2014, 12:43:33 PM »
This is the lesson where things start getting a little difficult for the students.  They tend to want to add "a / an" in front of "three apples" and the like.  There's a lot for them to remember, but with enough practice, they get it right.  I was so proud of my student when she instinctively inserted an "a" (which my CT had omitted) as she was reading a sentence to the class.
« Last Edit: November 20, 2014, 01:14:09 PM by nimrand »

Offline nimrand

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Unit 1 - Nouns - Review
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2014, 12:44:13 PM »
Review lesson for Unit 1 on nouns.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2014, 02:36:04 PM by nimrand »

Offline nimrand

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Lesson 4 - She is little.
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2014, 12:45:17 PM »
Did lesson 4-1 in my open class.  It went over well.

The 5th grade class was learning about describing people in their book, which dovetailed nicely with this pronouns lesson.  So, I made the writing assignment that combined both sets of language.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2014, 10:22:23 AM by nimrand »

Offline nimrand

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Lesson 5 - They are helpful.
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2014, 12:45:44 PM »
The PPT exports were too garbled in this case, so I exported the presentations as HTML and put them in ZIP files.  You'll have to unzip them to a folder and then open the index.html.  I recommend using Windows Explorer to open the zip file (right click -> open with -> Windows Explorer), not whatever your Korean computer uses as the default for zip files (some don't unzip the files properly).  When you open the presentation in your browser, you can use F11 to toggle to full screen.

This lesson adds "we" and "they" to the list of pronouns students learned in the previous lesson.

For the writing assignment, I had students make a comic.  I provided them with an example, but encourages students to be creative and make up their own (students so often think I just want them to "copy" what I've done...groan).
« Last Edit: December 03, 2014, 10:10:09 AM by nimrand »

Offline nimrand

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Lesson 6 - These are fuzzy.
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2014, 12:46:14 PM »
This lesson teaches this, that, these, and those.

Most kids don't know these words other than "this" and sometimes "that."  So, they'll need a fair amount of practice.  Fortunately, it's not hard to come up with games for these.

For the Pictionary game, I didn't like drawing big / small, so instead I drew a stick figure and then had students draw their object(s) close to the stick figure for this/these and far from the stick figure from that/those.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2014, 02:43:38 PM by nimrand »

Offline nimrand

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Unit 2 - Pronouns - Review
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2014, 12:46:53 PM »
Review lesson.  I only created questions for the first round of the Mario template.  The started on the second round, buy they are incomplete.  The first round was enough for a 40 minute lesson, though.

I found in this review that students had the subject pronouns (I, he, she, it, they, we) down pretty good, but still struggled with this, that, these, and those.  So, I made a simple review presentation to quiz students on this, that, these, and those as a warmup in my Unit 3 lessons.
« Last Edit: December 18, 2014, 12:12:27 PM by nimrand »

Offline nimrand

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Lesson 7 - They are bakers.
« Reply #9 on: November 21, 2014, 12:55:31 PM »
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Offline nimrand

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Lesson 8 - They are not bakers.
« Reply #10 on: November 21, 2014, 12:56:22 PM »
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Offline nimrand

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Lesson 9 - Are they bakers?
« Reply #11 on: November 21, 2014, 12:56:59 PM »
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Offline nimrand

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Unit 3 - Be Verbs - Review
« Reply #12 on: December 18, 2014, 12:16:19 PM »
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Offline kimallow

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Re: Kid Power Grammar Lesson Series
« Reply #13 on: December 22, 2014, 03:27:25 PM »
I just want to thank you for tipping me off on this series. I've been asked to do a grammar camp by my principal and literally had no idea where to begin. The kids are going to hate it, but at least I'll have well planned lessons!

Offline nimrand

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Re: Kid Power Grammar Lesson Series
« Reply #14 on: December 24, 2014, 01:38:15 PM »
I'm glad it's useful to someone.  There's more coming, but there's a lag because I have to organize all the materials before posting them.  If you or anyone makes new stuff for these lesson, please post them, because I don't always have time to make as high quality of stuff as I'd like.

I didn't think my students would like "grammar" lessons much either, but I've found the students are actually quite engaged and is by far my most successful framework for planning lessons.  The students seem to enjoy them most of the time (more specifically, they usually enjoy the games and will at least willingly play along with the presentation and practice exercises that come first).  It helps that they're pretty good students to begin with.  In my case, I only teach the grammar lessons to those classes that already have a good handle on the curriculum classes.

Part of what i think make these lessons work is they spend very little, if any, time talking about grammar, and instead focuses on giving tons of comprehensible input, which is exactly what they need to acquire the grammar.  Throughout the class, every student is getting drilled to read/comprehend, speak, write, and listen to examples of the target grammar point, and it does become clear over time that they're improving and better able to put sentences together as a result.

I also think teacher grammar is a good compliment to the grade school curriculum, which focuses too much on vocabulary and only teaches very situational "grammar."

 

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