Lesson Plan - The Lexical Approach

This lesson is designed for students in 4º ESO and based on the Lexical Approach.  For more information about the Lexical Approach please see the post entitled “The company words keep”. 

In this session, the objectives are as follows: 

-Increase the repertoire of vocabulary and collocations relating to personality and friendships to describe a friend

-Synthesise previous knowledge of the second conditional to create a friendship test based on hypothetical situations. 

1. On the board, the teacher writes:

My cat is a(n) __________ cat.

Students work in groups of 2 or 3 to think of an adjective for as many letters of the alphabet as they can. e.g.: 

a - amazing

b - boring

c - cool

The students share their work with another group, then with the class. The teacher provides an adjective for the more difficult letters if necessary.

e.g. zany.

2. The teacher now writes:

My best friend is ___________

Individually, students choose 5 adjectives that describe their friend (can be from the list, or others).

In pairs, students then decide what are the 5 most important qualities for a friend to have. 

In groups of 4, students compare lists and decide on a new one.

The groups share their lists with the class and justify why they chose them. 

3. Students read the text entitled “Cheat!” then order the events in the text.  (see below).  Compare with a partner and feedback as a class.

4. The teacher directs the students to the text and asks them to look for:

collocations / phrasal verbs with “look” (x6)

exam vocabulary (x6)

embedded question words (x2)

vocabulary about bodies and emotion (x2)

collocations with had  (x4) 

Students work individually, using a highlighter or pen to underline the lexis, then compare with a partner.  Feedback as a class

5. The teacher writes on the board:

What would you do if your friend were cheating in an exam? 

If you were Mo, would you tell the teacher? 

Students talk to their partner about the situations then share with the class.

The teacher elicits the grammatical form:  2^nd Conditional and the relevant question headers:

What would you do if + past simple

If you were / past simple…+would+inf

(Elicit use of were instead of was in these sentences)

6. Teacher gives out the following questions between two: 

What would you do if your friend told a secret of yours to everyone?

a)    Forgive and forget.

b)   Talk to them about how you feel. 

c)    Get revenge.    

If you won the lottery, would you share it with your friend?

a)    Without a doubt!

b)   I would buy them a good present

c)    No way!  

Students talk to their partner and decide on their answer.  Share with the class and justify.

Students then decide what kind of friend would answer a), b) and c)

e.g.

a)    He/she is a good friend but maybe too good!

b)   He/she’s a good friend

c)    He/she’s a bad friend!

Students work together to identify the word chunk or collocations in the answers (eg. forgive and forget, without a doubt, no way)

7. Students create their own questions and options using the question frames (and word chunks if they wish). 

The teacher monitors to help with any doubts.

Students share their questions with other groups and discuss the questions. 

8. For homework, students create five questions and options to make their own friendship test. 

The evaluation will be formative, based on the questions created at home.

The questions created by students will be uploaded to the blog as part of their portfolio of work. 

It deals with the following competencias claves

Competencias en comunicación lingüística

Competencias sociales y cívicas

Aprender a aprender

This task is related to the following Contenidos

B4.1 - Estratexias de produción: Planificación, Execución, Revisión.

B5.2 - Patróns gráficos e convencións ortográficas

It is based on the following criterios:

Criterios de Evaluación

B4.1. Coñecer, seleccionar e aplicar as estratexias máis adecuadas para elaborar textos escritos breves ou de media lonxitude (por exemplo, reformulando estruturas a partir doutros textos de características e propósitos comunicativos similares, ou redactando borradores previos, e revisando contido, ortografía e presentación do texto antes da súa escritura definitiva).

B4.6 - Presentar os textos escritos de xeito coidado (con atención a marxes, riscaduras, liñas dereitas, letra clara, letras maiúsculas e minúsculas cando corresponda, etc.) en soporte impreso e dixital, adecuados aos fins funcionais e valorando importancia da presentación nas comunicacións escritas.

B5.3. Coñecer e utilizar para a comprensión e a produción do texto os aspectos socioculturais e sociolingüísticos relativos á vida cotiá (hábitos e actividades de estudo, traballo e lecer), condicións de vida (hábitat e estrutura socioeconómica), relacións interpersoais (xeracionais, entre homes e mulleres, no ámbito educativo, ocupacional e institucional), comportamento (posturas, expresións faciais, uso da voz, contacto visual e proxémica) e convencións sociais (actitudes e valores), así como os aspectos culturais

B5.8. Recoñecer, e aplicar á comprensión do texto léxico oral e escrito de uso común relativo a asuntos cotiáns e a temas xerais ou relacionados cos propios intereses, os estudos e as ocupacións, así como  un repertorio limitado de expresións e modismos de uso frecuente, cando o contexto ou o apoio visual facilitan a comprensión.

The Estándares are as follows:

Estándares de Aprendizaje

PLEB4.3. Escribe notas, anuncios, mensaxes e comentarios breves, en calquera soporte, nos que solicita e se transmite información e opinións sinxelas e nos que resalta os aspectos que lle resultan importantes (por exemplo, nunha páxina web ou unha revista xuvenís, ou dirixidos a un profesor ou a unha profesora), respectando as convencións e as normas de cortesía.

PLEB5.5. Comprende e utiliza con corrección suficiente e adecuación sociolingüística os recursos lingüísticos propios do seu nivel, e frases feitas e locucións idiomáticas sinxelas e habituais da comunidade lingüística correspondente á lingua meta.