Teaching Practice 8
Upper-Intermediate level
Description
Materials
Main Aims
-
To provide fluency and accuracy speaking practice in a conversation and debate in the context of our ecological footprints
Subsidiary Aims
-
To provide gist and detailed listening practice using a recording of a discussion on ecological footprints
-
To provide clarification, review and practice of language used for presenting opinions during a discussion
Procedure (42-51 minutes)
T tells Ss they will watch a short video As they watch they will think about how their daily actions affect the environment T plays the video When it is finished, T brings up slide 1 T will ask Ss what an ecological footprint is (this was explained in the video) T asks Ss to talk about their ecological footprints with a partner and write down a few ways that they can reduce their own T will encourage Ss to share their ideas with the group during WC FB
T chests HO1 Ss will listen to a conversation between Rachel and George about their ecological footprints and complete the sentences on the HO by circling the correct answer T plays the recording After recording finishes Ss compare their answers with their partner T will then give Ss an answer key Next, T will pose two questions to Ss "Were Rachel's ideas about reducing her ecological footprint similar to yours?" "Do you agree with her?" In pairs, Ss will discuss Rachel's ideas T will monitor discussions For FB, T will elicit ideas from Ss and highlight any particularly interesting points heard during monitoring
T chests the next HO T tells Ss that they are going to look at different ways of presenting their arguments during a discussion Ss work in pairs to match the 'discussion language' sentences to the correct category Upon completion, Ss will stand up and check the answers of their neighbours T will distribute answer key to give Ss a written record Next, T will chest HO3 Ss work in pairs to write full sentences next to the abbreviated dialogue, using the functional language they have just engaged with T will play a recording of the conversation so Ss can check their answers T will also present an answer key in case the recording is too fast for Ss Finally, T will drill a few sentences from this conversation with Ss
T divides Ss into groups of three Tells Ss that they will be presented with an ecological problem and T's proposition on how this can be solved Ss must discuss the problem and proposed solution and vote on whether they would be willing to implement this idea If they disagree with the proposition, Ss must propose their own solution First slide: "Problem: “One hectare of land can produce enough soya beans to feed 600 people, but only enough beef to feed 20 people.” "Proposition: Everyone must give up meat." Once Ss have discussed and voted in their groups, T will elicit the results of each vote, along with any alternative solutions The results will be written on the WB This is repeated two more times with different problems and propositions If this discussion finishes early, T will bring up the final slide Ss will see five other topics T will tell each group to pick their own topic, identify a problem and come up with a solution At the end of the discussion, Ss will present their ideas and the class will vote on their propositions
T will provide delayed error feedback, writing any incorrect uses of the functional language on the WB and eliciting corrections from Ss T will also highlight and praise any particularly effective use of the functional language This is an opportunity to give FB on the Ss efforts and ideas during the productive skill task Quantity of FB will depend on the number of errors overheard by T