English Lesson Planner | Reading and speaking

Mara Gerety

Reading and speaking - Luddites and technology - Pre-Intermediate level

Reading and speaking - Luddites and technology
Pre-Intermediate level

Description

In this lesson, students read a short text about the 19th century anti-technology movement known as the Luddites. They then discuss attitudes toward technology in a modern context and their own feelings about the place of technology in human life.

Materials

Coursebook reading exercise

Luddite questions handout

Coursebook reading exercise

Luddite questions handout

Main Aims

To provide gist and detailed reading practice using a text about Luddites in the context of technology and society

Subsidiary Aims

To provide fluency speaking practice in a conversation in the context of technolo

Procedure (30-40 minutes)

Lead-in (3-5 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

I will show pictures of young people noticeably engaged in their cell phones, televisions, or video games, probably including some noticeably angry-looking old people, and ask the students what they see. Why the old people are angry, and what they probably think of the young people.

Pre-teach Vocabulary (8-10 minutes) • To prepare students for the text and make it accessible

Elicit the following words: hammer, destroy, textile, century, movement. Go over the MFP. Methods of teaching elaborated on language analysis page.

Gist reading (3-5 minutes) • To provide students with less challenging gist and specific information reading/listening tasks

Give Ss the text from the coursebook, tell them to read quickly for gist, and consider "What sort of people were they?" ICQ's: Are you reading slowly? Are you understanding every word?

Detailed reading (8-10 minutes) • To provide students with more challenging detailed, deduction and inference reading/listening tasks

Have the Ss read the text again, then work individually to answer the questions on the handout. Pair check and feedback. ICQ's: Are you reading fast or slow this time? Are you working alone or in pairs?

Post-Reading Speaking Practice (8-10 minutes) • To provide with an opportunity to respond to the text and expand on what they've learned

Return to the coursebook handout. Ss read and answer individually the questions about modern technology, marking how much they agree with the statements on the scale of 1-5. Then discuss their answers in pairs, and we do class feedback. I'll have members of the pairs describe what their partner thinks, i.e. "David, what does Artem think about..." "Emi, is Karen a modern Luddite?"