Example Lesson Plan 3

Teacher/s: Kim Edmunds, Sabina Simon, and Kaitlin Griswold

Level: A5
Date/Time: N/A
Goal: Students will successfully comprehend most of an authentic interview clip with a
popular American television star and produce meaningful and grammatically accurate
responses to it
Objectives (SWBAT):
Students Will Be Able To
1. Grasp key vocabulary terms by interacting and surveying one another
2. Engage in thoughtful discussion to activate schema and generate more vocabulary
3. Listen for both meaning and intonation patterns (unit 5) in an interview clip
4. Compose and share their own constructive advice using the subjunctive tense
Theme: A Hard Act to Follow;
Aim/Skill/Microskill

Activity/Procedure/Stage

Interaction

Review or Preview (if

applicable)

Linking & Transitioning to rest of

lesson:

(for example:
SS-T)

Activity 1: Vocab Match

Race (pairs)

1.1 Pre-Stage:
Put students into pairs.
Hand out worksheet with key
vocabulary for matching (simple wordto-def); may include corpus-sourced
sentences for context.
First pair to finish (correctly) wins.
Guidance for teachers: This is a simple
schema-activation exercise. The goal is
to have learners familiar with how the
words sound, so make sure they are
verbalized frequently.

SS-T, SS-SS

Transition to #2: Take a

moment to talk with others
and ensure that you
understand what each of
these words means. Now, I
want to talk about a few
things before we get to the
listening.

Time

10

1.2. During Stage:

SSs work together to define the
vocabulary
1.2 Post-Stage:
After declaring winner, allow a few
minutes for the class to confer and fill
in knowledge gaps.

Tangible Outcome & T. feedback/peer

feedback:
Completed matching sheet
SS-T, SS-SS
2.1 Pre-Stage:
Explain that our theme has to do with
careers and advice (plus parental
advice, but were going to expand on it
a little)
Put SSs into small groups (mix and
match).
Have SSs consider these questions:
Have you heard the phrase follow
your passion? What do you think it
Transition to #3: I want to
means? Do you think there is a
introduce you to a popular
difference between a job and a career?
TV figure who has a lot to
How is passion discussed in your
say on the subject of careers culture? Guidance for teachers: Vary
and advice about them. Has these questions as much as you think is
anyone heard of Mike
appropriate.
Rowe?
2.2. During Stage:
SSs discuss questions; T circulates and
participates, provides and notes
feedback on errors. Guidance for
teachers: Take advantage of open-talk
activities like this to note errors made
by your students and compile them for
them to correct later on. Depending on
how much time you have, provide
recasts or other synchronous feedback
as well. Also, note down any good
vocabulary that comes up in their
discussions.

Activity 2: Turn-and-talk +
Open-Share (12 min)

2.3 Post-Stage:
SS sharing with whole group
Guidance for teachers: You may think
it a better idea to wait until after the
listening to have this discussion as a
class, once they have responses to
make to the interview.

Activity 3: Mike Rowe

Listening (55 min)

Transition to #4 or Wrapup: Do you agree with him?

What do you think he
means?Were going to try
giving our own advice using
the subjunctive mood, which
weve learned about.

Tangible Outcome & T. feedback/peer

feedback:
Sharing with group; discussion of
possible alternatives
3.1 Pre-Stage:
Introduce who Mike Rowe is; show a
picture of him, as well as 1-2 clips of
him on the TV show Dirty Jobs (e.g.
toilet smashing, window washing)
Preview the structure of the clip: why
he is being interviewed, who is
interviewing him, how many Qs and
As will be given
3.2. During Stage:
Listen to the clip two or three times.
The first round should involve no notetaking by the students, but only
listening for gist. This is a chance for
you to further assess their listening
abilities. It will be challenging for
them, so maintain high energy and
pause the video once for them to do
comprehension checks with a partner if
you think it is necessary.

SS-T, S, SS-SS 15

30

2nd listen: students may take notes, but

remind them not to try to get complete
sentences down. After, with a partner,
they should roughly reconstruct the gist
of the questions and answers given in
the clip (they do not need to be exact).
Ask students to reflect on the final
minute of the clip. What was the
summary they heard about? What kind
of language signaled the beginning and
end of the summary?
3rd listen: Draw on their knowledge of
intonation from Unit 5. You may want
to include a review of this in the prestage; that is your decision. Provide a
handout with cloze-style sentences for
them to complete with words that have
contrastive intonation/stress.

10

3.3 Post-Stage:
Give students time to discuss with one
another what they think Mike Rowes
point is and whether they agree with
him. Circulate and provide support.
Have students reflect on their answers
to the questions from the pre-stage.
What do they think of their
perspectives?
Tangible Outcome & T. feedback/peer
feedback: Worksheet for intonation;
notes on listening
SS-T, S, SS-SS 3
Activity 4: Advice with the
Subjunctive (30 min)

Transition to Wrap-Up:
Great work, everyone.
Remember to look up those
vocabulary words on your
own if youre still struggling
with any. Im also going to
give you the interview clip
for you to watch at home.

4.1 Pre-Stage:
Have students open books to p. 86,
exercises 1 and 2. Remind them that
the subjunctive is often used to give
advice in formal situations. Elicit
examples to review formation.
Guidance for teachers: This should not
be the first time they are introduced to
the concept of the subjunctive.
15
4.2. During Stage:
SSs complete exercise independently,
then compare with a partner. If any
students finish early, prompt them to
move on to the letter to self, below
4.3 Post-Stage:
Ask SSs to think of their own advice
about jobs they would have liked to
receive when they were younger (in
class or as homework) and compose a
letter to their past selves. You may
need to have a model ready for this.
Alternatively, this could be the entire
activity, if you think the students are
familiar enough with the subjunctive
form and meaning.
Tangible Outcome & T. feedback/peer
feedback:
Completed exercises and letter.

10

Wrap-up
Assign homework from
workbook. Ask students to
think of the best and worst
advice theyve ever
received, and be ready to
share it in class the next day.

Lesson Evaluation Procedures:

Provide the students with an exit ticket
to evaluate their own learning from the
class.

Materials:
-Instructions powerpoint
-vocabulary matching sheet
-3 Mike Rowe clips
Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIB2qqcEOFU (8:15 10:44 or so)
High Rise Window Washing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPgTNCV0kTA
Toilet smashing (because why not): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6KfpTlvX9Y
-intonation sentence sheet
Anticipated Problems & Suggested Solutions: Make sure that all your sound and audio
equipment is fully functioning. Test the sound quality ahead of time for fuzziness or
echoes. Good quality sound is crucial when working with authentic materials. If there are
issues with equipment, ask several students to load the video on their smartphones.
Students can watch it in small groups.
If the video clip seems to be too challenging for your students, break it into smaller
sections on the second go-around and give them ample opportunities to talk to one
another. Encourage them to verbalize the words and phrases they did hear, and
extrapolate about what is being discussed (learners are better at this than they often
realize). You can also incorporate more scaffolding early on in the lesson.
Contingency Plans: If youre running out of time, focus on making sure they feel
comfortable and confident in their understanding of the interview first. The final activity
can be assigned as homework. It is important that their experience with authentic
listening be positive or motivating.
In case the lesson ends early (it most likely wont), have prepared some short scenarios
regarding people who need advice on jobs/careers. Assign students to produce advice for
them individually, in pairs, or in groups, and engage learners in deciding which advice is
the best.