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SPEAKING LESSON: GIVING AND ASKING FOR DIRECTIONS

LEVEL: Elementary/Adult Beginners

OBJECTIVES: The students should be able to:

1. locate places inside a school or a small town
2. give and ask for directions to a place

MATERIALS: Teacher-made top view map of an imaginary school(for elementary students) or a small town (for adult beginners) drawn on chart paper, pictures of different places found inside a school or in a small town, masking tape, small cut-out of a person’s figure

TIME: Around one hour depending on class size

PROCEDURE:

1.) Unlock the meaning of the different places found inside the school or a small town by showing pictures of each and discussing what is done in each place.

Places inside a school:

gym, library, canteen, business office, principal’s office, faculty room, courtyard, grade school classrooms, toilets/washrooms

Places in a small town: hospital, school, church, public library, cinema, shops or stores, gasoline station, fire station, post office, bank

2.) Tape a large teacher-made top view of a school or a small town (drawn on chart paper) on the board. Make sure streets or hallways are clearly defined. The map should contain all the places introduced in the first part of the lesson. Point to each labelled rectangular representation of each place on the map and ask the students to read after you.

3.) Get the pictures of the places and flash each pic one at a time. Ask the students to locate that place on the map by going to the board and pointing to it.

4.) Ask the class to give the location of each place. For example,”The grade school classrooms are near the canteen.” It is assumed that they have a working knowledge of prepositions. Help the students if needed.

Sample Prepositions:

across, opposite, near, beside, next to, between, behind, on the left/right

5.) Introduce a list of language structures for giving directions. Choose the ones appropriate for a small town or a school.

Turn left/right.
Go straight.
It is just around the corner.
You will pass a (drinking fountain, a gasoline station, etc.) on your left/right.
It is (one, two, three, etc.) block/s ahead.
It is on the (first, second, third, etc.) block to your left/right.
Drive/Walk past the (shopping mall, clinic, etc.)

6.) Use the map on the board and the cut-out figure to demonstrate the list of language structures introduced in Procedure 5. Let the cut-out figure walk around the map. Make your own directions based on the map you have prepared.

Sample directions:

From the school gate, turn right and keep walking. Once you see the canteen on your left, stop and turn left. Go straight and walk past the canteen. YOu will see several classrooms on your right. Just continue walking and when you see a big statue, look around you and you will see the clinic just around the corner. The clinic is next to the library.

7.) Practice the structures with the class by pretending to be the figure. Ask the the question, “Excuse me. Where is the canteen/cinema?” Then, let the students give you the directions. Help them out with the structure but don’t expect them to get it right the first time.

8.) Introduce a set of questions that they can choose from.

Excuse me. Where is the (library/grocery store)?
Excuse me. Can you tell me where the (library/grocery store) is?
Excuse me. Where can I find the (library/grocery store)?
Excuse me. How can I get to the (library/grocery store)?

9.) Pair off the students. Everyone will pick a picture of a place and then ask the directions to it. The partners will give the directions using the map on the board. Encourage the students to use different questions introduced to them in Procedure 8.

PRESCHOOL LESSON: PARTS OF THE BODY

LEVEL: Nursery/Kinder

OBJECTIVES: The students should be able to:

1. name the parts of the head and body
2. draw the parts of the head and body (kinder level)
3. color the picture of a cartoon-like figure

MATERIALS: A big doll, pictures of selected parts of the head and body, paper, pencil, crayons, coloring sheet (body of a cartoon-like person)

TIME FRAME: Around 30 minutes

PROCEDURE:

1.) Use a doll to introduce the different parts of the body. Check first what parts they know already by pointing to the parts of the face and the other parts of the body that are well known and letting them identify each if they can.

2.) Introduce the parts they need to draw later on. Select the most important parts only. For Kinder, introduce all the words below as much as possible. For Nursery, introduce around 13 of the words below.

Parts of the head: eyes, nose, ears, mouth, lips, face, neck, hair
Parts of the body: shoulders, chest, back, arms, elbow, hands, fingers,
legs, knees, feet, toes

3.) Do an incidental teaching of the plural form of selected body parts, but don’t dwell too much on this. For example, you can say, “I have two hands, two feet, two ears, ten fingers, etc.”. Then, you can say, “But if I am talking of only one, I will say one hand, one foot, one ear, one finger, etc.”.

4.) Be realistic about the students. Don’t expect them to memorize all the body parts you have just introduced. It is fine that they, at least, know some of the words at this point. You can always remind them of the correct terms later on.

5.) Sing the nursery song “My toes, My Knees, My shoulders, My head” with the class and demonstrate how to do the actions. Change the lyrics to accommodate the other body parts you’ve just taught them and touch those body parts as you sing the song with the class.

Sample lyrics:

My leg, my arms, my nose, my eyes (3x)
They’re all parts of my body.

6.) As another recall exercise, ask the students to form groups of three. Tell each group that they will help one another identify the picture of a body part. Flash a picture and randomly call a group to identify the body part.

7.) For both Nursery and Kinder levels, play a game called “Connect the Body Part.” Pair off the pupils and tell them that they will connect a body part with a body part of their partners. Demonstrate this. The pupils will execute one command at a time. They can use different styles when connecting body parts.

Sample commands:

fingers to knees (the pupils will connect their fingers to their partner’s knees)
ears to ears
hand to neck
back to back
shoulder to elbow
toes to leg

8.) For Kinder, give them pieces of paper to draw on. Tell them that they will draw the part of the body that you will tell them to draw until they can form a complete head and body. Start from the head down so it is easier for them to execute the instructions.

Sample instructions:

Draw two eyes.
Draw the nose.
Draw the lips.
Draw a circle around them.
Then, draw two ears.
Draw the hair.
Draw the neck.
Draw the shoulders. etc.

9.) For Nursery, distribute the coloring sheets of the human body. Let them color the picture using their crayons.