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WRITING LESSON: DIAMOND POEM

LEVEL: Intermediate

OBJECTIVES: The students should be able to:

1. identify opposite ideas
2. give examples of antonyms, adjectives, and -ing verbs (participle)
2. write nouns, adjectives and verbs to complete a diamond poem
3. illustrate their diamond poem

MATERIALS: board, chalk or whiteboard marker, bond paper, pencils, strips of paper for the language games, crayons or colored pencils, ruler

TIME FRAME: 90 minutes (can be broken down into two sessions of 45 minutes each)

PROCEDURE:

1.) Play language games in preparation for the diamond poem.

1.1 Noun Game (opposites)—Have two teams if the class size is small and more than two teams if the class size is bigger. All members will take turns giving the answers by writing the answers on the board within 3 seconds. Show prepared nouns one at a time. The students will give the opposite of or in contrast to the noun being flashed. Model how to do it first. For ex., the opposite of boy is girl.

Suggested nouns: parents (children), teacher (student), king (queen), water (fire or sand or land), sun (moon or rain or wind), land (sea or sky), summer (winter),
man (woman), pants (skirt), hands (feet), food (drink), father (mother)

1.2 Adjective Game — Retain the same teams or reshuffle the class. The same rules apply. Flash the same set of nouns but this time, the students will give an adjective appropriate to this noun. For ex., an adjective for boy is handsome.

1.3 Verb Game (-ing)—The students will try to give verbs ending in –ing to describe the nouns being flashed. For ex., an –ing verb to describe boy is growing. The same rules apply.

2.) Tell the class they will help you make a diamond poem based on the words they have given you during the language games. Ask a student to pick a noun and prompt them so they can give you the answers to complete a diamond poem. Ask the class after the composition of the diamond poem why it is called a diamond poem (because of the shape).

Line 1—A noun (the subject)
Line 2—Two adjectives describing the subject
Line 3—Three verbs ending in –ing that describe the subject (participle)
Line 4—Two words related to the subject and two words related to the opposite
subject (line 7)
Line 5—Three verbs ending in –ing that describe the opposite subject (line 7)
Line 6—Two adjectives describing the opposite subject
Line 7—Opposite subject (a noun)

(Note: This can be the end of the first session.)

3.) Pair off the students. Each pair will write and illustrate their diamond poem. They can choose from the set of nouns used during the game or they can make their own. Ask them to make a rough draft first before transferring the final product to a piece of bond paper. If a student wants to work independently, give him or her that freedom. Move around to help each pair or individual.

4.) Before the reading of the diamond poems, tell the class that they will vote for the most interesting diamond poem by using a ballot. Ask the pairs and individuals to read their respective diamond poems.

5.) Let the students cast their votes anonymously and tally the results. It is up to you to decide on the form of reward you would like to give the winning pair or individual (e.g. candies, bonus points, token prizes, teacher-made certificates to show to their parents, etc.). In case of a tie, reward all winners.

WRITING LESSON: STEP BOOK

LEVELS: Elementary/Intermediate

OBJECTIVES: The students should be able to:

1. write a sequence of events
2. illustrate their stories

MATERIALS: Any story that has an easy to follow sequence of events (should be short enough for storytelling), bond paper, ruler, pencils, stapler, crayons or colored markers, board, markers or chalk, prepared step book, blank step books for each pair of students

TIME FRAME: Around one hour

PROCEDURE:

1.) Find a good motivation related to the story that will spark the students’ interest. It can be a question, a picture, a game, or an activity that will prepare the students for the story. For example, for the story “The Little Mermaid,” ask the students (intermediate level) to choose which part of the body they can do without and which part of the body they can’t do without. Let them explain their answers. Ask them to guess which body part the main character in the story will give up. For elementary-level students, show a picture of a mermaid and ask them to describe what they see. Ask them if they would like to be mermaids or mermen. Let them explain their answers.

2.) Read the story aloud with expression.

3.) Discuss the story with the class. Focus on the sequence of events and let the class give the sequence of events in their own words. Write their answers on the board.

4.) Show a prepared step book (even if there are no illustrations yet, just the written words)

5.) Tell the class that they will make their own step book by using the story as a model. They will use another character. For example, the original “The Little Mermaid” can become “The Little Ant.” They can follow the same storyline of the original story with some minor changes or create their own sequence of events (for intermediate level). They will do this activity with a partner. Help them brainstorm ideas for their stories.

6.) After pairing the students off, distribute the blank step books among them. Tell them to write the title of their story on the first step. The sequence of events should be written on the succeeding steps. They should illustrate the events on each step by putting the drawings under each flap. They need to lift a flap for the drawings.

7.) Partners should help each other write and illustrate their stories. Move around to help each pair by giving them ideas on what to write about.

8.) Require elementary-level students to write a complete sentence on each step. However, require intermediate-level students to write two to three sentences on each step like the one in the picture.

9.) Give them a time limit and then ask pairs to exchange step books.