NATIONAL AND KAPODISTRIAN UNIVERSITY OF ATHENSSCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHYFACULTY OF ENGLISH STUDIES

2012-2013

PRACTICE TEACHING A LESSON PLAN FOR THE 4th Grade 1st TEACHING HOUR

Student’s Name: Loukissa Eleni ID. Number:

Course Instructor: Mary DrossouPractice Teaching Mentor: Lilian BourboudakiPlaced School for Practice Teaching: ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΤΗΡΙΑ ΔΟΥΚΑClass: 4th Grade- (ΤΕΤΑΡΤΗ ΔΗΜΟΤΙΚΟΥ)Level: ElementaryDate of the Presentation of the Lesson: 23-4-13Date of submission: 21-5-13Semester: 8th

Term: Spring 2012-13

2

Table of contexts

Introduction (1ST TEACHING HOUR)....................................3LESSON PLAN- SPECIFIC INFORMATION..............................5‘WRITING A POSTCARD’.....................................................5LESSON’S GENERAL AIMS...................................................6LESSON’S SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES........................................6PRIOR KNOWLEDGE...........................................................7LANGUAGE AWARENESS....................................................7LANGUAGE SKILLS..............................................................7CLASS ORGANIZATION.......................................................7TEACHING AIDS- MATERIALS..............................................7ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS....................................................8PRE-WRITING PHASE (includes different stages and activities)...........................................................................9PRE-READING STAGE..........................................................9WARM UP ACTIVITY: 1........................................................9HELPFUL QUESTIONS- PICTURE A.....................................10WHILE- READING STAGE..................................................11ACTIVITY: 1.......................................................................11POST READING STAGE.....................................................12FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY & HOMEWORK...............................12ACTIVITY: 2.......................................................................12ACTIVITY: 3.......................................................................14EVALUATION OF THE LESSON PLAN.................................15PRE-READING\ WARM UP ACTIVITY...................................16WHILE- READING STAGE & ACTIVITIES.............................16FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY& HOMEWORK................................17POST- READING ACTIVITY & HOMEWORK.........................18GENERAL EVALUATION.....................................................18PRE- READING STAGE MATERIAL......................................20SAMPLE OF THE PRE- READING ACTIVITY (PHOTOGRAPHS).........................................................................................21Follow up activity.............................................................24WHILE- READING STAGE MATERIAL..................................25POST-READING STAGE MATERIAL HOMEWORK................26FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY.......................................................28Key to the activities of the lesson....................................30

2

Introduction (1ST TEACHING HOUR)

It is highly important that the main purpose of this report is to provide a well- structured lesson plan designed for the 4th grade students of the private Primary school: ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΤΗΡΙΑ ΔΟΥΚΑ. Generally, in this lesson plan I will try to set off the general aim of the lesson as well as a number of objectives that helped me to transform a common teaching hour into a creative and pleasant one.At this point, it would be enlightening to be mentioned that I chose to create two different lesson plans for the same class. So, this teaching project is based on two different teaching hours of the 4 th grade of the Primary school. It is also important to refer some characteristics that concern this particular class and explain my selection of the materials and activities that I included in my two different lesson plans. Specifically, the 4th grade class was an elementary class (A2) formed by thirteen students. It was also a class that some of the students are hyperactive and faced learning difficulties. In other words, we talk about a very demanding class with special needs.So, focused on the lesson plan that concerns the first teaching hour, I could say that it was structured according to the particular, young learners needs and personal interests.(For example their preference to the topic of summer activities). More specifically, this lesson plan is not an adaptation of the material that is included in the 4th grade course book but a self- made material.In other words, we talk about a lesson plan whose topic ‘writing a postcard’ had been selected in order to make students confident in writing informal letters. More general, it is focused on the students’ needs to correspond to common, everyday tasks such as writing an informal letter in a successful way (communicative purpose of the lesson). In brief, this lesson plan aims to make the students able to create a well- structured post- card through a variety of activities (pre- reading, while- reading, post- reading and brainstorming games). That means that the young learners have to be familiarized with a variety of words that concerns holidays and activities which usually do when they are on vacations. It is also important for the students to be able to combine different types of weather with various activities. By providing them with the suitable vocabulary, I tried to make the students to feel more confident in order to face the demanding process of writing. It is important to be clear that the main purpose was to familiarize them with the basic structure of a post-card. (e.g. how to begin, end). For this reason, I assumed that their exposure to the authentic material (a real post-card) would be necessary for their thorough comprehension of the characteristics of the informal discourse .Thus, the basic criterion of the activities’ selection was the learner’s needs and interests. It was highly important to draw the attention of my 10 years old students. So, when I designed this lesson plan, I kept in my mind the importance to be included in the lesson plan a variety of authentic materials and a wide range of activities that would promote the discussion and wake the

2

imagination as well as the artistic skills of the students. In other words, the concepts “image” and “discussion” were the prominent ‘ingredients’ of my ‘recipe’ that would have as an outcome the creation of their own informal text .It would be helpful to be mentioned, that all these materials as well as the particular objectives of each activity that were used, are extensively analyzed in the main body of this lesson plan.As it concerns the final part of this paper, it could be said that is based on the evaluation of the lesson plan. In this way, this retrospective evaluation is based on the use and the application of this particular lesson plan. In other words, with the term evaluation, I tried to translate the teacher’s reaction as well as the students’ reaction and feelings. Moreover, this paper includes the personal as well as my mentor’s comments that concern the outcome of this lesson plan. Of course, all these factors will be extensively analyzed throughout this lesson pan.

2

LESSON PLAN- SPECIFIC INFORMATION

‘WRITING A POSTCARD’

SUBJECT: English Language

TOPIC: Writing a Postcard

LEVEL : ( in English Subject): Elementary (A2)

CLASS: 4th grade of elementary school

CLASS SIZE: 12 studentsBOYS: 5GIRLS: 7

NUMBER OF STUDENTS THAT ATTENDED THE LESSON OF 19-4-2013: 12 students

AGE: 9-10 years old

ALLOCATED TIME: 45 minutes

DATE OF THE LESSON’S PRESENTATION: 19-4-2013

2

LESSON’S GENERAL AIMS

- Learners will be motivated to activate background knowledge by engaging themselves in creative and inspiring activities that based on the use of authentic material. (both written and visual)

- Learners will be able to totally comprehend and set up the writing of an authentic, no-specialist, informal letter.

- Learners will be able to develop their critical mind by using effectivelyspecific information.

- Learners will be able to be co-operative with others by collaborating inparticular activities or by knowing how to take turn in a classroom discussion.

- Learners will be develop their artistic skills by creating or paintingtheir own postcard.

LESSON’S SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

- Learners will be able to read an authentic text- an informal letter- in order to find specific information (scanning).

- Learners will be able to use specific lexical items that have to do with certain types of weather (sunny, hot, snowy, cold, rainy) and activities that usually do during the summer or winter vacations. (go fishing, play golf, swimming)

- Learners will be able to discuss different types of summer and winter activities in different weather conditions.

- Learners will be able to identify and totally comprehend the structure of a postcard ( beginning, ending, verb tenses).

- Learners will be able to be familiarized with the informal uses of written discourse by setting up the writing of a postcard to a familiar person.

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

1. Learners are supposed to be familiar with the general structure of an informal letter such as a postcard. (starting, closing)

2

2. Learners are supposed to be familiar with at least some lexical items related to the topic ‘summer and winter activities’ and the different weather conditions that will be used for this lesson.

LANGUAGE AWARENESS

Vocabulary related to the topics: - summer and winter vacations

- activities that we usually do when we are on vacations

- different weather conditions

LANGUAGE SKILLS

SpeakingReadingWriting

CLASS ORGANIZATION

individual and team- work activities

TOPOGRAPHY OF THE CLASSROOM: the students were sitting in groups of four (mixed girls and boys) that were called ‘παρεούλες’.

TEACHING AIDS- MATERIALS

- white board- markers - smart board (helped in digital presentations)- central computer of the classroom with the overhead projector (connected with the smart board)- black & white and colorful worksheets with the title of the activities( in some of them there small pictures in order to paint them)- 12 photocopies of the text- 12 photocopies- “ mini vocabulary”- 12 photocopies with the basic steps of well structured postcard- visual aids: - authentic photos taken from popular web-pages- 12 hand-made flashcards( with different types of activities)- authentic material: a real post-card from Corfu- 12 colorful hand-made post-cars. ( made from colorful cardboard)

2

ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS

- The teacher will probably need more time in order to have a fluent discussion with his\her young learners in the pre-reading stage. It is very probable, the majority of the students to comment again and again the same photograph or to add their own point of view as well as their experience about their latest vacations. It is important to be mentioned that the topic of vacations is a favorite one of this class. So, it is essential for the teacher to be able to control the discussion of the visuals because it is very probable to loose the sense of the time. The teacher has to put time restrictions in order to manipulate the provident time in an effective way and at the same time not to dissatisfy his\her students. He\she could say: “Ok! Let’s continue! We will have enough time to continue our discussion at the end of the lesson!”

- The students maybe confused at the beginning of the lesson; <<How I will write my own postcard?>> This could be a student’s question to his\her teacher. Probably, the young learners will be enthusiastic when they will see the colorful hand-made postcards. In this case, the teacher must manipulate the enthusiasm of his\her students in a wise way. He\she must explain to them what will happen during lesson in the same way as she\ he would describe the rules of a game. <<First, we will discuss some photographs! Then we are going to read a real post-card that my best friend Mary sent to me, when she travelled to Corfu. And then I will have a surprise for you!!!>> This could be an interesting introduction of the lesson that will keep the students enthusiastic throughout the lesson.It is also recommended for the teacher to put all the activities that have to do with the learning of the structure of a postcard in a real context. But during this process, it will be raised some questions from the part of the students. So, it is possible for the teacher to feel uneasy (with some students’ questions) by telling them that the postcard that they are going to write will be sent to their best friends. These students’ questions could be: <<Is it okay if I don’t remember my friend’s address? >> << When will you give these postcards to the postman?>> <<Will we receive my friend’s answer?>> In this case, the teacher has to face these questions as a part of the context that he\she made for the students. So, he\she has to make them to believe that she\he talks about a fact that is going to happen. In other words, the teacher has to be confident with the context that he\she created.

2

PRE-WRITING PHASE (includes different stages and activities)

PRE-READING STAGE

WARM UP ACTIVITY: 1

TITLE: Look at the pictures. Which of the activities do you do when it’s hot-warm\rainy\snowy- cold?

INTERACTION: T<-> SCLASS ORGANIZATION: Class Work- groups of 4SKILLS: Speaking

GENERAL AIMS OF THE ACTIVITY:- Learners will be able to produce a fluent dialogue by using specific

lexical items that are generally used to describe activities that we do during the winter or summer vacations in different weather conditions.

- To motivate learners and raise the interest for the forthcoming text and activities.

TEACHING & LEARNING OBJECTIVES- Learners will be able to develop their linguistic skills by using the new

vocabulary (topic: summer& winter activities\ weather conditions) while they are exposed to the extensive use of present simple and present continuous.

- Learners will be able to be familiarized with the oral speech by discussing the visuals.

- Learners will be able to develop their cognitive skills: The students will be able to classify the activities that are presented in the visuals accordingly to the different weather conditions.

- Learners will be able to develop their social skills by knowing how to take turns in a controlled discussion that initiates after the presentations of the visuals.

ALLOCATED TIME: 10 minutes

2

TEACHING AIDS: - central computer of the class, connected with the smart board.- an overhead projector( in order to project the visuals)- visual: authentic photographs, flashcards- 12 photocopies of ‘mini vocabulary”

DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY- TEACHER’S NOTES:- Draw the student’s attention to the visuals (photo that is projected digitally on the smart board). Distribute the hand-made flashcards that show people to do a variety of summer and winter activities in different weather conditions. Briefly, explain to them that all these photos are related somehow with the authentic postcard that they are going to read in the while- reading stage. Ask specific questions to different students each time in order to initiate a fluent discussion.

HELPFUL QUESTIONSPICTURE A

T: - What can you see in picture A?What is the weather like?Is it hot\cold\snowy?

PICTURE B

T: - What can you see in picture B?S: - (A girl is swimming)\ a probable questionT: - Do you like swimming?

PICTURE C

T: - What about picture C?S: - (A woman is playing volleyball)T: - When do you play volleyball?S: - When the weather is…….

PICTURE D

T: - What is the girl doing in picture D?T: - In what weather, do you prefer to stay at home and reading a book?

PICTURE E

T: - And picture E?T: - What’s the weather like in picture?

2

WHILE- READING STAGE

ACTIVITY: 1

TITLE: Mary is on holiday. Read her postcard and answer the questions. Then, find the people in the pictures.

INTERACTION: T<-> Ss & Ss<-> SsCLASS ORGANIZATION: Groups of 4SKILLS: Reading & SpeakingALLOCATED TIME: 17 minutesTEACHING AIDS- MATERIAL: - 12 photocopies of a real postcard (in form ofa brief text)- use of central computer- an overhead projector (OHP)- 12 photocopies of ‘mini vocabulary’- 12 photocopies- Comprehension questions- photographs & flashcards

GENERAL AIM OF THE ACTIVITY- Students are able to read for specific information (scanning)

TEACHING & LEARNING OBJECTIVES- The development of student’s language skills,( Speaking and Reading).- The development of student’s cognitive skills. Students are able to classify the information from the text.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY-Work with your classmates of your group -‘παρεούλα’. Read Mary’s postcard together and try to find the correct answers through the text. Then try to find the people that are presented in the text in the pictures\flashcards that you have in front of you. The group that will finish first, waits patiently the other groups to finish!

TEACHER’S NOTESAfter the warm up activity, explain to your students that you are going to read a real postcard. Try to introduce the reading task in a real context. You could say to them that your best friend Mary sent you a postcard when she was on vacations with her family. In order to draw their attention to the context of the text and particularly to the structure of this type of an informal letter, present the postcard digitally. Another, good solution is to turn round the real, hand- written postcard. At this stage, you could also say that they are going to make their own postcard at home as an assignment for the next time.Then, ask for a pupil to distribute the photocopies with the texts and the worksheets with the comprehension questions. You have to make sure that all the student’s groups have the flash cards that show people to do different activities. After that, ask from different students to read the letter (1-2 sentences each one) loudly. When the letter has been read, ask for them, to re-read the text and find the answers for the comprehension questions. You

2

can also explain to them that the answers will be found more easily if they co-operate with the members of their group. The answers are short and it can be found in the letter. (see Appendix of 19-4-2013- 1st teaching hour). By working co-operatively, the students develop their social skills and learn to be collaborative with the others. Then check the answers together by asking from different students to stand up and read the answer that their group gave for each particular comprehension question.

FIND THE PEOPLE ACTIVITY: After the process of checking the answers of the previous activity ask of the rest members of each group (who did not answer a comprehension question) to identify the people that are presented in the Mary’s letter by posing questions such as: Who is in picture a?\ Who is swimming in picture b? \ In which of these photographs Dina is playing volleyball?

POST READING STAGE

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY & HOMEWORK

ACTIVITY: 2

TITLE: Create your own postcard: Imagine you and your family are on holidays. Write your own postcard to your best friend.

INTERACTION: T <-> SsCLASS ORGANIZATION: individual workSKILLS: Writing, Speaking, ReadingALLOCATED TIME: 7-10 minutesMATERIALS: - (12) photocopies with the basic steps of writing a postcard- (12) photocopies with the title of the writing activity- (12) hand-made postcards-some markers in order to keep notes

GENERAL AIM OF THE ACTIVITY- Students will be able to use the new vocabulary in order to compose a well-structured informal letter.

TEACHING & LEARNING OBJECTIVES- Students will be able to synthesize all the required information in order to produce a well-structured, informal text.- Students will be able to use effectively the present continuous in their text as well as the new lexical items that have to do with different types of winter\summer activities in different types of weather.- Students will be able to practice their speaking by participating in a fluent discussion and be co-operative with the other student.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY- TEACHER’S NOTES

2

- Clarify to your students that this task is going to be assigned as homework.

- Explain the task. It is highly important to emphasize on various things that students have to include in their post-card. Firstly, ask them to look carefully the photocopy with their writing steps. In order to draw their attention you could say: << The writing of a post-card, it’s the same thing as if you want to make a cake. If you don’t follow the correct instructions, the cake will be tasteless>>.

- It is also essential to try to put this activity in a real context. Try to be imaginative in order to motivate the young learners to write a well structured informal letter. For example you could say that you are going to give their postcard to the postman. Then, the postman will give their postcard to their friends.

-Tell students to look again the model (Mary’s post-card). Tell to pay attention on the opening and closing of the letter.

TIP: You could help them to write their own letter by underlying some fixed expressions in the text that it will not be changed in their letter !(E.g. Dear…, Greetings…, We’re staying, We‘re having a great time here, The weather is lovely, they‘re enjoying a lot, it’s lots of fun)

- Draw the students’ attention to the verb tenses that areextensively used. For example, you could ask them<< Who can tell me what tense is Mary using in her own letter>>?

- Emphasize that they must use the present continuous throughout their letter.- After, the previous instructions, you can distribute colorful, hand- made post-cards (one post-card for each student). Explain how to structure their letter. Encourage them to draw a picture of their family vacations in the behind part of the hand-made postcard.

* TIP: If you have enough time, ask for the students to remember and discuss their last summer or winter vacations. So, you could ask them to tell you about the weather, the activities that they did, where did they stay…

ACTIVITY: 3

TITLE: It’s time for game!INTERACTION: Ss<-> SsCLASS ORGANIZATION: team work \group workALLOCATED TIME: 10-11 minutesTEACHING MATERIALS: - a marker (to keep notes)-12 photocopies (useful for the game)- a plastic bag with the students’ name

2

GENERAL AIM OF THE GAME- Students will be able to work in groups through a brainstorming game.

TEACHING & LEARNING OBJECTIVES- Students will develop their linguistic and oral skills by using present tenses- present simple & present continuous.- Students will be able to discuss different activities in different weather conditions.- Students will be able to develop their cognitive skills. They are able to classify certain information.- Students will be able to work in teams under the pressure of the time.

GAME DESCRIPTIONClose your eyes! We are going to be separated in two groups (Group A& Group B). Let’s imagine different activities that we usually do in our leisure time and in different weather conditions (when the weather is hot\warm, cold, rainy). (e.g. I usually go fishing when the weather is hot). The group that will write the most correct sentences will be the winner!TEACHER’S NOTESExplain clearly and slowly the rules of the gameAsk them to be separated into two groups( Group A & Group B) or (girls& boys)Motivate them to close their eyes and write down as many activities as they can in collaboration with the other members of their team. Explain them that they have to write different activities for each drawing (each drawing represents different weather condition).Distribute the photocopies with the drawings. Motivate to color them if they want.Ask for a pupil (from each team) to choose a little paper from the plastic bag. Each paper has the name of a pupil who is going to read the answers of his\her team.Explain that the team that will have the most inspiring and well presented-sentences or little texts will be the winner.

2

EVALUATION OF THE LESSON PLAN

In this part of that paper, I will try to evaluate my effort to create a well- structured lesson plan. It is important to be mentioned that it was a challenge for me to design a lesson plan for a class that was co- structured by some pupils that faced learning difficulties. By designing this particular lesson plan, I expected to create a teaching hour that would be corresponded to the students’ needs and interests.In other words, the overall aim of this particular lesson plan is to indicate how a young, elementary learner can structure an informal text (in this case an informal letter). It was also essential to introduce the writing and at the same time the reading process into an everyday context. For this reason, I decided to present some basic techniques of writing an informal letter in the form of a post-card.The difficulties that I faced had to do with the level of the class. As I mentioned, the level of the student was low while some students faced some learning difficulties. Particularly, we talk about a hyperactive class. However, we talk about ten years old kids that they face the writing process as a boring activity. So, it was impossible to understand mere rules and confusing ‘writing’ plans.In this way, I tried to design a lesson plan that would indicate the inspiring part of the writing process through different types of activities, brief texts, a variety of visuals and games that based on the process of brainstorming. All these were the basis of my personal intention to teach them how to write a post-card. It is also widely accepted that the writing a post-card is the simplest way in order to introduce a young learner to the process of informal writing.Another important factor that I had to cope with was the time restriction. A teaching hour lasts 45’. So, I had only 45’ in order to introduce innovative and interesting activities that will excite my 10 years old pupils.It is also important to be mentioned that this lesson plan is focused on pre-writing phase of the writing process. This was a personal choice as I believe that the pre-writing phase has the greatest importance for the young learners of the 4th grade of the elementary group. It is common knowledge that a well-structured writing is based on the overall comprehension of the theme. So, it was essential to make them comprehend the structure of an informal text that

2

is involved in a post-card. In this way, I distinguish the pre-writing phase into some particular sub-stages. In these sub-stages are involved pre-reading\ while and post reading activities.

PRE-READING\ WARM UP ACTIVITY

I began with a warm-up activity that helped me to introduce them in the lesson’s topic. In brief, we discussed a variety of visuals that were presented digitally on the smart board of the classroom. This particular pre-reading activity was a stimulus for the young English learner to activate their mental schemata and helped them to feel confident with the context of the text and the activities that they would follow. By posing questions to different students, I tried to initiate a fluent dialogue. It is important to me to not show my preference to some students. So, I tried to pose questions not only to the more ‘confident’ students but also to the students who were more quite or ‘shy’.In this way a fluent dialogue was born by using images and flash-cards that were presented digitally and excited the pupils. As it was expected, the visuals draw the attention of the young learners who wanted to add something as the recalling some experiences from the latest vacations with their families. Of course, all these additional comments had as a result the extension of the classroom discussion ( all the students want to express their opinion). For this particular reason, this warm- up activity took a little bit longer than I expected.Of course, I could have avoided this time extension by not allowing all the students to talk about their experiences and their activities that they usually do during their vacations. Eventually, I realized that if I allowed the students to extent the dialogue, this would be helpful for the writing process that would be followed. In addition, I did not want to dissatisfy the young learners.

WHILE- READING STAGE & ACTIVITIES

In the while- reading stage, I tried to not ‘break’ the time restriction. So, I was a little bit nervous during the first- stages of the while-reading activities.As it concerns the students’ reactions, I would say that they successfully corresponded to all the activities that had as a particular purpose the pupil’s introduction to the structure of an authentic text such a post-card. Generally, the students seem to appreciate my effort to present activities that were based on a real text.It is also characteristic that all the form of the activities that were used in this stage was familiar to them. They had met such type of activities in previous lessons. This was very helpful because they knew how to work and come up with them.Additionally, another element that the students seemed to enjoy was the group working (e.g. in order to complete comprehension activities). To my mind, this was a good choice as the ‘better\ more confident’ students could help the weaker. My general aim was to create a friendly atmosphere where the young learners could develop their social skills and the level of politeness

2

as they were co-operative to each other. Moreover, a ‘positive’ competition in civilized skills could be developed.Overall, the young learners seemed to appreciate the visual teaching aids (projector, images, flash-cards) that they helped them in order to find the answers in some particular activities and understand the structure of a post-card.It is very important that a friendly environment was created between the students and me. So, in collaboration with them I managed to explain the structure of an informal text. The learners really liked the parallelism between the post-card and a cake. It is also significant that a great number of the students’ answers were correct. But the most important thing was that they did not have any difficulty in order to comprehend the structure of an informal text.The only thing that confused the majority of the students was the explicitness of the writing stage. Initially, I had planned to initiate the process of writing of the post-card in terms of this teaching hour in. Then, I decided to assign this task for homework because I was extremely pressed by the time. In general, this did not create any problem because I had provided them all the suitable material that could be advice. I also encourage them to take a look again to the authentic post-card that I had given to them as a model. They could also advice the photocopy in which I was presented all the stages of writing a post-card in a clear way.In other words, I decided to spend the rest of the left time in order to play a brainstorming game that would inspire the students to compose their own letter. It is obvious that the students were inspired by this type of game. The proof was that all the students produces satisfying pieces of work and follow the genre convention in a satisfying way.

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY& HOMEWORK

BRAINSTORMING GAME

This game was an extremely motivating and inspiring activity. The young learners were enthusiastic. The only thing that made me feel nervous was the impatience of the students. They unintentionally interrupt me when I tried to explain to them the rules of the game by making various questions that I would answer in a moment. Except of this element, the pupils seemed to understand the rules and this was obvious from their answers. The positive competition that is created helped students to concentrate on the game and also to transfer their own experience in well- structured sentences. So, the team work introduced the students to the notion of a civilized competition.All these seemed to be achieved by the students’ eagerness to participate in all stages of the game. It was important that the young learners were extremely active throughout the game.

2

POST- READING ACTIVITY & HOMEWORK

At this point, I would like to express my doubts that I had to overcome in order to complete this activity. In other words, I had to assign this type of activity as homework due to the fact that I was extremely pressed by the time. It is also important to be mentioned that the initial plan was to leave these writing activity for the following week. But after of a really enlightening discussion that I had with the teacher of the class, I realized that I had provided them with all required theoretical and practical basis in order to inspire them to compose their on informal letter.In other words I would like to make them autonomous learners. This intention was proved particularly effective for the young learners. Although the class level was obviously low (some students faced learning difficulties), the student’s text was extremely good. (the results of post- card evaluation).Generally, my intention was to select an activity that would combine the theoretical part of the structure of a post-card and at the same time I wanted to make them to develop their creative skills. I was informed that the majority of the student liked painting. For this particular reason, I decided to provide them with colorful hand- made post-cards. This hand-made material excited the young learners. It was characteristic that they were impatient to write their letter to their friends and draw a scene from their last family vacations. My primary aim was to present a dull writing process as a pleasant, educative game.

GENERAL EVALUATION

If I had the opportunity to repeat this particular lesson I would avoid to extensively use the L1. The factor that made me to use extensively the L1 was my intention to be as clear as it could be possible.All in all, the lesson worked is satisfying way. The students seemed to enjoy the lesson and participated actively by answering questions and giving their own point of view or by making positive comments such as: <<The game was perfect>>!So, when I remember the moment that the bell rang for break, the students were happy. However, if I have the chance to repeat this session I would not make any important changes (except of the L1 use). Generally, I believe that the lesson was corresponded to the special needs and interests of the 4 th

grade of the elementary school.

2

APPENDIX FOR THE LESSON PLANOf the 4th Grade

(1ST TEACHING HOUR)

Writing a post-card to your best-friend.

2

PRE- READING STAGE MATERIAL

The visuals and more particularly the photographs that are used in this pre-reading stage and during the creation of the hand-made flash-cards can be found to the following web pages and electronic articles:

http://yaymicro.com/stock-image/extreme-ski/439

http://youqueen.com/life/5-books-every-girl-should-read-in-her-twenties/

http://www.recreation.slco.org/centralcity/adultSports/adultSports.html

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_girl_in_a_swimming_pool_-_underwater.jpghttp://depositphotos.com/3616072/stock-photo-Woman-sunbathing.html

2

SAMPLE OF THE PRE- READING ACTIVITY (PHOTOGRAPHS)

a.

sunbathe

b.

swimming

C.

play volleyball

2

d.

read a book

e.

going for skiing

2

The hand made flash- cards that are used during the pre-reading stage:

2

WHILE- READING STAGE MATERIAL

TEXT:

2

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Mary is on holiday. Read her postcard and answer the questions. Find the people in the pictures.

o Where’s Mary staying?

o What’s the weather like?

o What Dina doing now?

o What is she (Mary) doing now?

2

POST-READING STAGE MATERIAL HOMEWORK

WRITING ……….. a postcard!!!!!!!!!!!

STEP: 1

! I use the left side of my card to write my text.

! I use the right side of my card to writemy friend’s namemy friend’s addresshis\her country

STEP: 2My message!!!!!!!!

Greet your friend and say, where you are.

e.g. Greetings from… We‘re

Describe the hotel and the weather.

e.g. The hotel ’s… The weather ’s…

Talk about what you and your family are doing now.

e.g. Dad ‘s… Mum ‘s… My sister ‘s… I ‘m…DON’T FORGET TO USE: PRESENT CONTINUOUS!!!!!!!

2

2. Imagine you and your family are on holiday. Write your own postcard to your best friend.

A post-card sample

2

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY

It’s time for game!

I usually go fishing when it is hot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2

Here is the little plastic bag with students’ name that is used in order to choose those pupils who are going to read the answers of their team. It is important to be mentioned that I inspired in order to create and introduce these activities(game and hand-made post-card) by the following link:

-http://pradaforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/diy-how-to-make-handmade-postcards/

2

Key to the activities of the lesson

PRE-READING ACTIVITY (a sample of a possible class conversation)

T: What can you see in picture a?S: A woman is sunbathing.T: What is the weather like?S: It is hot.T: What can you see in picture b?S: A girl is swimming.T: Do you like swimming?S: Very much!T: What about picture c?S: A woman is playing volleyball.T: When do you play volleyball?S: When the weather is warm!T: What is the girl doing in picture d?S: She’s reading a book.T: When do you prefer reading a book?S: When, it’s raining.T: And picture E?S: A man is going skiing.

WHILE-READING ACTIVITY

Mary is on holiday. Read her post-card and answer the questions. Find the people in the picture.

Mary is staying on the third floor of a hotel.It’s hot and sunny.She’s playing volleyball with Jim.She’s swimming.

Mary’s mom is sunbathing.In picture b, Mary is swimming.Picture c is showing Dina to play volleyball.

POST-WRITING ACTIVITY

Imagine you and your family are on holiday. Write your own post-card to your best friend.

Dear Jim,Greetings from Greece! We‘re having a great time here. The hotel’s wonderful. We’re staying on the third floor. The weather’s fantastic. It’s hot and sunny. Dad and Steve are fishing at the moment. They’re enjoying a lot. I’m on the beach now. Mum is reading a book and I’m listening to music. We miss you lot!See you soon,Paul

2

sunbathe: κάνω ηλιοθεραπεία e.g. We are sunbathing on the beach.

greeting: χαιρετώ, υποδέχομαι, καλωσορίζω e.g. Ken is greeting his guests.

2

have a great time (expression): περνάω υπέροχα e.g. I’m having a great time here in London.

enjoy: απολαμβάνω, χαίρομαι e.g. Angela enjoys playing tennis.