Lesson Plan: Listening and Talking - Icebreaker for Beginning of Year
Subject: Languages (Scottish Curriculum) Level: Fourth Level
Desired Outcome: I regularly select and listen to or watch texts for enjoyment and interest, and I can express how well they meet my needs and expectations, and I can give reasons, with evidence, for my personal response.
Time: 60 minutes
Resources: - A variety of audio and video texts (e.g., songs, short stories, movie clips) in the target language - Whiteboard or flipchart - Markers - Paper and pencils for students
Introduction (5 minutes): 1. Greet the students and introduce yourself. 2. Explain the purpose of the lesson: to develop their listening and speaking skills while getting to know each other better. 3. Share the desired outcome with the students and explain its importance in language learning.
Warm-up Activity: “Two Truths and a Lie” (10 minutes): 1. Divide the students into pairs or small groups. 2. Explain the rules of the game: each student will take turns sharing three statements about themselves, two of which are true and one is a lie. 3. Encourage the students to listen carefully to their partners’ statements and try to identify the lie. 4. After each student has shared their statements, allow the pairs/groups to discuss and guess the lie. 5. Have a brief class discussion to share some of the interesting facts and lies discovered.
Main Activity: “Text Evaluation” (35 minutes): 1. Introduce the concept of evaluating texts for enjoyment and interest. 2. Display the following criteria on the whiteboard or flipchart: - Engaging storyline or content - Clear and understandable language - Appropriate length - Relevant to personal interests - Memorable or impactful 3. Explain that the students will listen to or watch different texts and evaluate them based on these criteria. 4. Play a short audio or video text in the target language (e.g., a song, a movie clip, or a short story). 5. Provide the students with a few minutes to individually evaluate the text based on the criteria. 6. Divide the class into small groups and ask them to discuss their evaluations, providing reasons and evidence for their personal responses. 7. After the group discussions, facilitate a whole-class discussion, allowing students to share their evaluations and reasons. 8. Repeat steps 4-7 with a different text, ensuring a variety of genres and topics are covered. 9. Conclude the activity by summarizing the importance of evaluating texts for personal enjoyment and interest.
Closure (10 minutes): 1. Ask the students to reflect on the activity and share one text they found particularly enjoyable or interesting, along with their reasons. 2. Discuss as a class the different preferences and reasons shared, encouraging respectful listening and understanding of diverse opinions. 3. Remind the students of the desired outcome and how this activity contributes to their language learning journey. 4. Thank the students for their participation and conclude the lesson.
Extension Activity (optional): 1. Assign the students to find and bring in a text of their choice (audio or video) in the target language that they find enjoyable and interesting. 2. In the next lesson, allow students to present their chosen texts to the class, explaining why they selected it and how well it meets their needs and expectations.