Unit Plan: First Semester (2010/2011)

Levels: English Level 1 and 2

Subject(s):

• English Language ( In the Language Laboratory Center )

Duration: 50 minutes

Description: As the students come in, they are expected to sit in their various tagged seat number, then the teacher instructs by microphone and broadcasts the courses to the students. The teacher can appoint 1 to 4 students to demonstrate to all. Interactive discussion between students and teachers is highly encouraged. The teacher can monitor the discussion between students. Students can do the listening, speaking and questioning by pressing the right key/button on the keypad. There will be headsets and computers. There are open channels for students to listen freely. The teacher also can appoint channels to the selected students.

Goals:

1. The Language Laboratory Center aimed at enhancing the proficiency of Siam University students in English Language.

2. To enhance students’ English pronunciation.

3. To present and practice greetings and introductions.

4. To target vocabulary and grammar of the unit in a typical conversation.

5. To focus on the stressed words in questions.

Objectives:

1. Students will practice basic sentence structure.
2. Students will be able to understand and enhance their pronunciation.
3. Students will learn to construct and think critically and creatively in English.
4. Students will create opportunities for class discussion and interaction.
5. Students will be able to practice listening comprehension and grammar.
6. Students will be able to increase their oral fluency.
7. Students will be able to focus on sentence stress.

Teacher Materials:

• Relevant Worksheets
• Lab equipment and appliances
• Smart Choice Student Book
• Smart Choice Class CDs1
• Smart Choice Test Generator
• Teacher notes for assessment and instruction
• Standard-based scoring rubrics
• Interchange Book 1 and 2
• DVD and CD from the Interchange
• TOP NOTCH books and DVD

Student Materials:

• Pencils, pens, notebooks, eraser,
• DVDs
• Smart Choice Student Book
• Smart Choice Class CDs1
• Headsets
• Lab equipment/appliances
• Quiz papers

Prerequisites:

The teachers are allowed to replicate the lesson units, as necessary preparatory activities to make sure that students can meet the units’ objectives. What will students be able to do before the units? What vocabulary has to be mastered in advance to accomplish the units’ objectives? The teacher is expected to have a pre – test in order to assess the students’ level.

Procedure:

· Explain the basic vocabulary, objectives of the units, the goals and the methods. Discuss book vocabulary as it comes up in the CDs.

· The teacher should have some knowledge of the learner’s characteristics.

· The principles of Theory of Multiple Intelligences should be applied.

· ‘Warm-up exercises’ which will provide an overview of the key unit concepts taught should be used. The ‘exercises’ should provide opportunities for the vocabulary to be introduced creatively. The ‘exercises’ should enable oral fluency.

· ‘Work it out exercises’ this will allow the teacher to assess the student’s understanding of the basic concepts and grammatical constructions within groups. This ‘exercises’ will engage the students with activities that are fun-filled and promote creative and critical thinking skills.

· ‘Stop-Think-Go exercises’ This consists of questions that require the students to reflect on and apply what they have just learned. This is designed to give students extra practice in listening comprehension.

· The teacher should adopt a learner-centered approach to teaching. The worksheet should be given to the students accordingly (if need be).

· The teacher will in some cases divide the students in groups for more cooperative learning and collaborative process. Activities will be given in groups and each group is expected to explain the outcome to the class.

· Occasionally direct and indirect instructions and teaching strategies should be applied within the groups or as the case may be.

· After introducing the students to the topic of the day, after some instructions, the students are expected to actively engage themselves in the lesson of the day. The teacher (as he moves around the classroom) is expected to facilitate and guide the students.

· The Lab assignments and classroom homework are expected to be linked or connected by the teacher.

Activity on listening:

• First Step on listening and repeat method: The teacher is expected to make use of the available materials in the Lab in order to help develop students' awareness of the listening process and listening strategies by asking students to think and talk about how they listen in their native language.
• The teacher should allow students to practice the full repertoire of listening strategies by using authentic listening tasks as presented by the CDs or the DVD. Have a student model the other part of the conversation with you, using his or her own personal information.
• The teachers should behave as authentic listeners by responding to student communication as a listener rather than as a teacher. Ask two students to model the conversation after listening to the CDs.
• Explain the method: When working with listening tasks in class, the teacher should explain to the students and show to the students the strategies that will work best for the listening purpose. Then explain how and why students should use the strategies.
• Outside class method: The teacher should have students practice listening strategies in class and ask them to practice outside of class in their listening assignments. The teacher should encourage the students to be conscious of what they're doing while they complete listening CDs assignments.
• Pair Group Method: The teacher should encourage students to evaluate their comprehension and the strategy used immediately after completing an assignment. Build comprehension checks into in-class and out-of-class listening assignments, and periodically review how and when to use particular strategies.
• New Languages: The teacher should encourage the development of listening skills and the use of listening strategies by using the target language to conduct classroom business: making announcements, assigning homework, self introduction and making preferences as contained in the units.
• Modeling Methods: The teacher should model the examples and have the students repeat after the teacher.
• Book Methods: Sometimes, the students should close the books and guess the answer. Sometimes, the students should be instructed to identify what they have listened to by pointing at the pictures.

By raising students' awareness of listening as a skill that requires active engagement, and by explicitly teaching listening strategies, teachers help their students develop both the ability and the confidence to handle communication situations they may encounter beyond the classroom. In this way they give their students the foundation for communicative competence in the new language. However, the listening section and conversational section should follow systematic steps such as:

Assessment:/Evaluation:

The teacher is expected to collect some evidence that the students have indeed grasped the units.  This usually is done by enabling group discussion or role play using some kind of grading rubric that is based on unit’s objectives. The teacher could also replicate some of the activities already done in class as part of the lesson.  The teacher can also quiz students on various concepts, words or sentences as well.

Grading:

The Lab grading system is a continuation of the classroom grade. Therefore participation, speaking and listening have been allocated 30% of the total grade for English 1 and 2. In all, participation has 10%, midterm exam has 10% while 10% goes to the final exam.