Overview
This
lesson is situated in a university IEP integrated skills class, ideally at the
highest or second highest level (high-intermediate to advanced proficiency). This particular class session can take place
in a standard, non-computer lab classroom provided that at least half of the
students have access to a smartphone, laptop, or tablet. The class has 12-16 students, and the course
is designed to prepare them for academic English use. The purpose of this lesson is to involve
students in conveying information from reading in speech and adding their own
thoughts and opinions, similar to university classroom discussions. It also develops student knowledge of hedging
appropriate for commenting on information and provides an opportunity for
planned speech (similar to a presentation).
In
this lesson, the primary technology used is Audioboo, a website that allows for
the simple creation of short podcasts.
Podcasts are an increasingly popular media format (Nurmukhamedov &
Sadler, 2011), and as a form of asynchronous CMC provide opportunities for
planned speech production. Listening to
their own podcasts and re-recording provides opportunities for form-focused
events, which are considered important in task-based language teaching (DuBravac,
2013). Additionally, the lesson
incorporates the web as a resource for reading materials, noted for providing a
wealth of authentic readings and allowing students to access materials of high interest
(Loucky, 2010). Email is tertiarily used
for assignment submission and a projector with GoogleDocs is presented as an
option for brainstorming activities.
This
lesson also incorporates formative assessment.
During the classtime, students have a chance to reflect on their initial
efforts in podcast creation. They are
also provided with the rubric used to grade the final version. As homework, student pairs will self-evaluate
their initial efforts based on the rubric and then create and submit a final
version for the teacher to grade and provide feedback on. Throughout the lesson, the teacher has
opportunities to observe and provide feedback to dyads as they work on various
stages of the task.
Lesson Plan
Pre-lesson Inventory
Ø Things to bring/prepare: Partner list for students (podcast creation),
Cue sample news article (http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/30/17527380-north-korea-says-it-is-entering-state-of-war-with-south?lite,
may want to email link to Ss) and sample podcast (http://audioboo.fm/boos/1299833-current-event-podcast). Students should have Audioboo accounts
already made and are familiar with using the site. Bring sufficient number of notecards (# of
students X 1.5). Bring sufficient number
of Rubric sheets
Ø Equipment: Computer &
Projector, computers/tablets/smartphones/laptops for students
Warm-up activity ( 5 min.): Current Events
classroom discussion/brainstorm
Purpose: activate
student background knowledge, begin generating ideas for subsequent activities
Procedure:
Ø Key Vocabulary: current events, news
Ø Building/Activating Background
Knowledge
-
Begin by asking students
what current events are. Try to elicit
explanations like “news”, “important things happening these days”, etc.
-
Ask students to generate
some current events (e.g., new pope, North Korea situation, banks in Cyprus, US
budget cuts). Record these on a
whiteboard or display w/ projector in a GoogleDoc.
-
Now ask students where
they can find information about current events.
Record their answers, and supplement with the following if needed:
news.google.com
voanews.com
Transition: Today we’ll be working
with current events. Talking about
current issues is important in a variety of academic fields and jobs, and today
we’ll practice this by creating a short podcast about a current event. Let’s take a look at an example first.
Activity 1 ( 15 min.): Introduce article and
podcast
Purpose: familiarize
students with current events podcast task, provide a chance for noticing forms
related to task and provide instruction on other vital forms
Procedure:
Ø Key Vocabulary: threat/threaten, 5
W-Questions, opening, introductions, commentary, closing
Ø Building/Activating Background
Knowledge
-
Introduce/elicit the 5
W-Questions (Who, What, When, Where, Why/How) that are useful for talking about
current events.
Ø Practice
-
Put Ss into pairs (refer
to pre-made pair list in Pre-lesson Inventory)
-
Direct students to the
following link on their devices (T may want to email link beforehand, or post
to a class blog/LMS/website): http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/30/17527380-north-korea-says-it-is-entering-state-of-war-with-south?lite
-
Instruct students to
scan the article for answers to the 5 W-Questions.
Ø Comprehension Check
-
Review answers as a
class
Where? Korea
Who? North Korea What? Declared war
When? March 30 Why? Angry about US and
South Korea
Ø Presentation of New Information
-
Now, introduce students
to the podcast. Explain that this example
podcast will summarize the current event (N. Korea declares war) and provides commentary (thoughts and opinions)
about it.
Ø Practice
-
Prior listening, assign
partner A to listen for the organization of the podcast (what comes first,
second, third- not information, but kinds of talk) and assign partner B to
listen for words or phrases that the speakers use to express opinions or
personal thoughts.
Ø Comprehension Check
-
On the whiteboard or in
a Google Doc, collect student input on podcast organization and language for
expressing opinion. Steer students
toward completing a brainstorm, as a class, that looks like the following:
Organization
|
Language for Opinions
|
|
-I think that…
-Personally, ….
-I feel/don’t feel….
|
Transition: Now that we’ve looked
at a sample current event podcast and figured out how they’re organized and
some good language to use, you will all try creating one of your own.
Activity 2 ( 15 min.): Podcast Planning
Purpose:
To provide an opportunity for students to plan their podcast
Procedure:
Ø Key Vocabulary:
Ø Building/Activating Background
Knowledge
-
Remind students of the
current events, news sites, and 5 questions we talked about earlier
Ø Apply
-
Distribute note cards (3
to each pair)
-
Direct students to
quickly find a current event article and find answers to the 5
W-Questions. This info should be written
on the first notecard.
-
Now have each partner
think about their thoughts, opinions, and/or feelings about the current
event. Tell students to write down 3
things on their own notecard.
Ø Comprehension Check
-
T should circulate and
check on each pair as they are filling out their notecards. Help Ss fill in any gaps with their 5 Ws and
answer any other questions.
Transition: Your notes all look
great. Keeping in mind the Organization
we talked about earlier, you and your partner will now make a first attempt at
creating the podcast.
Activity 3 ( 10 min.): Podcast First Draft
Purpose:
students will execute a podcast according to established organization. Fluency practice.
Procedure:
Ø Key Vocabulary:
Ø Building/Activating Background
Knowledge
-
Direct S attention to
the previous brainstorm that included the Organization and Language for the
podcast
Ø Practice
-
Have on partner access
Audioboo on their device.
-
Tell Ss to attempt their
podcast at least once. Remind them the
podcast has a 3 minute maximum, so they should focus on fitting all the
important parts and information in during that time. Ideally, their podcast will be about 1-2
minutes.
-
Make sure students save
an Audioboo of the podcast
Ø Comprehension Check
-
After about 8 or 9
minutes of practice, ask Ss how they feel about their podcasts. Were they able to fit all of it in? Did they include all key Organization
parts?
Transition: From what I heard, your podcasts sound like
they’re off to a good start. Let’s talk
about how you and your partner will polish them up and submit them to me for
homework.
Summary/Cool-down/Homework ( 5 min):
Purpose (link to
objective): clarify how task will be evaluated, get students to begin
thinking about evaluating and improving their podcasts.
Procedure:
-
Distribute copies of the
Rubric.
-
Have students look it
over. Ask some basic comprehension
questions, field any questions from students.
-
Explain that for HW,
partners will need to listen to their first version of the podcast and decide,
based on the rubric, what they need to fix.
-
Once they have recorded
a better version, one partner needs to email a link to the teacher.
Materials
Rubric for Current Events Podcast Task
Rubric
Example Current Events Podcast on Audioboo
