Provide each student with one of the occupational props in the above list of supplies. (You may need to add or subtract the props to accommodate the size of your class.) Write Who Am I? in large letters on the board. Hold up your chalk and point to yourself, saying:
Who am I?
Then walk to the "teacher" sign on the wall and say:
I am a teacher.
Repeat this sentence as you write this model on the board in answer to "Who am I?":
I am a/an ________.
!!!More Advanced!!!
With body language and "stage prompting," ask one of the more advanced students to find the word that matches his/her occupational prop. Ask this student to repeat both the question and the answer. Then motion for all students to stand and try to find the match for their "prop" and an occupation word on the wall. When each word has a student standing by it, ask students to show their prop to the class and repeat both the question and the answer.
Distribute Student Study Guide. Call attention to #A - Vocabulary. Go over each occupation asking the class to say each word with you. (You may use this list as it is, or make changes to
suit the students and the cultural situation in which you are teaching these lessons.)
Show students a simple way to make "who" and "what" questions. To do this you will use the words on colored construction paper - moving the colors around to make a statement or a question. Write each word (plus a period and a question mark) on a different color. Precede each noun by the appropriate use of a or an (placing article and noun on the same paper). On the chalk rail or a "make-shift" clothesline made of string, place the various parts of the sentence.
If you use the "string approach," fold the construction paper like a tent and place it over the string. Seeing the color-cued words as they move around will help students see (and remember) this English sentence structure.
| WHO |
1
I
|
2
am
|
3
a teacher. |
(With hand motion, indicate "switching places" for "I am . .." Make this switch before adding "WHO.")
1 Point out that we have been using a little word (called an article) before each occupation. (Write these on the board.)
Then ask if anyone can tell the class about the rule for articles a and an. Say:
When do we use a-and when do we use an?
(Give students time to tell you the rule.) Then write on the board:
a before a noun that begins with a consonant
an before a noun that begins with a vowel
Provide several examples on the board and ask the class to tell you which article to use. Use nouns from previous lessons:
__ town __ father __ foot __ stable
__ angel __ nose __ arm __ animal
__ virgin __ ear __ hand __ manger
__ wife __ leg __ ankle __ desert
__ son __ eye __ bed __ stone
!!!More Advanced!!!
You may review the following with more more advanced students:
|
article
the |
when to use
with a specific noun (the red door) |
singular or plural?
both singular or plural the red door/the red doors |
| ___________________________________________________ | ||
| a |
with nonspecific nouns
beginning with a consonant (a door) |
singular only
(a door) |
| ___________________________________________________ | ||
| an |
with nonspecific nouns
beginning with a vowel* (an apple) |
singular only
(an apple) |
| ___________________________________________________ | ||
2 For each pair of students distribute a set of (3x5) occupation cards (with words that you will be using with your particular class.). Ask partners to (1) alphabetize the occupations then (2) do "pair spelling." For "pair spelling," Student One says the first letter, Student Two the second letter, Student One the third letter; Student Two the fourth, etc.
3 Erase the question Who am I? and in its place write: What is your occupation? Beneath this write: What is
your job? and What do you do? Draw a bracket on each side to show commonality. Hold your hands palms up - as if you are a balancing scale - to indicate that the meaning of these three questions is the same. To the right of these three questions write the model for the response statement:
I am a/an __________________.
Give each student a picture of an occupation. Have students mingle and ask each other: What is your occupation?, What is your job? or What do you do? Students are to answer according to the picture they are holding, e.g., The student with the picture of an artist will say: I am an artist. (Although native speakers of English commonly use contractions, the contraction form is being avoided in these first lessons in order to give overt practice using the correct form of the verb "to be.")
1 (NOVICE) Issue Handout #1 (job survey). Go over instructions and demonstrate (with a teaching partner or a student helper) what you are asking students to do. Pay particular attention to native-like intonation with the polite phrases. Then ask for two students to demonstrate also. Students are expected to interview each other to obtain information about their real-life occupations.
A: Excuse me. What is your name? B: _________________.
A: How do you spell it? B: _________________.
A: What is your occupation? B: _________________.
A: Please spell it. B: _________________.
A: Thank you! B: You are welcome!
!!!More Advanced!!!
2 (MORE ADVANCED) Divide the class into small groups for a Baker Street problem-solving activity (adapted from Keep Talking-Cambridge U. Press-pp. 112-113). Duplicate a copy of Handout #2 (Clues). Cut sentence strips to use as clues. Distribute them equally among your students. Distribute Handout #3 (Vocabulary) and Handout #4 (Useful Phrases). Carefully go over instructions, vocabulary and useful phrases. Give each group one copy of Handout #5 (Baker Street Apartments). To ensure team work.
There are five units in the Baker Street Apartments. One person lives in each apartment. The aim is to find out each person's name, marital status, favorite sport or recreation, occupation and hobby.
Help students get started by filling in one of the blanks together. Let the groups come up with their own strategies for organizing the information. Students will have no choice but to talk to each other in order to find the answers! Watch carefully to see that an aggressive student doesn't "take this ball and run with it," leaving all others behind! Quietly walk about the room making sure that each member of the group has a "voice" and that the voices you hear are all in English!
For debriefing this activity, duplicate the apartment building either on the board or on a transparency using Handout #5. You may fill in the blanks as students give information-or you may let each group have one category of information to fill in at the board or overhead projector.
 |
Tip: By Keeping one copy of the apartment building "clean" -you may adapt this activity in the future to serve your needs by simply rewriting categories and information. |
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