Note: As you mention each item, call attention to it by gesturing or pointing to it. If you have fun with this your students will too.

I don't know what to wear for this lesson about weather! Will I need sunglasses, a fan, earmuffs, a scarf, or an umbrella?! I do want to be ready for weather.

Keep up the fast pace as you remove the props, then turn to your students and ask:

Class, how is the weather today?

If there is a slow response from the students, return to the window, look out and with exaggerated gestures, say:

The weather today is [clear and sunny, windy, etc.]

At the board or overhead, write the word WEATHER. Circle the word and point to it as you turn to look at your students and say:

Today the lesson is about weather.

People in the United States often talk about weather - in elevators, in supermarket checkout lines and in other public places. It is good to understand talk about the weather. What weather words do you know?

If students are hesitant to respond, you may "jump-start" participation by repeating the words you used while looking out the window. As you say each word, draw a straight line radiating out from the "circle" like a sun ray and write that word at the end of the sun ray. Then draw another straight line and ask, with a quizzical expression:

Do you know another weather word?

Continue in this manner to encourage student involvement. As each word is presented, remember the goal of comprehensibility. Use authentic pictures, simple drawings created on the spot, transparencies, or small posters made from the pictures on Handout #1. Distribute the Student Study Guide (#A on SSG) so each person may take meaningful notes to aid understanding.

foggy		rainy		windy
cloudy		snowy		hot/cold
sunny		stormy		warm/cool

For novice learners, you may introduce other words such as clear, calm, dry, humid/muggy. Introduce clear, calm and dry by saying:

Clear -- no clouds.
Calm -- no wind.
Dry -- no rain.

To help students understand dry and humid/muggy, pass around one dry cloth and one hot, moist cloth so students may feel the difference. Write on the board: humid or muggy = moist and warm/hot. You might also point out that rain = 100% humidity.

1 Distribute copies of the matching exercise on Handout #1. Read through instructions. Show students what you expect them to do with this activity. Let the class "listen in" to your own thought processes as you consider alternatives. For example:

Could it be this one? No-o-o-o-o. Not this one. Maybe this one?

Finally you "discover" the first match (weather word and weather picture) and draw a line connecting the word and picture.

Assign #2 through 11 for students to do by themselves. Assign pairs. Begin circulating among the students immediately to encourage the slow starters. Answer any lingering questions. Make sure everyone is "on task" and enjoying success. Those who finish quickly may do peer tutoring, i.e., students helping students. This is helpful both to the teacher and to the students, especially in a multi-level setting. When most of the students are finished, check answers with the whole class.

2 Extend the usefulness of this by having pair practice. One student will ask, "How's the weather?" (Point to one of the pictures.) The other will answer, "It's ____________." Each will practice both ways, asking and answering.

Begin by talking about weather disasters students may know about in their own countries. Then present pictures of disasters in the United States.

1 For novice learners, begin with introduction of the four types of weather disasters found on Handout #2 (tornado, hurricane, earthquake, and flood). More advanced learners may skip Handout #2 and go directly to Handout #3.

Use authentic magazine or newspaper pictures or the sketches provided in this handout. As you present each word, relate these weather conditions to the students' own "schema" or background of experience. For example, if you are teaching in Asia, use the word typhoon instead of hurricane.

2 Distribute Handout #3: Weather Disasters (Information Gap for more advanced students). Briefly review unfamiliar vocabulary. Help students to form appropriate questions. Ask:

Who can make a sentence with "where?"
Who can make a sentence with "when?" (etc.)
Who can make a sentence about "the safest place?" (etc.)

Write the grammar pattern on the board:

Where are __________?
When are __________?
How long are __________?
What is the safest place in __________?
What is the warning for __________?
What is the damage from __________?

In this activity, A and B help each other fill in the gaps. For example:
A: Where are hurricanes?
B: Along the southeastern coast of the United States.

B: What is the warning for tornadoes?
A: No warning, or a short warning.

!!!More Advanced!!!

Novices may answer with the exact words given. More advanced students should answer by forming complete sentences.

Walk about while students work, assisting where needed.

Use magazine or calendar pictures to introduce seasons. Then use a current calendar to review months in relation to these seasons. The goal is to make students familiar with seasonal changes in the U.S. and to compare these with weather in their countries.

1 Post the four seasons on each of the classroom walls. Give "month" words to students and ask them to stand next to the season to which that month belongs.

2 Issue cards on which you have written all the consonants and vowels needed to spell the seasons and months. Distribute these randomly, trying to give at least one vowel to each person. Then have fun with a human spelling bee! This can be quite competitive, especially if you have a small reward for those who are first with the correct spelling. Do this individually or with teams. To spell a word, students must line up in the correct order.

Distribute Handout #4: Adverbs of Frequency. Although the graphics alone will boost the rate of comprehension, you will also need to provide real-life examples to which your students may relate. For example, in China you might say:

I always eat rice. I usually have some vegetable every day. I rarely (or seldom) eat meat.

Another effective way to discuss meanings of these words is with a calendar drawn on the board or a transparency. Begin by pointing to every day, saying:

Note: Using the names of your students ofetn will make learning more fun!

[Name of pupil] gets up at 6:00 a.m. - every day!

If the phrasal verb "gets up" needs explanation, use your hands like a pillow, with eyes closed, then suddenly open your eyes wide. Draw a clock face showing 6 o'clock. Then repeat:

[Name of pupil] always gets up at 6:00.

Next, point to every other day on the calendar and use another student's name to say:

[Name of pupil] usually gets up at 6:00.

Continue, illustrating each adverb of frequency in this way.

The next step is to relate this new understanding to weather. Use examples, as always, from your students' world of experience.

1 Go over directions for Handout #5 and demonstrate what you want the class to do. Then walk about while students do this assignment to encourage and assist where needed.

!!!More Advanced!!!

2 If you teach novices, ask each pair to join another pair and repeat their answers for Handout #5. To provide additional challenge for more advanced students, ask that they take notes on the information shared by their partner. Then join another pair for reporting the information they have obtained.

1 My friend is coming to [name of country in which you are teaching]. She/he wants to know: "How's the weather here?

Ask students to work in small groups of three to five and write your friend a letter describing the weather where you are. Include weather types, weather disasters, seasons, and adverbs of frequency. Ask each group to select a "secretary" to write what the group wants to say. When everyone is finished, have a volunteer from the group read their letter to the class.

2 To provide context for practicing the vocabulary and structure learned in this lesson, use on of the following: (1) a newspaper weather map, (2) a cassette recording of a local radio weather forecast, or (3) a video clip of a TV five-day weather forecast. If you are using the newspaper with novice learners, make two lists of five different cities that appear on the regional or national map you use. Mark one list for Student 1 and the other for Student 2. Explain the weather symbols that students must understand to interpret the map. Demonstrate by choosing a city that is on the map but not on either list.

!!!More Advanced!!!

Ask each student to write the forecast for all five cities on his/her list. When this is done, students will take turns asking about the five cities on their partners' lists. More advanced learners may include the use of very as an intensifier and the comparative adjectives hotter/colder and more/less. Write this question on the top of their newspaper weather map:

How's the weather in [name of place]?

If you use a recording of a local radio weather forecast, ask students to look at the vocabulary list on the Student Study Guide. Ask them to underline all the words they hear in the forecast. Then ask them to listen again and raise their hand if they hear words not on this list. Talk about the meanings of these.

If you use a video of a TV forecast (especially with novice learners) assign each of the five days to a different person, pair or group of students for focused listening practice. Write on the board specific things for which they should listen: (1) high and low temperatures and (2) adjectives used to describe the day's weather. When they have finished, ask students to share and thus gain understanding of the "whole" five-day forecast.

!!!More Advanced!!!

More advanced learners can prepare a weather report, comparing various parts of the country or region. Ask each pair or small group to appoint a secretary to record what the group says and a reporter to read their finished report to the class.

3 Ask the class to conduct a survey to find out everyone's favorite weather and why it is their favorite. Ask novice learners to write the names of classmates in a column on the left side of their paper; and, as a group, write kinds of weather across the top. (You do this on the board to show them how.) A person is to ask the question ("What is your favorite weather?") and check the response of each classmate. More advanced learners may also ask/answer, "Why?"