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EDTL 636 Hui Ling Yang
Complex Task – Reinvestment of Understanding of Texts
LESSON PLAN
Reading: $100 Deposit
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LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE
Name Hui Ling Yang
Level and number of students Secondary 2, core ESL program, 30 students
Description of students Students are in a sport group, coming from various cultural backgrounds, talkative,
challenging in terms of classroom management.
Previous lessons Students have just finished an LES which explores the concept of life’s up and down
moments. Students completed a production process-making a comic story book about
one day of their lives.
Anticipated problems and solutions - Weak students will have difficulty understanding the text.
Solution: Include a glossary at the end of the text and encourage students to use
dictionaries.
- Students may have difficulty carrying out the placemat activity.
Solution: Invite 3 students to model the activity.
- Students may find it challenging to do the reinvestment activity.
Solution: Show students examples. Teach students the 5 Ws and 1H technique.
Next lesson(s) Students will start a unit on food and explore the concept of healthy eating. The final
product will be a Lunch Menu for the Cafeteria.
Title of lesson: $100 Deposit
Goal of lesson:
By the end of the lesson, students will
- have explored the concept of laws and regulations.
- understand that laws keep our society in order but not all laws are just.
- understand that they need to take responsibilities for creating a good environment in their communities.
- be able to write a news story based on their understanding of the text.
Brief description of lesson:
In order to introduce the concept of laws, students are asked to talk about garbage collection by-laws in their communities.
To prepare students for the reading activities, the teacher will play a video about Canadian laws and ask students to decide if they
are true or false and have pair discussions. Then, students will read the text “$100 Deposit”. At the stage of exploring the text,
students will draw pictures of what they read and answer questions. At the stage of connecting with the text, students will first
work individually to answer questions, then have pair discussions, and have a class discussion at the end. At the stage of
generalizing beyond the text, students will participate in a placemat activity to have group discussions about pet problems in public
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places and create rules to prevent the problems. Finally, students will write a newspaper article to demonstrate their understanding
of the text.
Educational aim of a Broad Area
of Learning
ESL competencies targeted
Multiple intelligences targeted
Evaluation (self, peer or teacher)
Related Content (Culture,
Functional Language, Vocabulary,
Grammar, Strategies, Processes,
Texts) that students need to carry
out activities in lesson
Materials and sources
Environmental Awareness and Responsibilities: to encourage students to develop an active
relationship with the environment and to maintain a critical attitude toward laws and
regulations at public spaces and take initiatives to improve them.
Competency 2: Reinvest understanding of texts
- Verbal intelligence: discussions in pairs and in groups of four
- Visual intelligence: practicing the reading strategy of visualization
- Intrapersonal intelligence: connecting with the text, thinking individually about how to
deal with problems related to laws and regulations, reflecting on the relationship between
people and the environment.
- Interpersonal intelligence: having pair discussions and participate in a placemat activity
The teacher will assess the final reinvestment task with the MELS C2 evaluation rubric. The
evaluation criteria targeted will be evidence of comprehension of text and appropriate use of
information from the text.
Reading strategy: visualization (to be focused on),
predict and skim (to be mentioned)
1. Annex 1- Garbage Collection Restrictions and Prohibitions of the city of
Dollard-des-Ormeaux http://www.ville.ddo.qc.ca/en/default.asp?contentID=95
2. Annex 2- Video: Dumb Canadian Laws
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz3w7xgAHJ8
3. Annex 3- T chart for Dumb Canadian Laws
4. Annex 4- Reading Activity: $ 100 Deposit
5. Annex 5 – Handout: Visualization
6. Annex 6 – Handout: Placemat activity
7. Annex 7 – Reinvestment Task
8. Annex 8 – C2 evaluation Rubric
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PREPARING TO LEARN
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY
(role of Teacher and Students)
RATIONALE
(why are you doing it)
EVALUATION
(will you be evaluating, if so, what?)
COMPETENCIES
(What competency(ies) will be
developed)
1. Introducing the
lesson
4 minutes
2. Dumb laws in
Canada
8-10minutes
T greets the Ss, and asks if they help their parents to throw garbage
at home to introduce the topic for discussion: laws and regulations. T
asks Ss to give examples of bylaws on garbage collection.
T gives a personal anecdote about getting fined for violating a bylaw
of garbage collection. T visits the website of the city of
Dollard-des-Ormeaux (Annex 1) to show Ss the bylaw she violated.
T shows a video about laws in Canada (Annex 2, from 1:20-2:20). T
asks Ss to complete a T chart (Annex 3) to take viewing notes and
decide individually which laws are true/false.
T asks Ss to turn to the person next to them to 1) compare their
answers, 2) decide who has the right answer and why, 3) discuss
whether the laws are just or not.
The T’s request concerning the
recycle bin gets Ss’ attention and
creates a sense of anticipation
towards lesson content- laws and
environment. The discussion about
garbage collection bylaws activates
Ss’ prior knowledge of modal verbs
and creates a personalized aspect of
what they will learn in this class.
The T’s personal anecdote
introduces the concept of laws and
regulations about environment.
The task increases Ss’ involvement
because the material is visual and
the content is interesting.
Discussion in pairs provides Ss the
opportunity to hear other people’s
opinions and promotes cooperative
learning. It develops ESL
competency 1 and Ss’ interpersonal
skills.
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CARRYING OUT LEARNING (DURING)
Reading Task:
3. Explore the text
Visualization
15 minutes
4. Connect with the
text
Think, Pair, Share
8-10 minutes
5. Generalize
beyond the text
Placemat activity
12-15 minutes
T explains that Ss will read a story, have discussions and ultimately
complete a written reinvestment task.
T asks the Ss to predict what the story is about based on the
discussion they have just had.
T distributes the handout of reading activity (Annex 4). T explains
the reading strategy- visualization and tells Ss that they will do
drawing for the story they will read. Ss will need to draw one picture
for each paragraph on the visualization worksheet (Annex 5).
T asks Ss to work individually to 1) read the story, 2) draw pictures
and 3) answer questions in the section of Exploring the text. T
encourages Ss to use the glossary at the end of the text and
dictionaries.
T checks the answers with the whole class to ensure Ss’
comprehension.
T asks Ss to answer questions in the section of Connecting with the
text individually.
T asks Ss to work in pairs to compare their answers and decide
whose answers would be more appropriate and why.
T asks some students to share their answers with the class.
T distributes the placemat activity worksheet (Annex 6) and explains
that Ss will work in groups of 4 to discuss questions in the section of
Generalizing the text and complete the placemat.
Teaching Ss reading strategies
improves Ss’ reading skills and
eventually promotes Ss’ learning
with all subjects.
The strategy of visualization
employs and develops Ss’ visual
intelligence.
Individual work prepares Ss for
group discussion. It promotes Ss’
language fluency and accuracy.
The questions in this section
develop Ss’ cross curriculum
competency-Solve problems. They
also tap into Ss’ intrapersonal
intelligence.
The task promotes cooperative
learning and develops Ss
interpersonal intelligence. The
questions in this activity help Ss to
exercise critical judgments about
laws on the environment.
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T invites 3 students to model the placemat activity.
T asks Ss to form their groups. T asks Ss to take turns to choose one
space on the placemat and write down his/ her answers to the
questions. T explains while one student is writing, the other group
members need to discuss the questions. T asks Ss to reach a
consensus concerning the problems related to pet in public space and
the rules to prevent such problems and then write the consensus in
the middle of the placemat.
T differentiates teaching to reach as
many students as possible.
The task develops Ss’ ESL
competency 1- Interact orally in
English.
INTEGRATING WHAT WAS LEARNED (POST)
6. Write a
newspaper article
25
minutes
T distributes the handout for the reinvestment task (Annex 7) and
explains that Ss will reinvest their understanding of the story to write
a newspaper article.
T distributes some community newspaper and asks Ss to read
examples of news articles. T teaches the Five Ws and One H
technique and emphasizes this technique must be applied in order to
have a complete news story.
T tells Ss that their work will be assessed based on the regular C2
evaluation rubric.
T circulates to ensure that Ss remain on task and respond to Ss
questions.
T collects Ss’ work of reinvestment task and evaluates the work.
The newspaper examples help Ss to
better understand the task at hand.
The reinvestment task gives Ss an
authentic role of a journalist to write
a news story. Ss need to complete
the task based on the information
from the text.
T evaluates Ss’ work with the MELS
C2 evaluation rubric for core ESL
program. Based on the evaluation
results, T determines Ss’ abilities
and weaknesses to make pedagogic
decisions.
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Annex 4
A story adopted from the website – English for Intermediate Learners
http://www.rong-chang.com/qa2/index.html
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Glossary
fine: to issue a ticket as a penalty
lawn: grass-covered land
courthouse: a building where courts of law are held
fare: the price paid for taking a bus, train, airplane, or other vehicle
illegal: forbidden by laws
dispose: throw or cast away
do one’s business: to poo or pee
hit it off: to get along well together
chronic: constant, habitual
dyspepsia: indigestion
sniffle: to sniff repeatedly
Before reading
- Predict: What is the story about?
- Skim to decide: Does “deposit” in this story mean money put in the bank account?
While reading
Exploring the text
1. What was the illegal deposit? Where was it?
_____________________________________________________________________
2. What was the woman’s responsibility according to the law?
_____________________________________________________________________
3. What did the woman decide to do with the ticket? Why?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4. What did the woman do before they appeared in the court? Why?
_____________________________________________________________________
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5. Why did the judge start sniffling?
_____________________________________________________________________
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Connecting with the text
1. What was your reaction to the text?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. What would you do if you were the woman after the officer told you that the judge
was a nice man owning four dogs?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. What would you do if you were the judge who was allergic to dogs?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4. How would you defend yourself against the fine if you were the woman in the story?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
5. Did you or anyone you know experience the same thing? What happened?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Generalizing beyond the text
1. If you were asked to do something about the situation in the story, what would you
do?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
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2. Do you think people should be fined for not disposing the poo of their dogs? Why or
why not?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Do you know any other problems related to pets in public places? What are the
problems?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4. Do you know any laws or regulations about pets in public places? If yes, do you agree
with them? Why?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
5. What do you think people should do when their pets are in public places? What laws
can prevent pet problems in public places?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
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Annex 6 Placemat activity
- What are pet problems in public place?
- What laws can prevent pet problems in public places?
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Group_______________Date__________________Name______________________
Annex 7
After reading activity
Write a Newspaper Article
Imagine you are a journalist for a community newspaper in your area. Your task is to
write a newspaper article of 80 words to report what happened to the woman in the story.
Everything you write must tie into the story’s plot, character, and setting. The secret to
complete news stories is Five Ws and One H. Here are what you need to do to complete the
task.
1) Write an attractive lead for your article.
2) Answer Who, What, Why, When, Where and How questions in your article.
3) Include information from the text, but USE YOUR OWN WORDS.
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