Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TESOL 2014
Portland, Oregon
Laurel Pollard
Educational Consultant
www.laurelpollard.com
lpollard@dakotacom.net
We did that.
Here it is.
Enjoy!
When you include Zero Preparation routines in our lesson plans, you have
more time to relax, reflect, and recover your vision!
POINTING-OUT FUN
Studentslaughalotinthisactivity.Foronce,itiscorrecttobe incorrect!
AIM: Vocabularyreview,practicingsimpleaffirmativeandnegative sentences,practicingthisvs.
that(seeextension)
Procedure:
1.Reviewobjectsintheroom,includingstudentsclothingand partsofthebody,bywalkingaround
theroomandsaying thingslike,Thisisawindow.Studentsrepeatthesestatementschorally.
2.Bringtwostudentsuptodemonstratetheactivity.Theyboth standnearawindow(forexample).
Onesaystotheother, Thisisawindow.Thelistenerresponds,Yes,thisisa window.
3.Theydothiswithafewobjects.
4.Independentwork:Studentspairupandwalkaroundpointingoutobjectsandusingthetwo
sentences.Continuethisforafewminutes.
5.Studentssitdown.
6.Dotheactivityagain,thistimewithnegatives.Thisiswhere itreallybecomesfun!Standnearthe
windowagainwitha student.Pointtoitandsay,Thisisadoor.
7.Promptthestudenttorespond,No,thisisnotadoor!Thisis awindow!Theclasschorallyrepeats
bothsentences.
8.Doafewmoreexamples.Eachtime,besuretostandnearthe object.
9.Independentwork:Studentspairupandwalkaround,pointingtosomethingand sayingthatitis
somethingelse.
10.Continueaslongasstudentsarehavingfun.
Variation: Tosupportlowbeginners,havestudentswritethesetwosentencesonanote,whichthey
holdbehindtheirbacks:
Thisisa_______________.
Yes,thisisa________________.
Andforstep6,studentsaddnegativesentencestotheirnotes:
No,thisisnota____________.Thisisa____________.
Studentsmayrefertotheseastheywork.Butthenotesshouldalwaysbebehindtheirbackswhenthey
speak!
Extensions:
1.Studentsswitchpartnersandgoaroundtheroomagain. (Theycanswitchseveraltimes.)
2.Withmoreadvancedbeginners,standfartherfromtheobject sometimessoyoucancontrastthat
andthis.Thisisawindow. Thatisadoor.
3
ZeroPrepforBeginners2001AltaBookCenterPublishersatwww.altaesl.com
Allrightsreserved.Permissiontophotocopymustbeobtainedfromthepublisher.
Beginninglanguagelearnersunderstandmuchmorethantheycan expressintheirtarget
language.Heresataskthatgivesthemplenty toreadandlistento,thenallowsthemto
demonstratetheircomprehensionwithonewordanswers.
AIM: Listeningcomprehension,readingreview
Astoryfromthestudenttextoranothersource
Procedure:
1.Input:Tellastory,demonstratesomething,showapicture,ordoareadingwithyourclass.
2.Saysomethingthatonecharactersaid(ormighthavesaid).
Forexample,say,Pleaseletmegotothedance!
3.Asktheclass,Whosaidit?
4.Chooseoneoftheoptionsbelow:
a.Volunteerscalloutthenameofthecharacter,forexample, Cinderella!
b.Pairsorsmallgroupsconsultuntiltheyreachagreement; thenyoucallononestudentfrom
eachgrouptoanswer. (This option activates more students.)
Variations:Withmoreadvancedstudents,teamscanmakeupthe thingscharacterswould
say.Theycalltheseouttoanotherteam, whomusttellwhosaidit.Youmaysetthisupasa
competitive game.
Dicta-Comps
Dictacomps combine Dictation and Composition.
Students reconstruct a sentence (or longer passage).
They have clues to help them: a list of key words from the passage.
Dictacomps are wonderfully adaptable! Use them for pre-reading, reviewing
material, recycling vocabulary, or reinforcing a grammar point.
They can also be used to teach details like punctuation and spelling.
Best of all, students get immediate feedback when they correct their own work!
ZeroPrepforBeginners2001AltaBookCenterPublishersatwww.altaesl.com
Allrightsreserved.Permissiontophotocopymustbeobtainedfromthepublisher.
Thisactivityusesallfourskills.Studentsnotonlyrememberwhat theyread,butalsothink
abouthowtoretellit.Toreinforcewhattheyhavelearned,theyrecreateitonemoretimeby
writingit.
AIM: Readingpractice,summarypractice
MATERIALS: Ashortreadingpassagefromthestudentstextbookoranother source
Procedure:
1.Chooseanyshortreadingpassage.
2.Readthefirstlineofapassageorreaduntiltheendofthe firstsentence.
3.Studentsrepeatchorally.
4.Studentsrepeatindividually.
5.Say,Chooseaword!(Sometimesyouwillmakeamore specificsuggestion,suchas
Whatstheaction?Wheredid thishappen?Whodidit?)
6.Studentscalloutwords.
7.Writeontheboardakeyword(ormorethanone)foreachsentence.
8.Continuethisprocessforeachsentenceuntilyouvereached theendofthereadingpassage.
9.Inpairs,studentsreadthepassagetoeachother.
10.Withoutlookingatthereading,volunteersretellthepassage bylookingonlyatthe
importantwordsontheboard.
11.Studentswritethepassagebyjustfollowingthewordsonthe board.(Eveniftheyonlyget
afewwordsright,thisisgood practice!)
12.Studentscomparetheirwrittenpassagewiththeoriginaltext.
Zero Prep for Beginners 2001 Alta Book Center Publishers at www.altaesl.com
All rights reserved. Permission to photocopy must be obtained from the publisher.
ONE-MINUTE FEEDBACK
For the teacher: This activity gives us valuable feedback about what our students
got (and didnt get) from a lesson.
For the students: A quick, individual end-of-class review reinforces for each
student what they have learned very satisfying!
LEVEL: IntermediateAdvanced
AIM: Writing practice, feedback for teacher about what students are learning
MATERIALS: Blank index cards
Procedure:
1. When students come into class, hand each a card. Tell them that at the end of
class you will ask them to draw or write on the card something they learned
today and give the card to you.
2. Be sure they put their cards away.
3. Allow one minute at the end of class for each student to write his or her note to
you. Because the time is so short, students are concise, and you need only a few
minutes after class to read their notes and incorporate what they have said into
your planning.
Notes:
1. Once students are accustomed to this, once they have come to expect to write
you this note, they become more aware during the class of what they are and are
not learning. This leads to increased student responsibility for their learning and
more questions during class.
2. In conjunction with One-Minute Feedback, let students determine the pace of
the class by asking such questions as, Are you ready to move on? Do you need
more time with this? Should we practice this some more, or is this enough?
When we remember to do this, our classes stay in that exciting challenge zone
where students are
neither bored nor overwhelmed.
Who is this textbook for? Low-beginning ELL students, upper elementary, teens, and
adults
The stories: Students love these eight stories because
they are true
they are surprising
they resonate with students own experiences, hopes, fears, and dreams.
The exercises:
Whats unique:
10
11
Picture Story
(I)
(I)
(I)
(I)
(I)
9. Reading with Mistakes: Read the story, making a few factual mistakes.
Students hold up their right hand for a correct sentence or their left hand for an
incorrect one. Students tell you how to correct the false sentences.
10. Find the Picture: Students cover the captions. Demonstrate first: say a
caption, then say, Find the picture! Students point to that picture. Pairs
continue the activity, taking turns with roles: A says, He pays for books. Find the
picture! B points to the correct picture. .
(I)
12
(a mingle)
13
include
Other exercises
in the student book
And the
More Reading and Comprehension
Activities
Write the Words You Hear (a dictation)
Find the Answers (scanning)
Questions and Answers
Circle Yes or No
Find the Picture
What Happened First
Vocabulary Activities
Listen, Repeat, and Write
Categories
Matching Sentences with Pictures
Act It Out
Put the Words in the Spaces
Notes to the
Teacher include
instructions for even
more ways to use the
readings:
Silent Reading
Pair Reading
Sentences With
Mistakes
Strip Story
Sentence Match-Up
Application activities
About Me
Talk to Your Classmates
Activity Wrap-Ups and Interaction
14
Progressive Cloze:
1. Students do the first version of a fill-in-the-blanks exercise, 1A.
They correct their work and put it away where they cant see it.
They immediately do 1B, a clean copy of the same version. They self-correct
this one too.
Of course theyre more successful this time because their corrections from the
first attempt are fresh in their minds.
2. They do a second version. This is same text but with different blanks to fill in
and more of them. They do 2A and correct their own work, then hide it. Then
they do 2B, and correct it. Theyre guessing, remembering, then self-correcting
their own mistakes immediately
and learning swiftly!
3. This is the last and most challenging version of the same text. Perhaps whole
phrases are missing in 3A and 3B. This would have intimidated them if they had
seen it first, but by now they are prepared. They do this exercise twice, and by
the time theyre finished, they are justifiably proud of what they can do!
(You can easily turn any text into a cloze exercise. Just Google cloze maker and
paste in your text.)
1A
Steven is a ________ at New York University.
He is poor.
He ________ for university tuition.
(etc.)
2A
Steven ____ a student at New York University.
_______ is poor.
He pays for ________ tuition.
(etc.)
3A
Steven is ____ student at New York ________.
He is poor.
________ ________ for university tuition.
(etc.)
15
Sources:
Published by ALTA Book Center
1-800-ALTAESL altaesl@aol.com
www.altaesl.com
16