Raising student awareness of
intonation at discourse level
- by Jeanette Corbett
- Lesson Plan 3

Stage 1 - Settling in
5 mins 5 Tch - stds

- Settling in
- Generate interest in the lesson
- Create a purpose for the process, as outlined on the menu

1. Stds arrive and chat to the teacher
2. Tch outlines the aim of the lesson: to enhance their listening strategies

Stage 2 - Advertisement features
5 mins 10 Stds - stds

- Generate interest in the topic
- Activate genre knowledge and language used

1. In pairs, stds compare magazine adverts for perfume and discuss a) The features b) Language used

Stage 3 - Opium advert
5 mins 15 Tch - stds

- Focus std attention on a specific advert
- Summarise class opinion

1. Stds look at the advert and decide if it fits the genre and what would people consider offensive about it
2. Feedback open class

Stage 4 - Reading: Newspaper article
5 mins 20 Stds

- Develop std reading skill: scanning for information

1. Stds read to see their predictions (stage 3) fit the article
2. Feedback open class

Stage 5 - Reading: Newspaper article
10 mins 30 Stds

- Develop std reading skill: to extract specific information
- Consolidate std understanding

1. Stds and answer questions about the article
2. Feedback open class

Stage 6 - Listening preparation
5 mins 35 Tch - stds

- Create a purpose for next stages of the lesson
- Allow stds to highlight problems with listening
- Allow stds to focus on what expectations they have in a conversation and when doing a listening exercise

1. Stds reflect on the listening exam, highlighting what was difficult, focusing on Part 4 (opinion exchange)
2. Tch builds a spider-gram on the board of factors considered in conversation. Then stds highlight which are available to them, when listening and how do they interpret the others

Stage 7 - Listening 1
5 mins 40 Stds

- Practise listening for gist

1. Stds listen and answer Exercise 1
2. Feedback in pairs

Stage 8 - Listening 2
10 mins 50 Stds

- Develop std awareness of voice patterns at discourse level

1. Stds listen and answer Exercise 2
2. Feedback in pairs and open class

Stage 9 - Text Analysis
15 mins 1.05 Stds (in grps)

- Develop std skills of analysing a listening dialogue
- Enhance their awareness of discoursal features in conversation
- Allow stds to make predictions about voice pitch

1. Class is separated into 3 grps
2. In their grps, stds analyse a segment of the tape script, as a jigsaw exercise and answer Exercise 3. Tch writes cues on the board: topic change, turn taking signal, transaction opening/ closing, information new/given, use of fillers

Stage 10 - Listening 3
10 mins 1.15 Stds

- Develop std awareness of voice patterns at sentence level

1. Stds listen and check their predictions from stage 9 against the cassette
2. Feedback within their grps

Stage 11 - Information exchange
10 mins 1.25 Stds

- Allow std to exchange information gathered in stages 10 & 11

1. New grps are formed. Each grps contains a person with info. from different segments of the cassette
2. Stds exchange information

Stage 12 - Evaluation
5 mins 1.30 Tch - stds

- Allow stds to reflect on the activities, their usefulness to their learning and listening/ conversational skills

1. Stds reflect on the class, their knowledge gained and it's relevance to their learning.

To the lesson materials

To the article

Back to the articles index