Speaking Lesson Plan - Meg&Bree

Topic: Telling a story

Objective: Fluency

Students will speak in complete sentences at the complexity level that is appropriate for their current level. They will recall vocabulary and grammar forms that they have previously learned with minor prompting from the teacher.

Note: I didn't specify a comic strip because this plan can work for ANY of them!

Outline: 

Pre-reading Discussion	What is the name of this comic? Does this comic strip have a title? If yes, what is it? Have you seen these characters before? What are their names?	This is a chance for the student to become familiar with the comic and characters
Instructions	You are going to tell ME a story today! Tell me at least one sentence for every picture. This story happened yesterday, so remember to use the past tense! (or is happening right now, or will happen later, etc)	Clear instructions help the activity to run more smoothly
Reading	(“And then what happens?” “He see it or he sees it?” “Don’t forget the third picture!”)	Scaffolding helps keep the student on track
**This activity can be done individually, or in pairs with students taking turns, or it can be done as a class. One picture can have multiple sentences that focus on the action, clothes, facial expressions, objects, setting/background, etc.
Post-reading Analysis and reflection	Why is she/he…? Why do you think x happened? What will happen next? Did something like this happen to you before? Have you ever…?	Further speaking practice, a way to connect the story with the student’s own life, and for you as the teacher to check if they understood the story

Writing task alternative

Each student, or pairs of students, are assigned one of the pictures in a strip. They write down their sentences only for their picture, and when the students read their sentences out loud, in order, they work together to tell the story.

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What is “minor prompting?”

This looks different for every teacher, but my go-to hints often look like this:

• Making the first sound of the word (“Sssss…”)

• Telling the student the first letter of the word (“It starts with k!”)

• Telling them what it is not (“It’s not a boat, what’s the other word for that?”)

• Telling them the context of when they would see this word (“What’s that thing you use to brush your hair?”)

What verb tense should the student use?

This depends on what your goal is. If your goal is to practice present continuous or past continuous or whatever tense it may be, tell the student that before they begin! However, if your goal is purely for the student to speak as much as possible, you don’t have to specify the time and allow the student to use whatever tense comes naturally. (I find that most students naturally fall into using present simple and present continuous).