unit 2
lesson 2
Government and Politics
Narrative: Adult TOEFL students.
High intermediate and advanced proficiency level
Ss are from various countries.
Rationale: building on the previous lesson in the four sections of the exam.
Goal: building strategies for the reading referent skill, practicing listening for gist-content, practicing short speeches and developing body paragraphs for an academic essay.
Objectives:
1. Ss. will co construct strategies for the referent reading skill with the teacher.
2. Ss will learn test-taking strategies for the reading skill.
3. Ss will learn how to recognize refrent reading questions on the exam ( PP presentation).
4. Ss. will practice the strategy using content-based passages.
5. Ss will learn about American history, government and politics.
6. Ss will learn how to recognize Gist content qurstions.
7. Ss. will practice listening for gist.
8. Ss will practice the independent speaking skill using the rubric.
9. ss will learn how to write topic sentences and supporting ideas for the independent writing task.
10. Ss. will learn how to develop paragraphs for the independent writing taks.
Materials:
reading
1. 19th Century Politics in the U.S. ETS p.101
2. The Election of the President. American Ways P. 144
3. Truman and the Railroods. Longman p. 432
.
Listening: Polling Longman p. 215
Nullification Longman p. 356
NIMBY Longman p. 405
The Fugio Coin Longman p. 156
Washington D.C. Longman p. 480
I have a dream speech by King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEMXaTktUfA
3. Flashcards with speaking questions
5. Rubrics of the speaking independent skill
6. handout for developing topic sentences and supporting ideas.
1. PROCEDURES 15 min
1. T corrects with the students the previous H.W. and answers questions.
2. T. gives back the students introductions written on the previous days with feedback.
2. Presentation
Reading 60 min
1.. T. co construct reading strategies with the students using various examples on a power point presentation.
2. T. co constructs test-taking strategies for the reading skill with the students.
3. T. models the strategy to the students through the examples on the power point.
4. T. gives out “Nineteenth – century Politics in the United States” passage and asks students to work individually to identify the referents of the underlined words.
5. T asks Ss to check their answers with a partner and discuss how they arrived at the answer.
6. T. corrects the passage with the students and provides more tips on how to answer the questions.
7. T. gives out “ The Election of the President ”. T. times students as they identify the referents of the underlined words.
8. T. does a whole class correction.
Listening: 60 min
Gist content
1. T. explains how the question looks like on the exam
a. What problem does ( the man ) have?
b. What are the speakers mainly discussing?
c. what is the main topic of the lecture?
d. What is the lecture mainly about?
e. Wh aspects of X does the professor mainly discuss?
2. T. plays ‘ Polling’ and discusses what type of passage it is ( academic- formal - informal – conversation).
3. T. plays the passage and asks students to take down the key words.
4. T. asks students to work in pairs to compare their notes.
5. T. asks the students to each write one sentence that expresses the main idea of the passage.
6. T. gives the student a multiple choice on the main topic of the passage and asks them to answer it.
7. T. does the same with ‘ Nullification’ , ‘ NIMBY’, ‘ The Fugio Coin’ and ‘ Washington D.C.’
.
Speaking: 45 min
1. T. asks the students to have handout on “Connectors and cohesive ties” and the rubric for the independent speaking skill handy..
2. T. put students in pairs and give each a card with a question
Questions :
· If you were the president of your country, what changes would you like to make?
· If you were given the chance to meet a prominent politician who is currently in power, who would you choose? What would you say to him?
· From what you have learned today, how is the president of the United States elected?
· Do you think demonstrations are effective means for citicizens to get their right? Why ? why not
3. T asks students to discuss the questions one at a time and respond using the connectors and cohesive ties they just learned.
4. T. asks the other partner “the listener” to score the speaker using the rubric and give feedback of whther he/she used or cohesive ties or not.
5. Ss switch roles and do the same .
6. Ss. exchange the cards with other classmates and proceed as above.
7. T. rotates around to assist the students.
8. T. calls on students and listen to their speeches and scores them.
Writing : 60 min
1. T. asks students to get out ‘ Truman and the Railroad’ reading passage .
2. T. asks students to read the passage and identify the thesis sentence.
3. T. then asks students to work in small groups and read the body paragraphs and try to identify the main idea and the secondary ideas.
4. T. listens to students answers and clarify the difference between topic sentences and supporting ideas.
5. T. gives hand out on developing topic sentences and supporting ideas.
6. T. reviews panning an outline quickly with the students.
7. T. models how to use the outline to develop topic sentences and developing ideas.
8. T. asks students to create an outline for one of the speaking questions above.
9. T. rotates and helps students out.
10. t. asks students to develop topics sentences and supporting ideas using the outline they just prepared.
11. T. collects the papers for assessment.
Extension
T. asks students to listen to an excerpt of King’s speech “ I have a Dream’ and take notes about the main ideas of the speech to be dicussed n the fllowing class.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEMXaTktUfA