Learn the vocabulary to describe your community
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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED POST
Week of Mar. 23/26
This lesson plan will teach your beginner ESL students the names and significance of common landmarks in Canadian cities. Activities include vocabulary building, a short video, discussions, and reflection questions to help students articulate their…
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Lesson plan overview
| Task | To learn the basic vocabulary to describe a community, including many of the services offered in communities. |
| CLB level | CLB Stage I (CLB 1-3) |
| Delivery method | Online |
| Class size | 10-15 students (vary the number of activities according to your class size) |
| Estimated time | 1.5 hours (depending on class size) |
| CLB Skills and Competencies | Speaking: Interacting with others Sharing information Listening: Interacting with others Comprehending information Reading: Comprehending information |
| Language focus | Learn the vocabulary needed to understand this topic. Use the appropriate grammar structures and vocabulary to respond personally to the reflection questions. (Encourage students to respond in full sentences.) |
| Cultural focus | Students living in Edmonton will learn the names of the main areas in Edmonton. Students discuss how communities here differ from communities in their home countries. |
| Specific task learning objectives | Students will be able to describe their own community. Students will know the names of some of the services offered in their community. Students will discuss what they like and don’t like about their communities. |
| ESL Directions original video (🎥) and audio (🔊) activities? | This lesson includes original video (🎥) and audio (🔊) activities. |
| Resource attribution | ESL Directions original resources are marked below with an asterisk (*). Feel free to use these, but please give credit to ESL Directions. |
Lesson plan
Warm-up: Introducing the topic and defining our terms
- Today, we’re going to learn some ways to describe your community.
- What is a community (or a neighbourhood)?
- Do you know the name of the community you live in?
- Do you know the names of other communities in your town?
Skill-building activities
FEATURED CONTENT
- Vocabulary flashcards*
- Describing my community 🎥 (Ask students to notice the vocabulary they hear in the video.)
- Listen to the vocabulary again * 🔊 (Pay attention to how to say the words and phrases and what they mean.)
Skill-using tasks
- For students living in Edmonton:
- Map of Edmonton showing main areas* (Click on each “X” to see the name of the main area. For those outside Edmonton, substitute a map of your own city or town here.)
- Find the main Edmonton areas* (For those outside Edmonton, substitute a map of your own city or town here.)
- Describing my community* (Click on the images to make each one larger and for more information about each one.)
Assessment/review tasks
- Vocabulary match-up*
- Conversation cards (Answer the questions on the cards.)
Reflection questions
- What do you like about your community?
- What don’t you like about your community?
- How are Canadian communities different from communities in your home country?
- What services in your community are most important to you, e.g., parks, schools, swimming pools?
- Do you like shopping malls? What do you like about them?
- Do any of you use your community league? What do you do at your community league?
- Tell us what you see when you look out your front window.
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Click on the small right arrow at the top of this video to play the videos or go to the YouTube Your Home and Community Playlist.
COMMUNITY AND NEIGHBOURS WORDWALL ACTIVITIES
Wordwall is a very useful interactive lesson-creation site. If you sign up for a free Wordwall account, you will be able to see our “Community and neighbours” folder, which includes ESL Directions activities that you can add to your lessons.
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ABOUT ESL DIRECTIONS
ESL teacher, movie buff, constant reader, and former editor and communications pro. Now a graduate of the Teaching English as a Second Language program at the University of Manitoba and an ESL teacher in Edmonton, Alberta, I specialize in teaching online classes of beginner ESL students.
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