FIRST Lesson Plan

Lesson Name: __Animals abilities Use of Can and Cant___ Lesson

Number: __1_________
Institution: _____Colegio Gustavo Morales Morales________
Student-Teachers in Charge: __Javier Alejandro Landinez Segura____
Grade: _Eighth Graders__ Date:__09/10/16____ Week: ___1_____

Introduction:
The lesson will be about animals vocabulary and the verb can to express
their physical abilities. Different exercises will be developed to learn about
this useful topic, making sentences in oral and written ways, combining them
with diverse games and warming up activities.
Rationale:
This lesson is necessary because for students it is very useful to review and
learn the vocabulary about animals, combined with the use of can to express
diverse abilities they have. This class will be very important because student
could include this topic in their normal English classes and even in their daily
lives.
Methodology:
Different methods and approaches will be used, especially the Direct
Approach. It was chosen because the mother tongue is never used and there
is no translation. Grammar is taught inductively and mimics and drawings are
preferred to make students understand about an unfamiliar word or
expression. Total physical response will also be used; encouraging students to
learn and acquire English through actions and physical movements.
Resources:
The activities will mainly be developed without many materials. Whiteboard
and marker will be used to give some instructions and guidance. A sheet of
paper and a pen or a pencil will also be used to write some sentences about
the exercises to be worked.
Objectives

Communicative: Students will be able to communicate

animals abilities

Language: the expressions CAN and CANT, will be used in

the lesson.
Learning: Students will learn the lesson through mimics,
memorization and concentration.
Type of
Activity
Warm Up

Description
Concentration game, where each student chooses an animal
and plays with it by saying it and then pass it to another

Transition
Getting

student with a rhythm done with the hands.

What activities are some animals good at?
I start by writing the words CAN and CANT on the whiteboard

Started

and then I proceed to say several sentences with this words

and the abilities animals have, this, combined with mimics
and some drawings. After that I elicit students to repeat and

Transition

say their own sentences and ideas.

What activities can animals do that humans cant?

Formal

Explanation of the use of can and cant to talk about physical

presentatio

abilities, both in animals and in human beings. This, with

n
Transition

several practical examples of real life.

What activities can both animals and humans do in a similar
way?

Practice

Grammar exercise(s). Model the activity and show students

how to do it. Do not assume learners know how to do it just
because you have explained the grammar.

Transition

In what activities are humans better than animals?

Controlled

Each student says a sentence about an animal and using the

Practice

verb CAN, after that the other students make a coevaluation

Transition

by expressing if this sentence was correctly done.

In what activities are animals better than humans?

Outcome

Students take their notebooks and write ten sentences about

some animals and the activities they better do.

Transition

What activities some animals do improve humans lives?

Final

Forum discussion where students share their own ideas orally.

Assessment

They mention the abilities they possess and the comparisons

of them with the animals abilities. Students also mention

their family members, their occupations and the activities
Homework

they are able to do.

Students are asked to study the expressions, vocabulary and

Assignment

grammar structures learned in class, but they are also asked

to learn new vocabulary and expressions for the next class.

Bibliography:
Animals abilities, retrieved from.
http://www.freddiesville.com/videos/actions-can-cant/ on Sep 5th, 2016.
Use of Can and Cant, retrieved from.
http://www.grammar.cl/Basic/Can_Cannot.htm on Sep 5th, 2016.

Appendixes:
Are these sentences true or false?
1. Monkeys can read.
2. Dogs can swim.
3. Lions can ride a bike.
4. Cats can speak French.
5. Horses can jump.
6. Ducks can fly.
7. Pigs can write.
8. Penguins can skate.
9. Tigers can sleep.

10. Bears can dance.

Answer these questions with yes they can or no they cant:
1. Can donkeys drive a car?
2. Can chickens sing?
3. Can fish walk?
4. Can cows play tennis?
5. Can elephants run?

Games
1. Can/cant board game
Students are given characters and choose between six and ten abilities
for them. Those characters compete to work their way around a board
game with squares like There is a wall of fire in front of you and There
is a huge magnet under the floor. Students explain how they can use
one of their abilities to get past that thing, or they have to stay on their
previous square. You can also play the same game with students
choosing which objects to take at the beginning of the game, making
sentences like We can use the rope and hula hoop to swing across from
a tall tree.
2. Make me say Yes, I can/Make me say No, I cant
Students must ask the teacher questions to which his or her real answer
is Yes, I can, e.g. Can you speak Spanish? and Can you cook English
food? They can then move onto the more amusing variation where they
should try to get No, I cant answers with questions like Can you fly?
and Can you lift all of us? The same games can easily be played in
pairs and small groups.
3. Must say Yes, I can/Must say No, I cant
Students must answer Yes, I can to all Can you? questions, even if
it is plainly untrue when asked things like Can you say the alphabet in
one second? and Can you speak 20 languages? They then answer
three extra questions like How long does it take you to say the alphabet

backwards? and Which ones?, then their partners guess if the original
Yes, I can answer was true or false. It can be quite fun for them to
have to continue answering seriously when asked questions like Can
you breathe underwater? but if you want to make the guessing more
competitive you can also give them verbs or whole questions they must
use.
4. Can/cant definitions game
One student makes can/ cant statements about an object, animal, real
person, etc like I can break it with my hands and It can float until
someone works out what they are talking about.
5. Can/cant 20 questions
This is like the game above but asking questions like Can I see one
now? and Can you buy one in a supermarket? and guessing the object
from the answers.
6. My stickman can/cant
This game is a little odd but has gone down really well with students
with a slightly wicked sense of humour. Divide the class into two teams
and get one representative of each team up to the board. They draw a
stickman each, including as many body parts as they can (e.g. also
eyebrows). One of the teams says something that the other teams
person cant do, e.g. Your man cant play hopscotch. That team should
delete the minimum number of body parts that they can to match that
description, e.g. just the hands so that they can throw. There might be
some discussion about whether the person can still do that thing with
the remaining body parts. When that is settled, the team that was
deleting then says something similar for the other teams man. This
continues until one man has completely disappeared or the teacher
stops the game. They then take turns trying to build up their own man
from that point as quickly as possible, e.g. being able to put back the
eyes, hands and fingers by saying Our man can play PSP.
7. Animal abilities bluff
This one takes some research by the teacher or the students. Students
make a statement about the ability of an animal, e.g. A cow can sleep
standing up, and the other students have to guess whether it is true or
not, perhaps after asking for details.
8. Can brainstorming
You can get students brainstorming true sentences with a single subject,
e.g. A plane can turn and A plane can carry people, or different
sentences with one verb like You can squeeze a lemon with two hands
and You can squeeze a sandwich, but it isnt a good idea.
9. Can/cant Top Trumps
Top Trumps is a card game that is somewhat like Pokemon, with cards

battling each other and the winning person getting to take the other
persons card. Official packs are available for all kinds of subjects such as
dinosaurs, skyscrapers and Lord of the Rings. Many of the things on the
cards can be said with this language point, e.g. It can run at 120 kph
and It can shoot 200 rounds without reloading. However, it is probably
best to come up with your own cards that match your students
interests, have more graded language and use the target language even
more.