Micro-Teach Lesson Plan

Teacher: Ayano Kawasaki

Level: Lower Intermediate 3 Date/Time: Monday, April 1st / 1:20-3:00
Goal:
-Students will be able to understand the past perfect is used for what had happened before
another event in the past happened.
- Students will be able to describe their pictures by using past perfect.

Objectives (SWBAT):
Students Will Be Able To…
1. demonstrate their understanding that past perfect is used for what had happened before another
event in the past, by creating logically coherent sentences. (The sentences should include the simple past
in the main clause and the past perfect in the subordinate clause, and the logic--which event happened
first--should logically make sense.)
2. demonstrate their understanding of the formula of past perfect (subject + had + past participle)
and regular/irregular forms of past participle by correctly answering Kahoot! questions. *Prior to the
class, students have already learned the regular/irregular forms of past participle in the previous lesson:
passive voice.
3. describe their pictures by using at least one past perfect sentence.
4. demonstrate their understanding of the formula of past perfect (subject + had + past participle)
by creating 10 complex sentences based on the fact or their imagination. The main clause is given as a
prompt, such as “I couldn’t sleep because…,” and students need to create the rest of the sentence by
using the formula of the past perfect. (This objective is for a contingency plan.)

Theme: Past Perfect

Materials & Technology:
● Textbook: e.g. Life 2 Unit 2 pp. 25-27
● Handout #1: [Front Side] Describe your picture by using past perfect
              [Back Side] Interview your classmates.
● Handout #2: Complete sentences by using past perfect. (This handout is for a contingency plan.)
*This is cut into 10 pieces and given to students.
● PowerPoint

ACTIVITY/PROCEDURE/STAGE – INTERACTION TYPES TIME

Activity 1: Past Perfect - Meaningful Input & Language Focus & Meaningful Output &
Fluency Development

1. Pre-Stage: Introduction of past perfect (Meaningful Input & Language Focus) Pre-
Interaction: T-S interactions Stage
6 mins
- Show a picture of Ayano and Sissi to students and ask them what had happened before the
picture was taken.

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 During-
T: Look at this picture! Who is she? Yes, it’s me! What had happened to me when this picture Stage
was taken? 4 mins

-After hearing some guessing from students, the teacher says the answer. (The teacher only Post-
verbally says the answer and doesn’t show it on PPT yet.) Stage
1. Ayano had read a 100-page reading assignment when this picture was taken. 10 mins
2. Sissi had received her birthday cake when this picture was taken.

-Ask students what exactly the teacher said and show them on PPT.
-Have students pay attention to the language focus.

T: “Ayano had read 100-pages reading assignment when this picture was taken.”
This happened in the past. Why do you think “had read” is used here?

-Explain some important points of the past perfect.

1. Two events are described in a sentence.
2. The past perfect is used to show what happened first while the simple past is used to show
what happened next.

T: Both events--”this picture was taken” and “Ayano had read a 100-page reading
assignment”--happened in the past. “Ayano had read a 100-page reading assignment” had
happened before “this picture was taken,” so the past perfect is used here.

-Show students example sentences and have them generate the formula “subject + had + past
participle.”

2. During Stage: Kahoot! (Language Focus)

Interaction: Both T-S and S-S interaction

-Ask students to take out their phones.

-Ask students to join Kahoot!

T: Take out your phone. Let’s play Kahoot!. Has everyone played Kahoot! before? (If not) No
worries! It’s very simple and fun!
Go to “Kahoot.it” and enter Game PIN. The PIN is _____ and press, “Enter.” Then, decide
your nickname and press, “OK, go!.”
All the questions are multiple-choice questions. Please choose the one you think is correct.

Questions
1. When John arrived at the station, the train ( ).
a. had leave b. have left c. leave d. had left
2. Anne couldn’t enter her house because she ( ) the key.
a. lose b. had lose c. had lost d. have lost
3. Lily couldn’t sleep because she ( ) too much coffee.
a. had drinked b. had drink c. had drunk d. had drank
4. Tom ( ) the English exam because he hadn’t studied enough.

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 a. failed b. had failed c. had fail d. have failed

-If some students made mistakes, the teacher ask all students why the option is incorrect.

T: Let’s look closely at the question. “When he arrived at the station, the train ( ).” The
correct answer was “had left.” Why is “leave” wrong? How about “had leave”? What is
wrong with that?

3. Post-Stage: Create your own past perfect sentence & Interview each other
(Meaningful Output & Fluency Development)
Interaction: Both T-S and S-S interactions

-Give students Handout #1.

-Students write down their own past perfect sentences.

T: Now, you got familiar with past perfect structure. Then, try to create your own past perfect
sentence. Let me show you the procedure.
Step 1
-Find your favorite picture on your phone.
-Send the picture to my address:
ak4223@tc.columbia.edu
-Write down one sentence to describe your picture by using past perfect.
-For example, “When this picture was taken, Ayano had read 100-pages reading
assignment.”

-Ask Comprehension Check Questions.

T: What do you have to do now? Alright, you have 3 minutes to prepare your sentence. Go!

-Circulate the classroom and see how students are doing. If students have trouble creating a
sentence, give them some advice.

(After 3 minutes)

T: Are you ready? (If most students have not finished, the teacher gives them extra time.)
Let’s move on to Step 2. Turn over the handout.

Step 2: Share your sentence with classmates.

-Describe your picture by using at least one past perfect sentence.
-While listening, write down the classmates’ past perfect sentences.
-Ask additional questions. (What/Where/Why/How)
-Talk with at least 3 classmates.

-Model conversation with students.

T: Let me show you an example. Look at this picture.

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 I belong to a New York city community orchestra, and play the oboe. He is a violinist.
We sometimes play music at the cafe. When this picture was taken, we had played music for
two hours. Do you have any additional questions about the picture, such as
What/Where/Why/How? Your question doesn’t have to have past perfect. (Ask for
volunteers.)

-Ask Comprehension Check Questions.

T: What do you have to do?

-If students have difficulty answering the Comprehension Check Questions, the teacher gives
them prompt questions.

T: How many students do you have to talk to?→ at least 3 students.

How many past perfect sentences do you have to use? →at least 1 sentence
While listening to your partners, what do you have to do?
→ Write down a past perfect sentence.
After that, what do you have to do?→ Ask additional questions.
Stand up, everyone. You have 5 minutes. Go!

-Ask students to share their pictures in class.

-Show their pictures on the screen.
-Invite other students to describe their pictures on behalf of him/her.

T: Whose picture is this? Can anybody describe his/her picture by using past perfect?

Tangible Outcome & T. feedback/peer feedback:

-Students will be able to understand the past perfect is used for what happened before another
event in the past.
-Students will be able to internalize the basic structure--the main clause contains the past
tense while the subordinate contains the past perfect.
-Students will be able to create their own past perfect sentences.
-Teachers will give students positive feedback about the form and content of their original
sentences.
Transition to Wrap-Up:
-Give students positive feedback about the form and content of their sentences and show
appreciation for their hard work.

Wrap-up
Lesson Evaluation Procedures:
-Ask students what they have learned and re-state some important points, such as “how to
form past perfect,” and “when to use past perfect.”

Anticipated Problems & Suggested Solutions:

Problem: Most students have not played Kahoot! before.

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Solution: Have students try a sample question based on the previously-learned grammar, such as passive
voice, so that students get familiar with the game.

Contingency Plans (what you will do if you finish early, etc.):

Activity: Complete sentences by using past perfect.

Interaction: Both T-S and S-S interactions

-Pair up students.
-Give each pair 10 strips (See Handout #2); each piece has only a main clause containing the simple past
tense, such as “I couldn’t enter my house because…,” and the students create the rest of the sentence by
using past perfect
-Give students examples.

T: Each strip only has the first part, such as “I couldn’t enter my house because…,” so please complete
the sentence by using the past perfect. You can create either realistic or imaginative sentences. For
example, you can say, “I couldn’t enter my house because I had lost my key.” Or you can also say, “I
couldn’t enter my house because my house had disappeared.”

-Students complete the sentences in pairs.

-Share their sentences in class.

T: Can anyone share your creative sentences?

Microteaching Self-Reflection
Based on your perception of how your micro-teach played out in class, reflect on and answer the
following questions in detail:

1. Why did you choose this particular activity for your learner population?

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I will discuss the reason I chose the activity stage by stage.
Pre-Stage: Introduction of Past Perfect
I wanted to grab students’ attention from the beginning, so I showed them funny pictures as an
introduction in order to make them laugh, thereby creating a warm classroom atmosphere. Also, instead
of deductively teaching the grammar point, I wanted students to figure out the form and meaning by
themselves.

During-Stage: Kahoot!
As a practice for the following Post-Stage activity, I wanted students to pay attention to the form of the
grammar point. Controlled practice tends to be boring, but by incorporating technology and
competitiveness, I tried to make it fun. Also, whenever students made mistakes, I stopped the activity for
a while, and asked them why they were wrong in order to make sure that everyone was on the same
page.

Post-Stage: Sharing Your Pictures with Classmates

I wanted students to use the grammar focus in a meaningful context, so I had them describe their
pictures about which they had personal feelings. Also, as a wrap-up, I wanted them to come back as a
whole class, so I showed their pictures on the screen. Instead of asking the student who provided the
picture to describe it by him/herself, I asked another student to describe it on behalf of him/her so as to
create a cooperative classroom atmosphere.

2. What had the class been doing just prior to this activity? How did you connect/transition to this
activity?

Prior to this activity, students had already learned passive voice in present tense, passive voice in past
tense, and regular/irregular forms of past participles. I made several connections with the previous
lessons. First, I put “passive voice in past tense” structure in the introductory sentence of past perfect,
“When this picture was taken, Ayano had read 100 pages reading assignment.” In addition, during the
During-Stage activity, I introduced Kahoot! game, asking students to answer multiple-choice questions.
Several choices contained ill-formed past participle, such as “had drinked,” or “had drank.” By
incorporating such questions, I made sure whether students could recall past participles they had learned
in the previous class.

3. Was your language focus taught inductively or deductively? Why?

I taught language focus inductively. I have several reasons why I decided to teach it inductively.
First, as for my teaching philosophy, I do not want to say, “Today, you are going to learn the past
perfect.” I do not want to force students to learn anything. If the teacher says, “You are going to
learn…,” students would have no agency for learning. Instead, by providing meaningful (and hopefully
fun) sentences, I would like students to figure out what was going on in the sentences. I believe that
human beings are inquisitive in nature, so, by providing meaningful sentences and questions, I would
like students to feel like learning the new structure. In order to achieve this goal, I introduced the new
grammar without explicitly saying, “past perfect.” Specifically, I introduced the grammar by using
myself as an example, “When this picture was taken, Ayano had read a 100-page reading assignment.”

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In order to make it fun, I provided two extreme ends of the pictures—I looked so tired while Sissi
looked so happy.

Second, by teaching language focus inductively, I can maximize students’ learning. I believe, in order to
make real learning take place, students need to think by themselves. Therefore, I first showed a sentence,
“When this picture was taken, Ayano had read 100-pages reading assignment,” on the board, had
students pay attention to “had read” by highlighting it, and asked them why they would think I used past
perfect instead of past tense. Also, I followed the “Think-Pair-Share” structure. That is to say, first I
gave students time to think individually, and then asked them to discuss in pairs, and finally shared their
ideas as a whole class. In doing so, I maximized their opportunity to think.

4. Summarize (briefly) what took place in the pre-, during, and post-activity stages.

In the Pre-Stage activity, I introduced the past perfect by providing a meaningful sentence related to
students, “When this picture was taken, Ayano had read 100-pages reading assignment.” Then, I had
them make a guess why I used “had read” instead of “had.” After students figured out “had read”
referred to what had happened before another event in the past, I explicitly introduced the language
focus, past perfect. Finally, I had students generate the formula, “had + past participle.”

In During-Stage activity, students played Kahoot! game. By having students answer multiple choice
questions, I made sure whether they could internalize the structure of past perfect “had + past participle”
and also could recall what they had learned in the previous class, regular/irregular forms of past
participle. Whenever students made mistakes, I stopped the activity for a while and asked them why they
were wrong so that no one would be left behind.

In Post-Stage activity, I asked students to describe their favorite pictures by using at least one past
perfect sentence. Then, I had them share their pictures with classmates. In order to have them pay
attention to the language focus, I asked students to write down their classmates’ past perfect sentences.
After that, I showed some students’ pictures on the screen and asked other students to describe them by
using past perfect sentences.

5. How would you characterize both T-S and S-S interaction patterns during the activity? Who did the
speaking?

In each stage, introduction of activities was achieved by T-S interaction, and once the activities started,
S-S interaction took place. Introduction of activities tends to be teacher-monologue; in order to avoid the
circumstance, even when giving students instruction, I tried to maximize students’ opportunities to talk
by making it as interactive as possible.

Pre-Stage: Introduction of Past Perfect was both T-S and S-S interaction.
First, I showed a picture of myself and asked students what had happened to me when the picture was
taken. Also, I gave students time to discuss their ideas in pairs.

During-Stage: Kahoot! was mostly T-S interaction.

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Students competed with each other during the game. Whenever students made mistakes, I stopped the
game for a while and asked them why they were wrong and made sure the correct form.

Post-Stage: Sharing Pictures with Classmates was both T-S and S-S interaction.
When giving students instruction, I asked comprehension check questions to make sure everyone was on
the same page. Then, I had students share their pictures with their classmates. As a wrap-up stage, I
asked students to share their pictures and asked another student to describe his/her picture by using past
perfect.

7. How would you evaluate your ability to give clear instructions, provide modeling and ask
comprehension check questions for the “students”?

Considering the fact that students followed my instruction without any confusion, it seemed my
instruction and modeling were fine. What I mostly cared about was the instruction of Post-Stage activity
since this activity could be confusing without clear instruction. Specifically, as Dr. Hoa recommended in
our previous class discussion, I gave one instruction at a time. First, I only gave them Step 1; I asked
students to (1) find their favorite pictures in their phone (2) Send the pictures to me (3) write down 1
sentence to describe their pictures by using past perfect. At this moment, I did not further explain what
would happen after writing a sentence (i.e. Sharing them with classmates.) After making sure that
everyone prepared a sentence, I gave them Step 2. Furthermore, on PPT, I separated their roles—speaker
or listener—and made it clear what exactly each of them had to do during the activity. Then, I modeled
the activity by describing my own picture. After that, I gave students comprehension check questions,
such as “What do you have to do?,” “What do you have to do while listening to their partner?,” and
“How many past perfect sentences do you have to use?”

However, I had some issues that I needed to improve on.

First, as for During-Stage: Kahoot!, I mentioned in my lesson plan that I would give students step-by-
step instruction if they were not familiar with the game. However, in this micro-teach—unlike the actual
CLP teaching—I assumed everyone had played Kahoot! before. Therefore, I only asked, “Have you
played Kahoot! before?” They said, “Yes,” so I only had them long in the website without giving any
specific instruction. However, I noticed that there was one student (student A) who was struggling to log
in. It seemed that student A had never played the game before, and a student sitting next to student A
was offering help. Take this moment into consideration, I should have given students step-by-step
instructions, such as “Go to ‘Kahoot.it’ and enter Game PIN. The PIN is _____ and press ‘Enter’.”
Then, decide your nickname and press, ‘OK, go!’”

Second issue was a minor mistake. Although I had planned to say that, I forgot to tell students that they
could describe their pictures freely as long as they used at least one past perfect sentence. As a result,
some students might have described their pictures with only one past perfect sentence, which was not
like a real conversation.

8. Was there adequate/appropriate board work?

Not applicable for this lesson for two reasons.

First, I put all the instructions on PPT and did not need the board.

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Second, it was logistically inconvenient to use the whiteboard, which was located at the backside of the
room. In Post-Stage, there might have been an option to write students’ past perfect sentences on the
whiteboard, yet I decided not to do that due to the logistic reason. Since I showed students’ pictures on
the screen, which was located at the frontside of the room, if I wrote something on the board, students
would need to see both the front and backside of the room, which would be very inconvenient.
Therefore, I decided not to write the sentence on the board; Instead, I had students pay attention to their
pictures on the screen and only verbally repeated students’ past perfect sentences.

9. What was the most difficult part of designing and then implementing this micro-teach? Please explain
in detail.

I had several difficulties designing this micro-teach.

First, since past perfect is not commonly used in a real conversation, I struggled to come up with an idea
about how to have students use the grammar in a meaningful context. I was in a dilemma: although I
wanted students to produce as many past perfect sentences as possible in Post-Stage, in real life, we do
not use the structure so much. Therefore, I decided to compromise: I asked students to use at least one
past perfect sentence so that they could describe the rest of the part more freely. In addition, I had
students ask additional questions, such as what/why/where/how, so that the conversation would keep
going.

Another difficulty was how to have students pay attention to the language focus. In the CLP class, I
introduced a slightly different activity from today’s micro-teach: Create Your Own Anecdote by Using
Past Perfect. Specifically, I asked students to draw pictures and describe them by using at least two past
perfect sentences. I did not ask them to write down their sentences. Students seemed to enjoy the
activity; however, while circulating the class, I realized that the students’ use of past perfect was not
necessarily correct. (i.e. They used past perfect for a sentence in which simple past should have been
used.) Therefore, in today’s micro-teach, I decided to have students write down their past perfect
sentences in order to have them pay attention to the language focus. By doing so, I was able to make
sure their language use while circulating the class.

Not only that, I also wondered how to make the Post-Stage more inclusive. In the CLP class, as a wrap-
up stage, I had students share their drawings in class; however, the drawings were too small for
everyone to see. The lack of visual image would hinder students’ understanding, so I thought about a
way to make it bigger. I had originally planned to use a document camera to magnify the image and
asked the media service desk, but it turned out that I could not use the device unless the room was
originally equipped with it. Therefore, following Dr. Hoa’s advice, I asked students to email me the
picture.

The most difficult part when implementing the micro-teach was incorporating step-by-step instruction,
modeling, and comprehension check questions especially for complicated activities. Back in Japan,
although I gave students step-by-step questions and modeling, I did not give them comprehension check
questions, except “Do you understand?” Thus, I am currently learning to be familiar with
comprehension check questions. They have not become my habit yet, so I need to intentionally think of
giving such questions. During the micro-teach, I focused on giving students comprehension check
questions, which was successful. But because of that, I accidentally forgot to give another instruction. In
particular, I should have said that students could freely describe their pictures as long as they used one

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past perfect sentence, but I didn’t. Owing to the lack of instruction, some students might have described
their pictures just with past perfect sentences, and the conversation may not have been meaningful. I
need to keep working on sufficiently giving students all the scaffoldings: step-by-step instruction,
modeling, and comprehension check questions.

10. What other thoughts about this task, if any, occurred to you as you were doing the micro-teach?

I realized grabbing students’ attention from the beginning would be one of the crucial keys for success. I
was not sure whether this micro-teach would be successful. However, thanks to my picture and Sissi’s
picture as an introduction, I could successfully grab students’ attention and create a warm classroom
atmosphere, which made it easy for me to teach the class even after the introduction.

11. By doing this micro-teach, what have you learned about planning/teaching? What are your biggest
take-aways?

From this micro-teach, I have learned the importance of scripting/practicing and not assuming students’
prior knowledge.

1. Scripting and practicing in advance make a huge difference.

Although there were several mistakes that I still need to improve on, today’s micro-teach was overall
successful. From this experience, it might sound obvious, but I re-realized the importance of
“practicing” beforehand. Practicing is a foundation of successful teaching. In the regular CLP classes, I
write scripts and carefully plan activities in advance; however, due to a lack of time, whether I could
“practice” the script depends on the day. But the difference is obvious. That is to say, whenever I
practice the script before the class, I can instruct students successfully during the class. But when I could
not practice the script beforehand, students sometimes got confused during the class. As for today’s
micro-teach, since I practiced what to say many times, the script was internalized in my head. Then, I
was able to guide students relatively smoothly. On a regular basis, I will definitely try to practice script
prior to the class.

2. Don’t assume students already know something.

As I mentioned in a section above, during this micro-teach, I assumed all students had played Kahoot!
before, but my assumption was wrong. There was at least one student who could not catch up with the
procedure. Without having any assumption, I would need to make sure whether they understood. My
tentative solutions could be (1) carefully check students’ facial expressions to make sure whether they
truly understood what to do (2) even if they say, “I know Kahoot!,” I should not assume everyone knows
and still give them at least basic instructions, such as how to log in and how to enter PIN.
This principle—don’t overestimate (or underestimate) students’ knowledge—will be applicable for other
aspects, such as students’ grammatical knowledge as well. By constantly making sure where they are
now in terms of their understanding, I will try to make the lesson suitable for students’ level and needs,
thereby creating an inclusive learning environment where no one would be left behind/or would not get
bored.

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