Lesson Plan: "My Animal"

A 2nd-5th Grade English/Art Lesson Plan for Limited English

Proficient (LEP) Students
Carolyn Radice
cmr2898 [at] garnet.acns.fsu.edu
Florida State University

• Content Area:
o 2nd-5th grade English/Art
• Objectives:
o Content Objective
 At the end of this lesson the students will determine which animal best
represents them and have five written reasons why using at least five
descriptive adjectives.
o Language Objective
 At the end of this assignment the students will share their picture and five
adjective-sentences in a small group setting.
• Pre-Lesson Preparation:
o All students will be given an example sheet; an outline of what they will need to
have.
o Limited English Proficient (LEP) students will be given a list of 50 animals and the
animals picture to get ideas from.
o LEP students will also be given a list of descriptive adjectives and some sample
sentences to view as review.
• Materials:
o Paper for drawing
o Crayons, markers, and colored pencils
o Pen or pencil
• Classroom Organization:
o For the first half of the project the students will work individually. The teacher will
walk around and answer any questions. The teacher will not use her/his desk, but
will use a student desk to be in the middle of things. For the second half the teacher
will place the students in five small groups, spacing the LEP students among the
different groups. This way LEP students can work with other students instead of
depending upon one another.
• Review of prior Knowledge:
o The teacher will now review what the students have been learning all week, about
descriptive adjectives. The teacher will write a few sentences on the board and then
read them aloud as well, pointing out where the adjectives are. Ex. The red dog
jumped in the snow. (Reading aloud and writing on the board can be helpful for LEP
students to comprehend the material as well as other students.)
• Presentation:
o The teacher will tell the students the assignment as she illustrates it on the board.
"Today we are going to choose an animal that we think is most like us, in other
words if we could be any animal what would we be."(Saying the same thing in
different words can help the information come across clear for LEP students.) Then
tell the students that they are going to draw a picture of this animal and then write
five sentences using descriptive adjectives to explain why they chose the animal
they did. The LEP students will be allowed to use their adjective sheets to come up
with sentence ideas.

While presenting this information to the class the teacher will model correct
English and will write examples on the board. The students should follow
along on their handout outline they were given which is as sample of what
their final product should look like. The teacher should also do an example
 on the board of his/her own animal and five sentences. (The more
explanation and hands-on examples the better.)

• Class work:
o Individually students will draw the animal that they feel represents them on the piece
of paper. Next they will write their five sentences, using at least one adjective in
each, explaining how the animal represents them. During the project the teacher will
walk around and answer any questions.
o The students will be separated into five groups (LEP students spread around, not all
in the same group) where they will each show their picture and share their five
sentences with each other. Everyone will have a turn to share and will be treated
with respect. Some peer editing will take place if necessary.
o After the group presentation the students will have about five minutes to correct any
errors they have made and then the papers will be collected. After they are recorded
into the teacher's book they will displayed around the room.
• Follow-up and Assessment:
o The students will be graded on: (1) the effort they put into their artwork (20 pts.), (2)
their five sentences, each needs to have at least one adjective and they must be
complete sentences (30 pts.), (3) participating in the small groups by reading their
sentences aloud (20 pts.), (4) correcting mistakes individually (15), and (5)
participation throughout the lesson (15).
 100 - 92 = A
 91 - 82 = B
 81 - 72 = C
 71 - 62 = D
• Preview of next day's lesson:
o The teacher will discuss the lesson for the next day giving information to prepare the
students for the lesson.

Sample True (T) or False (F) Questions

1. If your fork falls on the floor, pick it up, clean it with your napkin, and continue using it. (F)
2. When you have finished eating, refold your napkin to the way it was before and put it next
to your plate. (F)
3. You should excuse yourself if you must leave the table during a meal. (T)
4. You should stand up to get the salt if it is out of your reach. (F)
5. Don't burp because it is considered rude. (T)
6. Always use the water glass to your right. (T)
7. Keep your elbows off the table, especially when you are eating. (T)
8. Your bread and butter plate is located towards the left of an imaginary line across your
service plate. (T)
9. When you finish your meal, put your fork and knife back on the table where they were
before. (F)
10. If there are two forks on the table, you should start using the fork closest to the plate. (F)
11. If there are bones in your food, spit them out and put them on the tablecloth. (F)
12. Make slurping sounds when you are eating noodles to show how good they are. (F)
13. In the American style of using silverware, you switch the fork to your right hand to bring
food into your mouth. (T)
14. If you do not want a certain food, make an elaborate excuse about why you can't have it.
(F)
15. Ask your hostess for a doggy bag to take home the food you cannot finish. (F)
16. If you are the guest, you should not order the most expensive item on the menu unless it is
recommended by your host. (T)
17. Go to the bathroom to remove food caught in your teeth. (T)
18. If a piece of food falls off your plate, don't touch it and leave it on the table. (F)
19. Spoon the soup away from you and sip it from the side of the spoon. (T)
20. If the dessert spoon and fork are already on the table, they should be above your plate. (T)
REASONS FOR REALIA IN THE CLASSROOM:

1. Kinesthetic learning is the type of learning that students will most effectively acquire,
mostly because they will have hands-on experience.
2. The use of realia brings a welcome change in the class, a break from typical class
activities like reading and writing.
3. The unexpectedness of having to suddenly interact with real objects will keep students
on their toes; it will create excitement, and they’ll have fun.
4. Students have the chance to practice real life situations like using maps and asking for
directions in a foreign language, but with the guidance of someone who speaks fluently
and will help them get it right. Once they hit the street, they will feel more confident in
speaking the language with the locals.
5. Students will clearly understand the reason they’re learning a particular ESL component.
Inste ad of wondering when and where they might have use for a particular language
element, they’ll know the reason.

When it comes to using realia in the classroom the sky’s the limit! The best part is that your
students will learn, have fun, but you’ll also enjoy your classes all the more.
Realia is a term used in library science and education to refer to certain real-
life objects. In library classification systems, realia are objects such as coins,
tools, and textiles that do not easily fit into the orderly categories of printed
material or naturally occurring (specimens, samples, etc. ), usually borrowed,
purchased, or received as donation by teacher, library, or museum for use in
classroom instruction or in exhibits. In Education, realia are objects from real
life used in classroom instruction. Realia include objects used by educators to
help students to understand better other cultures and real life situations. A
teacher of a foreign language often employs realia to strengthen students’
associations between words for everyday objects and the objects themselves.
In foreign language instruction, the realia has a broader meaning, which
includes photos of objects from a country where the target language is spoken.
the two meanings are closely related because of the support many types of
libraries give to educational endeavors.

REALIA-BASED ACTIVITIES
1. 5 MINUTE ACTIVITIES TO BREAK UP A LESSON
• 20 questions
• Kim’s Game
• Noughts and Crosses (with realia)
• I went to the supermarket and I bought....

2. LESSON FOCUS ACTIVITIES INCORPORATING REALIA

• Using a classified advertisement to find a house, rent a flat –
discuss what your learner’s requirements for a flat/ house are
(number of bedrooms, living areas etc)
 • Photos as the lesson focus
o L1 - mostly single words to identify items
o L2 – phrases and sentences (What can you see in the picture?
What’s happening?)
o L3 – extended speech, discussion, prediction, opinion (What
might happen next?)
• The Weather – give your learner a map of NZ (or a weather map
from the paper) and play a recorded weather forecast. Ask the
learner to point to the places as they are mentioned. For a
beginner learner have a range of simple weather related drawings
(cloud, wind, rain, sun etc) and ask her/him to indicate which one
s/he hears.

3. USING RESOURCES IN THE ENVIRONMENT

To provide an integrated, relevant language approach to your lesson
incorporate a trip with you learner. For example:
• A walk in the park • A celebration in the
• A trip in to town or to learner’s community
the supermarket or local (open day at the
market mosque)
• Have a cup of coffee • Catch a bus together
• Saturday sport • Gardening
• A trip to the beach or • Cooking together
swimming pool

GROUP ACTIVITY
Put group into small groups (5/6). Give them a piece of realia each to plan a
few 1:1 or group activities around. Feed back to group
• Seed packet
• Tea bag
• Dice
• Cell phone
• Necklace
• Newspaper photo
• Birth notice
• Rescue Remedy
• Weather Map
• Property advertisements
Some activity suggestions using Realia
1. Step 1
Bring in a number of objects from everyday life, such as fruit,
utensils or articles of clothing. Sitting in a circle, pass one of the
objects to the student on your left, saying the name of the object
(for example: "tomato" or "sock") and then have the student pass
on the object to the next one, speaking the word as well. Have your
students keep passing on the object, repeating its name, until it
comes full circle back to you. You may use photos of the objects
instead of the actual objects themselves.

2. Step 2
Obtain or make some menus for use in practicing common ordering
phrases. Review the phrases with your students, and then divide
them into two groups. Now have them role-play a restaurant
scenario using the phrases, with one group as the customers and
the second as waiters. Switch the group's roles once the exercise is
over. Do the same with a bus or train timetable to role play a train
conductor and passengers.

3. Step 3
Use an object, such as a ball, to teach prepositions of place like “on,
under, above.” Place the ball on the table, and ask where it is. Elicit
the reply “It’s on the table,” and so on.

4. Step 4

Make photocopies of real maps. Divide the class into groups of two
and hand each group a map. Have them use the maps to give each
other directions.

5. Step 5
Write out an email and send it to each of your students or printout
copies and give a copy to each student. Have them write a reply to
the email to practice.

6. Step 6
Write or print out recipes for work on the imperative (imperative
clauses are typically used to tell someone to do something). Read
out the step by step recipe instructions and have the students
mime them as you read them out.

7. Step 7
Bring in photographs to practice description, prepositions of place
or modals of deduction (modals are words such as ‘can’ and ‘would’
which are used with a main verb to express ideas such as
possibility, intention or necessity). Pair up your students and have
them describe their photographs to each other.