Hui-An Yu Cindy Dr.

Katherine McCarthy
EFL 525
1/16/06

Reading Micro-teaching Lesson Plan

Geography: Rain Forests

Skill Level: High Beginning +

Age: Middle School 6-7 Grades Students (12+)

Instructional Context: 15 students from South America, who speak mostly

Spanish and other five are Portuguese, in my class two
days per week. Due to their cultural background, I will
give them some information about rain forests.

Material: Overhead projector, handout of “Rain Forests”, supplement

“Regions of the world: The Wet Tropical Regions” and
“The Solution: Profits without Plunder”, and picture of
Destruction of World Rain Forest
Length of Time: 1 hour

Objectives: The students will be able to

- Get the concept of rain forests clearly.
- Use vocabulary related with context well.
- Increase collaboration through the final discussion.
- Declaim the issues in(side or outside) the classroom
with fluency.
- Enhance their reading competence.
Procedure:

1. Introduction (7-10 minutes):

Write the objectives on the white board, read them to the students
aloud. Activate the students’ background knowledge by asking students the
questions in the handout of “Rain Forest” and giving them the basic idea from
the supplement “Regions of the world: The Wet Tropical Regions”.
Ask them vocabulary that they do not understand in the context. Explain
them the vocabulary clearly.
2. Presentation (17-20 minutes):

Ask students read the passage of “Rain Forests” silently first. After about
five minutes, ask one student read the context aloud, and inquire them if they
have other words that they do not know beside Vocabulary to watch for.
Hui-An Yu Cindy Dr. Katherine McCarthy
EFL 525
1/16/06

Show them the picture of Destruction of World Rain Forest. Ask about
their opinion about the passage and other measures to protect the rain forests,
not just paying countries the money because it is not the only solution.
3. Practice (20-25 minutes):

Pair off the students who sit next to. Model my own answer of the Q. 1 to
students, and then request them respond the following questions of Part I
Understanding the Details and discuss about which selection is main idea of
Part II The Big Picture: Reading for the Main Idea. Afterward, clarify the
answer with them.
Divide the class into four or five groups as four people for discussion. At
this period, they discuss the questions with their partners as many details as
possible. After ten minutes, have students express their opinion.
4. Assessment (2 minutes):

Circulate and observe their interaction and comprehension. Correct

their pronunciati0n and grammar if necessary.
5. Follow up Activity (3-5 minutes):

Have students reread the article that learned to their friends or relatives
aloud for homework.
Give them supplement “The Solution: Profits without Plunder” to find
that which paragraph is the main idea and circle or underline the vocabulary
at home.
Prepare to discuss the passage associated with the measures that
students expressed during class for the next class.
Hui-An Yu Cindy Dr. Katherine McCarthy
EFL 525
1/16/06

Homework- The Solution: Profits without Plunder

The problem and the solution of the destruction of the rainforest are
both economic. Governments need money to service their debts, squatters and
settlers need money to feed their families, and companies need to make
profits. The simple fact is that the rainforest is being destroyed for the income
and profits it yields, however fleeting. Money still makes the world go around .
. . even in South America and even in the rainforest. But this also means that if
landowners, governments, and those living in the rainforest today were given
a viable economic reason not to destroy the rainforest, it could and would be
saved. And this viable economic alternative does exist, and it is working today.
Many organizations have demonstrated that if the medicinal plants, fruits,
nuts, oils, and other resources like rubber, chocolate, and chicle (used to make
chewing gums) are harvested sustainably, rainforest land has much more
economic value today and more long-term income and profits for the future
than if just timber is harvested or burned down for cattle or farming
operations. In fact, the latest statistics prove that rainforest land converted to
cattle operations yields the landowner $60 per acre; if timber is harvested, the
land is worth $400 per acre. However, if medicinal plants, fruits, nuts, rubber,
chocolate, and other renewable and sustainable resources are harvested, the
land will yield the landowner $2,400 per acre. This value provides an income
not only today, but year after year - for generations. These sustainable
resources - not the trees - are the true wealth of the rainforest.
This is no longer a theory. It is a fact, and it is being implemented today.
Just as important, to wild-harvest the wealth of sustainable rainforest
resources effectively, local people and indigenous tribes must be employed.
Today entire communities and tribes earn five to ten times more money in
wild-harvesting medicinal plants, fruits, nuts, and oils than they can earn by
chopping down the forest for subsistence crops. This much-needed income
source creates the awareness and economic incentive for this population in
the rainforest to protect and preserve the forests for long-term profits for
themselves and their children and is an important solution in saving the
rainforest from destruction.
When the timber is harvested for short-term gain and profits, the
medicinal plants, nuts, oils, and other important sustainable resources that
thrive in this delicate ecosystem are destroyed. The real solution to saving the
rainforest is to make its inhabitants see the forest and the trees by creating a
consumer demand and consumer markets for these sustainable rainforest
Hui-An Yu Cindy Dr. Katherine McCarthy
EFL 525
1/16/06

products . . . markets that are larger and louder than today's tropical timber
market . . . markets that will put as much money in their pockets and
government coffers as the timber companies do . . . markets that will give
them the economic incentive to protect their sustainable resources for long-
term profits, rather than short-term gain.
This is the only solution that makes a real impact, and it can make a real
difference. Each and every person in the United States can take a part in this
solution by helping to create this consumer market and demand for
sustainable rainforest products. By purchasing renewable and sustainable
rainforest products and resources and demanding sustainable harvesting of
these resources using local communities and indigenous tribes of the
rainforests, we all can be part of the solution, and the rainforests of the world
and their people can be saved.

Resource

Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles. (pp. 317-318) New York:

Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

Hui-An Yu Cindy Dr. Katherine McCarthy
EFL 525
1/16/06

Gallagher, J. (2001), Exploration of the New World. (pp. 34) OH: Chelsea

House Publications

Smith, L. C. & Mare, N. N. (1996). Topics for Today: A low Advanced

Reading Skills Text. (pp. 129) Heinle & Heinle Publishers

Taylor, L. (1996) the Solution: Profits without Plunder, Rainforest Facts.

Retrieved Jan. 15, 2006 from Raintree Nutrition, Inc.: http://www.rain-

tree.com/facts.htm