LESSON PLAN

Name: Arsenie Oliviu

Date: 08.04.2011
School: Colegiul Tehnic Matasari
Grade: 12th
Level: Intermediate
Text book: Prospects
Lesson: “ Across the USA”
Unit of learning: Unit 12
Estimated time: 45’

The aims of this lesson:

 To give students the chance to share the information they know

about the USA with their mates
 To present vocabulary connected with geographical area and towns
 To make the students able to describe a town/city/village

LESSON AIDS

 Handouts,
 cassette,
 map of the USA,
 charts,
 pictures of the landmarks of some important cities in the USA

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PROCEDURE

ACTIVITY 1 (5’)
WARM UP
The students are shown the map of the United States of America and
they are asked to answer a few general questions about The USA

1. how many states are there in the USA? (50)

2. examples of states (brainstorming)
3. which is the largest state (area) (ALASKA)
4. which is the largest state (population) (CALIFORNIA)
5. what are the biggest cities in California and what are they famous for?
(SAN FRANCISCO – HIPPIE MOVEMENT)
(LOS ANGELES – HOLLYWOOD MOVIE INDUSTRY)

ACTIVITY 2 Vocabulary (5’)

The students are given a hadout, a text with missing information about
the states of the USA. Before filling in the spaces they are given a list of
possible unknown words and expressons from the text which they have to
match with their definitions

1. Amazingly very good, surprising, or impressive:

2. Mayor the official line that separates two countries or regions
3. Manufacturing the name given to Washington DC
4. Headquarters the place where a company, organization, or military
unit has its main offices or its main centre of control
5. Skyscraper to risk money in the hope of winning more if you are
lucky
6. Federal district the most important elected official in a town or city
7. Gambling a very tall building containing offices or flats
8. Border the business of making goods in large quantities,
especially in factories

ACTIVITY 3 (Pair work) (15’)

The students are asked to read the text about the USA, and to try to
fill in eight blank spaces . Then they listen and check their answers.

The United States of America is the world’s fourth largest country in area.
___________,____________and______________are bigger. It’s also the third
largest country in population size. Only ___________and __________ have more
people. There are 50 states in the union, plus one federal district which is not in
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any state. This is_________________, the capital city and seat of the
government. Two of the states are outside the borders of the main nation. These
are _____________ and _____________. Amazingly for such a large country,
the USA only has borders with two other coutries, _____________ and
______________. Interestingly the largest state ______________ has the
smallest population of any of the states. The state with the biggest population,
_______________, is usually associated with computers, sunshine and the movie
industry. The largest city is ______________, an important financial centre and
also the place where the United Nations has its headquarters.

ACTIVITY 4 (group work ) (10’)

Students are devided into groups, and each group is asked to pick up a
name of a town written on a piece of paper.Then the groups are asked
to think of some information about that specific town, than a student
from the group will go in front of the class and stick the town in the
proper place on the map, and will say the information the group gave.

WASHINGTON
NEW YORK
LOS ANGELES
SAN FRANCISCO
LAS VEGAS
CHICAGO

ACTIVITY 4 (group work)

They are given some captions and some pictures and they have to
match them with the cities. One student reads the caption and the
others guess the city and the caption is given to the group that has the
city.

New York is the biggest city in the United States, a huge financial and arts centre
situated on the east coast of the country. The famous Statue of Liberty is in New
York harbour. The United Nations headquarters are situated there.
It is also called The Big Apple

Chicago is in Illinois, west of New York. It is the home of the Chicago Bulls
basketball team, the team that Michael Jordan played for. The city is on the shore
of Lake Michigan and has some impressive lakefront architecture, designed by
Lloyd Wright

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 San Francisco is situated in Northern California. It has some of the most
beautiful bridges in the country, including the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge.
Some famous rock bands were from San Francisco

Las Vegas is in the middle of the desert in Nevada, and is the biggest gambling
centre in the world. Originally Nevada was the only place in the USA where it was
legal to gamble

Los Angeles is in Southern California. It is the second biggest city in the United
States of America after New York. It is famous because of the Hollywood. It is
located on the Pacific Ocean near the U.S. border with Mexico,

Washington The city of Washington has the same boundaries as the District of
Columbia (D.C.), a federal territory established in 1790 as the site of the new
nation’s permanent capital. Named after the first U.S. president,

ACTIVITY 5 LISTENING (10’)

The students are given a list of words and they have to predict the
cities that are conected with the words.

Bridge SAN FRANCISCO, cosmetics LOS ANGELES, criminal gangsCHICAGO,

desert LAS VEGAS, European, film industry LOS ANGELES, French NEW
ORLEANS, gambling LAS VEGAS, get married LAS VEGAS, Hollywood LOS
ANGELES, jazz clubs NEW ORLEANS, lake CHCAGO , natural harbour SAN
FRANCISCO, , windy city CHICAGO

They listen to the cassette to check.

The students listen to the cassette for the second time and they have
to find out where the following things happen or happened
a. a mayor avoided having confrontations with local criminal gangs
b. Canadians went there when they were driven out by the British
c. People go there to get married and it’s a place where you can go gambling
d. Old rock bands lived and worked there

Assessment:
You have the opportunity to visit the USA for two weeks. Which
city/state would you like to visit? Use specific reasons and details to
explain your choice.