The market – STARR Analysis

Situation: during my replacement at HNL, I gave lessons to 2 havo classes. The 2nd chapter of the
book was about food, restaurants and markets. I wanted to find a way to give them the opportunity to
use the vocabulary in a context that was close to the reality.

Task: the task was to set up a market in the class. The students were divided into groups, some were
responsible for the cheese stall, others for the bakery one, etc. All of them had one lesson to prepare
their poster with the products they were selling and the price of each item. During the second lesson,
they put their poster up and created their own little stall with the tables. The aim was for the pupils to
sell/buy food in French and have small dialogues in French. They were allowed to eat the food that
was being sold but were allowed to get something only if they had asked for it in French.

Action: before the lesson, I reviewed the vocabulary with the pupils, explaining again key sentences
and words that they would need for the task.
I then asked them to make groups and decide which stall they would have, it was sometimes
necessary to draw lots as a lot of them wanted to be the baker.
Once the groups were made and that it was decided who was going to sell what, I gave the pupils the
poster sheets and they started working on the design of the poster, incorporating the words they had
learnt and adding their own prices.
Once the posters were ready, the students created their own stall with the tables and their poster,
putting their product into display on the table. They took turns shopping at other stalls using the
sentences and words they had learnt.

Result: the students were highly engaged and they found the activity fun, it motivated them to use the
words and sentences they had been learning. It created a real life situation where they had the
opportunity to put their knowledge to use. Communicative skills were placed at the forefront and
used as a tool to a meaningful end (Brandl, 2008, p.7). I noticed that the students were more engaged
than in normal lessons, indeed, the idea of doing really enhances students’ cognitive engagement
( Doughty & Long, 2003, p. 12). Most of them were really creative when they made their poster and
they were really willing to make the best poster possible. When it came to speaking, they were willing
to speak in order to get their food, as it related to their needs and real life (Brandl, 2008).

Reflection: the activity was successful in the sense that it provided them with an opportunity to put
into practice what they had learnt. Using the words they had learnt also helped remembering them
(Doughty & Long, 2003). In the future, I would make sure I print out some fake money in order to
make it even closer to a real life situation. This will also add an extra interest to the task as the
students will have to make the effort to understand the price that is asked and will have to give the
right amount of money that is asked.

Brandl, K. (2008). Communicative Language Teaching in Action: Putting Principles to work. London:
Pearson.
Doughty, C. J., & Long, M. H. (2003). The handbook of second language acquisition.
Blackwell.