English Department

Learning Circle(2009 – 2010)

Reflect

Plan

Act

Observe

Reflect

• Target Group: S.3 Level

• Seed Project: To develop effective reading skills

Stage 1 - Reflections (Initial)

• Students lack motivation in reading and using English both inside and outside classroom.

• Learners need to acquire a range of reading skills and strategies.

• Need to analyze information and express feelings clearly and coherently in NSS curriculum.

Stage 2 - Planning1. Insufficient reading materials in textbooks

2. Introduce seed project in the first term

3.Introduce short stories to students as a language art element in the learning of English

4.Familiarize students with the basic aspects of a good story and raise their awareness in telling story in a proper way and in public

5.Practise the skills of using proper intonation, emotion and gestures

6.Practise to be a good listener and storyteller

Stage 3 - Actions1. 3 sets of story books and

worksheets were integrated into the curriculum of different classes.

2. In-class practices of read aloud, interactive conversation dialogues etc.

3. Introduce drama lessons to practise story telling

4. Interactive storytelling performance as the assessment

Story book (1) – Peter Pan

Activity - Prediction

• What are the names of the children?• What is the children’s nanny?• Who want to go to a dinner party?• Who pat the children to bed?

Activity – Writing Task

Hi! I’m Wendy. I live in London

Hi! I’m Peter. I am from _______.

Hi! I’m _________. I live in _______.

Activity - Writing Task• Here are some words from the

story. Can you write a story in 30 words by using them?

Story Book (2) – Babe

Hi, I’m Babe. Welcome to my world! Just by reading the pictures of the cover and the title of the book, you can know something about me.

Activity - Prediction

Babe was a little pig with no mother. He came to live on Farmer Hogget’s farm. The farmer’s sheepdog, Fly , loved Babe and taught him many sheepdog lessons. Babe was a clever , polite little pig and all the animals on the farm liked him. But Mrs. Hogget wanted to kill Babe. She wanted to make a Christmas dinner for the farmer.

One day Babe helped his boss, Farmer Hogget – and he learnt to talk to the sheep! Farmer Hogget made a plan. He wanted to take Babe to the British Sheepdog Trials!

Can Babe learn everything for the trials? The sheep at the trials won’t know Babe – how can he learn to talk to them? Will they help him? Can Babe be the best sheep-pig in Britain?

Activity

• Farmer Hogget brought (1) a little sheep/ a little pig to the farm. The sheepdog, Fly, the mother of (2) four young dogs/ three young dogs said to her children that all pigs were (3) clever/ stupid and were supposed (4) to be eaten/ to be kept by men as pets.

• The little pig was called (5)Babe/Baby. He was very (6) sad/ delighted when he arrived at the farm. The four young dogs laughed at Babe when he said to the dogs he was(7) a little white pig/ a large white pig. But Fly (8) accepted/ rejected him as the family on the farm. At last, Babe felt Fly was a (9) good/bad mother and Farmer Hogget was a good man. He was happy to live there.

Activity - Understanding

Characters

1.biased ． ． a. having the duty to do something2.dictatorial ． ． b. expecting good things to happen3.responsible ． c .Showing one’s love and care about others4.optimistic ． ． d. having an unfair opinion for or against one group of people5.caring ． ． e. using power in an extreme way.

Adjectives describing people

Structure of a story

Story book (3) - Matilda

The profile of MatildaName:Age:Address:Occupation:Appearance:Personality:Hobbies:Things she hates:Amazing things:

Ambitions:

Matilda Wormwood

5 and a half years old

In a small town/not mentioned exactly

A primary student

Little/small, big eyes, long black Personality: clever, helpful, brave…

Reading, learning

unfairness, cheating, telling lies

Can move things with her eyes

Can multiply two numbers very fast

Read more books

Activity - Elements of a story

Characters:

Plot/story line:

Theme:

Style /language features:

Setting:

Title:

Point of View:

Activity - Similes• Similes are a way to compare two things

using ‘like’ or ‘as’.

•e.g.1 ‘The man swims like a fish.’

because fish swim well.

•e.g.2 ‘The man swims as well as a fish.’

Alien(s)

The alien is as big as a human

It looks like a monster.

Activity - Conditional sentences

If…1a. If you argue with Miss Trunchbull, she will be very angry.

If -clause main -clause

simple present tense simple future tense

1b. Miss Trunchbull will be very angry if you argue with her.

Connectives of reason : because, since and as

Miss Honey went to see Miss Trunchbull becausebecause she found that Matilda should study in an upper group.

1. Why did Miss Honey go to see Miss Trunchbull ?

Reason: She found that Matilda should study in an upper group.

Miss Honey went to see Miss Trunchbull sincesince she found that Matilda should study in an upper group.

Miss Honey went to see Miss Trunchbull asas she found that Matilda should study in an upper group.

Connectives of reason : because, since and as

1. Why did Miss Honey go to see Miss Trunchbull ?Reason: She found that Matilda should study in an upper group.SinceSince Miss Honey found that Matilda should study in an

upper group, she went to see Miss Trunchbull.

AsAs Miss Honey found that Matilda should study in an upper group, she went to see Miss Trunchbull.

Remember to put a comma ( , ) a comma ( , ) after the reason when we use 'since' / 'as' at the beginning of a sentence.

But, we don't use ' because'because' at the beginning of a sentence.

Stage 4 - Observations

• Most of the students showed interest in learning English through reading stories.

• Brighter students could complete the worksheets individually while weaker students are able to do the worksheets through pair work and group discussion.

• Some of the students are too passive to take part in any activity during the lessons.

Stage 5 – Reflections (Critical)

• Worksheets can be further tailor-made to suit the level of different classes.

• More interactive activities can be integrated into the programme in order to motivate the passive students to learn.

The End