While student teaching, I wrote a lesson plan for first grade, English language learners to enhance their writing using descriptive, juicy adjectives. The lesson contains a large and small group, along with brief descriptions of the activities as they pertain to each of the stages of language acquisition. It has been successful because it is a fresh, fruity and familiar topic, plus it is very visual and hands-on for the children. Enjoy!
Goal: The goal of this lesson plan is for the children to apply descriptive adjectives in relation to a specific noun (fabulous fruit).
During this lesson, the student will be able to:
• State adjectives about a fruit when asked by the teacher
• Listen to the poem read aloud by the teacher
• State a sentence using the adjective when asked by the teacher
• Read two poems aloud with the teacher
• Write a poem about their favorite fruit using adjectives
Prerequisite Knowledge
• The student should have tried fruit and have a fruit preference.
• The student should be able to construct and read a simple sentence.
• The student should know there are words that can describe a noun.
Description of Activity 1 – Group Activity
The students will be in a large group on the carpet. The teacher will introduce the first fruit, a lemon, to the children. This fruit is chosen because of the universal usage of it in cooking, as well as the pronunciation (limun in Arabic, limon in Spanish, lemoni in Greek) which is similar in various languages. The goal is obtaining descriptions from the students regarding the lemon in this activity. Here is how it can be modified for each of the stages of language development:
Stage 1 - Pre-Production: To support this stage, the teacher would show the students a whole lemon, put up a photo of a lemon, and write the word lemon on the easel. The teacher would also pass around a baggie of sliced lemons, and for the students in this stage, the teacher could have pictures of descriptive words like sour, juicy and yellow.
Stage 2 - Early Production: Here photos could also be used, but responses from the child need to be achieved. Questions would require 1-2 word responses. “Does it taste sour or sweet like candy?" "What color is the fruit? Is it green or yellow?" “What shape is the fruit? Is it round like a ball?”
Stage 3 - Speech Emergence: Here, more complex questions can be asked, for example, the teacher could ask the student to explain how the fruit looks, or to describe the fruit’s appearance.
Stage 4 & 5- Intermediate and Advanced Fluency: Higher level questioning is in order here. Now we can ask about the different fruits the student has experience with at home, and challenge the children with comparison questions like, "What makes this fruit different from a banana (or a fruit the student is familiar with)? How are the fruits similar? How are they different?”
Description of Activity 2 – Small Group Activity
The teacher will take the students in small groups at a table. This time, many fruits will be introduced to the students. The teacher should take into consideration the cultures of the students and use familiar fruits as well as some that are not. The goal is obtaining descriptive words about the various items, and here is how it pertains to the different stages of language acquisition:
Stage 1 - Pre-Production: To support this stage, the teacher would show the students fruit that have obvious differences, i.e., a mango and a pineapple, either bringing the fruit or a photo. The teacher could verbalize the descriptive language to the students, i.e., smooth and bumpy. The teacher could also then ask the students to draw the fruit on an individual dry erase board and point to the bumpy fruit or the smooth fruit.
Stage 2 - Early Production: Here photos and real fruit could also be used, but responses from the child need to be achieved. Questions would require 1-2 word responses. “What is this fruit?" "What color is the fruit? Is it green or yellow?" “What size is the fruit? Is it tall like a tree?”
Stage 3 - Speech Emergence: Again, more complex questions can be asked but with different types of fruit present. For example, the teacher could ask the student to explain how the fruit looks, or to describe the fruit’s appearance.
Stage 4 & 5- Intermediate and Advanced Fluency: Higher level questioning is in order here. The teacher can place the different fruits on the table and instruct the students to listen carefully and see if they can guess the fruit being described. When the child comprehends the fruit the teacher describes and guesses correctly, that student can begin describing so the other students can guess.
Description of Activity 3 – Writing/Drawing activity
The teacher will provide the activity sheet (see below). Now that the students are familiar with descriptive words, the students can individually write the words along with creating sentences using the descriptive words. Here is how it pertains to the different stages of language acquisition:
Stage 1 - Pre-Production: To support this stage, the teacher would sit with these students and verbally ask them the words they would like to use to describe the fruit. The teacher would then demonstrate writing the words and the students would write on the activity sheet (attached at end of lesson plan). The teacher would also demonstrate the sentence “A pineapple is…” by writing it and having the children model her. Visuals should be used at this stage.
Stage 2 - Early Production: Here photos and modeling of words and sentences could also be used, but responses from the child need to be achieved. Questions would require 1-2 word responses. “What is your favorite fruit?" "What color is the fruit? Is it green or yellow?" “What does it taste like?” The teacher would also demonstrate the sentence “A pineapple is…” by writing it and having the children model her. Visuals should be used at this stage.
Stage 3 - Speech Emergence: The students will be more independent here, with the teacher having the students recall the words used from the previous two lessons. Questions like, “How did Jaylen describe this fruit at the carpet?” and “Explain what this fruit tastes like to you.”
Stage 4 & 5- Intermediate and Advanced Fluency: The students should be able to complete the activity sheet independently, but the teacher can expand on their thinking by asking, “What would happen if we cut the pineapple open? How would you describe it differently?”
