Cattle farmers want land to feed their cows which supply cheap beef to North America, China and Russia. It is estimated that for each pound of beef produced, 200 square feet of rainforest is destroyed. Without nourishment from the forest, the soil becomes very poor and dry. The grass often dies after only a few years and the land becomes a crust desert. The cattle farmers then have to move on and destroy more rainforest to create new cattle pastures-a vicious cycle.
Agriculture causes forests to be cut down to make way for plantations where food such as bananas, oil, palm, pineapple, sugar cane, tea and coffee are grown. After a few years the soil becomes very poor and so the farmers destroy more rainforest to make way for more plantations.
Logging is believed to be the second biggest cause of deforestation. Timber companies cut down huge trees and sell them to other countries to make furniture. Smaller trees are often used in the production of charcoal. Vast areas of rainforest are cut down in one go.
Mining is another serious cause of rainforest destruction. The demand for minerals and metals such as diamonds, oil, aluminum, copper and gold are often found in the ground below rainforests. The rainforests have to be removed in order to mine and extract them. Poisonous chemicals are sometimes used to separate the waste from the minerals which often find their way into rivers, polluting water supplies and killing fish and even the birds and other animals that feed on them.
Oil companies destroy rainforests in search of new oil deposits. This is incredibly damaging as large roads are built through often untouched forests in order to build pipelines and extract the oil. This encourages settlers to move into these pristine forests and start farming. The pipelines often rupture leaking gallons of oil into the forest, killing wildlife and contaminating water supplies of local villages.
The Palm oil industry is at present threatening the rainforests of north Esmeraldas.
(This is an extract taken of ETC. magazine)
BRAIN STORMING.- With this activity the students give ideas about the theme.
Teacher asks the students to make a brain storming about the picture and they predict what the topic is.
PRESENTATION.- the aim of this step is to introduce the class to the new theme and its accompanying language components.
Mimes.- the objective of this activity is the students predict the meaning of the new words.
The teacher tries to clarify the theme, he or she makes mimes.
The students predict the meaning,
The teacher writes the new words on the board and she pronounces them. E.g. Anxious, huge, banana.
The students repeat the words over and over.
The teacher checks the comprehension.
Pictures Procedures: Semantic Pictures.- With this strategy the students may clarify the meaning of new words through questions.
The teacher shows pictures and says the names of each one. E.g. beef, timber, diamond, pipelines
The teacher clarifies the meanings and asks to the students pronounce the words.
The teacher checks the activity.
Realia and cognitive islands.- The objective is to convey meaning or in combination with something else and about cognitive islands students organize and relate the words into areas of meaning that they share.
The teacher brings realia ("the real things") into the class: E.g. charcoal, copper, gold, aluminium and ask the students to predict and gather the words in islands. E.g.
The students predict and gather the words in islands.
CONTROLLED PRACTICE.- In this step the teacher introduces contextualized language to the students including the new language items which the situation requires.
The teacher asks the students to read the text silently and if they don"t understand any word make questions.
Some of the students may ask many questions if they don"t know the meaning of the words.
What does nourishment mean? It"s food to make the soil healthy,
What does cattle pasture mean? Grass or similar plants suitable for large farm animal
What does pristine mean? Virgin forest
What do settlers mean? A person who arrives from another place in
order to live on it and farm it.
What does logging mean? Cut down a tree or trees.
After finishing the reading, the students have to complete the sentences according to the text using the vocabulary provided.
Charcoal rainforest huge |
The ____________ in Ecuador are being sold to the companies.
Timber companies cut down ________ trees and sell them to other countries.
Smaller trees are often used in the production of ________.
The students read the text above and use new linguistic components (new vocabulary) through filling activities.
The teacher monitors, checks and evaluates the activity.
CREATIVE PRACTICE.- The students incorporate the recently learned language elements into their existing repertoire in order to produce appropriate activities to the needs of the theme.
The teacher asks to students write a short paragraph about the reading giving suggestions or advices to protect the environment.
The students write a short paragraph about the reading and give the suggestions or advices to protect the environment.
The teacher evaluates and verifies the exercise.
CONSOLIDATION.- Is the final step in which the teacher points out to the learners what has been accomplished successfully and what remains to be perfected.
The teacher feedbacks the new words for the students remember that they have learned.
The students remember and practice the new vocabulary that they have learned.
The teacher assigns tasks about the topic.
Activities that should be consider in a lesson plan focus on pronunciation
We might help our students to hear and produce these sounds correctly applying new strategies such as mimicry, tongue twister, rapping, role-play, limericks, bingo, songs, games, etc.
In the mimicry activity the teacher explains through gestures the phonemes, examples: /n/ /m/, or /?/ /?/ or words, ex. Rich/reach, eat/it, and the students imitate and repeat them.
The tongue twister activity helps the students to practice the sounds in a funny way.
The teacher says the tongue twister at normal speed, and then asks the students to repeat, chunk by chunk. The idea of the activity is that they say it very fast, without reading it. For example:
"I saw Esau sitting on a seesaw. I saw Esau; he saw me".
Another activity suggested to help students improve their pronunciation is rapping. Rapping is a combination of words and rhythm. The teacher can use a drum or hand tapping to emphasize the beat. Rapping is an effective and entertaining activity. They are also having fun. Example:
Come enough love
Paul fall in love
Walk and talk with Paul
Come enough love
Paul fall in love
Walk and talk with Paul
Please come on, come on………That"s all.
Guessing the correct symbol is a very helpful and funny strategy to feedback the phonetic symbols.
Teacher asks the students to stand in three columns (depending on the number of students) in front of the board and then the teacher shows the last student a card in which there is a phonetic symbol on it, then the student has to draw the symbol on his o her classmate"s back who is in front of him and so on.
The student who is in front of the board has to draw that symbol on it and write one word with that symbol. The winners are the ones who write the symbols and words correctly.
In addition, it is considered that all of these activities and many others are useful, attractive and motivational for students to learn sounds, pronunciation and to develop the speaking skill.
Conclusions
In conclusion:
The lesson plan helps in a good preparation of a class and follows a sequence of the topics included in the syllabus.
It is very important that teachers consider the following questions to plan, what they are going to learn or be taught, how they are going to do it and what with. That is to say that, at the end of the lesson, the aim might be accomplished.
To reinforce or consolidate the use of language helps to learners to understand and to practice it.
Another important points that teachers should take in count to organize the planning lesson are the following: description of the class, aims, timing, anticipated problems, teaching aids, procedures.
The format of the lesson plan should depend on the syllabus of each educational institution, because each one area knows the problems, the reality of the institution. the aspects that should be considered to plan a lesson.
Bibliography
Terroux, Georges/ White, Joan. Teaching English in a World at Peace MODULE 1 TEACHING ENGLISH IN ENGLISH. Mc Gill University, Canada,
1991.
Oxenden, Clive/ Latham-Koenig, Christina. American English File book 1, Oxford University Press, 1996.
Harmer, Jeremy. How to teach English. England, tenth impression 2003.
Spratt, Mary/ Pulverness, Alan/ Williams, Melanie, The TKT Teaching
Knowledge Test Course, University of Cambridge, 6th printing 2008.
Quevedo Arnaiz, Ned. English Lexicology Course delivered by Professor,
Universidad Estatal del Sur de Manabí, 2010.
ETC. The Quarterly Magazine for Teachers of English in Ecuador, 2002.
Padilla, Yda. English Phonetical Module delivered by Professor, Universidad
Estatal del Sur de Manabí, 2010.
Autor:
Mónica Solís Cevallos
Milenka Trámpuz Toala
UNIVERSIDAD ESTATAL DEL SUR DE MANABÍ
CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS DE POSGRADOS
MAESTRÍA EN ENSEÑANZA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS
Portoviejo – Manabí – Ecuador
2010
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