Swine Flu and You Lesson Plan by Gale Lichter
Gale Lichter, OACE, Biography: I have been an English as a Second Language teacher in the Office of Adult and Continuing Education of the New York City Department of Education for over 20 years. For much of that time, I have taught beginning level ESL1 students at Grand St. Settlement, a community center located on the Lower East Side.
Reflection on Lesson: My students are predominantly working-class Chinese immigrants, many of whom are housewives with school-aged children. These students are highly motivated and determined to learn English to help their families. Still, they face a formidable task. The English language is totally unlike their native language; Chinese and English have virtually no cognates.
There are a number of techniques and approaches I use that work especially well with this population which I will share with you in the lesson that follows. The main approach used in these lessons is Total Physical Response or TPR, developed by James Asher in which students learn a new language by carrying out imperative commands without speaking. In the preliminary activities of a Total Physical Response lesson, students observe and listen to the spoken language and demonstrate their understanding by performing physical actions. Only when the students can demonstrate total comprehension through their actions, does spoken language instruction begin. During a TPR lesson, students get up, move about and manipulate objects which make language learning fun. Students do not need to speak to demonstrate comprehension. For Asian students who often struggle with English pronunciation, this is a great relief and greatly lessens their inhibitions.
I wish you success with these lessons and hope that your students will enjoy them as much as mine did.