Lesson Plan Rationale

Allison Lampard, Nicole Muldrew

...educating involves a passion to know that should engage us in a loving search for
knowledge. (Freire, 1998, p. 4)
Context
This lesson is designed for a twelfth grade class following the Spanish 30-3Y Alberta
Program of Studies. Spring Break is soon approaching and students will be planning an
imaginary trip to their pen-pals home country. Students will learn and employ the conditional
tense in class activities and through a letter to their pen pal, who they have been in contact with
all year, regarding what they would do during their spring break excursion. At this point in the
year, students have just finished learning the future simple tense, which has the same
grammatical structure as the conditional.
Theory and Discipline
The lesson plan encourages students to dialogue amongst themselves, with the instructor,
and with their Spanish speaking pen-pals because Lightbown and Spada (2006) posit that
learners who are given the opportunity to engage in interaction [...] are compelled to negotiate
for meaning, that is to express and clarify their intentions, thoughts [and] opinions in a way that
permits them to arrive at mutual understanding (p. 150). The teacher may make notes of
common mistakes, especially those that interfere with semantic comprehension. Students are
encouraged to negotiate for meaning and make new connections without defaulting to the first
language. For example: What does maleta mean? Maleta? The bag that you put clothes in
Oh, (in English) suitcase!

Activity Choices
Friesen (2009) clearly states in her Effective Teaching Practices Rubric that there are five
essential criterion to incorporate when creating activities for students: that learning is engaging
for students, and is personally relevant, assessment centers around improving student learning,
strong relationships are created in the classroom, and finally the teacher strives to deepen their
own knowledge.
The chosen activity is engaging and practical for students as they have the ability to
research a country with which they have a connection, and events that appeal most to them
(museums, parks, art exhibits, cultural festivities, etc.). By learning the essential elements of
organizing travel while planning a trip, students gain valuable life skills, which can be applied in
the future.
By allowing students the space to make mistakes and to speak in their more comfortable
language (when necessary), a deeper bond is created between teacher and student. Amongst
students there is also a strong sense of teamwork as they are constantly working together in
alternating small groups. Ideally, the students will be so engaged in this practical assignment that
they will work on it in their own time, which, according to Friesen, is a sign that the work that
students are asked to undertake is worthy of their time and attention, is personally relevant, and
deeply connected to the world in which they live (2009, p. 2).
Assessment
The majority of assessment strategies used are formative, allowing students the space to
experiment with their new understanding of the conditional tense without fear of failure or losing
marks. To introduce the conditional in Spanish, the teacher presents the poem Instantes (see
attached) on the smart board so students can hear how the words are pronounced while reading.

She asks the class what the poem is about and then underlines all verbs conjugated in the
conditional form. They discuss what the tense is, what it looks like in English, and come up with
authentic sample sentences. The teacher formatively assesses the students grasp of the
conditional by their responses and alters the mini-lesson on the grammatical structure of the
conditional (Warner Reid & Placido, 2012).
After the Conditional mini-lesson, the teacher brings up the TopHat webpage that
students have used throughout the semester so they can simultaneously answer questions using
their laptops or cell phones. The results are displayed in the form of a poll but the students
identities and record of progress throughout the semester are only available to the teacher
classmates cannot see who has answered incorrectly. Students conjugate ten questions from
TopHat and they discuss as a class how they arrived at each answer. The teacher can continue
formatively assessing whether students are recognizing the patterns in the conjugation and if they
should do another grammar activity to make it clear.
Warner Reid and Placido (2008) recommend dissecting the rubric in advance and
thinking about [students] own personal goals which is why the class co-creates the rubric for
the final project, so that they can have input in their learning experience and so the expectations
are clear (p. 52). Exemplar student work is shown before they begin the research for their final
products so that they have a good idea of what they should be aiming for. Students complete the
pre-flight checklist that Warner Reid and Placido (2012) recommend when they read through
each others pen-pal letters and their presentations before they are due (p. 53).
Differentiation
Leahy, Lyon, Thompson, & Wiliam, (2005) discuss the importance of shifting from a
classroom of quality control to one of quality assurance. Ensuring quality of learning refers to

focusing on the needs of students both when they require extra assistance and through
assessment for learning instead of assessment of learning. Working in groups, presenting
materials through a variety of means and allowing students to produce work via the medium of
their choice ensures quality of learning. Throughout this lesson plan range finding questions,
as posited in Leahy et al. (2005), (does this wording make sense to you? It feels weird to me) are
used to uncover the students prior knowledge of the conditional tense and what they may know
about spring festivities in other countries. Range finding questions also encourage student
collaboration when asked in group discussions and keep students engaged as there are no right
answers, only more questions that arise and spark interest.

References
Alberta Education. (2006). Spanish Language and Culture 10-3Y, 20-3Y, 30-3Y. Retrieved
from: http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/program/interlang/spanish.aspx
Freire, P. (1998). Teachers as cultural workers: Letters to those who dare to teach. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press.
Friesen, S (2009). What did you do in school today? Teaching effectiveness framework and
rubric. Toronto, ON: Canadian Education Association. Retrieved from: http://www.ceaace.ca/publication/what-did-you-do-school-today-teaching-effectiveness-framework-andrubric
Kuczun Nelson, Barbara. (2007). Spanish Language & Culture. Instantes, un poema. Retrieved
from: http://personal.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/instantes/index.html
Leahy, S., Lyon, C., Thompson, M., & Wiliam, D. (2005). Classroom assessment: Minute by
minute and day by day. Assessment to Promote Learning, 63(3), 19-24. Retrieved from:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov05/vol63/num03/
Classroom-Assessment@-Minute-by-Minute,-Day-by-Day.aspx
Lightbown, P. & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Warner Read, S., & Placido, K. (2012). Bringing formative assessment to life in the language
classroom. Language Educator, 7(4), 5053.