Lesson Plan 2 (Reading/Writing)

Theme: Work and Finding the Ideal Job

Instructor: Christine DeLuca

Description of Learners
Grade Level: postsecondary, pre-college adults
Ages: 18-20 years old
Proficiency Levels: high beginner low intermediate
Number of Students: 4
Materials
Board and markers/chalk
Textbook: NorthStar Reading and Writing 2 with MyEnglishLab (Pearson Education); Unit 1
Logic Grid Puzzle (worksheets and/or projected on screen)
Audio Recordings of Reading One and Reading Two
Paragraph Structure PowerPoint (slides on topic and controlling idea)
Sentences from Practice! Identifying the Topic and Controlling Idea slide on slips of paper
Topic Sentence Cards + Bags
True/Not True Hold-Up Cards
Topic Sentence Practice worksheet

Language Standards
The Global Scale of English: 4350 and 51-58
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR): Level B1 and Level B1+
The Commission of English Language Acquisition Standards for English Language Programs and Institutions: Curriculum
Standard 1-3
Lesson Objectives

(Content) Students will identify topic sentences and main ideas in a reading.
(Language) Students will practice writing topic sentences.

Instruction
Warmer/ Logic Grid Puzzle:
On the topic of jobs and careers, use the following logic grid puzzle to
engage students thinking:
There are 3 people: Mr. Bob, Mr. Jim, and Mr. Smith. Each one of them
has a different job. The jobs are a firefighter, a police officer, and a
nurse. Each one of them has one day off: Monday, Thursday, or
Sunday. Using the clues below, find out who does what job, and what
day they have off.
1. Mr. Jim wishes he was a nurse because it pays more money than his
current job.
2. Mr. Smith has a weekend day off.
3. The person who has Thursday off, is not a firefighter.
4. Mr. Bob is a firefighter.
Answer
Mr. Jim is a police officer, and he has Thursday off.
Mr. Bob is a firefighter, and he has Monday off.
Theory
Basic Interpersonal Conversation Skills (BICS)
Provides students to participate in conversational
fluency.
Socio-linguistic Communicative Competency
(Hymes) Allows students to participate in social
rules of a classroom and observe non-verbal
behaviors of other students during conversation
and brainstorming.
Strategic Communicative Competency (Hymes)
Helps students negotiate communication
breakdowns, silence breaks and pauses, and
remove themselves from conversation during
discussion.
Constructivist Theory (Vygotsky) Provides
students with the opportunity to develop language
Mr. Smith is a Nurse, and he has Sunday off. [10 minutes]
(Pg 6-7) Reading One: Finding the Ideal Job
Have students read aloud the title of the book review and preview the
reading.
-Who is this book for?
-Who wrote it? Point out the name of the book reviewer, then have a
student read aloud the first four lines of the review (paragraph 1).
Remind students that while reading they should expect to see new
words, but they should guess the meanings and keep reading. [5
minutes]
Have students read the book review. (For lower-level students, play
the recording of the reading and have students listen as they read.) [10
minutes]
Main Ideas
(pg 7) Have students mark their answers true or false in the Exercise 2
and discuss their choices with a partner. Students should be willing to
debate and discuss any disagreements. Go over the answers as a class.
Have students back up their answers, explaining where in the text they
found the relevant information. [10 minutes]
(Pg 10-11) Reading Two: The Ideal Job
-Do you know anyone who loves his/her job?
-What kind of job is it?
-What does that person love about it?
Elicit answers. Then introduce the reading by telling students that
Reading Two is an interview with three people (Ryan, Amanda, Don)
who love their jobs. The purpose of this reading is to look at ideal jobs
from a personal perspective. [5 minutes]
Have students read the passage individually. Move around the room
and explain any unfamiliar vocabulary. (For lower-level students, play
the recording of the reading and have students listen as they read.) [10 If students listen to the audio recording, this task
minutes]
Comprehension
through social interaction in a supportive
environment.
Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) Learners
can draw upon L1 skills such as previewing to
expand on L2 learning.
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)
Reading book reviews at level provides students
with the skills to support academic language
proficiency.
Linguistic Communicative Competency (Hymes)
Provides students with the opportunity to read
through grammar rules, vocabulary, structure, and
syntax.
Discourse Communicative Competency (Hymes)
If students listen to the audio recording, this task
helps students acknowledge spoken content and
rhetoric.
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)
Reading book reviews at level provides students
with the skills to support academic language
proficiency.
Basic Interpersonal Conversation Skills (BICS)
Exposure to conversational discussion prepares
students to reach proficiency.
Variable Competence Model (Ellis) Debate and
discussion allows students the opportunity to
negotiate meaning by experiencing language
between the student, peers, and advanced
speakers.
Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) Learners
can draw upon L1 skills such as previewing and
identifying visuals to expand on L2 learning.
Linguistic Communicative Competency (Hymes)
Provides students with the opportunity to read
through grammar rules, vocabulary, structure, and
syntax.
Discourse Communicative Competency (Hymes)
helps students acknowledge spoken content and
rhetoric.
(Pg 12) As soon as students are finished with the reading, ask them to
complete the sentences that follow the text. Review answers with the
class. [5 minutes]
Write: A Paragraph and Its Topic Sentence
(Pg 21) Go over the introduction with the class. Then have students
read the paragraph in Exercise 1, underline its topic sentence, and
circle the ideal job. Discuss why this topic sentence is a good one for
this paragraph. [5 minutes]
Read the instructions for Exercise 2 with the class. Make sure students
understand that they are to choose the best topic sentence for each
paragraph. Have students complete the exercise individually and then
share and discuss their choices with the class. [5 minutes]
PowerPoint
Use the Paragraph Structure PowerPoint (slides 4-8) to further
develop students knowledge on topic sentences and controlling ideas.
[10 minutes]
Syntax Surgery
Use the slide titled Practice! Identifying the Topic and Controlling
Idea and have students look at the sentences shown by playing with
the relationship of the topic and the controlling idea. Prepare the
sentences on individual slips of paper and have pairs of students
perform surgery by rearranging the sentence. [15 minutes]
Topic Sentence Bags
Attach a topic sentence card to each bag. Students must read the
supporting details and create a topic sentence that they think will
match the details. Allow three minutes for each bag, and have
students rotate to another bag. At the end, there should be several
different topic sentences in each bag to discuss. Students should work
independently. (For lower-level students, allow five minutes per bag
and have students work in pairs.) [15 minutes]
True/Not True Hold-Ups (altered)
Using the topic sentences from each bag, ask students to use true/not
true hold-up cards to answer the question, Is this a good topic
sentence? Students should work in pairs and discuss their answers
with their partners before holding up cards. If a pair answers true
with modifications, students must be prepared to modify the topic
sentence or provide reasoning as to why it needs to be modified. [10
minutes]
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)
Provides support by using academic language so
students can build on academic proficiency.
Behaviorist Perspective (Skinner) Students are
provided an environment and tasks that assist with
learning through imitation and reinforcement.
Basic Interpersonal Conversation Skills (BICS)
Helps students practice conversational fluency
during discussion.
Basic Interpersonal Conversation Skills (BICS)
Again, this task helps students practice
conversational fluency during discussion.
Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP)
Students L1 knowledge help assist in paragraph
construction and topic sentence choice.
Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) Again,
students L1 knowledge help assist in paragraph
construction and topic sentence choice.
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)
This brief PowerPoint lesson builds students
academic language in topic sentence construction
and developing controlling ideas.
Output Hypothesis (Swain) Writing construction
allows students to reflect on language and interact
with peers.
Constructivist Theory (Piaget) Provides students
the opportunity for logical inferencing while
participating in surgery.
Constructivist Theory (Vygotsky) Provides
students with the opportunity to develop language
through social interaction in a supportive
environment.
Cognitive Language Proficiency (CALP) Helps
student practice and compose academic language
and sentence construction.
Basic Interpersonal Conversation Skills (BICS)
Provides students the opportunity to converse.
Variable Competence Model (Ellis) Discussion
allows students the opportunity to negotiate
meaning between speakers of higher levels.
 Extension Activities and Independent Practice
(Homework) Have students practice choosing the best topic sentence with the Topic Sentence Practice worksheet.

(Homework) Make the PowerPoint available to students and have them practice identifying topic and controlling ideas and
topic sentences. Students should take notes and prepare to discuss answers in class.
Evaluation and Assessment
Informal observation during pair work and group work

Assign homework on MyEnglishLab, the online component to the textbook. Students can submit their work online and
teacher can view assignment report, leave comments, and grade work.

Model Performance Indicators

Level 2 Level 3
Beginning Developing
Listening Match or classify oral descriptions to real- Evaluate information in academic
life experiences or examples conversations
Sort oral language statements according
to time frames

Speaking Describe persons, jobs, and days of the Suggest ways to resolve issues or pose
week solutions when disagreeing with a peer
Ask WH- questions to clarify meaning in
conversation and academic discussion

Reading Locate main ideas in a series of related Identify topic sentences or main ideas in
sentences and questions paragraphs
Answer questions about main ideas in texts

Writing Formulate topic sentences from models Complete topic sentences from templates

Artifacts