Sample TBTL Grammar Lessons

TBTL Grammar Lessons – Sample 1

TOPIC: Storytelling LEVEL: High beginners Time: 120 minutes
(A2)
Target language The Past Simple Tense (regular and irregular verbs)
(grammar and weep, sob, familiar, puzzled, corpse, funeral, assassinate.
vocabulary):

Skill in focus: Speaking

Secondary skill focus: Reading and writing

Lesson objective: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to narrate a short story about
unusual events that happened in the past.

Preliminary considerations:

What vocabulary/grammar/information/skills do your students already know in relation to today’s lesson?

Ss will already have studied and be familiar with the Past Simple Tense; however, they frequently make mistakes
when they have to use irregular verbs

• Students are already familiar with the Past Simple Tense; however, they frequently make mistakes when
they have to use irregular verbs.
• Ss will have recently reviewed irregular verb forms.

What aspects of the lesson do you anticipate your How will you avoid and/or address each of
students might find challenging/difficult? these problem areas?
Planning stage – reconstructing the story on the basis of I will closely monitor groups, help them come up
isolated sentences with ideas by asking probing questions or offering
suggestions.

Practice stage – I am not sure how much guided I prepared alternative activities. If students are good,
practice the students may need. I will skip the gap-filling activity.

© 2017 by World Learning. Sample TBTL Grammar Lessons for the AE –Teacher Program, sponsored by the U.S.
Department of State and administered by FHI 360. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 License, except where noted. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/



Time Stage Procedure /Steps Interaction

5 Introduction Teacher asks students if they like stories, what kind of stories they like, T-Ss
to topic & when they read /listened to a story last time, what kind of story it was,
task etc.
Teacher tells students that they are going to work with a story today, but
that he has forgotten the text of story at home, that he can’t remember
the whole story, but only parts of it. She asks students to help her re-write
the story so they can work on it.
10

Teacher writes the following words on the board: weep, sob, familiar, T-Ss
puzzled, corpse, funeral, assassinate.

Teacher checks if students know the words and explains them if S-S
necessary.
Teacher asks students to guess what happened in the story. T-Ss
Teacher listens to students’ ideas and writes them on the board.

15 Task Teacher checks her bag and tells the students: “I have found some parts of S-S
the story”.
Teacher gives them Worksheet 1 with isolated sentences. Students work
in groups of four and try to complete the missing parts of the story.

20 Planning Students prepare their stories. Teacher walks around the classroom to S-S
check students' language and communication.

15 Report After they are done, one representative from each group reads the story. S- Ss
The class discusses whose story is the most likely.

15 Analysis Teacher looks into her bag again and says she has found the story. T-Ss
Teacher reads the story out and asks students how the original story is
similar to and different from their versions.

Teacher asks students to underline the all the verbs in the Past Simple S-S
Tense in their stories.

Teacher checks answers, corrects students if necessary, and asks students
T-Ss
to put the verbs into two categories, regular and irregular verbs. Teacher
S-S
can ask how they know if a verb is regular or not. If necessary, more
explanations can be given.

10 Practice a) Gap-filling (only if the group is weak) S-S
Teacher hands out the story with gaps (Worksheet 2) instead of the
verbs. Students fill out the verbs in the correct form with their
partners. Teacher gives feedback.

b) I went out today
Teacher writes up the first ten letter of the alphabet on the board. She T-Ss
10 elicits or tells students past verb forms (regular or irregular) for each
letter and writes them up on the board. She starts the game by saying
“I went out today and I …” Students should then complete the S-S
sentences with the ‘A’ verb and an appropriate ending (ate an apple

NB: verb and noun both begin with A). The second player can continue
by repeating the first sentences and adding a second sentence with a
new verb and noun, both starting with B (I ate and apple and bought a
book). As the game continues through the alphabet students have to
remember and repeat more and more.
S-S
c) (if the group is good) 4-3-2
Students work in pairs. Student A retells the story she/he created at
the beginning of the lesson using the key words they teacher gave the
group to Learner B and has a time limit of four minutes to do this. B
just listens and does not interrupt or question. When the four minutes
are up, the teacher says, "Change partners". Student A then moves to
a new Student B. The teacher says "Begin" and Student A gives exactly
the same talk to the new partner but this time has only three minutes.
When the three minutes are up, the teacher says "Stop. Change
partners." With a new partner, Student A now has two minutes to
talk. During the three deliveries of the same story, the B students do
not talk and each listens to three different people. When the A
students have given their talk three times, the B learners can now go
through the same sequence, this time as speakers.

15 Evaluation Teacher dictates a list of verbs from the text (see, ask, dream, hear, walk, T-Ss
min and answer, wake up, weep). Teacher asks students to work in pairs to make a
reflection story using all the verbs in the order they were dictated. She encourages
them to be creative. They can make a story about anything they wish but S-S
they must use the given verbs in exactly the order the teacher dictated.

Students compare the stories in groups of 4.
S
5 Teacher asks students to write what they learned in this lesson.
min


WORKSHEET 1
1. I dreamed that I heard sobs as if a number of people were quietly weeping.
2. The sobbing followed me as I went along.
3. Every object I saw was familiar to me, but I couldn’t see the people who were weeping.
4. There was a crowd of people looking sadly at the corpse.
5. “Who is dead in the White House?” I asked one of the soldiers.

WORKSHEET 2
Here’s an account of a very famous dream. It is the strange dream that Abraham Lincoln had.

“Ten days ago, I ______ that I ______ sobs as if a number of people were quietly weeping. I ______ from
one room to another, but _____ no-one, However, the sobbing _______me as I ______ along. Every
object I ______was familiar to me, but I _______t see the people who were weeping. I was _____and
______. When I ______the East Room, I _____ a corpse in funeral vestments. There were soldiers
around it acting as guards, and there was a crowd of people looking sadly at the corpse. “Who is dead in

the White House?” I ____one of the soldiers. “The President”, he ____. “He was killed by an assassin.”
Then I ____ up.

A little after ten o’clock in the evening, on Friday, April 14, 1865 – the night he ______ his friends about
this dream – Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

ORIGINAL STORY

Here’s an account of a very famous dream. It is the strange dream that Abraham Lincoln had.

“Ten days ago, I dreamed that I heard sobs as if a number of people were quietly weeping. I went from
one room to another, but saw no-one, However, the sobbing followed me as I went along. Every object I
saw was familiar to me, but I couldn’t see the people who were weeping. I was puzzled and worried.
When I entered the East Room, I saw a corpse in funeral vestments. There were soldiers around it acting
as guards, and there was a crowd of people looking sadly at the corpse. “Who is dead in the White
House?” I asked one of the soldiers. “The President”, he answered. “He was killed by an assassin.” Then I
woke up.

A little after ten o’clock in the evening, on Friday, April 14, 1865 – the night he told his friends about this
dream – Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

(From: Crosstalk 1 by Megan Webster & Libby Castanon, OUP, 1980)

TBTL Grammar Lessons – Sample 2

TOPIC: Good language LEVEL: Intermediate Time:

learners (B1-B2)

Target language Intentions: I am going to, I (think) I will, I would like to, I am planning to, I have
(grammar and decided …
vocabulary):
Suggestions: We should, we could, we might want to …

Skill in focus: Speaking

Secondary skill focus: Listening

Lesson objective: By the end of the lesson, the students will prepare a brochure for their peers on
good language learning strategies.


Preliminary considerations:

What vocabulary/grammar/information/skills do your students already know in relation to today’s

lesson?

• Ss will already have studied and be familiar with …

• Ss will have recently reviewed …

What aspects of the lesson do you anticipate How will you avoid and/or address each of
your students might find challenging/difficult? these problem areas?

HANDOUT
Time Stage Procedure /Stage Interaction

5 Teacher tells a story about her good friend who can speak five languages. T-S
Introduction She invites students to speculate what helped him learn so many
to topic & languages. She tells them they are going to study characteristics of a good S-T
task language learner.

15 Task Teacher distributes the handout “Good Language Learners” and asks S-S
students to read the text. Students study the handout and then in pairs
they select three most important characteristics and explain why they
consider them important. The entire group is invited to comment what
they can do develop these qualities.

20 Planning Students work in groups and have to work out some ways of helping S-S
themselves and each other to develop these good qualities. Groups put
their ideas on a poster.

10 Report All posters are displayed on a wall. Students are invited to read the S-S
groups’ contributions and notice similarities and differences. They are
invited to ‘steal’ up to three ideas mentioned by other groups.

10 Analysis Language focus: expressing intentions and suggestions. T-S

Students are asked to look at the posters identify expressions and

S-T
structures used to express intentions and suggestions.

Teacher introduces the target language and explains the meaning and use
of these structures:
T-S
Intentions: I am going to, I (think) I will, I would like to, I am planning to, I
have decided …
Suggestions: We should, we could, we might want to …

15 Practice Students work in their original groups and redo their posters. They have to S-S
include good ideas mentioned by other groups and use the target
language outlined in the analysis stage. They also add visuals. The teacher
monitors the work and gives feedback.

10 Evaluation Students prepare an ‘elevator speech’ on how to become a good language S-S
and learner for those who are starting to learn a foreign language.
reflection S
Exit ticket – on a sticky note, students write one idea or concept they
learned and one question they still have. They put the sticky motes on the

board.

HOMEWORK: the groups work together (online or face-to-face) to prepare

a brochure on good language learning strategies for themselves and their
peers using the posters they prepared during the lesson

Good Language Learners …

• Can work well with others in the class/group/team

• Will not feel pressure or anxious about learning a foreign language
• Never feel shy or inhibited about using L2
• Look for every available opportunity to use the target language in and out of class
• Make a point of listening to, understanding and responding to spoken
English without worrying too much about grammar or unknown vocabulary
• Are keen on using study techniques such as word trees/networks, mind maps, etc. which are
likely to involve attention to form
• Will usually be adolescents or adults rather than children
• Are analytical enough to notice, categorize and store features of language and its regularities
• Are usually aware of their own and others’ mistakes
• Are motivated towards foreign language learning
• Are motivated through tasks which are involving and challenging
• Are prepared to experiment by taking risks
• Are not afraid of appearing foolish
• Have a high degree of tolerance for ambiguity, unknown words, etc.
• Can easily adapt to new/different learning conditions and environments
• Are usually very good listeners and can acquire through listening

[ A Summary of typical features from a variety of sources/studies; mentioned in Stern, H.H. (1983)
Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching, Oxford University Press.]