Skip to main content

A task-based lesson plan

This is for an intermediate class (Y9-11 in England and Wales) and is closely based on an idea in Bill VanPatten's book While We're on the Topic, which I recently reviewed. It's far from original in concept but is a nice low preparation activity which would take about 25 minutes and which features many repetitions of perfect tense verbs.



Quelles activités avez-vous faites hier? Lisez et cochez les choses que vous avez faites.

1. J’ai lu.
2. J’ai travaillé à l’ordinateur.
3. J’ai fait de l’exercice.
4. J’ai fait du vélo.
5. J’ai marché au moins dix minutes.
6. J’ai voyagé en voiture.
7. J’ai regardé la télé.
8. J’ai joué aux jeux vidéo.
9. J’ai rangé ma chambre.
10. J’ai préparé quelque chose à manger.

B.  Interviewez quelqu’un pour trouver s’il/elle a fait ces activités. Notez les réponses. Voici les questions qu’il vous faut.

1. Tu as lu quelque chose?
2. Tu as travaillé à l’ordinateur?
3. Tu as fait de l’exercice?
4. Tu as fait du vélo?
5. Tu as marché au moins dix minutes?
6. Tu as voyagé en voiture?
7. Tu as regardé la télé?
8. Tu as joué aux jeux vidéo?
9. Tu as rangé ta chambre?
10. Tu as préparé quelque chose à manger?

C. Now rate yourself and your partner on the following scale, based on the information you obtained in Steps A and B.

Très actif                                                             Très sédentaire

5                        4                     3                          2                               1

D.   Ecoutez la prof qui va vous demander vos réponses.

[Ask the students for their rankings and put them on the board. The class calculates the group average. Just how active/sedentary is this group of students? And the teacher? Share your answers, and the class assigns a ranking for you.]

Version B: Sédentaire ou actif?

A. Faites une liste de DIC choses que vous avez faites hier. (par exemple J’au lu, J’ai fait du sport)).

B. Interviewez un partenaire. Demandez s’ils ont fait les choses sur votre liste. Notez les réponses.
Exemple: Tu as fait du sport?

C. Now rate yourself and your partner on the following scale based on the information you obtained in Steps 1 and 2.

D.  

As above


This is an example of task-based learning. Version B is more demanding of pupils since they need to supply more input and output.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What is skill acquisition theory?

For this post, I am drawing on a section from the excellent book by Rod Ellis and Natsuko Shintani called Exploring Language Pedagogy through Second Language Acquisition Research (Routledge, 2014). Skill acquisition is one of several competing theories of how we learn new languages. It’s a theory based on the idea that skilled behaviour in any area can become routinised and even automatic under certain conditions through repeated pairing of stimuli and responses. When put like that, it looks a bit like the behaviourist view of stimulus-response learning which went out of fashion from the late 1950s. Skill acquisition draws on John Anderson’s ACT theory, which he called a cognitivist stimulus-response theory. ACT stands for Adaptive Control of Thought.  ACT theory distinguishes declarative knowledge (knowledge of facts and concepts, such as the fact that adjectives agree) from procedural knowledge (knowing how to do things in certain situations, such as understand and speak a langua...

Zaz - Si jamais j'oublie

My wife and I often listen to Radio Paradise, a listener-supported, ad-free radio station from California. They've been playing this song by Zaz recently. I like it and maybe your students would too. I shouldn't really  reproduce the lyrics here for copyright reasons, but I am going to translate them (with the help of another video). You could copy and paste this translation and set it for classwork (not homework, I suggest, since students could just go and find the lyrics online). The song was released in 2015 and gotr to number 11 in the French charts - only number 11! Here we go: Remind me of the day and the year Remind me of the weather And if I've forgotten, you can shake me And if I want to take myself away Lock me up and throw away the key With pricks of memory Tell me what my name is If I ever forget the nights I spent, the guitars, the cries Remind me who I am, why I am alive If I ever forget, if I ever take to my heels If one day I run away Remind me who I am, wha...

Longman's Audio-Visual French

I'm sitting here with my copies of Cours Illustré de Français Book 1 and Longman's Audio-Visual French Stage A1 . I have previously mentioned the former, published in 1966, with its use of pictures to exemplify grammar and vocabulary. In his preface Mark Gilbert says: "The pictures are not... a mere decoration but provide further foundation for the language work at this early stage." He talks of "fluency" and "flexibility": "In oral work it is advisable to persist with the practice of a particular pattern until the pupils can use it fluently and flexibly. Flexibility means, for example, the ability to switch from one person of the verb to another..." Ah! Now, the Longman offering, written by S. Moore and A.L. Antrobus, published in 1973, just seven years later, has a great deal in common with Gilbert's course. We now have three colours (green, black and white) rather than mere black and white. The layout is arguably more attrac...