Valentine's day; Lesson plan

L E S S O N P L A N

TEACHER: Lidija Branilović, prof.

CLASS: 7.A

DATE: 14th February 2011

LESSON TOPIC: VALENTINE'S DAY

AIMS:

LINGUISTIC AIM:

• to revise vocabulary dealing with love and romance

FUNCTIONAL AIM:

• to use the vocabulary in writing cards, messages,

poems,...

EDUCATIONAL AIM:

• to motivate pupils to talk about love with other pupils
• to encourage pupils to take part in speed dating game
• to develop imagination

TEACHING AIDS AND MATERIALS: board, large heart-shaped paper, small Heart-shaped slips of paper, magnets, Valentine's quotes

TEACHING METHODS: individual, frontal, pair-work, collaborative discussion, listening, speaking, reading, writing

CORRELATION:

• Croatian (poetry)
• Music (love songs)
• Art (drawing hearts)

BOARD PLAN:

14th February 2011

Classwork

VALENTINE'S DAY

NOTE: NN has learning dissabilities. He'll be working in a group with other students and if needed help, the teacher will come to him, control and correct if necessary.

INTRODUCTION:

1. Brainstorming

Teacher puts big heart on the board and pupils have to put little hearts with words to do with love. If there are some new words that only few pupls know, explain and translate them to the others. Every pupil has to write at least one word but some can write as many words dealing with love as they can think of.

2. Love quotes

Pupils are in pairs. Teacher gives each pair an envelope with love quote in it. Their task is to translate the quote into Croatian, but to pay attention to be romantic and in the sense of valentine's.

3. Presenting

Pupils come up front, say the quote in English and its translation and wether they agree with it or not. Every pair has to take part in presenting their work.

SEQUENCE:

1. Pre-reading activity

Teacher prepares a story on Valentine's theme and before she reads it to the pupils, asks them questions as an introduction to the reading part: What are the advantages and disadvantages of being alone / having a boyfriend/girlfriend? – pupils fill the chart on board.

2. Reading

Teacher reads the story, pupils listen.

3. Post-reading activity

Questions about the text: Did you understand everything? What's the story about? Who are the main characters? Did you like it? Has anything like this ever happened to you?

4. Discussion

If you want to meet people, how do you go about it? Is it easy or difficult to meet new people? Do you think the Internet is a popular way of meeting new people in your country? Do you know anyone who met his/her wife/husband on-line or over the mobile phone? What do you think about it?

5. Valentine's customs

What is different about Valentine's day cards to cards for other occasions? (- They are usually anonymous.)

Which is more popular in the UK – sending cards by 'snail mail' or sending text messages? (- text messaging – 6 times more texts than cards sent in the UK last year.)

Do you think text messaging is a good way to declare your love?

What are the most common gifts to give on Valentine's day? (- Flowers and chocolates.)

CLOSURE:

1. Teacher asks pupils if they can think of any other way of writing a text message for Valentine's day, for example, by shorting the message?

• You – U
• Love – luv
• For – 4
• Too – 2,...

2. Pupils imagine that they have decided to send a romantic text message to someone they secretly love. Every pupil has to write his/her own shorten love/romantic text message (up to 2 lines)

3. After writing, teacher collects all the messages and they she gives them back to pupils (but now, they'll get someone else's message, and not their own. Their task is to write the message into correct English. E.g. WUBMV = Will you be ma Valentine

4. The best text messages are written on the board.

SPEED DATING GAME

WARM-UP ACTIVITY:

Questions for pupils:

• Have you ever heard of Speed Dating?
• Do you think you can judge somebody's character in 3 minutes?
• Do you think Speed Dating is a good way to meet people?
• Do you agree with the saying 'First impressions count!'?

SEQUENCE:

You are going to play a speed dating game.

• Invent a character for yourslef – imagine that you're somebody else and fill in the details on your card.
• Set up the classroom for a speed dating event (chairs in twos around the room)
• Decide who's going to rotate every 3 minutes (inner or outer chairs)
• Spend three minutes chatting to eych person (in the character of the person on your role card)

CLOSURE

At the end have a chat with the group and decide who do you think which couple should go on a 'second date'.