Advice on Approaching Assignment A
In this assignment, you are given three different reading texts at different levels, and you must
prepare ONLY the reading lesson activities indicated for each level.
See the assignment templates for class descriptions.
Each complete lesson would be one-hour long and should follow the standard procedure
described in Unit 5, Part 2:
1. Lead into topic
2. Vocabulary pre-teaching
3. First reading
4. Second reading
5. Follow-on activity (speaking)
You do not need to plan full lessons; you are only required to develop the stages of the lesson
specified for each text.
For some tasks, a maximum word limit is stated. Please do not exceed the word limits by more
than 10%.
The tasks you need to do for each text and level are explained in detail below.
Text 1 – “21st Century Dad” – Elementary
For this text, you need to plan two speaking activities for the 15-minute follow-on stage of the
lesson.
The aim of the follow-on stage is to extend and practise productive spoken use of vocabulary
from the text related to family and daily routines.
The students recently learned present simple for routines and frequency adverbs. This is not a
grammar lesson, but the reading and the follow on activity provide practice in recognising and
using that language.
NOTE: While they recognise some past simple forms, the class cannot use them productively.
At this level, learners need support to make communicative speaking activities successful. They
cannot just be given a single instruction and expected to speak freely for 15 minutes.
Re-read the relevant sections of Units 1 on planning and 5 on follow on activities.
There are two sections in this part:
1. Follow-on Activities – Materials
You should include (copy and paste) images/screenshots of any materials you would use for
this stage. This could include pictures, flashcards, worksheets, what you would write on the
board etc.
If you use images, do not use more than 6.
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These do not need to be the actual size you would use in the classroom.
2. Describe and Justify
Fill in the lesson plan template to show the procedure you would use for this part of the lesson.
Complete all the white parts of the template.
Write a paragraph (100-150 words) explaining your choice of follow-on task.
Text 2 – “Fortnite – a pleasure or a problem?” – Lower Intermediate
For this text, you need to plan stage 2 of the lesson – Vocabulary pre-teaching.
You need to show what vocabulary you would pre-teach and how you would present some of
it. You don't need to prepare the practice activity referred to in the lesson outline.
Select vocabulary from the text for pre-teaching.
Show what supporting materials you would use for the vocabulary presentation.
Show the language you would use to present two of your selected items which need concept
checking.
There are three sections in this part:
1. Vocabulary Pre-Teaching Planning Table
Select and analyse 10 items for pre-teaching. Present these in the vocabulary table provided in
the template.
Two examples are given in the table. Please delete these before entering your own items.
There are further notes on selecting vocabulary below.
This table is designed to show us your vocabulary selection, your analysis of the items you have
chosen, and to help you think about how you would teach these items.
It is not intended as a handout for the students.
Vocabulary Selection
Re-read the sections in Unit 5 on selecting vocabulary and using a profiler, starting on this page.
A link to a profiler is provided in that section of the course, but you can use a different profiler
if you prefer.
You do not need to open an account to use the profiler. Just click on the 'profiler' link.
Look at the text and decide which words and phrases are key – essential to an understanding of
the content.
Points to Remember:
Profilers cannot recognise phrases, so you need to look at the text to identify whole phrases
and collocations (such as to remind someone to do something, and happily married) which
would be useful to teach as a single vocabulary item.
If a word has more than one meaning, you only need to teach its meaning in this context.
The students are B1. This means that they are studying lessons at B1 level. You can assume
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they already know all the items below this level, and will already know some at B1. Focus on
items above B1 and phrases. Though you may feel there are one or two key items at B1, it is
essential to check.
Look for items that will help the students to understand the text and items that will be useful
to them in the future. There is not much point in spending ages on teaching an item that is very
specific to the text, but students are unlikely to use in the future (for example, V-bucks).
Useful words you think the students would probably already know (e.g. celebrities) could be
incorporated into the warmer; they do not all need to be included in the pre-teaching stage.
It is sometimes worth checking a different form of a word. For example 'killing' is listed as a B1
word, but 'kill' is A2, so you would not need to pre-teach this word.
'Off list' does not tell us anything about the level of a word. It just means that the word is not
included in the database on this website. You need to use your own judgement on whether the
students would need to be taught any words from the off list category.
We are assessing your ability to make sensible decisions about what vocabulary to pre-teach,
so please do not send a ticket asking us to tell you!
2. Vocabulary Pre-Teaching Materials
In this section, you should insert images/screenshots of any materials (e.g., visual aids,
worksheets, etc.) that you would use in this stage of the lesson.
This can include what you would write on the board.
If you use images, do not use more than 6.
The images do not need to be the actual size you would use in the classroom.
You do not need to devise the practice activity. Show only materials you would use when
presenting (introducing) the vocabulary.
3. Teacher Language for Teaching Two Items
In this part, you should show how you would present two of the vocabulary items you have
selected.
For both items, you must include eliciting, explaining, pronunciation and concept checking.
Eliciting assumes that someone in the class already knows the item, which is usually the case.
Remember that one student being able to produce it does not mean that the rest of class
knows it, so the meaning still needs to be established.
This must be presented in dialogue form so that we can assess your language grading and
teaching techniques.
The two items presented must be more abstract words or phrases, not, for example, concrete
nouns which can be explained simply by showing a picture.
By eliciting we mean that you must show how the teacher could get the students to produce
the word or phrase before the teacher says it, as illustrated in the example in the template and
in Unit 2, Part 2 and Unit 5.
There are also links to videos demonstrating eliciting in the Further Reading section of Unit 2.
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Do not begin by asking “Does any know what X means?” “ The first word is X” or similar.
Text 3 – “The European Honeybee” – Upper Intermediate
For this text, you need to plan appropriate reading tasks – stages 3 and 4 of the standard
procedure (i.e., the first and second reading tasks).
Note that this is a strong class who are studying for academic or professional reasons. They
need to develop strong reading skills and be able to reach a good understanding of the details
of a text.
The questions should be demanding (not just picking an easily found item from the text).
One or two of the questions should be aimed at encouraging your students to think about their
own responses to the text.
There are two sections in this part:
1. First Reading Task
In this section, you should show the task that you would set for the first reading.
This should include 2 or 3 skim and/or scan questions aimed at promoting rapid reading of the
text for gist. Skim questions are more useful.
You should also say how you would set the task (e.g., orally, write it on the board, include it in a
handout, etc.).
2. Second Reading Task
In this section, you should show the task you would set for the second reading.
You should devise 7-10 comprehension questions that require full understanding of the
language and ideas in the text.
Include 1 or 2 questions to encourage readers to think about their own responses to the text.
See Devising second reading tasks and Devising your own comprehension questions in Unit 5.
You should also say how you would set the task (e.g., write it on the board, include it in a
handout, etc.).
Bibliography
Academic referencing is a requirement for level 5 qualifications.
You need to give links to any images used, and provide at least 2 additional references for this
whole assignment.
Please see the 'Referencing' document for details.
Refer to 'How Assignment A will be Assessed' to see the assessment criteria and use the checklist
to ensure you have covered everything required.
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