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To Believe or Not to Believe--Attitude toward Superstitions

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Abstract
The lesson plan is designed for 10
th
graders to learn about superstitions in
different cultures and form a proper attitude towards them. The lesson plan can be
divided into four partswarm-up activity, vocabulary, reading and structure analysis,
and sentence patterns. First, students have a glimpse of famous western superstitions
from a funny yet informative cartoon. Next, the four-leaf clover match game is carried
out to enhance students understanding of the vocabulary that will be used in further
discussion. The game also serves as a cognitive check and a way to form groups. Then,
the graphic-organization activity helps students get familiar with the text and structure.
Students are guided to compare superstitions in Western and Eastern cultures. Finally,
students learn to do researches on superstitions and use sentence patterns in context.
Each group forms information gaps by providing causal sentence-embedded hints for
other groups to guess the corresponding superstition-related customs. Through
collaborative learning, meaningful communication, multi-intelligence exercises,
reading strategies, and critical thinking, students will learn to actively express
themselves in English, reflect upon superstitions in daily life as well as respect
cultural differences.
Objectives
1. Students will be motivated to understand the origins and practice of
superstitions in Eastern and Western cultures.
2. Students will be able to respect cultural differences with an open attitude.
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3. Students will capture the main idea and structure of the text.
4. Students will utilize reading strategies to facilitate and enhance reading
process as well as comprehension.
5. Students will be familiar with the vocabulary for production.
6. Students will learn the sentence patterns and use them to achieve real
communication.
Grade Level
This lesson plan aims at freshmen in senior high school with low-intermediate to
intermediate proficiency of English. Students BCT (Basic Competence Test) PR
value is around 70 to 90.
Time Required
Four hours in total. Please see Teaching Procedure for detailed time arrangement.
Materials
1. Video clip: Popeye episode 224, I Dont Scare, 1956.
2. Handouts:
(1) Four-leaf clover match game for vocabulary (Appendix 1 & 2)
(2) Text: paragraph 3 and 4 (Appendix 3)
(3) Alternative graphic organizer for text structure (Appendix 4)
(4) More on American superstitions worksheet for patterns in use (Appendix 5)
3. Textbook (SanMin book 2, Unit 6 A Rabbits Foot and a Piece of Wood)
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4. Laptop and projector
Teaching Procedure
Period Activity Teaching procedure Time Material
1 Warm-up 1. Bring out the theme and
keywordsuperstition. Have
students share the superstitions
that they know.
2. Briefly introduce the characters in
the videoI Dont Scareand
then ask students to find out the
superstitions in the video.
3. After watching the video, have
students tell the class the
superstitions they found in the
video.
4. Ask students the questions below
and have them share their
opinions:
(1) Do you believe in the
superstitions and why?
(2) How would you react to the
superstitions?
15 Video
I Dont Scare
Vocabulary 1. Go through the vocabulary of the
unit with students.
2. Distribute each student one part of
20 1. Textbook
(p.108~114)
2. Four-leaf
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the four-leaf clover. (Appendix 1)
3. Have students find out their group
member (i.e. match the vocabulary,
its Chinese translation, its English
definition, and its related example
sentence together.)
4. After students find their group
members, ask each group to get the
worksheets (Appendix 2) from the
teacher and glue the four-leaf
clovers on it.
5. Have students work with their
group members to underline the
collocation of the assigned
vocabulary.
6. Introduce the vocabulary and have
each group talk about the
collocation of the word.
clovers
(Appendix 1)
3. Worksheet
(Appendix 2)
Wrap-up 1. Lead students to review the
vocabulary they covered.
2. Collect the worksheet.
5 Worksheet
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Students watched the video together.

Students worked on the clover-matching task.
Period Activity Teaching procedure Time Material
2 Warm-up 1. Lead students to read the vocabulary
aloud.
3 Textbook
(p.108~114)
Reading 1 1. Give students comprehension
questions as below and have them
15 Textbook (p.104)
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read the first paragraph aloud to find
the answers.
(1) Who was the writer talking to?
(2) Why was the writer so excited?
2. Direct students attention to the
picture of a wedding in the book and
ask them why the bridesmaids dress
as beautifully as the bride.
3. Ask students to skim paragraph 2
and find out the reason.
4. Explain sentences that students have
difficulty in understanding.
Reading &
Structure
Analysis
1. Have students work in the group
they formed earlier. Read the
handout (Appendix 3) and find the
examples in them.
2. Have students draw the superstitions
in the reading and summarize the
reading to explain their drawings
(Appendix 4).
25 1. Handout
(Appendix 3)
2. Worksheet
(Appendix 4)
Wrap-up 1. Randomly select four groups to
write the sentences corresponding to
the four examples.
2. Give students feedback on the
sentences.
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3. Collect the worksheet.




Reading the paragraphs together, students drew and summarized the examples on the
worksheet.
Period Activity Teaching procedure Time Material
3 Warm-up 1. Bring students attention back to the
paragraphs they read. Have students
talk about the four superstitions in
the reading.
2. Write down the keywords regarding
2 Textbook
(p.104~106)
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the superstitions on the blackboard.
Reading &
Structure
Analysis
1. Explain the difficult parts of the
reading.
2. Discuss the structure of the reading
to students.
3. Lead students to discuss the cultural
differences behind each customs and
the proper attitude towards
superstitions.
20 Textbook
(p.104~106)
Grammar 1. Introduce the grammar points in the
unit.
2. Use the pictures in the videoI
Dont Scare as a context to practice
the grammar.
13 Power Point
(See the
pictures
below)
Wrap-up 1. Assign students homework to find out
The origins of the superstitions on the
worksheets (Appendix 5) and use the
target sentence patterns to explain
why people do them.
5 Worksheet
(Appendix 5)
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Teachers elicited the four examples from
students to review and also drew the
structure of the article.



Teachers showed students the pictures in the videoI dont scare, and had students
use the sentences patternsbecause, and the reason whyto finish the
sentences which explain the cause and effect relationship.
Period Activity Teaching procedure Time Material
4 Warm-up 1. Write down the 11 different
superstitions on the blackboard and
make sure students know all the
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words.
2. Erase the words on the board.
Grammar,
Writing &
Guessing
1. Divide the 11 superstitions into two
sections and do the following
activity in 2 rounds.
2. Have students write down the
sentence they made on the board to
explain why people do certain
superstition.
3. Invite students to check the
sentences on the board to see if there
are any grammatical mistakes.
4. Show students the pictures of the
superstitions and have the rest of the
students match the sentence with the
picture.
5. Students can get extra point for their
groups if they get the correct answer.
30 1. Worksheet
2. Power
Point
Speaking 1. Have students work in pairs. Talk
about their own personal experience
to get good luck or to avoid bad luck
and why they do it.
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Wrap-up 1. Ask students questions to lead them
think about respect for cultural
differences and the appropriate
5
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attitude toward superstitions.
(1) When facing the superstitions
you dont believe, what would
you do? Why?
(2) How would you react when
others challenge your belief?
Why?


Students wrote their sentences of the homework on the board and teachers had the rest
of the students guess.
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Suggestions
In order to let both the teacher and students benefit the most from this lesson plan
of effective teaching, specific suggestions are listed as the following.
1. Make full preparation before the four-leaf clover match game in the first
period. The clover match game is an effective way for students to practice
pronunciation and check their understanding towards definitions and
collocations of new words. However, students might lose their clover leaves
during the activity because they have to walk around. Teachers are advised to
put twin adhesive on the back of the clover before the activity starts so
students can paste the leaves onto their worksheets as soon as they finished
the task. If time is allowed, teachers can let students make the clovers.
2. The four-leaf clover game may always be adjusted according to the
number of students in one class. In this lesson plan, the class consists of
forty-four students, so the teacher picks eleven important new words out of
the twenty-two ones listed in the textbook. Then, eleven clovers are cut into
four parts respectively. If there are fewer than 44 students in one class, the
teacher can still carry out the game and form groups by simply cutting the
clover in half or selecting fewer words from the textbook.
3. Provide each group with a copy of the text without pictures at the
beginning of the second period. Students should fully understand the content
of the article through discussion and then exert abilities such as observation
and organization to write down a summary. Since the textbook contains
photos and explanation for each paragraph, teachers are strongly advised to
firstly, ask students to put away their textbooks and secondly, distribute copies
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of the text with only
words on them so as
to prevent students
from simply copying
or being confined by
notes and illustrations.
Whats more, students
would truly gather together to read and exchange ideas with only one copy of
the reading material on hand. Or students might resort to each ones own book
and finish the activity without any meaningful communication.
4. Assist students to do the correction during the grammar activity in the
fourth period. After each group has written their sentences on the blackboard,
the teacher is advised to circle the grammar mistakes and guide the student to
correct his writing by saying, Please pay attention to the preposition or
Which one suits the clause here, Because or Because of? The student
can ask other group members or the whole class for help. The teacher should
be the last one to step in and modify the sentence.
5. Give additional hints when necessary during the grammar activity. If
teachers find that students have a hard time identifying certain superstitions
via written hints, additional illustrations and gestures done by group members
are good ways to solve the problem. Or, teachers may list out all the
superstitions on the blackboard and let students to do matching. The ultimate
goals of this activity are for students to practice sentence patterns in context
and know more about superstitions in different cultures. Therefore, students
should be allowed to use various ways to communicate in order to let the

Sample pictures from SanMin book 2, Unit 6.

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activity go smoothly and achieve effective learning instead of being stuck in
the guessing process.
Assessment
There are five activities from which teachers may evaluate teaching efficiency
and students learning results. The assessment is done when students accomplish oral,
written tasks and do presentations.
1. Popeye video clipinitial assessment
Serving as a warm-up activity, the video clip which is followed by Q&A session
can help the teacher check students former knowledge of and attitude toward
superstitions.
2. Four-leaf clover match gameformative assessment
Students understanding toward the new words is evaluated via this match game.
They have to keep the words English definition, Chinese translation, and collocation
usages in mind in order to successfully finish the activity. Correct pronunciation of the
words is also emphasized since students need to talk to each other before they find the
right leaves to match a clover.
3. Alternative graphic organizer for text structureformative assessment
Reading strategies, comprehension, and group working skills are mainly assessed
in this activity. Students have to use various techniques, such as skimming, scanning,
analyzing, and organizing so as to summarize two paragraphs and show the
connection among the four superstitions. In addition, students are encouraged to draw
pictures which represent the superstition-based customs mentioned in the article. If
students can finish this activity on their own, it means that they are able to understand
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the gist of the text as well as grasp the meaning of new words and phrases.
4. Superstitions worksheet for patterns in useformative assessment
Though the usage of causal sentence patterns is embedded in this activity,
students have to firstly exert their searching and summarizing skills so they can
explain the assigned custom in brief. Then, students write down hints about the
custom on the blackboard. An information gap is thus formed. After students correct
the grammar mistakes in each others sentences, they have to communicate and make
a right guess.
5. In-class observationformative assessment
Being an observer as well, teachers find that students are strongly motivated by
this lesson plan. First of all, the warm-up activity has generated their interest in
superstition-related topics and then students are led to discover superstitions in their
own life. Even those who seldom give response in class are willing to participate in
activities and talk in English. When students encounter problems communicating,
they would resort to body language or pictures to express themselves and do
correction. This active attitude to use language and understand cultural differences is
highly valued in teaching.
Reflection
Traditional EFL teaching approaches, such as grammar-translation and lecturing,
do equip students with basic skills, but they sometimes bring frustration to both
teachers and students, especially in a classroom with many less motivated low
achievers with little motivation. To improve a learning atmosphere like this, we tried
to integrate different learning activities in our classrooms and keep students busy.
Instead of just sitting in class and dozing off, students were seen to get highly
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involved in the learning activities and get a better understanding of what they had
learned. Based on students performance and response, we find the project rewarding.
1. Collaborative learning
Teaching English in a community-based high school is no easy task, especially
when the participants in English classes are of different proficiency levels. What
makes English teaching even more difficult is that teachers have to instruct students
whose PR value ranges from 70 to 90 at a time. A possible solution to this problem is
to assist teaching with collaborative learning.
In sorting out the collocations of words in use, and in summarizing a topic to
each paragraph, relatively high achievers assisted low achievers in team work.
Additionally, team work helps lower the affective filterreducing students pressure
of finishing a worksheet aloneand thus promote every students performance and
sense of achievement.
2. Hands-on learning
Variety is the spice of life, and it is also the case of teaching and learning. After
traditional approaches have equipped students with the ability to do self-study, its
time for students to do it on their own. That is the reason why we challenge students
by asking them to study in groups and help their teammates with what to pay attention
to after group discussion.
Besides, based on the theory of learning pyramid (Dale 1969), retention after
learning is higher when learners really experience it than when they just listen to
teachers lecturing. Group discussion and practice by doing can enhance learning
retention up to 70 percent (See Graphic 1). Through participating active hands-on
learning themselves, students did display a better understanding and a deeper imprint
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of what they have learned in mind. We found the project rewarding when we saw less
motivated students spoke up, actively participated in group discussion, and handed in
the assignments on time.

Graphic 1. Rates of learning retention based on different learning activities
3. Multiple intelligences developing
Language and culture are key objectives in English learning. In addition to
words, this can be done with the facilitation of visual aids.
When analyzing the structure of an article, students had been taught to
summarize the topic of each paragraph and to present the outline in a graphic
organizer. In this unit, they were asked to do it in an alternative waydrawing
pictures with an explanation below to illustrate the main idea of each paragraph.
Those who are good at manipulating words and those who are good at realizing their
mental images were helping each other in team work. This not only gives a chance to
those with different intelligence types (Gardner 1993) to contribute to learning, but
also facilitate the learning of verbal and visual learners.
Aside from written tests, other approaches, such as listening comprehension,
reading skills, oral presentation, performance tests, and research conduction, are also
included in this lesson plan so as to help student develop different abilities.
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4. Research ability cultivating
If high school education is a preparation for college education, then it is a good
time to cultivate their abilities in learning in a team and doing research on their own.
As a wrap-up activity to check their learning of sentence patterns of this unit,
each team was asked to conduct a research on another western superstition on their
own. They had to look for the origin of a long-practiced superstition by surfing the
Internet and sorting out the most supported saying among all the accurate and
somewhat incorrect information. In the following period of class, the students shared
their research results with the whole class and the teachers helped confirm and clarify
their discovery, or provide further information to these superstitions.
5. Critical thinking
After reaching goals of cognitive learning, students are expected to achieve more
in affective learning. Students were challenged with superstition-related questions in
order to sharpen their critical thinking. With teachers guidance, students discussed
their opinions toward superstitions and came up with conclusions as follows:
(1) As time goes by, gender-biased superstitions should be challenged and scrutinized.
(2) Whether or not we agree with superstitious beliefs, we should respect different
cultures, and respect other peoples free will to choose their religion and beliefs
(3) When it comes to superstitions involving sacrificing other creatures life, we
should come up with an alternative to avoid unnecessary killing.


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Reference
1. Books
Dale, Edgar (1969). Audiovisual Methods in Teaching. New York: Dryden Press.
Gardner, Howard (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. New York:
Basic Books.
Harry Collis (1998).101 American Superstitions: Understanding Language and
Culture through Superstitions. Lincolnwood, Ill., USA.
2. Websites
http://sangi.sanguinarius.org/creative/OriginsOfPopularSuperstitions.pdf (western
superstitions)
http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/scary.html (western superstitions alphabetic-ordered)
http://www.worldweddingtraditions.com/ (wedding-related superstitions)
http://www.yourwedding101.com/wedding-basics/popular-wedding-traditions.aspx
(wedding-related superstitions)
http://voices.yahoo.com/everyday-chinese-superstitions-322849.html (Chinese
superstitions)









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Appendix 1: Four-leaf clover match game for vocabulary

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Appendix 2: Clover match game worksheet





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Students work on the clover match game

































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Appendix 3: paragraph 3~4

A superstition is a belief that one event results inor preventsanother, when
the two are in no way related. Take a rabbits foot, for example. Have you ever
thought about the reason why a rabbits foot is considered lucky in many Western
countries? One saying is that rabbits, unlike most other animals, touch the ground
with their back feet first when they are running. Westerners, thus, consider this fact
unusual and even magical. However, this superstition is not based on any scientific
proof. Similarly, Americans usually say Knock on wood or actually do this for good
luck, since they want to prevent tree spirits from affecting their luck. Its clear that
these are just two situations where people superstitiously associate one event with
another.
Aside from superstitions for good luck, some more long-practiced customs have
grown out of fears that are related to superstitions. Superstition-based customs are
what most members of a society usually do to deal with the unknown. In Taiwan, for
instance, the word for the number four sounds like the word for death. Because of
its association with death, the number four has long been considered an unlucky
number by Taiwanese. The reason why people in the West often say Bless you when
a person sneezes is also superstition-based. This phrase is used because some
Westerners used to believe that devils might enter ones body when a person sneezes.


















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Appendix 4: Alternative graphic organizer for text structure





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Students work on the graphic organizer




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Appendix 5: More on American superstitions worksheet for patterns in use


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Students wrote their sentences of the homework on the board and teachers had the rest of the
students guess.
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Appendix 6: Pictures used in the grammar activity




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