Lesson plan: Good fences

ELT STUFF @evaguti

SESSION 1

I.- WARM-UP
A man was trying to sleep but he couldnt
He got up and made a phone call
The person he called was very angry
The caller felt better and fell asleep

Read the story and ask your teacher yes-no questions to solve the puzzle:
Why do you think he called? What was the problem?

II.- READINESS ACTIVITIES

In pairs, comment on the following questions:

What kind of relationship do you have with your neighbours?

What makes for a good neighbourhood?
Take upon consideration the following aspects:
Location
Nearby facilities
Price and characteristics of the houses
Compare it with your present neighbourhood and explain why you would or
wouldnt move there

III. - TEXT EXPERIENCE: POEM READING

[ Listening Reading]
Listen to the poem being read. Try to see in your mind what is happening.

Lesson plan: Good fences

ELT STUFF @evaguti
MENDING WALL
Robert Frost
Something there is that doesnt love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
Stay where you are until our backs are turned!
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, Good fences make good neighbors.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
Why do they make good neighbors? Isnt it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall Id ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesnt love a wall,
That wants it down. I could say Elves to him,
But its not elves exactly, and Id rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his fathers saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, Good fences make good neighbors.

Lesson plan: Good fences

ELT STUFF @evaguti

IV. - EXPERIENCIAL, INTAKE, DEVELOPMENT and INPUT RESPONSE

ACTIVITIES
IV.A. - DRAWING
[ Listening TalkingSpeaking Drawing]
Individually, draw the scene this poem conjures up in your mind. Add commentary text
to the picture if necessary and then, compare your drawing with a classmate. Explain
any differences and discuss what you think the poem is about.
What do you think is the writers opinion about the wall? And his neighbours? Why
does his neighbor think that good fences make good neighbours?

IV.B. - VIDEO-POEM DISCUSSION

[ Watching Talking/ Language Awareness]
1. - Watch the video from minute 5:55 and compare the images shown in it with your
own drawings. How different are they?
2. - After watching the video, has your interpretation of the poem changed in any way?
In what ways do walls become metaphorical or symbolic in the poem?
3. - Go back to the text and try to differentiate thoughts from actual speech. How is
speech conveyed?

THOUGHTS

SPEECH

4. - Try to imagine the real conversation between these two neighbours and write the
dialogue down
5. - Report the conversation to your classmate

Lesson plan: Good fences

ELT STUFF @evaguti
SESSION 2

V.- INPUT RESPONSE ACTIVITIES

V.A. - ROLEPLAY
[ Conversation]

NEIGHBOURS
Try and solve this neighbourhood
problem.

STUDENT A

Resident of APT 202, 2nd

floor:
Its 7:00 AM. You were up until
4:00 AM preparing for an
important business meeting. You
have to give your presentation at
10:30, and you really need
another hour to sleep. You cant sleep because the person who lives downstairs is playing the
drums. Persuade your neighbour to stop playing. Be as convincing as possible

NEIGHBOURS
Try and solve this neighbourhood
problem.

STUDENT B

Resident of APT 102, 1st

floor:
Its 7:00 AM. You are a drummer,
and a music student. Today is your
final exam. If you dont play well you
cant graduate so you have to practice as much as possible. Explain this to your neighbour to
persuade him. Be as convincing as possible

Lesson plan: Good fences

ELT STUFF @evaguti

V.B. - GIVING ADVICE & COMPLAINT NOTE WRITING

[ Reading Writing]
Read what someone wrote about his complaining neighbours and post a reply giving
him advice on what to do.
What do you notice about the language used? Edit the text to correct spelling and
punctuation mistakes.

Dogs And Complaining Neighbours !!!! Help

We have had a complaint from our neighbours that our dogs are barking in the garden, the
neighbours have a small dog and we have 2 dogs, we have put up a 1.5 mtr reed fencing
which is fixed to a wire lower fence so the dogs would stop jumping up at the fence( they
have never jumped over the fence into the neighbours garden) the only time the dogs bark
in the garden is when someone is about( like dogs do) when we come home from work
friday they have told our 11 year old son that the dogs bark all day and they never shut up in
the garden which is not true our other neighbour whose house adjoins ours has not
complained?? but this neighbour whose house is about 40 feet away has, (we are end
terrace facing south there house is facing east big garden between us)

today sunday my wife and a few friends were sitting in the garden and said neighbour
returns with his dog, my dogs obviously run over to the fence when i call them back so they
come, so the neighbour then decides to pick his dog up above the fence so my dogs can see
it and obviously my dogs now try and jump up at the fence,,

now he reckons I should put a proper fence up to stop them but my wife has said no way if
they want a fence they can put it up as he has antagonised our dogs and is proberbly doing it
when we aint looking or around ( by the way dogs are never outside when we are not home)
does anyone know where we stand on this situation please help
( i think they have had it in for us since we moved in 6 months ago and thats prob why last
peeps moved so quick)

Lesson plan: Good fences

ELT STUFF @evaguti

[ Writing]

Now imagine you are this mans neighbour, you have talked to the owners of the
dogs many times before but they simply wont do anything about their barking and
jumping over the fence. Write a note of complaint and threaten them with taking the
matter further if they dont solve the problem.

Go back to your writing and try to improve it by revising punctuation and spelling.