Lesson Project

Teacher: Dorina Cocari

Date: W4/ 8th February 2012
Grade: elementary level pupils
Class: VI A
Lesson: The ways of communication
Type of lesson: Lesson of fixation of knowledge and of developing skills and abilities

Target vocabulary: communicate/communication, message, sign, the five senses

(sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste), body parts (eye, ear, nose, mouth, tongue, hand, arm,
head, leg, body etc.).
Target grammar structures: Modal Verbs – Can/Can’t/Can you use your … ?

Lesson Aims: By the end of the lesson the students will have had practice in:
A1 revealing the ways humans and animals can communicate
A2 guessing the meaning of sounds, whispered messages and sign language
A3 naming the human body parts and five senses
A4 using correctly the modal verb can/can’t
A5 encouraging students to communicate in English

Language functions:
- asking things
- giving information
- identifying words and structures

Skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing.

Assumption: the students are already familiar with the modal verb can and vocabulary
relating to the human body parts and senses, but also familiar to the ways animals and humans
can communicate;

Possible problems: the students may not have the necessary language skills to answer the
teacher’s questions; the teacher must help them out and encourage them in their attempts to
use the language;

Assessment activity: The students will be assessed on class participation.

Resources and materials: pictures and cards, activity sheets/handouts

Interaction: teacher – student, student – teacher, student – student, teacher –students

Teaching techniques: conversation, explanation, exercise

Class organisation: lockstep; individual; in pairs

PROCEDURE

Activity 1 __ Interaction: T – Ss; _S-S___________________Timing: 7‘

WARM-UP
Aim 2 – to guess the meaning of sounds, whispered messages and sign language

The T starts the lesson with a song The Animal Sounds to get everybody in a cheery mood.

The Ss pay attention to the sounds of animals trying then to imitate some of them in order to
be guessed the animals.

The T proposes two games:

 The telephone game - allowing a message to be whispered from student to student
throughout the room.
 Pass it on – Students will split up into lines. First group will stand up in their line; other
group will stay seated and act as a “peanut gallery”. Students who are sitting will be told
to observe and see what happens as the message tries to get passed through the line.
Teacher will perform a variety of body movements/signs for the first student in line. After
the message has been passed on to the first student, student must turn around and tap
second student in line on the shoulder so they turn around. Student will try to duplicate
body movements/signs. Message will be passed down the line until it reaches the last
student. Last student in line will perform what they think the message is to the class.
Activity 2 Interaction: T - Ss; __________ Timing: 5‘
FORMULATION OF THE SUBJECT
Aim 5 – to encourage students to communicate in English

The T announces the revision of knowledge assimilated by the Ss during the previous lesson,
talking about the ways of communication.

The T writes Communication on the board, and asks students what different forms of
communication there are. The Ss may well come up with the following forms:
Oral communication
Written communication
Non-verbal communication
Visual communication

The T asks students to think of examples of each form of communication trying to elicit some
of these examples:
Oral communication – Conversations, discussions, speeches, presentations
Written communication – E-mails, text messages, letters, books, articles, reports
Non-verbal communication – Body language, gesture, motion, eye contact, touch, smell,
clothing
Visual communication – Colours, drawings, pictures, signs, photos, graphic design,
typography

Activity 3 Interaction: T - Ss; Ss - T _____________Timing: 10’

REVISION OF THE THEORETICAL PART OF THE PROBLEM
Aim 1 – to reveal the ways humans and animals can communicate
Aim 4 – to use correctly the modal verb can/can’t
Aim 5 – to encourage students to communicate in English
It analyzes the situations of communication found out in the song and games:
 How is the way of communicating through vocalization and body language cues useful? (a
dog barking can announce the guests/thief...)
 How is a message sent to someone without shouting it across the room useful? How is it a
problem?
The T guides students to understand that in addition to the message becoming distorted as it is
passed along, it is not a practical means of communicating over long distances, as it would
require long lines of people standing shoulder to shoulder.
 What type of communication did it use in the second game? (non-verbal) Was it harder to
pass the message along through body language as opposed to talking like in the first
game? (not used to non-verbal communication as much as verbal)
 What did peanut gallery notice? (people forgot parts of the message and made things up to
fill in the spaces; order of message was changed)
 Can messages get mixed up in real life situations? (rumors/gossip; information changes as
people add what they think they hear)

 What are some ways you can communicate with words? (Talking, typing, writing,
singing…)
 What are some animals that can communicate with humans in nonverbal ways? (some
primates have been taught to use sign language; cats and dogs may sit in front of a door if
they want to go out)
The T encourages the Ss to speak freely about the ways humans and animals can
communicate.

The T elicits some sentences: Animals can communicate. They can’t speak.
A dog can run. It can’t fly.
A fish can swim. It can’t run.

The Ss remember that can has the same form for all the pronouns:
I / you / he / she / it / we / they can

The Ss mention the learned uses of can: to express ability, possibility/impossibility,

opportunity, request; to give permission. They give examples for each case using activity
sheets.

Activity 4 Interaction: T - Ss; Ss - T; Ss - Ss ______ Timing: 20’

PRACTICE
Aim 3: to name the human body parts and five senses
Aim 4: to use correctly the modal verb can/can’t
Aim 5: to encourage pupils to communicate in English

The Ss label the parts of the body using words from the cards/pictures or handouts (given in
the box).

The Ss answer the questions What can we do with our eyes/ears/nose/mouth/fingers?

identifying the five senses (the sense of sight, the sense of hearing, the sense of smell, the
sense of taste, the sense of touch).
The T offers a poem for reading: World of senses

I can see the sun and sky;

I can taste a piece of pie;
I can hear songs and laughter; things you said;
I can smell powders, cookies; fresh, hot bread;
I can touch satin and lace with my skin;
With my sesnes I learn about the world I’m in.

The T asks Ss to observe the use of the modal verb can then to turn the verbs into negative
and interrogative.

The Ss should solve two tasks on the handouts: to rewrite six sentences in negative; to rewrite
four sentences in interrogative.

Activity 5 Interaction: T - Ss; Ss - T; _______ ____Timing: 3’

EVALUATION

The T appreciates all the Ss for their active manner of solving exercises, reading and
writing.
 Can/ Cannot=Can’t
REWRITE THE SENTENCES IN NEGATIVE.

I can cook. I can skate.

_______________________ _____________________

I can dance. I can wash.

_______________________ _____________________

I can read. I can sing.

_______________________ _____________________
REWRITE THE SENTENCES IN INTERROGATIVE.

I can draw. _________________________

I can play golf. _________________________

I can jump. _________________________

I can think. _________________________