Animal is an exciting topic to teach especially in children class. Most children love animals and have a pet or more at home. They like guessing game about animals, making animal noises, drawing their favorite animals and creating brand new animals!
But, remember that animal lesson is not only for children. Adults can enjoy it, too! And I found an interesting demo lesson about animal from Chris Westergaard, an ESL teacher from Prague. In the lesson, he teaches adult class intermediate level and the topic is "the deadliest animal". Here is the summary of the lesson:
1. Chris (teacher) starts by playing a recording of a movie music background, "Jaws". He then shows a picture of a shark and asks students: "Is shark a dangerous animal or a safe animal?"
2. The teacher has written three question on the board. He points some students to ask the questions to him. The questions are:
- What is the most dangerous animal in the world? Name three reasons why.
- Are there any deadly animals in the Czech Republic?
- What's the scariest experience you've had with an animal?
For feedback, the teacher throws a paper ball to a student and ask question number 1 to her. After that, the students continue the activity, i.e. throwing ball then asking and answering questions.
4. Next, the teacher elicits body parts of animals: claws, paws, fangs, horns, feathers, a tail, jaws, wings, fur, hooves.
He does it by letting the students complete his sentence, such as "Dogs have..." and he makes gesture with his hands forming like claws. Some students respond by saying 'claws'. He also elicits singular forms of some words.
5. The teacher reviews quickly all the meaning of the words (Concept Check Questions / CCQ). For example, he asks, "Wings?" Some students flap their hands. "Fangs?" Some point to their mouth.
6. Students do vocabulary practice in groups of 3 or 4. The teacher gives strips of papers to one student in each group. The student then explains the words on the paper and gives the paper to his or her friends who can guess the words.
7. The teacher shows a picture of a newly found animal called a Rumferbumper. He sticks it on the board and commands students to ask questions about it. The teacher responds to the questions by giving more details of the animal e.g. where it lives, what it eats, the size, and body parts that it has.
8. In pairs or groups of three, students create a new deadly animal using the words that they've learned. Students discuss and draw the features of their deadly animals.
9. When finish, students stand up, go to different pair or group and say "tell me about your animal." They ask questions about the animal. Also, they give reasons why their animal is more deadly than others. They do this to all the pairs / groups. Since the students get excited during this mingling activity, they tend to ask more questions and have longer chat, so the teacher reminds them to move faster between pairs and ask questions quicker.
10. For feedback, the teacher asks the students which animal is deadliest.
11. Error correction. The teacher has written some errors he picked up during the discussion and he elicits the correct ones. The mistakes are pronunciation, word form, and grammar.
END
Pretty good, huh.
Teachers, you can make the lesson more complete with feedback by asking who has collected the most paper, meaning who can guess the most words.
Also, since the animal that Chris brought has a name, it is good idea if students come up with names for their new deadly animals.
You can watch the video here: Demo Lesson: Vocabulary (Animal) for Adult
Happy teaching, teachers!
