Skeletal Lesson Plan for FREE Pt. 2 - The Last Five Days

[Hypiereon]

OK - Here's the deal. Those who have already asked have already received the lesson plans (all 40 DAYS) via e-mail attachment. Those who have not yet asked to get them, but would like to, can now get all 40 DAYS.

Yes, I said it would only be 32 DAYS, but I figured 40 DAYS would give you something extra. The file is 127kb on my hard-drive (19 Pages in MS Word Format), but the e-mail size is 177 kb when it was sent through hotmail from myself to myself without a subject line or message - just so you know.

The extra lessons should get you through the whole semester in case some of the DAYS don't last you a whole day. Just move on from day to day, and if you cover two DAYS in one day, then that's fine. There are usually breaks and holidays to help you as well.

In all, the DAYS are the most useful and practical aspects of English that I've slowly been piecing together over time, and now finally compiled into one place. My ultimate goal is to get four years worth and then just rotate out the lessons and improve the quality of presentation over time.

The lessons are geared to get students to write, stand and read, give speeches, make corrections, and do so with the subtlety of teaching something else other than raw English language. I've found this makes learning more interesting for them as well.

You should notice, by the way, that the last five DAYS are more advanced than the first five DAYS - all the stuff that leads up to this point is what the other DAYS should accomplish so your class is ready by then.

So, here's the last five DAYS - you can e-mail me anytime at hypiereon@hotmail.com to get the file of all 40 "skeleton" lesson plans. I'm going to bed now.

DAY 36 – {Joining sentences and ideas to form complete sentences.}

Join these two sentences with the word “because.”
“I always stay up late for the night of Spring Festival. It is the greatest festival of the year!”

Use the word “when” to make these two sentences into one.
“Poorer Chinese farmers couldn’t use wagons. They made baskets of straw.”

Fill in the word that belongs in each sentence:
“A flock of gulls [circle, circles] ___________ above the lake.”
“The pioneer family [is, are] __________ determined to reach Oregon.”
“Paul Revere jumped on the horse and [begin, began] __________ to ride.”
“The cabin boy couldn’t wait for the voyage to [begin, began] __________.”

Combine these three sentences into one.

“Mao Zedong was President of China. Deng Xiaoping was President of China. Zhang Zemin was President of China.”



DAY 37 - {Imagination Station – Creative/Fictional Writing and Discussion.
Personal Motivation.}

Courage is often the subject of stories and books.
When would courage be important?

Greed is often the subject of stories and books.
List six things people want so much that they will do anything to get them.

1. ____________________ 2. ____________________
3. ____________________ 4. ____________________
5. ____________________ 6. ____________________

In some stories, a hero overcomes fear.
List six things people fear.

1. ____________________ 2. ____________________
3. ____________________ 4. ____________________
5. ____________________ 6. ____________________

Power is often the subject of stories and books. Give an example of someone who has (or had) too much power.

Love is often the subject of stories and books. Name a person, animal, place, and thing you love.
Person: Animal: Place: Thing:

DAY 38 – {Reinforce Metaphor & Simile. Hyperbole an exaggeration or overstatement. Example: I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. }

Rewrite the sentence, changing the metaphor into a simile.
“The rainbow is a bridge to the sky.”  “The rainbow is like a bridge to the sky.”

Rewrite the sentence, changing the simile to a metaphor.
“The lake is like a mirror this morning.”  “The lake is a mirror this morning.”

Hyperbole means exaggeration. Circle the example of hyperbole in each sentence.
Jason is the meanest boy in the world. My room was as cold as the South Pole.
(Answers have been underlined.)

Circle the prepositional Phrase in each sentence.
The deer bounded over the fence.
The car screeched around the corner.
The dog squeezed through a hole.
He hit the ball into center field.
(Answers have been underlined.)

Day 39 – {Writing, proofing, and editing your own essay.}

Circle every error in this paragraph and rewrite it correctly.
waetr takes many formz waetr evaporates form the surface of the see it turns into clowds. some of the waetr in clowds falls down as rayn and snow. The raynwaetr run downhill into rivers and streams until it reachs the see Waetrs journey is called the waetr cicle.

Correctly written paragraph:
Water takes many forms. Water evaporates from the surface of the sea. It turns into clouds. Some of the water in clouds falls down as rain and snow. The rainwater runs downhill into rivers and streams until it reaches the sea. Water’s journey is called the water circle.

After correctly writing the paragraph – edit it to make it more concise. Join sentences and remove redundant or useless words. (Forms of editing will vary greatly and there is no one correct answer.)
Water takes many forms. Water evaporates from the sea surface and turns into clouds. Some of the water in clouds falls as rain and snow. Rainwater runs into rivers and streams and then the sea. This process is called the water circle.

Why are good health habits important?
What is the most important writing rule?
Why is honesty important?
Why do you think writing skills are important?

(Have students choose one to write about, then have them exchange papers for proofing and editing. Choose several of the better students for examples to read out loud; one reads the original and the other reads the edited version. Have students take brief notes while listening to the essay. Ask questions to enforce listening skills.)

DAY 40 – {Some general notes on poetry.}

Write a poem using this form: Example:
Noun + Verb A dog barking
“where” phrase In a field of snow
“when” phrase Not long ago

Accented and unaccented syllables create the rhythms of poetry. List three words with three syllables. Underline the stressed syllable in each word.
Example: syl la ble (Experiment with students stressing the wrong syllable for emphasis on the correct form and listening practice.)
Some common three syllable words: or gan ize in struc tion un der stand
Notice the stress placement change for each word.

Poets create rhythm with repetition. Write a poem with ten lines. The first nine lines begin with the phrase “I hate…” the last line only will begin with “But I love…”

Write a poem with nine lines that begin “With a million dollars I would buy …” and the tenth line only will begin with “But even a million dollars cannot buy…”

Activity for group or homework:
First, write some sounds, smells, textures, and colors. (List needs to include 14 different sounds / smells / textures / colors, but they need not be evenly divided.)

Next, using the words above for a guide, write a poem about a magic hallway.

Last, draw an illustration to match your poem.