Materials 1: Speech Acts

For the Materials 1 assignment, I chose to adapt one of my practicum lessons, which is based on the following speech acts, including greetings and partings. Because I am used to teaching with no available technology in the classroom, I thought it would be interesting to see how I would teach the same lesson, but with computers. Below is my lesson plan, technological tools used, and an overview.

Lesson Plan: Speech Acts

Goals:

• Students should be able to recognize and use certain speech acts—greetings and partings—both formally 
• Students should be able to recognize and use certain speech acts—greetings and partings— in oral and written contexts 
• Familiarize students with some pragmatic issues in context
• Teacher should accustom learners to technological tools they can use to supplement their education outside of class 

Materials:

• computers 
• an internet connection 
• pre-made Google Doc 
• pre-made 
• dry erase markers 
• whiteboard 

Introduction (5):

In past classes we talked about language you can use in conversations and language you can use with your child's teacher. Today we are going to talk about language that we use in everyday conversation. This language is special because when we use it, the person we are talking to expects a special response or answer. When we don't use it, conversation can be awkward or uncomfortable. More specifically, we are going to talk about greetings (how we start a conversation, or how we say "hello") and partings (how we end a conversation or say "goodbye").

Transition: 

First, let's talk about greetings, or how we begin a conversation. 

Sublesson 1: Greetings (20 minutes)

• Ask students (Ss) how they typically greet people in English
• Ask if they change the greeting depending on who they are talking to
• What do they say?
• Write answers on board
• What do the other people (people they are talking to) say in response?
• Write answers on board
• Then what? What comes next?
• Discuss the How are you? question
• More formal variants: How are you? How have you been? (haven’t seen the person in awhile)
• More informal variants: What’s up? How’s it going? 
•  Responses?
•  I’m _____. (Doing well/fine/alright/ ok)
• Write on board
• More informal: horrible, so-so, eh, etc. 
• Note: Americans expect an answer to this question, but it’s usually “fine,” even if it really isn’t. The person asking does not expect a long answer. They will ask if they think something is wrong. Only then do you go into more detail. 
• Note: If we think we’re bothering someone when we start a conversation, we ask another question:
• Do you have a moment? Can we talk?
• Shows that you value their time. It’s polite.
• Person responds: sure. What can I do for you? (other responses?)
• Pass out handouts (list of greetings and partings in English, divided by formal/informal registers)
• Explain how the handout (handout has Tables 1 & 2) is set up
• Have Ss take a minute to look over the phrases (focus on greetings) in Table 1
• Go over any new vocabulary
• Talk about formal vs. informal
• How are they different?
• When do we use formal vs. informal?

Table 1: Greetings, Introductions, Goodbyes 

Source: http://busyteacher.org/uploads/posts/2011-09/1315976620_form.jpg

Activity 1 (15):

• Instructions:
• Ss will work alone
• Ask Ss to write out three formal situations and three informal
• Example of formal: talking with the principal of a school
• Example of informal: talking with your brother
• When they are done, have then list 2-3 different greetings they can use in each situation and then how that other person could respond
• Walk around, checking up on Ss and taking questions
• Ask Ss to share some answers with the class and discuss

Activity 2 (20):

• Instructions:
• Pair Ss up, assigning each student a group number and A or B
• Ask Ss to sit next to each other
• Once seated, write "docs.google.com" on the board
• Have Ss go to docs.google.com and sign in using their gmails
• Alternatively, goo.gl/SOqgj will work as well
• Once everyone has the Google Doc open, explain that everyone will be writing in here at the same time
• Regarding the activity, each student will be assigned a role (A or B) according to his or her group (each group has different roles)
• Ss need to write out the beginning of a conversation if Partner A were to start 
• Ss then write out the beginning of a conversation if Partner B were to start
• Ss should be encouraged to be creative and have fun, but should also pay attention to the level of formality between the speakers
• Give Ss about 5-10 minutes, longer if necessary
• Teacher walks around, helping Ss as needed
• When everyone is done, have each pair act out their two scripts
• Ss can follow along using the Google Doc
• Wrap up activity:
• Why is it important to understand the different levels of formality in how we start conversations?

Transition: 

Like greetings, we follow certain patterns when we end a conversation

Sublesson 2: Partings (10 minutes)

• How do we end a conversation? 
• Do we just say “bye” during a conversation, or do we need to say something else first?
• Examples? (Preclosings on handout)
• Go through new vocabulary
• Talk about how preclosings function in conversation and why they are important.

Table 2, from handout: 

Preclosings (What we say before we end a conversation)

• It’s been nice talking to you.
• I’m sorry but I have to go.
• Sorry, but I’m late for work.
• I’ll let you go.
• I won’t keep you.
• I know you must be busy.
• Wow, I didn’t realize how late it’s gotten. 

• After these, how do we say goodbye?
• Write answers on board
• More formal: goodbye/bye/see you 
• Less formal: see you later/see ya/catch you later
• Use Table 1 to supplement vocabulary 

Activity 3 (45)

• Instructions
• Assign each S a letter: A or B
• Explain that we are going to work with the same partners as Activity 1 and with the same roles.
• However, we are going to create a digital story.
• Explain what a digital story is.
• Give Ss time to write out a script first, which should include greetings, some content, at least one preclosing, and then closings. 
• Note: the content is not the focus here. Rather, the opening and closing of the conversation is.
• Once everyone has a script, have Ss go to voicethread.com and ask groups to create one account for the two of them.
• Once set up, go to "Create"
• Model in front of the class how to google photos and then upload them to the story.
• Ss may use one image for the whole conversation, or they can be more creative
• Then, show Ss how to do a voiceover and how to type in comments (they can choose which they would like to do), and then how to share the activity (link to change viewing settings is at bottom once story is created)
• Give Ss time to create their stories
• Walk around, taking any questions
• When they are done, ask them to email them to teacher (teacher should write email address on board)
• Watch videos in class

End of class (5):

• Wrap up lesson by listing what we went over today
• Discuss how greetings and partings are necessary in any conversation
• Talk about how misunderstanding the expected levels of formality and the answers we are expected to give with greetings and partings can result in miscommunication 
• Take any questions that haven’t already been asked
• Assign homework: Listen for different greetings and partings around you, and try to practice different ones. 
• Model a situation appropriate parting :)

Technological Tools:

Activity 1: Formal/Informal situations and appropriate greetings
writing utensil and paper

Activity 2: Greetings activity using Google Docs:
goo.gl/SOqgj

Activity 3: Partings activity uses Voicethread:
voicethread.com

Overview:

As previously mentioned, this lesson plan is adapted from my ESL practicum class.  The class lasts for two hours and is held once a week from 6-8pm. There are usually about 6-10 learners any given week, and although week to week it is usually the same learners, occasionally there is a new learner who comes in. The learners are mostly beginners, with the exception of two. It should be noted that most of the students are parents of elementary school children (we teach at the school), which is why there is reference to talking to the teachers of the students' children. One important factor here is that in this scenario, there are computers available for the students to use.

The purpose of this lesson is to combine practical language with pragmatic knowledge to reduce the amount of miscommunication occurring as a result of misuse of greetings and partings. Although the students will most likely come to this class having known some of these regular greetings and partings, they may not be as familiar with how we should formality or politeness within English or how we change our language in doing so.  This lesson strives to tackle these goals, as learners must know them to be communicatively competent.

The technology chosen for this lesson was done so with purpose.  For instance, in Activity 2, I thought the collaborate nature of Google Docs would be beneficial early on, as students could work together and could draw on one another's strengths for this communicative activity. Another reason Google Docs seemed fitting is that at the end of the activity, I ask students to share their conversations, and I like that students can follow along if necessary.  At the end of the activity, they also have a good resource they can look at for reference after the lesson.  As for Activity 2, I wanted students to work together again due to the communicative nature of the lesson.  Voicethread seemed fitting, as it's a fun tool for students, and they can be creative while  practicing useful language.  Also, digital stories are great activities for integrating skills. In addition, students can share these digital stories. Finally, Activity 1 does not use technology other than a pen or pencil and paper, as I felt like using technology here would just be too much of a stretch, as this activity seems far simpler when done the "old-fashioned" way.

Apart from instruction, this lesson includes three activities, or tasks, which can be seen as methods of formative assessment.  By the end of this lesson, students should have a list of formal and informal situations, as well as appropriate greetings and responses for those particular contexts.  The students should also have a class Google Doc with appropriate conversation openers for different situations.  Lastly, they will have digital stories, which combine all the ideas from the lesson.  After creating these stories, it is my hope that students feel more comfortable using the language and are having fun with it.

Overall, I feel like lesson is comprehensive in introducing and practicing two speech acts--greeting and partings, which can then be developed and practiced in later lessons.