Prepared by LAI Mee Ling
Unit Summary:
This is a task-based unit adapted from a textbook that the students are using. The task requires students to design fashion for one or more of their teachers. In order to accomplish the task, students need to:
1) devise interview questions in groups;
2) interview one (or more) of their teachers, getting information about his/her likes and dislikes;
3) design clothes (either office wear, casual wear or night wear) for him/her according to their teacher’s preferences;
4) do an oral presentation in class with support of PowerPoint slides, which includes a) a report of the interview findings, b) a description of their designs for the teacher(s), c) a brief explanation of why the design suits their teacher(s).
This unit of lessons showed how students were prepared for the language and skills necessary for the task.
Total Number of Lessons (35 mins each):
Nine in five sessions
Background:
The lessons were conducted in a F.2 class of a CMI school. The English standard of the students was average on the whole while some were quite weak. Despite this, students were mostly willing to learn. Due to the good relationship between the teacher and pupils, students in the class normally participated actively in all class activities. English lessons were usually planned under the rationale of task-based approach, and students were familiar with different kinds of activities in the form of pairs and groups.
Lesson Highlights:
Tackling the topic for meaning
Many student-teachers start a task-based unit by spelling out to students the objectives of the unit and what kind of work (e.g. an interview, a composition etc) is involved in the lessons. This strategy, however, is demotivating rather than motivating. In this unit, instead of taking the lessons as ‘work’, the teacher tackled the theme (i.e. Fashion) as an authentic daily-life topic. She started the lessons by asking students, ‘Do you like reading fashion magazines?’ Then she said, ‘Now, you are going to be fashion designers. Are you excited about it?’ Thereafter, the unit proceeded with students learning to design clothes for themselves and their beloved teachers. In order to do these, students would need different vocabulary, language patterns, and skills to express their creative ideas and fulfil the mission of a fashion designer. Language work was thus packaged within an authentic purpose.
Support through scaffolding
In order to build up students’ language competence as well as confidence, the lesson was conducted in small teaching steps, through which, necessary language input was provided and language skills were practised. All pedagogical moves in the lessons were task-oriented with the ultimate objective to enable students to complete the final task (i.e. design fashion for their teachers). Careful scaffolding was built into the design of the unit; lessons were built on one another, addressing the language patterns and skills that students needed for accomplishing the final task.Through the lessons, students’ language competence was enhanced through the support of scaffolding. In Lessons 1-2, students were taught the vocabulary of colours, patterns and materials. After they had mastered these adjectives, they were taught to put them together in the correct order. When they were able to handle this, they continued to learn to give reasons for their likes and dislikes (Lessons 2-3). These then formed the building blocks for paragraph writing (Lessons 3-4). Students put all they had learnt in the previous lessons together to describe the features of two of their favourite school uniform designs and explained the reasons for their preferences. This, again, provided an opportunity for the students to practise the language necessary for the project presentation.
Clear structure of lessons
The lessons were mainly structured in the form of “input, practice and output”. For example, in Lessons 1-2, adjectives of colour, patterns and materials were taught with the aid of PowerPoint slides; students then practised the pattern of expressing likes and dislikes together with the vocabulary learnt. At the end of the session, students labelled the clothes (given by the teacher) with the vocabulary learnt in the session. Similarly, in Lessons 3-4, students were taught ‘the order of adjectives’ and to explain the reasons of their preferences (input). Then, they worked in pairs to describe some given fashion items and express their preferences with reasons (practice). After that, they were given similar exercises in written form as individual homework (output).Classroom interaction
The lessons were conducted through different patterns of interactions. Even when the teacher was teaching vocabulary and sentence patterns, she did not lecture; instead she involved students in the process through active elicitation (T <-> Ss) (see examples in Lessons 1-2). Interactions between students were active too since they were given plenty of pair and group work throughout the lessons (Ss <-> Ss).Tangible outcomes of lessons
There were tangible products in each session:
a) Lessons 1-2: Labelled clothes;
b) Lessons 3-4: Description of fashion items and expression of preferences;
c) Lessons 5-6: Two written paragraphs describing students’ favourite school uniform designs;
d) Lessons 7-8: Interview questions and a plan for their project;
e) Lesson 9: Presentation of project results.Integration of four language skills
The unit addressed also the integration of language skills. As indicated in the unit plan, students were involved frequently in the practice of speaking, listening and writing, though reading was not emphasized in this unit.New attempts
Process writing was attempted in Lessons 5-6. Students were guided to review their friend’s writing with the help of a checklist. With the peer comments, students were given time to re-write their paragraph.Project work was also attempted in Lessons 7-9. Lessons 7-8 served as a good example of how project work should be guided. Although the project was only a mini one, the teacher provided clear steps for students, guided them to devise interview questions and allocate jobs among group members. Such guidance was essential especially for a junior secondary class who had little experience in carrying out independent project work.
Summary
In brief, this unit is an example of a series of highly-structured lessons with a task-oriented focus. This also shows how teachers provide scaffolding to students in order to enable them to accomplish the task; through that, students’ language ability and organization skills are enhanced. Many student-teachers often assign to students one task after another without offering much help. They are often criticized as testing the students rather than teaching them. The possible consequence of which is that capable students will be able to complete all tasks without the need of a teacher while the less capable ones gain nothing but more frustration. This unit shows how teachers can help to build up students’ competence so that everyone in the class will enjoy the success of learning through the process of accomplishing the task(s).
Discussion Questions:
1) Do you think the lessons were student-centred enough? How could student involvement be further increased?
2) Do you think the learning task (i.e. designing fashion for teachers) is appropriate for this class?
3) Rate the learning task of this unit in terms of the features described on p.41 of the Hong Kong English Language Syllabus for Secondary Schools, 1999. The rating scale ranges from 5 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly disagree).
| The learning task of this unit motivate learners by: | Rating |
| a) appealing to the imagination | |
| b) providing challenge | |
| c) developing confidence | |
| d) providing a sense of achievement | |
| e) expanding interests | |
| f) providing enjoyment | |
| g) providing learners with opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning |
4) Describe how the task of this unit matches with the five features described on p.43 of the Hong Kong English Language Syllabus for Secondary Schools, 1999:
a) A task should have a purpose;
b) A task should have a context;
c) A task should involve learners in a mode of thinking (high/low order) and doing;
d) The purposeful activity in which learners engage in carrying out a task should lead towards a product;
e) A task should require the learners to draw upon their framework of knowledge and skills.
5) Which part(s) of this unit do you think should be strengthened or shortened?