Vygotsky Lesson

July 16, 2012

Created by: Melissa Arnesen-Trunzo

Lesson Plan: Relieving anxiety surrounding language for intermediate-advanced students who are about to experience ‘home-stays’.

Class size: 13

Age of students: 16-17

Nationality: Mexican

Materials:

- Feelings and Needs Cards

- Butcher Paper

- Pens/Markers

- Chairs

- Tables (optional- we drew on the floor)

- 1 Guest Speaker who speaks a little of language students L1 (Note: It is important that this person speaks the ‘target language’ of the course … in this case English… but knows a little (less is better) of the students L1).

à PART 1:

“The More Knowledgeable Other”-

- Have the students, guest speaker (and self) sit in a circle.

- Do not inform students that this is actually a lesson, rather ask them if they would be willing to help a friend who is trying to work on their (in this case) Spanish with them (I will refer to the ‘friend/guest speaker speaking in Spanish, but this could be modified to any L1 language).

- Have the ‘guest speaker’ introduce themselves to your students in the students L1 (google translate might is a fine alternative if the person knows very little of the students L1).

o It is important to be honest with the students about why this person is speaking their L1. In my case my ‘guest speaker’ was heading to Peru to teach English to high school students and was hoping to practice a bit of Spanish with my students.

o The ‘guest speaker’ may want to talk about what they hope to do with the language and where they plan to go with the language. At the end they can say “I would appreciate it if you could ask me a few questions so that I can hear different accents.”

- The students can use this opportunity to ask as many questions as they want. The guest speaker can take time answering the questions.

- After a few minutes (depends on the ‘guest speaker’ and ‘students’) the teacher can thank the ‘guest speaker’ and ask the class to take out their feelings and needs cards (optional) and journal about this experience using the feelings cards to describe how they felt about this process. [Note: You do not need feelings and needs cards. I used them as I was teaching Nonviolent Communication vocabulary to my students, but if students have a basic understanding of vocabulary used to describe emotions/feelings this should be fine.] Ask the student to describe how they felt and ask the guest speaker to describe how they felt. Spend 5 to 10 minutes allowing them to journal.

- Have the student’s pair up and share what they have written with each other. Have the guest speaker pair up with a student to share what they have written.

- Ask the class to come together as a whole. Ask them if they would not mind sharing what they have written. Allow the students time to share and speak. [Note: This would be a nice time to include a stone or ‘talking stick’ so that those who want to speak can and those who do not want to speak do not have to.] Make sure that the ‘guest speaker’ shares about what they wrote and their experience.

- When they have finished pose a question to the class:

o “You are all native speakers of Spanish. (Name of guest speaker) is learning Spanish. You have all just shared your feelings with the class about how you felt. How do you think this experience is similar to your home-stay families when they meet you? (Answer) How do you think this experience is different? (Answer)” [Note: I am still working on the wording here… if you have any other ideas on how to pose this question to students I would LOVE to hear it! Thanks!!]

- Allow students to talk and share ideas. If students are still worried about language and their home-stay families allow them to share these worries. One example I heard was… “But I worry that if my home-stay family hears my accent they will laugh at me.” I responded with “Did you laugh at (the guest speaker’s name)?” He shook his head no and there were (Ah-ha’s heard all around the circle).

- Allow students to talk about how they are feeling now that they have experienced what it was like to be the ‘more knowledgeable other’ the ‘host family.’

- Mention that because they have written these ‘feelings’ in their journals they can keep these with them and remember how they felt when they visit their home-stay families. This will hopefully support ‘empathy for self’ when students find themselves frustrated with language/culture.

à PART 2: (optional… just an added extension)

What I need –

Ask the students to use their needs cards and choose 3 or 4 needs they need from their host families. Have them draw pictures of what this need means to them. Provide the students with paper and colored markers. Ask the students what music they would like to listen to while they color (Pandora is great for a continued sound-track). Play music and let them enjoy this moment.

When students are finished drawing hang out their work around the classroom and have a ‘gallery walk.’

After the ‘gallery walk’ allow the students to explain their images and why this ‘need’ is important to them. Students can sit on the floor and each student can stand and share their work. The class will turn in the direction of the picture hanging.