Lesson Plan 1: Lowercase Alphabet Introduction

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students review the lowercase alphabet.

Lesson Objectives
 Students will identify and distinguish between lowercase letters.

Materials and Setup

Technology/Equipment
 An Internet-and audio-enabled computer, projector, and screen
Supplies/Teacher Materials
 Whiteboard and markers
 Bingo markers such as paper clips, beans, etc.
 Teacher Materials 1.1: Large Lowercase Alphabet Flashcards
 Teacher Materials 1.2: Lowercase Alphabet Bingo Cards
 Optional: Alphabet blocks, magnetic letters, or tiles (from a game such as Scrabble)
Online Resources
 ABC Song Lowercase Letters for Adult Literacy English ESL Learners: https://youtu.be/Toi4kM9qYhg
Student Handouts
 Handout 1: Small Lowercase Alphabet Flashcards. Before class, the teacher will need to be cut out the
flashcards and create individual sets secured with a rubber band or small plastic storage baggie.
 (Optional) Handout 2: Alphabet Tracing Lowercase 1
 (Optional) Handout 3: Alphabet Tracing Lowercase 2
Instructional Tips
 Teaching Vowel Sounds in English. English has 5 letters to represent 14-16 vowel sounds (depending on
who you talk to). This can confuse people from both literate and nonliterate backgrounds, so introduce
them as they sound in your name and learners’ names. The other sounds can be introduced later. For
more information about teaching pronunciation in ESL, see the blog article How to Teach English Letter
Sounds in ESL: The 5 Big Ideas and 7 Activities.
 Key Vocabulary: You may want to ask students to label a page in their notebooks for this lesson’s key
vocabulary and have them write down each of the words as you explain them as they are used in the
context of the lesson. Ask students to write down the meaning of the word in their own language.

Standards
Adult English Language Proficiency Content Standard(s)
 8.1. Recognize the meaning of a few frequently occurring words, simple phrases, and formulaic
expressions

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Lesson 1: Lowercase Alphabet Introduction
CASAS Content Standard(s)
 R1.1: Identify the letters of the English alphabet
 W1.1: Write the letters of the English alphabet
 L1.1: Recognize and distinguish between the various sounds of English
 S1.1: Demonstrate accurate pronunciation of the various sounds of English
Seattle Digital Equity Initiative Skill(s)
 None for this lesson
Northstar Digital Literacy Standards for Essential Computer Skill(s)
 None for this lesson

Key Vocabulary
 alphabet
 lowercase letter/s
 name
 spell
 flashcards
 Can I have / Yes, you can. / No, you can’t.

ENGAGEMENT NOTES

 Sing the ABC song slowly

 Showing the letters on the large flashcards (Teacher Materials 1.1: Large
Lowercase Alphabet Flashcards) as you sing them.
 Observe if students already know the song.
 If not, break it down into the smaller rhyming segments until they are able to
sing along with you.
 Note: If you are not comfortable singing, there are many YouTube videos and
recordings, but please try to use one that is not particularly geared to preschool or
kindergarten aged children. Here is an example: https://youtu.be/Toi4kM9qYhg.

EXPLORATION
 Write your name on the board.
 Say: My name is ______. How do you spell my name? [Spell your name pointing at
each letter].
 Pass out the small lowercase alphabet cards (Handout 1: Small Lowercase Alphabet
Flashcards). Say and demonstrate by holding up the appropriate letter card: How do
you spell my name? [Spell your name. Hold up the correct card. Wait for students to
also hold up the correct card before moving to the next letter.]

EXPLANATION
 Say: Letters represent sounds.
 Show one of the consonant cards from the previous activity. Say: b…buh. Do you
know any words in English that start with the b-buh sound?

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Lesson 1: Lowercase Alphabet Introduction
 Continue through all the consonants. Note that some consonant letters also
represent more than one sound: cat/cell, her/rob, go/gel, win/now. Introduce the
sound as it is used in the learners’ names.
 Present the vowels. For information on how to teach the alphabet and sounds of
letters and vowels, see How to Teach English Letter Sounds in ESL: The 5 Big Ideas
and 7 Activities.

ELABORATION
 Say: Now it is your turn. How do you spell your name?
 Ask each student: What is your name? How do you spell that? Have students use the
flashcards (or tiles or blocks) to spell their names.
 Ask students to spell their name to a partner. Check that they can both spell and
write what is spelled to them.
 If time permits and students need additional practice, play bingo using the Teacher
Materials 1.1 Large Lowercase Alphabet Flashcards and the Teacher Materials 1.2
Lowercase Alphabet Bingo Cards. Students can use paperclips or beans for markers.

EVALUATION
 In pairs, students play Go Fish using their Handout 1: Small Lowercase Alphabet
Flashcards.
 Combine two students’ small set of alphabet flashcards.
 Groups of 4 to 6 work best for this activity.
 Demonstrate shuffling.
 Distribute 4-5 cards to each student. The remaining cards are face down in
the stack.
 One student asks, “Can I have a letter ‘j’”? The other student will say, “Yes,
you can,” or, “No, you can’t. Go Fish.” (The requesting student draws a card
from the deck).
 Students lay down pairs.
 The first student with no cards wins.
 An alternative to playing Go Fish in pairs is to play as a whole classroom. This may be
easier for students with limited English who are not familiar with Go Fish.
Demonstrate to students as you give them the following directions:
 Each student shuffles their set of lowercase alphabet flashcards.
 Each student chooses 5 cards from the set to keep in their hand and place
the other cards face down in a stack.
 The teacher displays and calls out a lowercase letter from the set of small
lowercase alphabet flashcards.
 If the student has the matching lowercase letter, they place the card face up
in front of them.
 If the student does not have the matching lowercase letter, they Go Fish by
taking a card from the stack.
 The first person with no cards left is the winner.

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Lesson 1: Lowercase Alphabet Introduction
 Another alternative to the traditional Go Fish game is to have students ask each
other for letters that make up their name (whether or not they have the letter in
their hand). Students lay down the letters they collect that spell their name. The first
student who spells their name wins.
 If playing Go Fish is difficult, use the Bingo cards. Start by calling out the letters
yourself. Then go around the room and have each student draw a card from your
hand to call out.

Differentiation Resources to Meet Diverse Learner Needs

 If students have no or low first-language literacy, or come from a non-Roman
alphabet, limit the number of letters introduced in the lesson to 7. That is the
average number of new items an adult can remember at a time.
 There are tracing sheets for students who need practice writing the letters. Make
sure to point out problem letters such as b, d, p and q which are only different by the
location of their handle. Students from non-Roman alphabets or no alphabet
frequently find this confusing.
 For the activity where students show you the appropriate card as you spell your
name, you can limit the cards you provide to students to those in your name, or with
a few extras, depending on the level of literacy of your students. In other words, if
students are functionally literate in their first language and comfortable with the
English alphabet, it is appropriate to have them choose cards from a full deck of
alphabet cards. However, if they are at a very basic literacy level, limit the cards to
the letters of your name. If they are slightly higher, include the letters of your name
and extras. How many extras will depend on your assessment of their comfort level.
Always try to reach one or more levels up, or a level just slightly above what is
comfortable for them.
 If you need to repeat this lesson to add new letters, there are a variety of alphabet
games you can play:
 Memory: Two sets of cards are placed face down randomly; students take
turns trying to find matches; they can only keep the match if they can say
the letter and its sound.
 Give and Give Back: Students say the letter and its sound and give it back to
their partner.
 Pass It: Student says the letter and passes it to a classmate.
 Pick It Up: Letters are in front of them, you say pick up letter [b];
students pick it up and show it to you.
 The Clock Game: 4-7 students sit in a circle with all the letters of the
alphabet distributed among them. They must say the alphabet in order,
touching and saying only the names of the letters in front of them. For
more of a challenge, they cannot say two letters in a row, so their
classmates on either side of them may have to help. Any errors and they
go back to letter [a]. For a challenge, see if the team can go through the
entire alphabet in under a certain time. Start with 60 seconds and back
it down to 30 by the end of the game.
 Bingo: There are 20 unique lowercase letter bingo cards in the
curriculum materials that you can use to play bingo.

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Lesson 1: Lowercase Alphabet Introduction
 Text the following links to students on their phones. They can click and go directly to
practice the lowercase alphabet.
 Read and Listen to the Letters of the Alphabet
https://www.esolcourses.com/uk-english/beginners-course/unit-1/the-
alphabet/the-alphabet-vocabulary.html
 Listen To and Write Lowercase Letters 1
https://agendaweb.org/exercises/grammar/alphabet/alphabet-listen-write
 Listen To and Write Lowercase Letters 2
https://agendaweb.org/exercises/grammar/alphabet/listen-write-2
 Listen To and Find Lowercase Vowels
https://agendaweb.org/exercises/grammar/alphabet/vowels-listen-find
 Sequence the Lowercase Alphabet
https://www.esolcourses.com/uk-english/beginners-course/unit-1/the-
alphabet/english-alphabet-sequence-lower-case-letters.html

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