Delta | Module Two

Lesson Plan
Teacher Assignment
XXX LSA 2
Level of learners Number of learners Lesson date Lesson length
intermediate 7 14.07 60 minutes

Contents (criteria)
1. Aims of the lesson (5b)
2. Analysis of target language / skills (5c) ; Potential problems and solutions (5f, 5g)
3. Overview of the group and course (5ai)
4. Timetable fit (5d)
5. Assumptions made (5e)

6. Procedure (5h, 5j)

7. List of lesson materials (with sources) (5i)

8. Comments on individual learners (5aii)

9. Commentary (500–750 words) (5k)

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1. Aims of the lesson (5b)
Main aim
By the end of the lesson students will have practiced using referencing for reading texts Commented [il1]: Which type?
Commented [il2]: You provide the linguistic component of
your aim but not the communicative one.
Subsidiary aim(s)
x

Professional aim(s)
To plan realistic timing and use appropriate strategies to adjust the timing if needed during
the lesson

2. Analysis of target language / skills (5c) Commented [il3]: You make some valid points here, but
this seems incomplete. What about the rest of the texts? What
about the final practice task – the reading comprehension:
what referencing does it practise?

Skill
There are two complementary processes involved in the skill of reading (Nuttall, 1996),
(Watkins 2018):
• Top-down processing, which draws on the schemata people have of the world, as
well as their experience and common sense;
• Bottom-up processing, which involves decoding the given language in order to
understand the meaning.
The latter is achieved through decoding the smallest language units first (letter-sound
relations, words, phrases), gradually moving on to larger ones (clauses, sentences,
paragraphs, texts) (Nuttall, 1996), (Watkins 2018).
Referencing is a bottom-up reading process that involves finding what a given referring
expression refers to in the text and contributes to the meaning of the text being clear
(Thornbury, 2005).
Referencing expressions in this lesson are personal subject and object pronouns, possessive
pronouns, nouns preceded by the definite article or a demonstrative.
Anaphoric reference refers the reader to the text before the referring expression and
cataphoric reference refers the reader to the text after the referring expression
(Thornbury,2005).

Language samples from the text to be analysed in the lesson

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Adapted from “Life” Intermediate © National geographic learning

“The land” – anaphoric reference to “the mountains of Puerto Rico”, expressed by a noun
preceded by the definite article;
“This place” – anaphoric reference to “the mountains of Puerto Rico”, expressed by a
noun preceded by the definite article;
“Their”- anaphoric reference to “their families”, expressed by a third person plural
possessive pronoun;
“it” – cataphoric reference to “to feel this love”, expressed by a third person singular
personal subject pronoun;
“It” – anaphoric reference to “love (of the land)”, expressed by a third person singular
personal object pronoun;
“It” – anaphoric reference to “love (of the land)”, expressed by a third person singular
personal object pronoun;
“It” – anaphoric reference to “love (of the land)”, expressed by a third person singular
personal object pronoun.

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Adapted from “Life” Intermediate © National geographic learning
“The mountains” – cataphoric reference to “surrounding Adjuntas”, expressed by a noun
preceded by the definite article;
“The minerals” – anaphoric reference to “gold, silver, copper and zinc”, expressed by a
noun preceded by the definite article;
“They” – anaphoric reference to “(local) people”, expressed by a third person plural
personal subject pronoun;
“It”- anaphoric reference to “coffee”, expressed by a third person singular personal object
pronoun;
“The profits” – anaphoric reference to “selling coffee”, expressed by a noun preceded by
the definite article;
“They” – cataphoric reference to “the local people”, expressed by a third person plural
personal subject pronoun;
“Their” – cataphoric reference to “the local people”, expressed by a third person plural
possessive pronoun.

Bibliography:

Nuttall, C. (1996) Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. 2nd ed. Oxford, England:
Macmillan Education.

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Thornbury, S. (2005) Beyond the Sentence. Oxford, England: Macmillan Education.

Watkins, P. (2018) Cambridge handbooks for language teachers: Teaching and developing
reading skills: Cambridge handbooks for language teachers. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.

Potential problems and solutions with target language / skills (5f, 5g)
Problem Solution
Students may not see the value of doing Do an awareness-raising activity at the
bottom-up skills training beginning of the lesson
Students are probably not trained to find Model the task on the screen, visualise the
references in text process, do a few examples together,
eliciting answers from students.
Check the understanding of the instructions
Students may find cataphoric referencing Before the task highlight that referents can
more difficult to identify be found both before and after the
referring expression;
In feedback, give more attention to
cataphoric reference

3. Overview of the group and course (5ai)

It’s an intermediate group of 7 adult learners, their age slightly varies, 5 of them are
women and 2 are men. For most of them, their L1 is Russian and Ukrainian. Their level of
ability is mixed. Many of them work with people, so not surprisingly, speaking is the most
favourite activity of the group. Almost everyone mentioned travelling as the reason for
learning English, another popular reason is work. They prefer activities that involve talking
in pairs and they also feel the need to focus on accuracy. Some students lack
imagination, that’s why extra prompting and brainstorming may be required. The group
dynamics has been positive so far, students willingly participate in various activities and

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make an effort. Most of them have substantial experience learning English- since
childhood, which allows us to expect a degree of autonomy. Most students are fluent
enough for intermediate level, they speak and make themselves understood. They would
benefit from using language more accurately and developing a more thorough
understanding of the way English works.

4. Timetable fit (5d)

In one of the previous lessons, students have learnt a lot of positive adjectives, some of
which occur in the text. In most previous lessons students have practised language
systems, that’s why focusing on language skills adds variety and redresses the balance.

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5. Assumptions made (5e)
Language and skills

I don’t assume students are trained to work on bottom-up reading processes, which is why
I’m prepared to raise their awareness first on complete understanding being important, Commented [il4]: Not sure what you mean here?

and I’m also prepared to check the instructions carefully.

Topics, materials and activities

Travelling is something most students mentioned being interested in, that’s why they may
find it interesting to read a National Geographic text about distant lands. The text is
graded to the intermediate level, and I don’t think it contains any language which can
block their understanding because of the lexical meaning. Most activity types I assume will
be unfamiliar to students, which is why I’m going to model activities and carefully check
the understanding of the instructions.

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6. Procedure (5h, 5j, 5f, 5g)
Timing &
Stage name & aim Procedure Anticipated problems Solutions
Interaction
1) Warm-up: self- 10 Students answer the questions and find their Students may find the task Provide a clear model
reflection + mins places on the ladder (Slide 1) individually first. unusual and be not sure and be ready to help Commented [il5]: This task could be broken into two.

content FB Individual Teacher monitors to help and prompt where what to do

To help students Pairs necessary.
realise the need to OC They compare their answers in pairs to see if they
practice bottom- have anything in common. Open class content Students may be late Help them join in,
up reading skills feedback. possibly ask their
and assess partners to help them
themselves as
readers

2) Lead-in to the 10 mins Students look at the slide for 15 seconds and try The projector stops Provide the printed
text + reading Individual to remember the content (Slide 2). Later, they working. pictures.
for gist + FB Pairs make predictions in pairs about what the text will
To familiarise the Individual be about. They have 1 minute to read the text
students with the Pairs and check their predictions. Later they compare
text OC in pairs what they’ve understood. Open class Commented [il6]: There are two separate stages here with
two different aims. Don’t be tempted to conflate stages.
content feedback.

3) Highlighting the 5 mins Teacher demonstrates the task (Slide 4). Teacher The projector stops working Provide the printed

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 Timing &
Stage name & aim Procedure Anticipated problems Solutions
Interaction
target skill OC is doing the task on the board, eliciting answers or students have a version.
To provide the from students. problem reading.
input
4)Highlighting the 10 min Students continue working with the second part
target skill- part 2 + Pairs of the text in pairs doing the same task (Side 5).
FB on language OC Teacher monitors to help where necessary and
To reinforce the choose the students for nomination during
understanding of feedback. Open class feedback on the subskill.
the process

5)Subskill practice 7 min Students work individually with the third part of There isn’t enough time by Depending on the
task Individual the text (Slide 6) to find all the words which refer now. situation, this task can
To provide Pairs to the same person. Teacher monitors to help be skipped or
students with the OC and choose the students for nomination. reduced (identify only
practice of the Students check in pairs and open-class one person); it’s also
target subskill and feedback. Slide 7 contains the answer key to possible to streamline
help them double-check and visualise. feedback by
become more projecting the answer
confident with it key straightaway
6) Reading 8 mins Students read the last part of the text (Slide 8)
comprehension Individual and answer two comprehension questions, using
task Pairs referencing non-explicitly. Commented [il7]: your feedback needs to be really
responsive here to highlight which type of reference helped
them find the right answers.

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 Timing &
Stage name & aim Procedure Anticipated problems Solutions
Interaction
To help students OC They check in pairs and then the teacher elicits
see the real-life answers in open-class.
value of the skill
7) Self-reflection + Individual Students answer self-reflection questions (Slide There isn’t enough time by This stage can be
content FB Pairs 9), write down their answers and check in pairs. now. streamlined – students
To provide the OC In feedback, talk about reading and find out can start by working in
sense of what the students think they have achieved in pairs.
achievement and this lesson. Encourage them to read in English in
get the evidence the future
of learning

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7. List of lesson materials (with sources) (5i)

Slide1 Slide 2

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Slide 3

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Slide 4

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Slide 5

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Slide 6 Slide 7

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Slide 8

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Slide 9

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8. Comments on individual learners (5aii)
Learner(s) Characteristics relevant to the lesson
Vova He is a software Engineer, his L1 is Ukrainian. He’s been studying English
since he was at school. Recently he’s been studying English on Preply,
setting a goal for himself to meet speakers from various countries. As a
result, he is a strong student, he may know more than a teacher
assumes. He’s also aware of learning strategies, for example, that it is
important to use TL throughout the lesson in order to learn it. When it
comes to reading he mentioned that he enjoys understanding texts in
detail, that’s why I think it may be interesting for him to practice the
bottom up-skill in the lesson.
Irina Irina is a travel agent, her first languages are Russian and Ukrainian. She
has experience being a CELTA/DELTA student, so she is probably
prepared to do a variety of tasks. She needs English for her job and
travelling. She finds reading relatively easy, that’s why I think she is
ready to try and take it to a new level by practising the bottom-up
subskill. Her favourite classroom activity is speaking, which is also going
to happen in the lesson, for example at the prediction stage and self-
reflection stages.
Zeynep L1- Crimean Tatar, speaks several other languages (Turkish, Russian,
Ukrainian), she is a professional linguist. As a result, she quickly grasps
language rules and patterns. Given that she is a strong, analytical and
independent learner, accuracy focus stages are interesting for her,
that’s why I think she will enjoy the language analysis and self-reflection
stages.
Kostya Kostya is a manager in an insurance company, his first languages are
Russian and Ukrainian. He studies English to read books, watch videos
and do business, that’s why I think bottom-up reading should be of
interest to him. He finds reading relatively easy. He also expressed a wish
to speak a lot in the lessons, so I think he’ll enjoy having the opportunity
to discuss the answers with partners and the prediction activity.
Kate Kate is a corporate lawyer, her first languages are Russian and
Ukrainian. She has substantial experience studying English, since
childhood, both in groups and privately. She needs English mostly for
travelling. Unfortunately, she lacks imagination, so she needs prompting

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Learner(s) Characteristics relevant to the lesson
if a task requires it, which may be the case during the prediction
activity. She has also mentioned speaking being challenging, that’s
why I think she will benefit from reading practice in general.
Vika Vika is a journalist, in the lessons she enjoys speaking, working in pairs.
She has a good range of vocabulary and she speaks confidently, I think
she will particularly enjoy pairwork and class discussions.
Nastya Nastya is a student, she is the youngest person in the class, also she is
new to the group at this stage. While she sometimes seems shy to
speak, it’s most likely that she is a strong analytical learner- she has
dealt perfectly with accuracy–aimed tasks so far. I think she would
benefit from focusing on fluency and skills development.
Tamara Tamara is new to the group. In the two bottom-up skills lessons, she
attended she demonstrated the ability to analyse the language and
answer comprehension questions, that’s why I think she’ll be quite
confident to do similar tasks in this lesson.

9. Commentary (500–750 words) (5k)

Rationale for lesson aims, content and procedure with reference to:
a. the learners’ needs and characteristics

Many students in this group mentioned that reading is quite easy for them. However, I
haven’t had a chance yet to see their reading skills at work much yet. The only texts I saw
them read were for the purpose of teaching systems and required only gist reading. I
assume they may be confident with reading for gist, that’s why I would like to challenge
them with analysing the text to greater detail.

The initial stage of the lesson will allow them to reflect better on what kind of readers they
are. They might come to realise that not everything is easy for them yet and there are
some aspects of reading they could focus on more and practice more.

The second stage, which is reading for the gist, is something that should be familiar to
them. Apart from familiarising students with the content of the text, this task is also aimed
at building the bridge between familiar and unfamiliar task types. This will provide the

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opportunities for the students to do something they probably already can do fairly well,
and this will boost their confidence, which is particularly useful in preparation for the
following stages.

Following this, students will attempt to analyse and practice a bottom-up reading process,
referencing. This should help them build on what they already can do with reading texts,
extend the range of their reading subskills and challenge themselves to a certain point, as
well as add variety to the way they usually read.

The penultimate step is aimed at demonstrating how they could apply this sub-skill- by
answering comprehension questions. Students will see once again a familiar task type and
will hopefully see that what they’ve been practising is one of the ways to approach such
tasks. I will first give them the opportunity to notice the connection between referencing
and answering comprehension questions, and then ask them what helped them to
answer the questions.

At the end of the lesson, they’ll be able to reassess their self-reflection answers, and,
hopefully, express what they learnt to do in this lesson.

b. your reading and research for the background essay.

Taking into account the limit of time and the fact that the task type will probably be new
for the students, I decided to include dealing with only anaphoric and cataphoric
referencing (Thornbury, 2005) in the lesson.

At the beginning of the lesson, students will read for gist, which is a top-down process.
During the subskill practice activity, students will try to identify anaphoric and cataphoric
references in the text, after that they will try to find all the referring expressions which refer
to the same referent, which is a bottom-up process. This should be useful to combine the
two because, according to Nuttall (1996) and Watkins (2018) readers use both top-down
and bottom-up processes, and they complement each other.

According to Thornbury (2005), referencing is an important aspect of cohesion and can

cause trouble to students, that’s why it’s worth looking at it in detail. I also feel that there
may be an imbalance between the development of the top-down and bottom-up skills of

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the students, that’s why the main aim of the lesson is to practice the bottom-up subskill, to
redress the balance.

Commentary word count: 540

Bibliography:

Nuttall, C. (1996) Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. 2nd ed. Oxford, England:
Macmillan Education.

Thornbury, S. (2005) Beyond the Sentence. Oxford, England: Macmillan Education.

Watkins, P. (2018) Cambridge handbooks for language teachers: Teaching and

developing reading skills: Cambridge handbooks for language teachers. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.

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