This lesson plan demonstrates how we can use drawing to seed language emergence.
- Language level: Elementary – Intermediate (A2 – B1)
- Learner type: Young learners; Teens; Adults
- Time: 35 minutes (+ Follow up)
- Activity: Drawing; Writing sentences
- Topic: Stereotypes; Men and women
- Language: Expressing reason; Present perfect; Present continuous; ‘Going to’
- Materials: Materials free
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Lesson plan outline
Note: This activity will work best for classes of 6 or more students.
- Give every student in the class a scrap piece of paper.
- Divide the class into two groups.
- Tell Group A that you would like them to draw a picture of a woman buying flowers. Tell Group B that you would like them to draw a picture of a man buying flowers.
- Ask everyone to give their flower buyer a name. Students should write the names on their drawings.
- Each student is going to think of a reason why his/her flower buyer is buying flowers. Ask all members of Group A to work together and all members of Group B to work together. Group members should share ideas and make sure that no one in the group chooses the same reason.
- Ask everyone to write their reason for buying flowers on the reverse sides of their drawings (i.e. the blank, non-picture sides). They should write a single sentence that starts like this: [Flower buyer’s name] is buying flowers because …
- Circulate and offer help and corrections as your student write their sentences. See Comment below for information about a possible grammar focus.
- Ask students from Group A to mingle with students from Group B. Ask them to show their drawings to each other, introduce their characters and say why they are buying flowers.
- Take all drawings from your learners to prepare Follow up 1 (see below).
Note: Some of your students may be reluctant artists. If so, let them know that you don’t expect masterpieces – just quick sketches. One way to get students started is to lead by example – draw a picture of your own on the board – the simpler, the better.
Note: This collaborative process ensures diversity of ideas and more importantly, language. Without the collaboration, it is possible that too many students will focus on the obvious reasons for buying flowers – Valentine’s Day, for example.
Example: This is Miriam. She is buying flowers because she has bought a new flat and wants to decorate it.
Follow up 1
Before the next class, remodel students’ sentences where necessary (i.e. offer corrections or alternative ways of expressing their ideas). Scan or photograph all of their drawings and then create a slideshow in which each image is followed by the character’s reason for buying flowers (See video at the top of the page for an example.) Slideshows can be made using PowerPoint or film-editing software (e.g. Windows Movie Maker or iMovie).
Create a gap fill exercise to draw students’ attention to structural aspects of language in the sentences, especially present perfect and structures with ‘going to’. For example:
In the next class, give out the gap fill and ask students to complete it. Following this, show students the slide show and let them check their answers.
Follow up 2
Refer students back to their drawings. Ask them to identify generalisations that they made about the different reasons for men and women buying flowers (Recall that Group A students drew women and Group B students drew men.) Turn this into a class discussion or a writing activity about generalisations and stereotypes.
Comment
Before the writing stage (step 6) you may want to clarify the structures that the activity has a natural relationship with:
The present perfect
- Reasons before now
- María is buying flowers because she has fallen in love.
Structures with ‘going to’
- Reasons after now
- Jeremy is buying flowers because he is going to visit his mother (‘going to’ + verb).
- Jeremy is buying flowers because he is going to a wedding (‘going to’ + place/event).
The sentence writing can then be made more restrictive. For a group of 8 students for example, tell them that between them, they have to construct:
- 4 sentences with present perfect structures
- 2 sentences with ‘going to’ + verb structures
- 2 sentences with ‘going to’ + place/event structures
Variation
Try this same activity with different scenarios. Bear in mind, however, that different scenarios will give rise to different grammar structures. Some examples:
- A man/woman is looking out of the window.
- A man/woman is buying a rubber chicken.
- A man/woman is sitting in the middle of the road.
- A man/woman is running to the toilet.
Image credits
All of these images came from the same class – a particularly artistic group. But sorry – I have completely forgotten which class it was. Can anyone help? The image at the very top of the screen was done by a professional – Nicolás Dionis who also produced two illustrations for my OUP book on images.
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Last Friday, a woman from Barcelona bought flowers for some policemen. You can see her distributing the flowers at the end of the clip below:
The last time I bought flowers was for Jo, my wife, because she really likes flowers and I love her lots. (Actually, they were from Rosie, my daughter, but I paid for them). They were yellow gerberas, I think!
Another variation, then, is to talk about the last time you bought flowers.
Nice idea Dan
We could also talk about the first time you ever bought flowers. For me, the first time I ever bought flowers – I actually stole them out of my garden to give to a girl called Lorna. She wasn’t too impressed I seem to remember. And then I got into trouble from my mum. I think I was 17 at the time.
Reasons *not* to steal flowers!
:-)
I loved… It’s a good idea!
Why not use past, present and future tenses + justifications? Great for GCSE practice (for French): J’ai achete des fleurs pour ma mere parce qu’elle etait malade. Je vais acheter des fleurs pour Cheryl Cole parce qu’elle est belle etc.
A great task for differentiation by outcome: thanks!
Thanks Clare
Great suggestion!
Jamie :-)
Hey Jamie! Great activities! I always use your ideas when teaching! I’m from Argentina! I’m in third year of the English Teaching Training Course, yeah I’m not a full teacher yet, but I will for sure! I’ve just created my little blog! I’m just a starting with Teach-nology! I love working with videos on youtube! I always use them when I have to introduce a new topic or vocabulary! Let’s keep in touch!!! See u!!
Nice to meet you Fede
Good luck with the blogging
Jamie :-)
thank you a lot. It’s a really good activity.
Thank you Kudret :-)
You really gave me a reason for continuing teaching and doing a good job.
Thanks a lot.
I have already bought and sent a virtual bouquet of flowers to you,
Jamie, for this activity. My florist student was over the moon. :-)))
Another student wanted to know song’s title and the name of the
singer. She was captured by the voice and the guitar. Tried to google
it, haven’t found it. Can you help me?
Ha ha – English for flower sellers – I like the idea!
The song is by a band called the Bacon Brothers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBkom5lxWOY
It’s on the iTunes music store as well.
I found the song using YouTube’s ‘Audioswap’ function. I must make a video to demonstrate that sometime. It’s very useful.
Thank you Eniko and say hello to your florist student.
Jamie :-)
Have a look at this:
http://lyricstraining.com/play/9041/bacon_brothers/flowers
Hope you like it, my student did. :-) Use it, if you want. And of course, my students says ‘Thank you, Jamie’ , too. And she really means it.
Wow – I’ve never seen that site. Thank you for sharing it Eniko.
Jamie :-)
Jamie, that’s a brilliant activity, tried it with my students of different levels of proficiency and it works really good. The trick behind it is, in my opinion, its simplicity and multi-level applicability. The reason students come up with helps to elicit some good language (and spot the students’ weaknesses too). So, we receive a good number of sentences based on the reasons and give our students on the spot “hot feedback”. My favourite. I saw you present it to a large audience at IATEFL conference in Poland :-). Works well form A2-B2 CEFR.
Hey Jacek
Great feedback to get. Thank you for the comment.
Hope all is well in Poland. Hope to come back soon.
Jamie :)