Welcome to UNIT 21.4
PREVIOUSLY: In Unit 21.3, we discussed about the various ways of teaching the
sub topic “Writing
notes from oral texts " in Form One.
IN THIS UNIT 21.4, we will
cover the sub topic “Writing cards” in Form Two.
TOPIC’S INFORMATION
Main Topic:
WRITING CARDS AND MESSAGES
Sub Topic: Writing
cards
Periods per sub topic: 14
Class: Form Two
DESCRIPTION OF THE SUB TOPIC
In the past, people used drums, bells, and people to
summon or invite people to celebrate a certain ceremony being held at a
particular household. Until this modern time, some societies are still using
these as the methods of inviting people.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THE LESSON
In this sub topic/lesson, the student should be able
to write cards for various occasions and events.
A. TEACHER’S PREPARATION STAGE
This stage is about the preparation of the teacher
before undertaking the lessons of the particular sub topic. These are all
activities, procedures, materials, teaching aids, and games prepared by the
teacher for teaching a sub topic:
- Putting heads together: Introducing the topic/lesson properly.
Organising how students will be able to get to know what is the
topic/lesson about. It is where teacher makes sure that students are going
to be in his/her train. It includes brainstorming and familiarisation of
the topic/lesson with the students.
This
makes students stay together with the teacher. It is at this stage students can
understand what is going to be discussed in the particular topic.
In this sub topic/lesson; the teacher will guide students to brainstorm together. The teacher
will ask students which ways they use to invite friends, neighbours or
relatives at their ceremonies. Students are expected to give out various ways.
These ways can be grouped into two categories. The traditional invitations in
which people deliver their invitations through the word of mouth and through
written way (a modern) in which people deliver their invitations through
written forms like letters and cards.
On the
other hand, the teacher can discuss with students on the factors for
invitations or reasons for inviting people. First, there should be an occasion
or event that prompt someone or people to invite others. Second, the reasons
for invitations also should be addressed. The following are some of the
reasons:
1) Getting to know each other
2) People want to have fun together.
3) People want to socialise.
4) To accomplish a certain event
5) To say goodbye to departing member of the family
6) To welcome someone
7) To congratulate someone
Thus,
we can have various forms of cards that serve various purposes. We can have:
1) Invitation
cards (birthday, send off, wedding etc)
2) Cards to
express sympathy,
3) Cards to
congratulate others,
4) Cards to wish
others good luck,
5) Cards to
appreciate others, etc
It's
a mistake to think that when we say cards we actually mean invitation cards.
There are various forms of cards and invitation card is just one of those
varied forms of large category of cards. However, we will mostly discuss about
invitation cards for one reason: they are most common in our life experiences.
- Preparation of Materials. A teacher has to decide on the teaching/learning
materials he/she is going to use.
In this sub topic/lesson, a teacher will have to prepare a variety of invitation cards, cards
for sympathy, cards for congratulation, and cards to express appreciation. As
teaching media/aids, teacher will have to prepare the relevant materials for
the lesson. For example, a teacher may find any invitation cards or messages
written in English language and produce copies according to the number of
his/her students or just produce the copies enough for considerable number of
discussion groups.
- Target Practice. Show them/Guide them to the practice of the
functions of the sub topic. A teacher has to show or guide students to the
target practice of the grammatical functions of the sub topic.
In this sub topic/lesson, the teacher will guide students to practice how to write invitation
cards by using these styles of writing:
Mr./Mrs/Dr./Prof/Ms......
Has the pleasure of inviting.....
Dear....
To......
On your.....
To .......on
the sad demise of......
The family
of......
Get well
soon.......
The
students have to copy these targeted grammatical structures and practice how to
use them in writing invitation cards or messages.
- Context-Based Practice. A teacher leads students to the discussion on
how the target grammatical functions practised earlier can be applied or
integrated into the contexts and situations. The students are guided by
the teacher to apply the learnt skills in relevant contexts and situations
like school and library.
In this sub topic/lesson, the parties or ceremonies like graduation
ceremony, graduation party, birthday party, wedding party, death or funeral
services, illness, get-well soon events, as well as success parties are some of
the common occasions or events where cards/ invitation cards may be applied to
invite people.
- Vocabulary Building Practice. At this time, teacher discusses with the
students on the vocabularies and phrases to apply in the already mentioned
contexts and situations.
In this sub topic/lesson, the most commonly applied vocabularies are: pleasure, RSVP, salutation, congratulations, honour, respond, demise,
pass away, condolences, good luck, success.
B. TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCEDURES, ACTIVITIES AND
GAMES
Guide the students to the full sub topic/ lesson
procedures, activities and games for better understanding of the sub topic by
following these activities:
ACTIVITY ONE: Brainstorming. The teacher has to brainstorm with the students on the sub topic/lesson's
aspects through oral questions with answers, pair works, and group discussions
of all important concepts to get students on track.
In this activity, students
have to brainstorm on what they do when they have birthdays or important
occasions. The teacher brainstorms with students on what they do when they have
such events like birthday parties, wedding ceremonies and others. In the events
like these, many activities are executed including invitations, preparation of
foods and drinks, preparation of the event halls, as well as the organization
of the event itself. However, in this topic, students are not required to
understand all these formalities. In this topic, students have to practice and
demonstrate the skills of writing invitation cards in various events in their
life.
ACTIVITY TWO: Teacher's Demonstration. Teacher applies his/models or examples so as to bring the topic/lesson
and the students into the real or common sense of the topic/lesson.
In this
activity,
the teacher will provide students with model invitation cards. These are real
invitation cards such as birthday party cards, wedding invitation cards, send
off invitation cards, graduation invitation cards and others. To bring the
lesson to reality, the teacher can ask students to come with sample invitation
cards they have at homes or at school. These may be the invitation cards that
were sent to them by their family members or friends. For those who are not
boarding school students, they can ask their parents or other family members to
get these invitation cards. If every student has any kind of invitation card,
the lesson will be easy.
- It will be easy to find
out features of invitation cards.
- It will be easy to find
out steps for writing invitation cards, and
- It will be easy to write
invitation cards.
At
another stage, teacher should guide students to discuss the format of
invitation cards. This is going to be easy if every student has a copy of any
kind of invitation card. Then, the teacher can discuss with students the
formats of invitation cards. Students should be asked by the teacher to compare
the format of invitation card written on the board with the format of the
invitation cards they have brought in the class. As a teacher, ask your
students if there are some differences and similarities between the given
format of the invitation card and their formats. After the discussion, the
teacher should conclude and tell the students which format is preferable and
the reasons why it is mostly applied.
At
the last stage of this activity, the teacher can practically write a sample
invitation card on any event on the black board. He/she ask students to watch
closely how he/she writes his/her invitation card. The students should copy
that invitation card in their exercise books.
ACTIVITY THREE: Students' Demonstration. Showing students how models like that of a teacher can be applied by
them. Here students need to be guided on how to use given expressions,
structures, vocabulary, and phrases or similar ones.
In this activity, the teacher
should guide students to do the following tasks:
Firstly, they should practice writing invitation cards
to different people. A teacher may ask them to write an invitation card on a
selected event or on the event of their choice. This can be used as a general practice
for students before they engage in writing other forms of invitation cards.
After writing the invitation cards, the teacher can mark them or have students
exchange them and check on each other's invitation card.
Secondly, they should write cards expressing sympathy,
cards to congratulate others, and cards to express appreciation under the
guidance of the teacher. These are not like invitation cards. They are other
forms of cards that every student should know. As it was noted before in this
article, invitation cards are only among large category of cards in which
birthday, send off and wedding cards may be included. But there are other forms
of cards which are not in form of invitations.
To write these cards, the teacher has to give out any
sample of these cards. For example, a teacher can demonstrate an example of
sympathy card to students.
The students should then write these cards by using
teacher's choice or by allowing them choose the type of card they want to
write. It always depends on the size of the class or teacher's choice. But if
the class is big, the teacher may opt for group works for easier follow up.
ACTIVITY FOUR: More Students’ Practice. Taking/leading students to the real situations or contexts where they
can apply what they have mastered. Here speaking, reading or writing activities
are involved.
ACTIVITY FIVE: Winding up the topic/lesson. Here teachers summarise the topic/lesson by emphasizing the importance
of the sub topic/lesson and suggesting other related aspects of the sub topic/lesson.
ADDITIONAL
ACTIVITY:
As a teacher, what other activity can be applied in this sub topic/lesson? You
can always drop your alternative activity or activities to this article so as
to improve teaching and learning of ‘O’
Level English Blog! (OLE).
Additionally, the following Short YouTube Video can give you more details on the various examples of 'cards'.
REFLECTION
Ask students if they always see cards in the places
they live. Also ask them what kinds of cards are common to their places.
In most cases, cards are very common nowadays. It is
true that every house can have more then one card (invitation card) especially
in most towns. Even in our villages, cards are becoming common. The students
should now be encouraged that cards are part and parcel of our everyday life.
They should practice how to write good cards for others.
ASSESSMENT
A teacher should design an evaluation for students by
using appropriate assessment tools like oral questions or assignments so that
to see if the student is able to write varieties of cards.
ASSESSMENTS
Assessment
#01: Group work
Provide
three or four topics for each group to choose and write an invitation card for
it. These topics are birthday, send off, and wedding. Each group should present
their work before the class.
Assessment
#02: Pair works
Provide
four topics for each pair to write a good card for it. These four topics are
appreciation, success, congratulation and sympathy. Each pair should present
their work before the class.
Assessment
#03: Individual work
Ask
each individual student to write an invitation card for his/her graduation
inviting his/her parents, relatives, and friends to the party.
Note: You can give
students more individual works, pair works, and group works to facilitate their
interaction and understanding of the sub topic or lesson. As English language
teacher you have to give students more works to do. Because language is meant
to be largely spoken and written, the teacher should rely on written exercises
and notes. Instead students have to learn English language by vigorously
exercising individually, in pairs, and in groups.
SUMMARY/CONCLUSION
Writing cards involve writing. As it has always been
stated in this blog, writing is a productive skill. After learning all four
language skills during teaching and learning processes, finally the students
will have to sit down and write in order to apply the skills they have masters.
Thus, after mastering the skill of writing cards, students have to sit down and
practice real writing of cards for various purposes in their daily life.
NOTE: These stages explained
above are not necessarily covered in a single lesson of single or double
period. Remember that this is the guide for teaching the whole sub topic which
has periods ranging from 6 to 20. So, the teacher's task is to divide these
stages according to the total number of periods for a particular sub topic.
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION?
This
article is about how to study and teach "Writing cards" in Form Two. As a student or teacher, what
is your opinion on how to study and teach this sub topic/lesson?
Your
opinion is worth and I believe that it can make these materials better for our
own consumption.
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