I used a Powerpoint presentation, as well as a handout to teach this vocabulary lesson, focusing on the pronunciation of the names. Although it was primarily a vocabulary lesson, I also included some simple present questions and answers.
The first time I taught this lesson was at a girl's high school. They were not usually very enthusiastic classes but this lesson seemed to catch their interest. This could be attributed to the fact that I informed them that some of the material in the presentation would be on the their exam.
After introducing the topic and showing them some satellite photos and colourful maps, I had the students "repeat after me" the city names. They found this fun because the names were somewhat peculiar to them. I pointed out the origin of some of the names. Then I passed out the handout of the cities and instructed them to practice the pronunciation in pairs.
I would also show them the Stompin' Tom Connors Canada Song music video on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjgOQDUOGAg They found this humourous, too, because of Stompin' Tom's country tone, and willingly joined him, singing out the capital names. I've always found that singing makes students happy. Happy students translates into a successful lesson.
And I did consider this lesson successful. They may not have memorized all the cities (that wasn't the point) but they did learn some new words and improved their pronunciation skills. The proof was evident on their test when most of them correctly answered that I was from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Hi Dave, I enjoyed reading your post and would like to attend your class when you are teaching this lesson sometime. You stated that singing makes students happy and I totally agree with you, especially when teaching ESL classes. Sometimes students will be reluctant at first but after some encouragement from their loving teacher they really get into it. I think some of the enjoyment stems from the fact that they are singing in a foreign language rather than their native language so they feel less self conscious about being judged by others.
ReplyDeleteGreat post EH!
Good on you for pushing some Canadian culture on these unsuspecting students.Some of my favorite lessons in elementary school had to do with maps and flags. While at the time it seemed like kind of a fluff lesson, I think it probably sparked something that has affected my life more than my social studies teachers probably ever intended.
ReplyDeleteI have kind of given up trying to discuss anything related to Canada with students I teach, most think I am from America i'm sure. I'm ashamed to admit that I have even resigned to spelling colour without the 'u'! Oh the shame! I might have to do some Canadian themed lessons in the future.
I really need to learn all the provinces myself as I am married to a Canadian, and it’s funny to me because there are so few in comparison to the states in the US. I can name the 50 states, and capitals and locate them all on a map, and I still have trouble learning the Canadian ones… lol. Anyway I like how you incorporated a song because I find students respond better to learning when it is fun for them. I’m sure showing them satellite pictures also helps and maybe making a game out of it at the end, putting them into groups might also be fun.
ReplyDeleteHello Sir,
ReplyDeleteI like this lesson plan. I think it's a great idea for students to know a little bit about their teacher's background and homeland. It helps build rapport and teaches a lesson in geography as well.
As a fellow Canadian, I have also done a couple of lessons about Canada. One in particular that I enjoyed was a PowerPoint about hockey. It was more of a cultural share than geography. It was great for my middle school boys as it included video clips of body checks and so on. I also used a Stompin' Tom song: The Hockey Song! We did a gap fill, and they had to sing in groups afterward.
I LOVE what you mentioned about finding out the meanings of names of cities etc... That could be a great assignment for students; perhaps the task could be finding out about their hometown or maybe somewhere they'd like to live, and then presenting to the class in English.
I may do a more in depth Canadian geography lesson in the future, as it is true what you say about students not knowing much beyond Toronto or Vancouver. Surprisingly, however, I have actually had some students tell me that Ottawa was the capital. Usually, that was because they had spent time in Canada studying.