Lesson: Unit 15: Space conquest – writing (English 11)

LESSON PLAN
Supervisor’s Name: Phùng Thị Kim Thanh
Class: 11A12
Students’ level: Grade 11, Elementary level
Student Teacher’s Name: Mai Thị Thanh Hằng
Lesson: Unit 15: SPACE CONQUEST – Writing (English 11)
Teaching time: 45 minutes
Aims: (Writing) This lesson aims to help Ss to:
(Knowledge) know some common information about famous people
(Language) learn some common phrases for giving time references
(Skill) be able to write a write a short biography of someone’s life
(Students’ attitude): attend the lesson attentively and enjoyably
Objectives: By the end of the lesson, Ss will be able to:
Know the outline of a biography and how to write it
Know some common information about famous people 
Apply some phrases for giving time references in writing
Recent work/ Relevant previous knowledge:
Ss have learnt the Reading, Speaking and Listening sections of Unit 15 “Space Conquest”
Ss have learnt the past tenses (past simple, past continuous, past perfect)
Approach and Teaching Aids/ Materials:
Grammar-Translation Method + Communicative Approach
PPT slideshow, white board, markers, eraser, textbook, pictures and handouts, etc.
Teaching procedure:
Classroom procedure (1’)
Greeting
Checking attendance
Review of the previous lesson (4’)
New lesson: (40’) (Appendix A)
T’s activities + Time
Ss’ activities
Content
Warm up (5’)
- Stick 2 sets of 3 photos about 3 famous people on each side of the board. 
- Divide the class into two groups (A and B)
- Give the instructions and rules of the game):
 As you can see on the board, there are 3 photos of 3 famous people on each side of the board. There is some information about them. You task is to choose the information that fits with the correct photo and write them on the board. One correct answer is worth a point and the group with the highest point is the winner. Are you clear?
- Correct the answers and announce the winning group.
- Ask Ss some questions:
1) What kind of information is presented in each photo?
2) What kind of document or writing is these information usually found?
" Introduce the topic: Today we are going to learn how to write a short biography about a famous person
Pre-writing (10’)
* Introduce the outline of the biography.
- Ask Ss a question: 	
Does anyone has any idea what a biography is about?
- Present the definition of biography
Biography is a type of writing that write about someone’s life, work, etc.
- Ask Ss a question:
What kind of information should be included in the biography?
Write Ss’ answers on the board.
- Deliver the model text to Ss and give them instructions:
I’ll give you a model biography of Pham Tuan. While reading the text, I’d like you to check whether the information you just suggested is presented in the model or not.
“Pham Tuan was born on February 14, 1947 in Kien Xuong District, Thai Binh Province. He is known as the first Vietnamese citizen to fly into space in the Soviet Union’s Intercosmos program.
In 1965, he joined the VPAF (Vietnam People’s Air Force). In 1972 he downed a B52 in an aerial combat. Pham received numerous high State distinctions for his service, including the Ho Chi Minh Order. He was also awarded the Order of Lenin and the rare honour of being one of the few foreigners to receive the title "Hero of the Soviet Union".
In April 10, 1979, he was selected as a member of the sixth international crew for the Intercosmos program. Pham, along with a Soviet cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko, was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 23, 1980, on board Soyuz 37 en route to the Salyut 6 station. During his time in orbit, he performed experiments on the melting of mineral samples in microgravity. Also, he carried out plant experiments on azolla and photographed Vietnam from orbit for mapping purposes. He was in space for 7 days, 20 hours, and 42 minutes. He completed in total 142 orbits. He was returned to Earth on July 31, 1980.
We, the Vietnamese people, are really proud of having such a great citizen as Pham Tuan.” 
- Check with Ss whether the presented information on the board is included in the model text
- Provided Ss with the outline of the biography
* Provide Ss with the language input
- Present some useful phrases to mention someone’s achievement along with the examples.
- Ask Ss a question:
What are prepositions for giving time references used in the model text? 
- Provide Ss some other phrases for giving time references.
* Practice the language input
- Divide the class into 3 or 4 groups. 
- Give a short summary of a famous person (Neil Armstrong) to each group and ask them to write a short paragraph about that person’s details of career. (Remind of Ss to apply the past tense and phrases for giving time references in the paragraph.)
- Ask each group to present their paragraph on the board.
- Ask one group to give feedbacks to other groups’ works (grammar, vocabulary) and point out phrases for giving time references.
- Give feedbacks 
III. While-writing (15’)
- Ask Ss to work individually write the complete biography of Neil Armstrong using the information in provided summary.
“Neil Armstrong, an American astronaut, is known as the first person to walk on the moon. He was born on August 5th, 1930 in Wapokoneta in Ohio. From 1949 to 1952, he worked as a pilot in the United States Navy. In 1955 Armstrong received his B.S. from Purdue University. Later in 1962, he joined the NASA astronaut programme.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon's surface. In 1970, he received his M.S from the University of Southern California. A year later, he resigned from NASA, and from 1971 to 1979 he taught at the University of Cincinnati. In 1986, Armstrong was appointed vice chairman of the committee that investigated the space shuttle Challenger disaster. 
He is well-known for his quote "That's on small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.”
Post-writing (5’)
- Collect randomly some Ss’ papers and mark them.
- Give feedbacks.
V. Homework
- Prepare for part E. Language focus.
- Listen to T’s instructions and play the game
- Answer questions 
- Answer the question
- Write down the definition on their notebooks
- Answer the question
- Read the model text and check their predictions 
- Write down the outline in their notebooks
- Write down the phrases in their notebooks.
- Answer the question
- Write down the expressions in their notebooks.
- Work in groups to write the paragraph
- Give feedback to other groups’ works
- Listen to T’s feedbacks
- Write the complete biography
.
 Suggesting Answer 
a) Yuri Gagarin: March 3th 1934, Russian, the 1st man to fly into space
b) Pham Tuan: February 14th 1947, Vietnamese, the 1st Vietnamese citizen to fly into space
c) Neil Armstrong: August 5th 1930, American, the 1st am to walk on the moon
Expected answer:
1) – full name, date of birth, nationality, achievement
2) – biography
Expected answer:
- date of birth, family, career, achievement, education, death.
Outline:
- Paragraph 1: full name, nationality, occupation, date of birth and place of birth, achievement
Paragraph 2: details of career.
Paragraph 3: death+ reputation/present life
Useful expressions:
- be best known as.
-be famous for
- to make/ go down in history by + gerund
e.g.: Neil Armstrong made history by being the first person to walk on the moon
Expected answer:
- from 1949 to 1952 , between 1971 and 1979, , later on.
- during + [period of time]
- by + [year]