Lesson Plan - Silent Letters in English

Class B6 – Level B2

Date: 25 January 2013

2^nd Model Experimental Junior High School of Athens

Demetra Dertili

Time: 45 mins

Lesson Objective: Spelling words correctly

Learning Goal: Identifying words with silent letters. Using reliable and scholarly online resources effectively.

Language Skills: Development of receptive skills (listening and reading) before the development of productive skills (speaking and writing).

Life Skills: Historical and linguistic information about the development of language.

Materials:

• Use of TED’s newest initiative TED-Ed, a service created for teachers who support student inspiration and promote critical thinking. TED-Ed incorporates effective material in the form of animations and powerful visuals that engage students and enhance their curiosity.

·         Presentation on prezi.com.

• Silent letter crossword puzzle and worksheet.

Equipment:

• Overhead projector
• Interactive whiteboard

Lesson Stages

Warm Up/Review

·         The video’s vocabulary was given for homework from the previous lesson, review of vocabulary. (6 mins)

Introduction

• Introducing the topic briefly. (3 mins)

Presentation

• Showing students the presentation on prezi.com.
• Students simultaneously listen and read as they watch linguist Gina Cooke’s  video about the silent letter “b” in the word doubt and its complex linguistic and etymological connections.  (3.28 mins)
• Students read some basic rules on silent letters and then answer the 5 multiple choice and 3 open answer questions from the THINK section. (14 mins)
• Through the DIG DEEPER section students are linked to the online etymology dictionary where they get a glimpse of how words are introduced into the English language. (5 mins)

Practice

• Students work in pairs of two in order to do the silent letter crossword puzzle. (13 mins)

Homework Assignment

•  Students are given a gap-fill text handout on words with silent letters.

Homework

Silent Letters: fill the gaps with a silent letter or letters

Name:_____________________

Class:___________

An Unfortunate Day at the Supermarket

On We_n_sday I bought some lam_ chops, ras_berries, ches_nuts, bisc_its and bread crum_s at the supermarket and the cashier gave me the w_ong recei_t. When I asked her w_y she made such a mistake she ans_ered she was dead ti_ed. Then I wa_ked out and on my way to the car I fell over a fence and hurt my k_ee, pa_m and w_ist, as well as destroying my k_itted pullover. A polite person w_o looked like a forei_ner helped me get up and pick up my carrier bags. Then he told me “I k_ow you, you’re the plum_er w_o ruined my kitchen pipes”. I have never felt so a_kward!