UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Aslı Meryem LEVENT07271016

LESSON PLANSubject: Uncountable nounsTopic: RefreshmentsGrade: 9th gradeLevel: IntermediateDuration: 40’+40’Approach: Communicative Language TeachingSkills: Listening, Reading, Writing, SpeakingTechniques: Reading aloud, Questioning, Repetition, Filling the blanks, Pair work, Peer correction Role of the students: Communicator, Performer, Active participant, Negotiator

Role of the teacher: Organizer, Facilitator, Monitor, Director

The nature of student-student and teacher-student interaction: Students interact with both the teacher and each other.

Expected errors: Misuse of uncountable nouns such as using “a/an” or plural with uncountable nouns

Error Source: L1 (negative transference of the first language pattern to the foreign language and overgeneralization)

Type of Corrective Feedback: RecastMaterials: Reading dialogue, board, board marker,

worksheets, pictures

Why do I choose uncountable nouns?

One of the subjects students have difficulty in understanding and they have mistakes

Confusion of classifier-type expressions in Turkish

The distinction in English between things treated as uncountable

Why do I choose Communicative Approach?

Communicative competence Learner-centered approach Social context and real-life situations Students’ interests and needs Classroom atmosphere

PRESENTATIONWarm-up and Motivation

The teacher comes to the classroom and greets students as usual. She wants them to talk about that what kinds of food and drinks they like and how often they go shopping. After that, she shows some pictures and asks them to say how much food and drinks there are in Turkish. Thus, students perform a brainstorming activity. Through this activity, the teacher makes the students ready for the subject of the lesson.

PRESENTATIONWarm-up and Motivation

Why do I use brainstorming?

Questioning technique and systematic practice Improvement in learners’ inference ability Visual aids Useful for getting the students to predict what

is coming next in a lesson Elicitation of the mistakes about classifiers

Why do I benefit from Schema Theory?

Necessity of the pre-existent knowledge of the world

Heavy emphasis on the importance of the learners’ background knowledge or cultural base

Association the knowledge with the new structure

Efficiency of communication through shared schemata

PRESENTATIONPresenting the Instructional Objectives

The teacher reads a dialogue that has uncountable nouns. The uncountable nouns are written in bold and underlined.

PRESENTATIONPresenting the Instructional Objectives

Michael and Chris Taylor love being with friends. They often have parties at home. They are going to have a party at home. They are making a shopping list now

Michael: Honey, do we have any drinks?Chris: Well, we have a lot of lemonade and some apple juice; but there isn’t any coke.Michael: Then, we are going to buy some coke. How much coke do we need?Chris: Five cans/tins of coke.Michael: OK, then I’m putting it on the shopping list. Do we need any vegetables?Chris: Yes, I’m going to make a carrot salad; but there aren’t any carrots.Michael: Not again! You always make carrot salad. Let’s make a Mediterranean salad this time.Chris: All right. Oh! We don’t have enough parsley to make a Mediterranean salad.Michael: No problem. I’m adding it to the list. Well, how much parsley do we have?Chris: Just a moment. We have some; but, we need two bunches of parsley more. Oh! We

don’t have much oil, too. And we need a bottle of oil.Michael: OK, I’m adding a bottle of oil and two bunches of parsley. You make delicious

chocolate cakes. Are going to make one?Chris: Yes, I am. I need a bag of flour, two pockets of butter, three bars of chocolate, and

a jar of jam.Michael: OK, I’m putting them on the list. And eggs?Chris: Oh, I need some eggs, too.Michael: How many eggs do you need?Chris: FiveMichael: OK, then. Now, we are going shopping.

PRESENTATIONPresenting the Instructional Objectives

After that, she writes them with their translation equivalents on the board.

English TurkishFive cans/tins of coke beş (teneke) kutu

kolaTwo bunches of parsley iki demet maydanozA bottle of oil bir şişe zeytinyağıA bag of flour bir torba unTwo pockets of butter iki paket yağThree bars of chocolate üç kalıp çikolataA jar of jam bir kavanoz reçel

Then, she pronounces them and the students repeat after her. Thus, the students start to be aware of uncountable nouns.

Why do I use reading material?

Comprehensible input Communicative value and function as an

active skill Meaningful and social context because of

integration of the form and meaning

Why do I write the uncountable nouns in bold and underlined at the presentation stage?

Useful to draw learners’ attention to the features in the target language.

Difference between countable and uncountable nouns

Realization of classifier-type expressions with uncountable nouns

Why do I write the uncountable nouns with their equivalents on the board?

Decreasing the potential problems stemmed from the first language through contrastive analysis

Grasping the similarities and differences between uncountable nouns in Turkish and English

Helping the learners be aware of the classifier-type expressions with uncountable nouns

PRACTICE

The First Activity

The teacher wants the students to fill the chart according to the dialogue in order to make them comprehend the text and aware of the expressions.

PRACTICEMake the shopping list of Michael and Chris.

WHAT HOW MANY HOW MUCH

e.g. coke - five cans/tins of coke

parsley - two bunches of parsley

PRACTICE

• The Second Activity

After that, she wants the students to work with a pair and she gives another text to each student in pairs. She wants them to complete the text according to pictures. Then, they exchange their papers and check each other’s answers.

My little son always has a piece of (1) c_ _ _ _ _, an (2) e_ _, some (3) h_ _ _ _ and a glass of (4) m_ _ _ for breakfast. At lunchtime he usually has a (5) h_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, an (6) a_ _ _ _ and a bottle of (7) a_ _ _ _. Sometimes he eats a piece of chocolate (8) c_ _ _ with a can of (9) c_ _ _. In the afternoon, he often eats two (10) o_ _ _ _ _ _ and a (11) b_ _ _ _ _. For dinner he usually eats a bowl of (12) s_ _ _ and some grilled (13) s_ _ _ _ with (14) r_ _ _. Whenever he eats out, he prefers eating (15) d_ _ _ _ with a bowl of (16) s_ _ _ _. He usually drinks a glass of (17) a_ _ _ _.

PRACTICELook and the picture and complete the text.

PRODUCTION

In the production part, the teacher again wants them to work with a pair and gives a list to them. There are some food and drinks in the list and she gives a situation to them. For example, she says “You are going to have a party this Saturday. Prepare a shopping list for your party using these items”.

Learner-centered approach Allowing students to be in charge of their own

learning Working and interacting independently without

necessary guidance of the teacher Co-operation and negotiation Promoting learner independency and

autonomy

Why do I use pair/group work?

Why do I choose these activities for the learners?

• Helping the students communicate their needs and thoughts

• Meaningful context in which the language is useful

• Presenting a variety of different linguistic forms used in a real language

What kind of errors do I expect from my learners and what can the causes of them be?

Using “a/an” or plural with uncountable nouns such as a butter, a chocolate, a good advice and informations

The factor “overgeneralization” that the students make while they are developing their interlanguages

Negative transference of the first language to the target language e.g. adding “a/an” to the uncountable nouns

What kind of errors do I expect from my learners and what can the causes of them be?

The difference between Turkish and English culture

Different shared knowledge of cultural reference and discourse in their own language and culture from English

Lack of linguistic relativity A type of cognitive categorization based on

expression of quantity in English

How should I correct these errors?

Recast - implicit corrective feedback with repeating what the students say correctly or reformulating the sentence

According to the studies, learners notice and respond to recasts in ways that contribute positively to their language development.

Using at consistently high rate in management, communication and content exchanges

Comprehensible input and conversational interactions with teacher and other students

The opportunity to negotiate for meaning Working together to achieve a particular goal

in practice and production stages Helping the students express their thoughts,

opinions and feelings in a free classroom environment

Why do I adopt “Let’s talk” and “Get it right in the end” proposals?

Why do I adopt “Let’s talk” and “Get it right in the end” proposals?

The balance between meaning-based and form-based learning and teaching activities

Teaching some aspects of language explicitly Suitable for the learners sharing the same L1

because of not leading any kind of communication breakdown and difficulty in discovering errors on their own

THANK YOU