Theme: The poetic narrative The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Lesson Rationale
Students who are learning English as a second language need practice in identifying key words within a total environment of language. This lesson is designed to develop students’ auditory discrimination of key vocabulary in a short narrative poem through association with visual representations of the vocabulary. All students also need to build comprehension and critical thinking skills by recognizing a sequence of events and discovering the underlying relationships that determine a logical sequence. These concepts are effectively presented in a fun and humorous way to lower the affective filter of the second language learner.
Objectives
1. The students will recognize and repeat rhyming words from the narrative.
2. The students will recognize vocabulary words and associate the words with pictures.
3. The students will identify the sequence of events in the narrative.
4. The students will retell the story of the Old Lady in their own words.
5. The students will write a news story in jigsaw format about the events of the narrative.
Step 1 Anticipatory Set
1. The teacher will ask the students if they or anyone they know has ever swallowed something strange that they would not normally eat, such as a coin or a bug.
2. Teacher will accept various answers and then introduce the old lady who swallowed many strange things.
Step 2 Presentation
1. The teacher will read the book The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly illustrated by Pam Adams (1973) going page by page. In a Spanish/English bilingual classroom, use Spanish to explain any concepts or vocabulary students do not understand in English. If Spanish explanation is required, reread using English exclusively after students have understood.
2. The teacher will practice placing picture cards in order in the chalkboard tray as she reads the poem a second time.
Step 3 Guided Practice
1. The teacher will pass out picture cards of the characters in the poem. The teacher will read the narrative a third time as students hold up the cards when the teacher reads the name of his/her character.
2. The teacher will have students come to the front and stand holding up the picture cards of the characters in the order they appear in the narrative.
3. A student will be selected to retell the events of the story in the order in which they occurred.
Step 4 Independent Practice
1. The students will be given two handout sheets, one with pictures of the characters and the other with numbered spaces. The students will cut and paste the pictures into the order in which the characters appeared in the poem.
2. Students will read from a copy of the poem to refer to if they need help sequencing the pictures of the characters.
3. Students will write a few sentences about an aspect of the story for a news report: Who, what, when, where and why.
4. Students will copy their edited sentences and illustrate them on butcher paper and tape the sheets to the wall to make a complete news report of the narrative.
Step 5 Closure
1. The teacher will lead a discussion on what happened to the Old Lady in the poem because she swallowed all these strange things.
2. The teacher will ask which character the students liked best in the story.
3. The students will be directed to retell the story of the Old Lady to a classmate to find out what part was the funniest for their peer.
Extension or Remediation
The teacher will have the students read the poem independently and write sentences about the poem. The level 1 & 2 ELD students will do a worksheet filling in the blank with the word for the character that is missing. The SDAIE students will write longer original sentences and identify rhyming words from the poem on a worksheet.
Visuals and Activities
Click on thumbnail to enlarge picture:
