Course Design for “Knowing me, knowing you”
Type of the lesson: Watching, listening and speaking
The Material: FLTRP High School English Textbook, Book 3, Unit 1 – "Knowing Me, Knowing You"
Time: 45min
Ⅰ Analysis of Teaching Materials
Unit1"Knowing Me, Knowing You" focuses on interpersonal relationships and effective communication in various social contexts. The "Say No Politely" listening section specifically addresses an essential aspect of communication: declining requests or invitations with tact and respect.
(1) The audio and video materials provide genuine examples of native speakers using polite refusal strategies in real-life situations, exposing students to natural language use and authentic pronunciation.
(2) The content emphasizes the importance of cultural sensitivity in communication, highlighting differences in polite refusal strategies across cultures. This helps students develop cross-cultural awareness and prepares them for global interactions.
(3) The textbook provides a well-organized framework for teaching the topic, with pre-listening tasks to activate background knowledge, listening and viewing activities to develop comprehension skills, and post-listening exercises to reinforce learning and encourage application.
Ⅱ Analysis of Students
The target students for this lesson are high school learners of English, typically aged 16 years old. They have a foundation in English grammar and vocabulary, as well as some experience with listening and speaking activities in the classroom. However, they may struggle with integrating visual and audio inputs simultaneously, particularly when processing fast-paced, natural speech with various accents and non-verbal cues. Besides, although students may have some familiarity with basic refusal expressions, they may lack the nuanced vocabulary and phrases required for expressing polite refusals in various social contexts, especially those specific to English-speaking cultures. Despite having some speaking practice, students may still feel hesitant or uncomfortable when engaging in spontaneous, role-played conversations, particularly when dealing with potentially delicate situations like politely declining requests or invitations.
Ⅲ Teaching Objectives & Key and Difficult Points
1. Multimodal Listening Comprehension: Students will develop the ability to comprehend and analyze visual and audio cues while processing a spoken text on politely refusing requests or invitations.
2. Vocabulary & Phrases Acquisition: Students will learn and practice vocabulary and phrases related to expressing polite refusals in various social contexts.
3. Spoken Interaction & Role-playing: Students will demonstrate their ability to articulate clear, context-appropriate, and polite refusals in simulated real-life situations.
4. Cross-Cultural Awareness: Students will recognize and appreciate cultural differences in non-verbal communication and polite refusal strategies across different cultures.
Key points:
1. Students are expected to develop the ability to understand and analyze visual and audio cues in spoken texts about politely declining requests or invitations.
2. Students can appropriately use vocabulary and phrases associated with expressing polite refusals in different social contexts. This includes mastering the nuances of formal and informal language, as well as culturally appropriate expressions for declining requests or invitations.
Difficult point:
Students will recognize and appreciate cultural differences in non-verbal communication and polite refusal strategies across different cultures.
Ⅳ Teaching Procedures
1. Lead-in:
The teacher will ask students how they feel today. Typically, most of the students will reply that they are fine, good, or happy. (If some other students observe that they are nervous or tired, the teacher should give some comfort.) Based of this, students will be told that it’s impossible that they can feel good all the time and that they will feel different emotions. Students will be organized to turn to page one and look at the picture on this page.
Intention: To activate prior knowledge, engage students in the topic, and set the stage for focused learning by stimulating thought and discussion around real-life scenarios where polite refusal is necessary.
2. Knowing more about emotions:
(1) Students will be asked to look at the picture and analyze the numbered people in it to describe their behavior and possible emotions. They will be given some time for preparation through discussion in pairs and as a scaffold, some sentence patterns will be provided: He / She is __________. He / She looks/ might feel… __________.
(2) Some students will be invited to give the description and after showing the example sentences, students will be organized to read them together.
Intention: Students will activate the knowledge they have learned and can learn some new expressions about human behavior and emotions.
3. Viewing and speaking
(1) Pre-viewing: the teacher will present and explain key vocabulary and phrases related to the video students are to watch. In addition, students will be introduced to the task they are to finish: they are to describe the situations presented in the videos.
Intention: to help prepare students for the listening by dealing with expressions unfamiliar to them and clarifying the task.
(2) While-viewing:
A. Each video from the starting-out part will be played once and after watching each one of them, students will be given some time to prepare for the description in pairs and some key words will be shown on the screen as reminders. Students are supposed to make complete sentences with these key words. They some will be invited to give the description.
B. The three videos will be played for another time as a whole and students while watching them are supposed to think about this question: what would you do, if you were in the situation
Intention: Students through the twice listening can grasp the general idea and details of videos. The activities intertwined in it can help students use what they have learned.
(3) Post-viewing: After the watching, students will be allowed some time to prepare for the sharing. Still some useful sentence structures will be offered: If I were______, I wouldn’t______. I would______. Then some students will be asked to share their ideas.
Intention: Students can summarize the lessons about social intercourse they get from the video and express them through their own words, which is a good opportunity to put into practical use of their knowledge.
3. Listening and speaking
(1) Pre-listening:
A. The teacher will organize students to look through the knowledge about EQ in the part of “Did you know”.
Intention: Students will get some background knowledge about EQ and know that saying no politely is a proof of high EQ and thus develop more interest in the materials they are to listen to.
B. Students will be asked to look at the three pictures in this part and predict what they are going to listen to. Some students will be invited to share their ideas.
Intention: With the prediction in their minds, students will pay more attention to the listening materials.
(2) While-listening: Students will listen to the materials and complete the cloze made on the basis of the listening materials. As for how many times the audios will be played, the teacher will make the decision by asking students whether they need to listen for another time or according to the general response of students. Yet, each of the audio should be played no more than twice. After each listening, students will be given some to exchange their answers with their desk mates and some pairs will be invited to read the conversations in the form of role play. The teacher will help give some supplement and lead students to understand some new expressions.
Intention: Students can get the main idea and details of the listening materials. In the process, they can also learn some new expression.
(3) Post-listening:
A. Students will be reminded to pay attention to what they fill in the blanks and based of this summarize how to say no politely. In case some students might find the task is hard to finish, some hints will be given: students will be told that usually there are three parts included in a polite refusal and they can get some help from the “Learning to Learn” part. Students will be organized to have a discussion in groups of 4-5 to finish the task. After the discussion, some representatives of the groups will be invited to share ideas. In the end, the teacher will help with the summary: some typical expressions of the three parts as excerpts from the materials will be shown on the screen and students will be invited to give a term for each part.
Intention: students can have the opportunity to have explorative learning by themselves and know the good way to express polite refusal.
B. Based on the knowledge of saying no politely, students will be organized to have a drill. They will be presented a situation: Your friends have asked you to watch a football match with them, but you don’t like football. In pairs, students will make conversations of polite request and refusal. After preparations, some pairs will be invited to give performance in the front of the classroom.
Intention: Students can put into use what they have learned by solving practical and real problems in daily life.
4. Summary
(1) Two students will be invited to share what they have learned in this lesson.
(2) The teacher will help with the supplement.
Intention: These two steps are to wrap up the lesson and help students have a clear view of the key knowledge they are supposed to master.
Ⅴ Homework Design
1. Students are expected to make conversations in pairs for activity 6 on P8 and give performance in the next class.
2. Students can think about others suggestions for smooth interpersonal relationships. (Optional)
Ⅵ Reflection
1. Successes:
(1) The integration of video and audio materials, along with corresponding comprehension tasks, successfully captured students' attention and engaged them in the learning process.
(2) The diverse range of activities, including pair work, group discussions, and role-playing, encouraged active student participation and collaboration.
2. Things to improve:
(1) Introducing a structured framework or checklist for assessing the contextual factors involved in polite refusal could help students make more informed decisions when selecting appropriate strategies.
(2) To further boost oral fluency and confidence, incorporating additional speaking-focused activities, such as mini-presentations, debate-style discussions, or peer coaching sessions should be adopted.