America, the Beautiful!

Lesson plan

Subject: English

Grade: 10^th (16-17 ages)

The theme of the lesson:

«America, the Beautiful».

The type of the lesson:

Integrated skills

Materials required:

Slides with pictures of America, interactive board, schemes, and maps of the USA and Kazakhstan, reflexive cards

Pre-lesson preparation:

Presentation of the USA and Kazakhstan

Time required: one period of 45 minutes.

The objective of the lesson:

• practice speaking skills

• develop skill of collective activity and skill to analyze;

• develop interest to studied country and an outlook of pupils on regional geography;

At the end of the lesson students will be able:

• review and extend their knowledge of the USA and Kazakhstan.

• describe and speak about two countries (with the help of maps, schemes)

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain. America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea… (Katherine Lee Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College, 1893)

I. Organization moment: Teacher: “Good morning, boys and girls! I’m very glad to see you. Are you ready for the lesson?”

Students: “Yes, we are”

Activity 1. Warm – up:

Teacher: Today our lesson is devoted to a very interesting theme. First of all I offer you to read some abstract. Look at the blackboard, please. You can see the epigraph to our lesson. This is a poem which was written by Katherine Lee Bates.

(Students read). Will you answer my question, please? What is the theme of our lesson?

Students: In our opinion today we’ll speak about the USA.

T: Yes, you are quiet right. Today our lesson is devoted to America. We will go on traveling across the USA and remember some facts about Kazakhstan. (Students watch slides with pictures of America) (Application1).

Activity 2. Introduction:

Teacher: We have been learning during several lessons what kind of country it is, the history of America and other interesting things.

One of the objectives of this lesson is to summarize all the information about this unusual and very attractive country, and to learn some new interesting facts about it.

• Now, let’s try to remember, as many facts about the USA as you can.

(Students answers).

• After student’s answers teacher suggests solving test tasks «What do you know about the USA? » (Students make this task with the help of computers).

(Application 2)

Activity 3

T: The gallery of portraits of famous people will be the first “stop” in our traveling. They are: Abraham Lincoln, Jack London, Elvis Presley, and Walt Disney (Application 3).

T: Your task is to collect text – “puzzle” about these people, you should read, and translate this text.

(Before the lesson students are divided into 4 groups. They get a letter-cover with the text which is divided into separate phrases and sentences. Students must collect the text, analyze it and translate.)

Students’ answers

Activity 4. (Role – play):

1) T: Today we are going to have a role-play. Some of us will be representatives of Kazakhstan and other students become citizens of America. We are going to have several groups. Here are your role-cards. They are different colours. You should gather the same colours to make up groups (according to the color of the cards they have). All “red colors” make up one group “Citizens of Kazakhstan”, and “green colors” make up the second group “Citizens of America”. (Then the teacher gives her instruction):

2) T: Let’s imagine that one group of students is coming from the USA to visit our country. They want to know more about Kazakhstan and we want to know more about their country.

(Students prepare summaries on a certain theme accompanied with a slide presentation which they prepared at home). During the preparation students can use maps, schemes which help to tell about America; (Application 4).

3: T: So, guests from America are in Kazakhstan now at the meeting which is devoted to their visit.

T: I think it’s high time to start our presentation. Let us start with the presentation of the group from the USA, the guests of our meeting.

(Each participator of the group knows a lot of interesting things):

• The geographical position

• The population and the main cities.

• Nature

• Customs

4) Students’ answers

5) T: It was great! Thank you very much for your wonderful presentation. Now let’s ask students from Kazakhstan to speak about their country.

(After answers of representatives from the USA, the group of students who prepared the information about Kazakhstan is beginning the presentation about Kazakhstan). (Application 5)

6) Students’ answers

7) T: Thank you, that’s good. “I know that when you come home you will tell your friends about your visit. Now you have an opportunity to talk to your friends from other country. Choose for you a partner from another group, please and have a talk to him. (T. is addresses to the students from America)

8) Students from both groups communicate

Activity 5. Conclusion

T: So, we have been learning during our lessons what kind of country the USA. We knew a lot of new facts about it. So, now let’s solve a crossword puzzle to summarize knowledge which we’ve got during our lessons.

(Students fill in the crossword – puzzle, which is made according to the themes of the given lesson (this task is being made by all class, the crossword – puzzle is made on the interactive board and fill in by students). (Application 6)

Results of the lesson

T: Today we’ve came to our lesson with the definite knowledge about America, I offer to you to fill in the following table to see how increased your knowledge:

I knew these facts about America

I got new information about America

(Each student gets the table on the separate sheet of paper and fills in it. Some students read their answer to the rest of students)

Getting marks, the information about home work

T: Students, thank you for the lesson! You have been ready very well today.

You worked hard.

(Teacher evaluate students): Your marks are: Both groups have worked well and I'll give you only "Good" and "Excellent" marks.

T: Your homework is to revise all information which we’ve learnt. See you!

The lesson is over.

Application 1

The pictures of America

Application 2

Test «What do you know about the USA? »

Keys: 1a), 2b), 3c), 4c), 5a), 6a), 7c)

Application 3

Famous Americans

Jack London

(1876-1916)

the story of the adventures of a dog in the frozen north.

Jack London was born in 1876 in San Francisco, California.

to make money.

In 1897, he went to Alaska Instead, he found ideas for his stories there.

to find gold. He is best known for his book,

His writings were very popular and he became rich and famous before the age of 30.

His family was very poor, so Jack had to leave school

The Call of the Wind,

Key

Jack London

(1876-1916)

Jack London was born in 1876 in San Francisco, California. His family was very poor, so Jack had to leave school to make money. In 1897, he went to Alaska to find gold. Instead, he found ideas for his stories there.

He is best known for his book, The Call of the Wind, the story of the adventures of a dog in the frozen north. His writings were very popular and he became rich and famous before the age of 30.

Abraham Lincoln

(1809-1865)

Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin to a poor family

The life of the 16 – th president of the United States is famous.

because it has the typical story of American success.

and grew up to become the President.

the question of slavery had become the most controversial national issue.

When Lincoln was elected president in 1860,

Lincoln strongly opposed slavery.

Key

Abraham Lincoln

(1809-1865)

The life of the 16 – th president of the United States is famous, because it has the typical story of American success. Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin to a poor family and grew up to become the President.

When Lincoln was elected president in 1860, the question of slavery had become the most controversial national issue. Lincoln strongly opposed slavery.

Elvis Presley

(1935-1977)

He sold millions of records, served in the army,

He was born in Mississippi

Elvis Presley was known as “The King” of rock’ n’ roll.

in 1935.

There Elvis recorded his first song in 1954.

At the age of 13, Elvis and his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee.

moved to Hollywood and appeared in 33 films.

His songs started a new period in American music.

Elvis brought together the musical sounds of country people.

Key

Elvis Presley

(1935-1977)

Elvis Presley was known as “The King” of rock’ n’ roll. He was born in Mississippi in 1935. At the age of 13, Elvis and his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. There Elvis recorded his first song in 1954. He sold millions of records, served in the army, moved to Hollywood and appeared in 33 films. Elvis brought together the musical sounds of country people. His songs started a new period in American music.

Walt Disney

(1901 – 1966)

who was famous for his animated cartoons.

Walt Disney was an American artist and film producer,

Donald Duck and Pluto.

Disneyland and Disneyworld.

He developed many new techniques in producing cartoons.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s,

Walt Disney began developing the family -entertainment parks,

His most famous characters are Mickey Mouse,

Key

Walt Disney

(1901 – 1966)

Walt Disney was an American artist and film producer, who was famous for his animated cartoons. He developed many new techniques in producing cartoons. His most famous characters are Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Pluto.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s, Walt Disney began developing the family -entertainment parks, Disneyland and Disneyworld.

Application 4

(The abstract from students’ presentation about America)

Geographical position

The USA is situated in the central part of the North American continent. Its

Western coast is washed by the Pacific Ocean and its eastern coast by the Atlantic Ocean.

The area of the USA is over nine million square kilometers.

The continental part of the USA consists of two highland regions and two lowland regions. The highland regions are the Appalachian Mountains in the east, and the Cordillera in the west.

The five Great Lakes, between The USA and Canada, are joined together by short rivers or canals, and the Saint Lawrence River joins them to the Atlantic Ocean.

The USA is a very large country, so it has several different climatic regions. The coldest regions are in the north and northeast where much snow falls in winter. The south has a subtropical climate.

The climate along the Pacific coast is much warmer than that of the Atlantic coast. The region around the Great Lakes is known for its changeable weather.

Population and main cities

The population of the USA is 293,500,000 people. Most of the people live in towns.

The capital of the USA is Washington. It is an administrative city without much industry. The American capital has many famous monuments on its streets and squares. One of them is the Abraham Lincoln.

New York is the largest city and port in the United States. It is the financial and business center.

There are a lot of other large cities in the USA.

Boston is one of the first towns which were built on the Atlantic coast of America. It is an important port and a financial and cultural center.

Chicago is one of the biggest industrial cities in the USA and the second largest after New York.

San Francisco, on the Pacific coast, is a big port and a shipbuilding center.

Los Angeles, in California, is an important center of many modern industries. Not far from Los Angeles is Hollywood, the center of the US film business.

The American flag

The thirteen – star, thirteen – stripe national flag of the United States of America was adopted on June 14, 1777. There was one star and one stripe for every state in the new country. Gradually, as new states were added to the Union, a new star was added to the national flag. There are now fifty stars on the American flag, one for each state. The thirteen stripes represent the original 13 states.

Application 5

The abstract from of students’ presentation about Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is situated in the center of the Eurasian continent.

Kazakhstan is an extremely beautiful land. There are the majestic Zailiysky Alatau mountains, the powerful rivers: the Irtysh, the Syrdarya and the Amudarya, and the endless steppes.

Kazakhstan is the country where many nations live in peace.

You can find different kinds of treasures: rare beautiful animals, plants, minerals – on the endless space of our country.

There are a lot of cities in the Kazakhstan which are as beautiful as the best cities of Europe and Asia such as Astana, Almaty, Pavlodar and others.

Astana is the capital of our country. It is the center of political life of Kazakhstan. Residence of President, Parliament, and the Government are located here.

Astana is the city of great construction projects. For a short time the Government buildings and the “Cotinental” hotel have been built and the central residential section has been reconstructed.

Application 6

A crossword puzzle

								1			3					7
										2				5
			9
		4
6
		8
10

Across

2. In which month is Thanksgiving Day celebrated?

4. What is the capital of the USA?

6. The pride of American people is their mountains: the Cordeliers and the …

8. How much stars are there on the national flag of the United Sates of America?

10. Who was the sixteenth president of the USA?

Down

1. What is the one of the biggest industrial cities in the USA?

1. What town was built on the American coast of America?

1. What is one of the biggest rivers on the continent?

7. The USA is situated in the … part of the North American continent

9. What country is situated in the centre of the Eurasian continent?

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